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The travails of the workaday musician have become the stuff of legend in some circles.
You’ve got to be close to crazy to want to get into the music business on any level.
It’s the same for South Mississippi bands, but every so often, they get a break. It’s those high times, on stage with the lights on you, that the payoff comes. And boy-howdy, that makes it all worth it.
Local country act Autumn Rise-N (Lisa Lee Albritton - vocals, Tom Moore - vocals, Phillip Stegall - guitar, Dave Noonan - bass, Jamie Shaw - drums) have had their share of barely attended barroom gigs, but the stars are shining on the band these days.
They had a fantastic performance at the recent Coast Coliseum Crawfish Festival, they’ve got fans as far away as Nashville and are making strong industry connections in the Music City as we speak.
This weekend, you can catch the band’s contemporary country vibe at the Roadhouse Live venue inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Biloxi.
Also, the band has two performances booked at the new Guitars and Cadillacs nightclub, 4031 Popp’s Ferry Road, D’Iberville.
They’re performing June 19 for the pre-race party with the Cajun Sprinters dirt track racing teams. That should be a blast, actually. Even if you don’t like dirt track racing, that should be a fantastic show. The cars and drivers will be present, some coming in from several states. They’re back at Guitars and Cadillacs July 3 and they’re also playing the 61st annual Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo on July 4 on Point Cadet, Biloxi. Not bad for the little country band that could.
“The crowd can expect a pretty hyped up show,” Shaw said in a recent interview. “We put literally everything we have into every single show, no matter if there’s 25 or 2,500 people there.
We try to touch on all bases, from Joan Jett to the Black Crowes, even to some old Hank Williams and Marty Robbins.
We try to keep it moving like that and it’s a very tiring show for a drummer.”
Shaw and Stegall cut their teeth in the local rock scene some years earlier with the band 13 On. They had a fantastic run, but their hearts belonged to blues and country music.
Their profile raised considerably with the addition of Albritton on vocals. Female-fronted country bands are on the rise nationally, and Albritton is among a growing cadre of female-fronted local bands, joining pioneers like Rochelle Harper, Gina Turner and Marianne Allison. Now that Moore is on board with vocals as well, the band is firing with both barrels.
“I would say we’re a mix between rockabilly and that contemporary country sound, with a bluesy feel,” Shaw said. “You can’t get far away from the blues with Phillip, and that’s not a band thing at all. He’s just irreplaceable. The same goes with Dave on bass.
Those two jive so well together. I’m blessed to be working with both of them. You just never know and we couldn’t ask for anything better at this point.”
Country music has gone through some pretty significant changes in recent years. Whatever your take on the new “contemporary country,” fans have been responding to Autumn Rise-N in numbers large enough to take notice. Don’t be left out of the conversation. Head to the Roadhouse Live this weekend and check them out.
Justin Hooks covers bars and bands for the Sun Herald.
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