Jul. 20, 2003

Southern outlaw band still popular despite radio void
By Rick Farrant
Arts/entertainment editor

Ten years ago, after a concert in Danville, Ill., Danny Shirley asked this reporter to recommend a good neighborhood bar.

A short time later, after the crowds had left and the crews had cleared the stage, Shirley and his Confederate Railroad band mates headed for the bar, where they drank freely, played pool and mingled with the masses until the morning's early hours.

It was in keeping with Confederate Railroad's image as the people's band - an image that seemed to transcend the music that the group played.

The {s/L}Southern outlaw country-rock band was riding high in the saddle in those days, fueled by energetic, spontaneous live performances and bold, if not controversial, musical messages.

The group, known for such hits as "Queen of Memphis" and "Elvis and Andy," had just released an ode to females of questionable virtues called "Trashy Women." And Shirley, the rebel band's leader and singer, had hired three attractive women to dance suggestively behind the group. They were called The Trashettes and they were a bona fide hit with fans.

Much has changed since then. Shirley is reticent to talk about some promotional mistakes made by a major record label, but they did happen. What also happened is that {}the{/L} radio stopped playing Confederate Railroad.

The long and short of it, he says, is that decisions made at the label kept Confederate Railroad out of the radio mix for six months.

"You show a little weakness in this business," he says, "and the next new thing is taking your place. It's not like the old days where Joe Blow there put out two bad records and people are saying, 'I hope the next one is better.' "

Shirley, 46, admits to being a little bitter about the situation, but he says he has no deep-seated ill feelings toward the label and, all in all, he pronounces his life a blessed one.

"I've been very fortunate," he says in a phone interview. "I still have a great career in spite (of the troubles at the label). The overall picture has been just great."

One of the reasons he can be so upbeat is that, despite the blunders and acts of omission, one thing didn't fade. Confederate Railroad remains the people's band and is still performing 150 shows a year - radio or not. Another reason is that Shirley has found some moderation in his life.

Gone are the days when he and Tanya Tucker made tabloid headlines during a raucous evening at a Wisconsin tavern. Although he may occasionally hit the neighborhood bar these days, he's not the party animal he once was.

He's married - to former Trash-ette Jenni George - and the couple has two young sons and custody of Shirley's 15-year-old son from a previous marriage. The family lives in Chattanooga, Tenn., where on the day of this interview Shirley is attired in garden-soiled jeans and watching his children play in the backyard pool.

"Lord knows," he says, "I'm more settled than I used to be.

"I think everybody has to have a balance they can reach. You get so much from your career, so much from your family, so much from your spiritual life."

Measuring it all out equitably was difficult in the commercial heyday of the band, what with the pressures of stardom and the strain of running a business on overdrive. That took some of the fun out of the music - and some of the time out of the other areas of his life.

"But if you're fortunate to survive all that, then you get to go back and do it (play music) for fun again. I don't have to worry about the charts. I don't have to worry about what a critic says."

Fun for Shirley has meant getting to do duets with David Alan Coe and George Jones on Shirley's 2001 independent-label CD "Unleashed."

Fun for him will be hooking up with longtime friend Charlie Daniels later this year to produce a CD called "Heroes and Friends" that will also include performances by Tucker, John Anderson and Don Barnes of 38 Special.

Fun for him is also, occasionally, letting his defiant Southern streak emerge. Because while many things have changed in Danny Shirley's life, he hasn't lost his knack for being politically incorrect at times.

Every so often, people will grumble about the band's name - the word "confederate" having become a member of the four-letter variety these days. And every time, Shirley will strike back.

He doesn't see the word as synonymous with rednecks or Klansmen or bigotry or hatred. He sees it as a banner worn by people who are merely proud to be Southerners.

"We were raised that you think for yourself, that you be your own person. And nowadays we're taught that that's wrong. You're taught that if you don't think like everyone else, you're wrong."

And that leads him to this story:

A while back, his band was playing at a high-brow gathering in Washington at the invitation of a U.S. senator. Many other senators also attended, but some didn't, and Shirley learned they thought it inappropriate that a band named Confederate Railroad would be performing in the nation's capital.

"And I thought, 'Well, what (expletives). Kiss my rebel ass."