Details: In the musical melting pot that was Nashville in the 70s, four eclectic singers and song writers decided to start a rock 'n' roll band. R&R was a scarce commodity there at the time but they knew they were on to something. Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood of Uncle Walt's band (Spartanburg, SC), joined up with Tommy Goldsmith and Steve Runkle, the Pritchard Avenue Band (Raleigh, NC), then recruited drummer Jimbeau Walsh, and the Contenders were born. It was early 1976 and the boys went to work on the roads of the East Coast, playing showcases from NYC's Lone Star Café to Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, to Nashville's EXIT IN. Using their deep bag of songs, beautiful harmonies and hot guitar work together with charm, wit, and stage presence, the five won fans in just about every college town in between. Potential record deals were floated but the one that landed was with Moonlight Records in Chapel Hill, NC. The album was released in 1978 just as the group was breaking up but has now been resurrected by Southern Moon Records of Raleigh. Original multi-track tapes were restored and transferred, remixed and remastered yielding a wonderful sounding record which finally offers a good look at a milestone group that has never been forgotten. Where did alt country and Americana start? This is one of the sources. The last track "Getaway" was recorded for, but left off the original album. It is resurrected here with new contributions from Warren Hood, Marcia Ball, Willis Alan Ramsey, Jeff Barnes and more. The Uncle Walt's Band's live recording of the song was a favorite of Mike Judge who featured it on the HBO show "Silicon Valley" and it has been "Shazam"d 26K times and streamed close to 400K times.

Contenders - The Contenders (CD)