Almost Legal: The Kudzu Kings celebrate 20 years as Mississippi’s house band October 7, 2014 Story by Tom Speed A circus-like spectacle is a fitting atmosphere for the Oxford-based country rock band, The Kudzu Kings, who built a career with festive live shows that often revel in the raucous and celebrate the cathartic aspects of live rock ‘n’ roll. And just that – interpretive dancers, jugglers, a slide-show and a raffle – will accompany the band as it celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special show at Oxford’s The Lyric Theater in November.” These past 20 years have seen the band produce two official albums and maintain its identity amid a plethora of lineup changes. The Kudzu Kings has toured throughout the country and cultivated a fan base that follows them to a dozen shows per year. The band draws crowds throughout the state, and in other strongholds such as New Orleans, Georgia and South Carolina. But the way the band was formed was almost as if by kismet. The Kudzu Kings was born by the collision of a country songwriter from Ohio, a long-haired, classically trained bass player from New Jersey, and a student funk band called the Mosquito Brothers. Ohio native Tate Moore was enrolled in the theater department at the University of Mississippi when he met Dave Woolworth, who was playing in the theater orchestra. Woolworth was a transplant too, having moved to Oxford from New Jersey to pursue a graduate degree in physics. They soon began playing music together—Tate on vocals and guitar, Dave on bass—with a weekly gig at Ireland’s, a local blue-collar bar in an otherwise college-centric town. The Mosquito Brothers was a local band of college students who specialized in New Orleans-style funk. When its lead singer graduated, the band was at an impasse. But Mosquito Brothers guitarist Max Williams met Woolworth, who suggested a collaboration. Williams enlisted Mosquito bandmate’s drummer Chuck Sigler on drums and Robert Chaffe on keyboards, and an unlikely band was born. “I’d never even heard of The Meters,” says Moore of the New Orleans funk band the Mosquito Brothers most emulated. The Kudzu Kings played its first gig at a house party outside Oxford on a bill that also included Junior Kimbrough and White Buffalo. Williams taught Moore and Woolworth a couple of cover tunes. That night they weaved through songs by Traffic and the Allman Brothers, but Moore was already a prolific songwriter and his tunes made up the bulk of the repertoire from day one. It was October of 1994. The band soon inherited Woolworth and Moore’s weekly gig at Ireland’s and further forged their oeuvre and identity there. The crowd helped shaped its sound, too. When Woolworth introduced songs he’d played with his reggae band back in New Jersey, they weren’t always met with a convivial response. So, with some lyrical alterations and the installation of a country beat, the audience took notice. Thus Bob Marley’s “Trenchtown Rock” became “Texas Rock” and the Kudzu King’s groove-laden style of country rock began to take shape. “We changed all the words to ‘whiskey’ and everybody thought it was great,” Woolworth said. From the beginning, the songs focused on festive themes, often of a booze-related nature. One crowd favorite, “I Love Beer,” was a forthright and frank exaltation of suds. Another, “Panola County Line,” chronicled the past-time Oxford tradition of having to drive to the county line to buy cold beer on Sunday. A sense of humor was a main component. A song about a dog was called “Tick Taxi” and a tale of an unfortunate event concerning a gardening tool was named “Rototiller.” All quickly became crowd favorites. The Kudzu Kings are known for their raucous country-rock shows. In November, they will celebrate 20 years of music-making. The Kudzu Kings are known for their raucous country-rock shows. In November, they will celebrate 20 years of music-making. Moore, Williams and Woolworth collaborated on the songwriting, fleshing out the songs in a barn just outside of town. In a matter of months they produced the bulk of what would fill their set lists and populate their first album years later. They started garnering big crowds almost immediately. Local shows at The Gin and Proud Larry’s followed the residency at Ireland’s. “We packed it out every Tuesday at Ireland’s,” remembers Woolworth. “Some weeks we were playing three or four times in Oxford, and still packing it out. I think at that point we figured something was going on. If you pack it once a week that’s amazing, but a few times a week, that’s a sign.” Early on, guitarist George McConnell joined in, playing acoustic guitar to complement Williams’ electric. His previous band, Beanland, had dissolved the year prior, and he brought some of those songs with him. The band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1996, after two years of honing the songs on stage. By then, they were already a touring force, playing festivals, opening gigs at major amphitheaters and playing before thousands at small theaters around the South and out west. “By ’96 when the record came out, we’d already played at Mud Island,” says Moore. “We’d played a set at Memphis in May. It was really working well. Between ’94 and ’96 we started playing real venues. Because we’d done so well at these bigger places, doors started opening. We were playing the Varsity in Baton Rouge. We would go to Colorado and play the Boulder Theater, the Fox, the Gothic Theater in Denver. Newby’s up in Memphis. It was a great time for live music.” Lineup changes would come to typify the band’s identity. Drummer Chuck Sigler was the first to leave when he finished pharmacy school. Guitarist Max Williams was next in 1997, when he moved away to go back to school and get married. While Ted Gainey replaced Sigler on drums, Bryan Ledford was brought in as Williams’ replacement. Ledford primarily played banjo and mandolin as opposed to guitar and lap steel that Williams played. “Bryan was kind of eyed as a replacement for Max as a color guy,” says Chaffe. “Because [Williams] did lap steel, interesting sound stuff, we kind of looked at Bryan as the auxiliary color guy. Bryan was a wonderful asset that kind of shook up the monotony a little bit, as far as the stuff we were writing was all in a similar vein. He brought a different element to it, which was really nice.” Ledford was a songwriter too and he expanded the repertoire further by introducing his own songs and cover tunes that lent the band a country-gospel feel. A disciple of Ed Dye, Ledford brought the influential bluegrass player to the stage as a special guest on many occasions. It was this lineup, with Gainey and Ledford, which produced the band’s second album, “Y2Kow.” Again, the material was tested on stage, filling the record with what were then (and now) crowd favorites like “Hangover Heart” and “Bound for Zion.” A hidden track on the album was a powerful cover of J.B. Lenoir’s “Down In Mississippi” that featured a spoken word performance by occasional Oxford resident John Sinclair. Ledford’s influence was apparent too, with his “Bryan’s Song” providing a humorous take on the life of a working musician teetering between following musical ambitions and settling down for a day job and family, a conundrum that played a large part in the band’s ever-shifting roster. By most accounts, the apex of the band’s touring life was a 2000 performance at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colo., where the band played the opening slot for Widespread Panic, who it had performed with before. “Red Rocks was easily the highlight for me,” says Chaffe. “Thankfully we have video footage. I was hoping to put the live disc out.” The band would go on to expand its fanbase in Colorado, and following the Red Rocks appearance, various booking agents and managers came calling. They wanted to put The Kudzu Kings on a nation-wide tour. But again, the pressures of the real world pulled, and the band made the difficult decision to keep booking shows themselves. “I hated to turn all that down because I was ready,” says Chaffe. “But half of us had day jobs, school, kids. It’s just what happens.” Woolworth was married with children. McConnell was growing tired of the touring life and had opened a guitar shop, Django’s Music, in Oxford. Gradually, McConnell’s spot was yielded to Daniel Karlish. The drummer’s chair was taken over by Jeff Colburn. This third lineup of the band toured heavily, finally signing with a booking agent who had the members playing all over the continent, up the east coast and even into Canada. “When Daniel and Bryan were playing with us we were the most professional version,” says Moore. “We did four years of touring with that band. We had a two-hour show that was precision.” But the rigors of the road proved daunting, again. “We were on the road for over nine years without a break,” says Woolworth. “When we went from our own booking it really became a lot more hectic. Our routine was, instead of driving three or four hours between gigs, we’d drive eight hours to empty houses.” Weary from the road, the band went into the studio to record an album of new material, but no one was happy with it, and the album never materialized. “We threw it in the garbage,” says Woolworth. “We just didn’t like it. We canned it. Too many things weren’t going in the right direction.” “I don’t know if were tired or what,” says Chaffe. “We had the arrangements down but when we went back and listened to the tapes … it felt light to me. Everybody else wasn’t real happy for their own reasons. So we shelved it. At that point I think we knew in the back of our heads we didn’t really have the stamina to go out and promote it.” The band didn’t split, but it was spent. It was 2003. Some of the songs on the aborted third album wound up on Moore’s solo record, “Punk Poet,” including the title track. He formed a new band, The Cosmic Door, with Woolworth on bass. Chaffe enrolled in graduate school, though Woolworth and Chaffe would occasionally perform together in the funk band Pithacanfunktus Erectus. By that time, McConnell had gone on to join Widespread Panic as its guitarist, a role he held for more than three years. But even as the band took a break, and touring came to a near halt, the members continued to play. The next year, they “reunited” at Oxford’s Double Decker Arts Festival. The annual post-fest shows have since become legendary, and while the Kings aren’t engaging in full tours, they still play weekend shows, weddings and other one-offs on a semi-regular basis. Woolworth estimates the band typically plays a dozen shows per year. The years of rotating lineups have given the band an extended family that can be called upon when needed. A show might have some combination of the three guitarists—Williams, McConnell and Karlish—and sometimes all three. C.D. Overton sometimes fills the drum chair now, but Sigler and others appear when they can For the anniversary show in November, the band intends to bring together all past and present members, along with other special guests. Woolworth says they want to make the show a celebratory event, a spectacle. “We’re excited about having more of an event,” he says. “You could call it circus. We’re going to document it with full audio and video, what we consider a legacy document. People are coming in to do that work so that all we have to do is remember the songs.” They have new songs, too, in the form of the material on Moore’s new solo album, “Avalon.” The backing band on the album is The Kudzu Kings, making it somewhat of a de facto new Kudzu Kings album. “I had to sneak everybody in there without them realizing it was a Kudzu Kings record,” says Moore. “I had to sneak everybody in there to do their part.” But with the smattering of new shows brings new opportunities for collaboration, and the idea of more new material, or a new Kudzu Kings album coming to fruition at last. There may be reason to celebrate next year, too. Even though a 20th anniversary is a good round number for a milestone, the band is already talking about celebrating again next year, and maybe even going into the studio to produce another album. After all, 21 is a milestone too. As Chaffe puts it: “The band will finally be old enough to drink!”