The Flying McCoys by Glenn McCoy and Gary McCoy for September 18, 2014
September 17, 2014
September 19, 2014
Transcript:
MY SON IS A HONORS STUDENT MY SON MADE THIS LICENSE PLATE
More From The Flying McCoys
Before moving to Nashville and forming BR5-49, Chuck Mead played in a band called Homestead Grays, a roots-rock outfit based in his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. Gary Bennett, meanwhile fronted an informal band that played at Robert’s Western Wear, a clothing store in Nashville, Tennessee, when he met Mead at a nearby bar.1 The two then decided to form a band officially, and completing the lineup were electric bassist Jim “Bones” Becker, then upright bassist “Smilin’” Jay McDowell (formerly of another band called Hellbilly), multi-instrumentalist Don Herron, and drummer “Hawk” Shaw Wilson. They assumed the name BR5-49 (from the telephone number of a used car dealer in a running Junior Samples comedy sketch on the television series Hee Haw),1 and began playing for tips at Robert’s before being discovered by Arista Nashville in 1995.