Confederate Railroad Biography
Danny Shirley (12 August 1956, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA; lead vocals/guitar), Mark DuFresne (b. 6 August 1953, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; drums), Michael Lamb (guitar/vocals), Chris McDaniel (b. 4 February 1965, Rock Springs, Georgia, USA; keyboards/vocals), Gates Nichols (b. 26 May 1944, New York City, New York, USA; steel guitar/vocals) and Wayne Secrest (b. 30 April 1950, Alton, Ilinois, USA; bass). Drenched in the southern country rock of Charlie Daniels and Lynyrd Skynyrd, in 1987 Danny Shirley formed a powerful country band, which, for a time, worked as David Allan Coe's touring band. In 1991, Shirley recorded a solo album for Atlantic Records and then persuaded the label to release it as a group effort under the name of Confederate Railroad. The CD listed both the band members and the musicians on the record, with Shirley's the only common name! Promoting the stars-and-bars flag, Confederate Railroad developed a politically incorrect stance with their praise of "Trashy Women", a witty song by the underrated Chris Wall, and they even dressed as "trashy women" for the video. The sentimental side to their macho posturings came through in "Jesus And Mama". Their theme song, "I Am Just A Rebel", has been covered by Joy Lynn White and they showed sensitivity on "Daddy Never Was The Cadillac Kind". Confederate Railroad parodied their success in "Elvis And Andy", in a video going from polka to rap and including a narration by Craig Baguley, editor of the UK magazine Country Music People. Lamb left the group in 1995 and McDaniel quit in 1999, they were replaced by Jimmy Dormire (b. 8 March 1960, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) and Cody McCarver respectively. Although touted as the bad boys of country music, in reality they are no more "bad boys" than Alabama.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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