Whitey Morgan and the 78's: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 3:00PM by Troy Thompson
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If sorrow, anguish and hard times are the foundation upon which country music was originally built, a case could be made that Flint, Michigan should be the new Nashville. With a battle cry of "making new country old again," Whitey Morgan and the 78's are galloping out of Flint via Detroit, whiskey bottles in hand, to spread their brand of old school half-time as a counterpoint to country pop. Providing listeners with a reason to drink and dance their cares away while channeling the spirit of Waylon and Willie and the boys, Whitey Morgan and the 78's are an unexpected production of the area considering its Motown and Rock City roots. Their goal is simply to make the world a better place, one half-time groove at a time. A new deal with Bloodshot Records, the Chicago-based "home of insurgent country music," has the band headed to the label's 2010 SXSW Showcase. Bass player Jeremy Mackinder recently spoke with Spinner about the band.

Describe your sound.

We definitely subscribe to old-school country. It's a definite brand of half-time. Along the lines of Willie, Waylon, and Merle. And being from where we're from, I don't think you can ever take the rock out of us. It's impossible to come from here and not have a little rock edge.

How did the band form?

Whitey started it as a side project for when artists came through. He wanted a full-blown country band to back artists whenever they came through the area. Whitey's grandpa was a country musician and taught him how to play Hank Williams while growing up. We've been together about six years now.

What are your musical influences?

Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams.

What's the significance behind the band name?

Whitey's real name is Eric Allen. Whitey was his nickname in high school. Whenever kids would pick for the basketball team, they always said "We'll take Whitey." Morgan was his grandpa's last name. The "78's" is kind of a dual meaning. 78 is the speed that the old records spin at, and we always joke that '78 is when music ended. If you want real music it has to be recorded before 1978.

How did you guys get exposed to so much old-school country growing up in Flint and Detroit?

Whitey's family is from Kentucky. They moved to Detroit for the car industry. That music seems to still resonate with what's going on in that area. If you think about it, country music is all about working through hard times. And Flint and Detroit have been decimated for years, even before the economy took a turn as a whole. We've been going through it for a long time, and we've been drinking and dancing our way through those hard times.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Ha. We have some traditions. Like at one point, every time we would drive into Cleveland we'd put on 'Purple Rain' by Prince. You'll usually hear something like Thin Lizzy through the speakers during our set breaks. They're not really a guilty pleasure, but it's not country. It's rock. You can't be from this area and not be a rocker.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Whiskey, tequila, really anything we can put in a flask. Maybe I shouldn't say that. Really, anything we can do to cut down on costs. Like most festivals, the money isn't great, and we're just trying to get by. Those half-gallons under the seat of the van come in handy as a way to cut costs, we're definitely drinkers.

What's your goal for the 2010 SXSW?

We just signed with Bloodshot Records so we really want to go down there and play our shows, do the showcase, and impress our labelmates. We want to make Bloodshot feel really good about what they just did in signing us.

Do you think country music is ready for a return to its roots?

I don't know. It's in a sad state on the radio right now. I just caught a video countdown on CMT and I didn't hear a single country song. That's a shame. There are artists like Dale Watson out there, someone that you can't get better than in any genre, that don't get the exposure they should. There's definitely a loyal fan base for it and we try to cater to them. Otherwise you can bang your head against the wall trying to understand it.

Troy Thompsons is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.