Hiya. Too bad you missed us...

Okay. Not really.

The Dry County Drunks were an Atlanta band that were kinda twangy and a little drunk. They first started up in 2001 and lasted for a couple of years. Starting off as a dare between guitarists and friends Jeff Guiness and Charlie Leach (also known by his pen name Chaz Lounge), the concept snowballed-- as bad ideas often do-- to include drummer Scott Crocker and Joel Burkhart on bass. Joel also fronted Bully, a dandy driving rock combo. Shortly after the Drunks' first gig, Joel moved over to keyboard and guitar, and Jay Murphree of The Bluejays took over the bottom end.

It was never really a serious effort (it was a side band for 60% of the group), but thanks to copious amounts of Jagermeister and a surprisingly large circle of fun loving- yet forgiving- friends, lovers, wives, and girlfriends, the shows were generally fun affairs. Joel and Charlie's being employed by The Star Bar made booking those shows a great deal easier than they should've been.

The original idea was that The Drunks would be a country band, but the group couldn't hide its rock roots. Gregory Nicoll of Creative Loafing called them "swamp rock," while Stomp & Stammer's Jeff Clark likened them to NRBQ-- a comparison that both Jay and Charlie relished. Heather Rat, who handled the booking at The Star Bar, thought they sounded like the band America- which made the whole band shudder in disgust. Although, they did work up a fairly rocking version of "Sister Golden Hair Surprise" as an encore just to get a giggle out of Heather.

The 'Dry County Drunks' name and this space are being maintained for future musical projects that may or may not be undertaken by Charlie Leach. You have been warned.