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Kentucky Overflow

Kentucky Overflow Radio

General Info

  • Genre: Country / Folk Rock / Rock

    Location DAYTON, Ohio, US

    Profile Views: 9099

    Last Login: 11/12/2010

    Member Since 4/12/2006

    Website N/A

    Type of Label Major

  • Bio

    Kentucky Overflow formed by Rod Boggs and Tom Byrne (ex-Sluggo, Highwaymen) in 2000 out of the ashes of Dayton-based country-punk outfit Johnny Smoke. Don Thrasher (Guided By Voices, Swearing At Motorists) joined later that year after leaving Swearing at Motorists. Steve Poulton (Altered Statesmen, Bird Dog) was the original bass player and he was succeeded by several other thunder stick manipulators, including PJ Paslosky (Ohio Casket, Motel Beds) and current bass player Scott Bodine (Murder Your Darlings, O-Matic), who also plays guitar on several songs. FILE UNDER: insurgent country, hard folk, roots rock, Americana or sweet musical manna from heaven. /// KENTUCKY OVERFLOW: IF NOT NOW, WHEN? By Tony Conley Dayton City Paper (March 21 2007) /// As Top 10 lists poured in like unwanted doses of inevitable medicine a few months ago, I was disappointed once again by the absence of the debut CD by Dayton’s Kentucky Overflow. Could it possibly stem from the fact that for another year it remains unrecorded? Kentucky Overflow is a semi-well known, semi-legendary band that surfaces several times a year to play alternately brilliant or broken performances. One night finds them opening for national acts and giving them a run for their money. The next time, they look like some hazy memory of The Replacements on a drunken night, besotted beyond belief, making fools of themselves and their audience, most of whom are friends and fellow musicians. They’ve been playing basically the same set for the last three years and a great set it is. Half Appalachian folk band/half slamming southern rock band, it’s a stew that sounds better in performance than it reads on paper. Ersatz band leaders Rod Boggs and Tom Byrne combine to produce stellar music in spite of the fact that they seldom go two shows without the inevitable words, “I’ll never play with that guy again…”. What does remain constant is the sheer quality of the song list, which in my mind I’ve produced into an astounding record on many occasions. Lyrically, they mine the same fertile ground of predecessors Billy Bragg, The Band, and other literate songsmiths who sing of days and events in the distant past, while retaining contemporary relevance. Much of this is due to Boggs using his grandfather’s poetry and prose from the 1930s, shaping it into digestible nuggets of country rock gold. Byrne, the band’s main guitarist, wrote the music for most of the tunes and they are crunchy, catchy sounding rockers that sound familiar, yet beyond the reach of any temptation to say, “That sounds like…” For the uninitiated, I’d say that Overflow sounds like the band I always wish The Drive By Truckers sounded like. They provide guitar driven rock with a historical bent and a drummer (former GBV, Swearing at Motorists skinsman Don Thrasher) who swings like crazy. Their well-greased set list remains to these ears one of the best unreleased CDs of the last 10 years. Musically, the band is driven by Byrne’s churning rhythm guitar and his short tasty solo forays. His playing is perfectly understated for the material, a sturdy frame on which to hang tales of drunkenness, loneliness, despair, and a dose of hopefulness to keep things in balance. Stories of hard times, indecision and existential angst flow out of crooner Boggs’ whiskey-soaked baritone as if he were only on the planet to send these messages from a long lost graveyard of semi-tortured souls. Thankfully, Byrne’s tunes sound naturally upbeat and uplifting. Again, the balance between light and dark is carefully in place. Rounding out the band is bassist/stunt guitarist Scott Bodine, a Dayton rock legend, having previously appeared in such standbys as The Method, O-Matic, The Igniters and his current power rock aggregation Murder Your Darlings. While making his bones as Dayton’s best rock guitarist, Bodine is here in the guise of rock steady, propulsive bass man, giving the band a hard rock edge that works with the other ingredients to make for a super solid rhythm section. He’ll strap on a guitar for a couple of incendiary set enders, but it’s his contribution to the steam engine that helps keep this train on track. Rod Boggs, KOs frontman and lyricist, is an anomaly of the largest degree, a right wing, militaristic throwback who just happens to lead a drinking, ripsnorting, cockfight of a rock band. Interestingly, he does this from a sitting position, using his dulcimer to kickoff hard rocking tales such as “Whiskeyman,” and locales such as “Vicksburg.” He tells his grandfather’s stories with an honesty and world wariness that lets us know that nothing ever really changes. While steeped in the history of some 80 years ago these songs speak of issues that resonate just as eloquently today, only with louder guitars. Let’s admit one thing here and now. Chemicals and altered brain chemistry have influenced Dayton’s rock history as much as The Beatles or The Stones, who in their day could have said the same about their forefathers. It’s always a bit of a crapshoot as to whether you’ll see a magnificent rock show or another example of a Dayton singer falling drunkenly into a drum kit. Either way, it’s grandly entertaining in the same way, that as a society, we watch the news to see the gore, we watch hockey for the fights and Nascar for the crashes. There are no legendary orchestral concerts, are there? Kentucky Overflow fits into this scenario perfectly: Great music, good theater. From a strictly selfish musical point of view, I hope that 2007 is the year that we finally see product on local shelves from these Dayton rock scene mainstays. As stated previously, it’s the best album I’ve never heard, though I’ve envisioned it many times in my mind. Their well established set list needs to be put onto disc to spread the word and if nothing else, to help keep rock afloat for another season. I’d love a reason or two to look forward to those damnable Top 10 lists.

  • Members

    Rod Boggs (vocals, dulcimer, acoustic guitar, harmonica); Tom Byrne (electric and acoustic guitar, bass), Don Thrasher (drums), Scott Bodine (bass, electric guitar)

  • Influences

  • Sounds Like

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