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Wild, Woolly, Lonesome And Local

The Bearfoot Hookers Release Life at the Bar

originally published February 16, 2005


The furry, stack-heeled foot that has graced the covers of the Bearfoot Hookers' two albums thus far might lead one to believe this rambunctious local four-piece is mining some debauched, dressed-up glam territory. Such an assumption couldn't be farther removed from the band's mixture of country, blues and barroom rock. In fact, if there were a grading scale of what makes a consummate bar band, the Hookers would excel with flying colors.

Angelina Bellebuono

Bearfoot Hookers

With South Georgia roots steeped firmly in past boozy rock icons of that area (Wet Willie, Gram Parsons, early-period Allman Brothers) as well as genuine Boot/ Scoot-less country, Ty Manning (vocals-guitar), Mark Durfield (vocals-guitar), Josh Skelton (drums) and Jon Tonge (bass) formed the Hookers barely two years ago. The band's debut album, 2003's Sweet Pickle Grits, captured a free-for-all spirit honed by regularly playing honky-tonks, dive bars and rock clubs throughout the South.

"Ty's family moved around a bit and ended up [in] Brantley County," says Tonge, "which is right near Waycross where I'm from originally. I don't know if you've ever been down around that area but it's pretty much required that you be into country music. I mean, I haven't really listened to country radio since I was probably 13, though, because that's not really what I consider country to be. Good, honest country's still kind of a regional thing. If you drive through North Carolina on a Saturday night, they got some guy playing bluegrass or blues or traditional country that you're not gonna hear on the radio in other parts of the country. That's what appeals to us. Our stuff doesn't have that polished city edge to it which I think is good. Hell, [we're used to] there being no gap between country and rock and roll or heavy metal. Take out David Allen Coe and put in Pantera!"

A lively summation of early incarnation Hookers, Grits mixed raunchy humor with Muscle Shoals-ish accompaniment on such bluntly-titled selections as "Dirty Whore Blues" and "Damn She's Fat," an ode to plus-sized honeys in the vein of Eddie Hinton's "300 Pounds of Hongry." It also boasted some fine country tunes, a healthy portion of Stones-y blues-rock and pretty much equally represented the contributions of songwriters Manning, Durfield and Tonge.

"You find out real quick that's what you gotta do if you play the bars," says Tonge. "You have to go in there and have a little something for everybody in that kind of situation. I love playing here in Athens, but we do get a real kick playing shows out of town. When you're not playing to a home crowd, setlists don't mean a damn thing! If you're in some honky-tonk and people aren't into it and the setlist has another slow one coming up, then it pretty much just goes out the window.

"If there was any doubt that we're a working band, we played Klassics because it's a lot like the joints and honky-tonks we're used to. So when I went to talk to the lady who runs things, she told me that we were the only band from Athens that'd ever approached them about doing a show there! How is that possible? There's a thousand bands in town looking for a gig and not one of 'em had ever opted to play there!"

The newly released album Life at the Bar shows no signs of the Hookers abandoning their good-natured raunch'n'waltz. What it does show is a tightening of the reins in terms of writing both durable songs and arrangements. Some sharp slide guitar licks open the cover of Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil Blues" that starts the album off, but the title cut that follows is perhaps the most easily relatable song the band has yet to produce. Written by Tonge, "Life at the Bar" spells out in simple terms that some are destined for the office, some for the skies or the rails while others are just bound to become well acquainted with a barstool. "These barstools sit just like church pews on Sunday to me / At the altar of a God who no longer sleeps / If you wonder why I act this way / Why I never got this far / I was born for a life at the bar," goes the sad country tune.

Says Tonge: "My girlfriend at the time asked me one night - we were in this bar that looked like the one from that movie Roadhouse or somethin' with people two-stepping and shit - why I smoke more in bars than anywhere else. I guess it was really pissing her off, actually. So instead of furthering that, I really didn't say much of anything. But that line, the chorus, just started running through my head. Rather than say anything else about it, I hummed that chorus all night long till we got outta there and I could jot it down."

Recorded at Dave Barbe's Chase Park facilities, Life surely benefits from the Hookers' choice of studio assistance. The band chose to work with Lona guitarist Marcus Thompson who turned out to be the perfect litmus test for the band's new material. Though he cut his teeth on the Drive-By Truckers' Dirty South sessions, this was Thompson's first proper attempt at engineering an album and his encyclopedic craving for hardcore country and Southern soul coaxed some genuinely first-rate performances out of the hairy foursome and their guests; John Neff's pedal steel sobs through "Poor Lonely Bastards," Scotty Nicholson's keyboards bring a funky Leon Wilkerson quotient to the mix and vocalists Mark Durfield and Ty Manning warmly conjure up visuals of smoky back rooms littered with longnecks, short fuses and broken hearts.

"With Sweet Pickle Grits we set up at Mark's house originally to do some demo stuff but ended up with too many songs so we said, 'hell, let's just go ahead and do an album," enthuses the outspoken bassist. "There was a little bit more pressure in that this time we were on the clock, paying somebody to record an album. Working with Marcus was a big help, though, 'cause he knew a whole lot of the older stuff that we knew. We ran into some trouble recording the song "Angelina," which is a country/ bluegrass kind of thing, and Marcus stopped us and was like, 'No, just do that part like Waylon's drummer would do it.' We looked at one another and were like, 'Yeah, well, that's it. That'll work!'"
Michael Andrews WHO: The Bearfoot Hookers, Andrew Nelson & the Shotgun Lovers
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Wednesday, February 23
HOW MUCH: $5

Michael Andrews

WHO: The Bearfoot Hookers, Andrew Nelson & the Shotgun Lovers
WHERE: Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Wednesday, February 23
HOW MUCH: $5

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