The Lonesome Billies shoot from the hip with their own take on a classic outlaw country sound that has been described as “boot stomping, gator hootin, whiskey swilling music”. Four men from the badlands of Hazel Dell who have stuck together from their early days and have developed a bond akin to brotherhood, all while playing unapologetic dark and dusty honky tonk music. Like the outlaw singers and guitar pickers who have come before, these fellas tell stories, playing a mixture of songs both capable of starting a whiskey-fed bar fight or a Texas two step.
Forming in early 2010, The Billies quickly began defining the dark world their characters came from.. A desolate gunslinger running from the law. A griseled mountain man down from the hills and looking for a good time. A man at the end of the road in a brokedown pickup truck with nothing but a bottle of booze. They began simultaneously pulling from personal experiences, the imagery of old spaghetti western films, and the sounds of the 70’s outlaw country music movement.
The Billies recorded and self released their debut EP “Useless Bay” in Nov. 2012 and began to expand the world these characters live in. Rough around the edges and stripped down, the songs drift between reality and fiction with songs like title track “Useless Bay”, which tells the tale of the miserable, lowdown hole in the ground that The Billies call home. “Eye For An Eye” tells how two of the Billies originally tried to kill each other, and lying on the groud, blood spilling from their bellies, finally see eye to eye.
With one small release under their belts and a growing audience, the Portland, Or. based The Lonesome Billies have begun work on their first full length record, tentatively titled “It’s Good To Be Lonesome”. Working with Brandon Eggleston (The Mountain Goats, Les Saavy Fav and many more) and recording at Cloud City Studios, they’re working on a collection of twang that cuts to the basics of country music: death, heartache, drinking, pain and sorrow. The forthcoming collection promises to brandish more of their musings on the places where hope crawls away to die, and deadbeats, misfits and lowlifes welcome a stranger with open arms.
The band was formed by Clayton McCune (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeff Gaither (lead guitar, vocals) as a two piece, but quickly evolved; adding longtime childhood friends Mike Scheidt (bass, vocals) and Glen Scheidt (drums) to round out the 4 piece. “From seeds to tumble weeds” the band as a whole grew up together in Hazel Dell, Washington and have been in and around the Portland music scene for many years. While much of their music is dark in it’s subject matter, the foursome is known for their fun, energetic live shows. Sighted influences include: Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams.