THE KENTUCKY HEADHUNTERS
The Kentucky Headhunters is an American country rock and Southern rock band. They were founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, which consisted of brothers Richard Young (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Fred Young (drums) along with Greg Martin (lead guitar, vocals) and Anthony Kenney (bass guitar, vocals). Itchy Brother performed together until 1982, with James Harrison replacing Martin from 1973 to 1976. The Young brothers and Martin began performing as The Kentucky Headhunters in 1986, adding brothers Ricky Lee Phelps (lead vocals, harmonica) and Doug Phelps (bass guitar, backing vocals) to the membership. With the release of their 1989 debut album Pickin’ on Nashville via Mercury Records, the band charted four consecutive Top 40 country singles. (More from Wikipedia)
I was starting to listen to more country music myself by the late 1970’s; I was happily discovering country’s roots such as the Carter Family and Hank Williams Sr., and also a lot of the “outlaw country” crowd like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and David Allan Coe. Many of the earliest alt-country artists also caught my ear (before anyone was even using the term), like Randy Travis, Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang and Hank Williams III; and some were simply country-flavored rock bands such as the Georgia Satellites and the Kentucky Headhunters.
(January 2013)
