The Country Rockers

The Country Rockers' name alone was a wholly accurate gauge of their sound and aesthetics. A somewhat obscure trio based in Memphis, TN, the group was led by Durand Easley, an accomplished producer and session musician. While drinking in a Mississippi roadhouse in 1986, Easley hooked up with Sam Baird, a singer and guitarist he recognized from the latter's long tenure as a staple of the Memphis club circuit. Though Baird was in his mid-sixties at the time, he and the 35-year-old Easley decided to form a band, enlisting Gaius L. "Ringo" Farnham, a then 73-year-old drummer, to f...