But after the departure of road-weary band co-founder Gary Bennett and longtime member Jay McDowell in late 2001, the remainder of the group -- guitarist-vocalist Chuck Mead, drummer Shaw Wilson, and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron -- also needed a recharge, so they returned to their downtown roots.
"We played down Lower Broadway pretty much all that winter," says Herron. "We played under the name Hillbilly All-Stars, which was kind of a rotating thing. We went right back there and found two guys that were playing on the street -- the same street we were playing at, the same bars we were playing at down there -- and we went, 'Hey man, this feels like it should.' It was a lot of fun," Herron says, "and it still is."