The Kentucky Headhunters is a Grammy Award-winning American country rock band. It was founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, which comprised brothers Richard Young (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Fred Young (drums) along with Greg Martin (lead guitar, vocals) and Anthony Kenney (bass guitar, vocals). The Young brothers and Martin began performing as The Kentucky Headhunters in 1986, adding brothers Ricky Lee Phelps (lead vocals) and Doug Phelps (bass guitar) to the membership.
With the release of its 1989 debut album Pickin' on Nashville via Mercury Records, the band charted four straight Top 40 country hits. A second album for Mercury, Electric Barnyard, did not do as well commercially, and the Phelps brothers left after its release to form Brother Phelps. Kenney re-joined and Mark S. Orr took over on lead vocals for 1993's Rave On!! and a compilation album entitled The Best of The Kentucky Headhunters: Still Pickin' before the band exited Mercury. Orr left and Doug Phelps rejoined in 1996 for the album Stompin' Grounds, also leading on the Audium Entertainment albums Songs from the Grass String Ranch and Soul, as well as Big Boss Man and a second compilation, Flying Under the Radar, on CBuJ Entertainment. After Kenney's departure, Doug once again took over as bass guitarist. The Kentucky Headhunters has released seven studio albums, two compilations, and twenty singles, of which the highest-peaking is the #8 "Oh Lonesome Me" from early 1990. In addition, the band has won three Country Music Association awards and an Academy of Country Music award.
Richard Young, his younger brother Fred, and their cousins Anthony Kenney and Greg Martin began performing music in the Youngs' and Kenney's hometown of Glasgow, Kentucky, in the 1960s. They founded a band called Itchy Brother (sometimes referred to as The Itchy Brothers), named after Fred's favorite cartoon character from King Leonardo and His Short Subjects.
The band achieved regional success in Kentucky in the 1970s, including at least one single, "Shotgun Effie", which they wrote about the Youngs' grandmother, Effie. It was released in 1973 on the King Fargo label. Itchy Brother was almost signed to Swan Song Records, an independent label founded by the band Led Zeppelin, in 1980. However, the label closed after Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died, and the band never recorded a full album on Swan Song.
Itchy Brother broke up in 1982. After its disbanding, Richard started writing songs for Acuff-Rose Music, and Fred became a backing musician for country singer Sylvia, who at the time was recording on RCA Records. Greg Martin played bass guitar and sang backing vocals for Ronnie McDowell, then a recording artist for Curb Records, and Anthony Kenney stopped performing.
When Martin attempted to reunite Itchy Brother in 1985, the Young brothers joined him, but Kenney declined. Martin invited Missouri Bootheel native Doug Phelps, also a member of McDowell's band, to replace Kenney. Doug brought his older brother Ricky Lee to sing lead vocals and play harmonica. The band decided to name itself The Headhunters, taking the name from the term "headchopper", which blues musician Muddy Waters used to indicate that he had supplanted another band in a gig. After discovering that other bands existed with that name, the band added "Kentucky" to its name and thus became The Kentucky Headhunters. The Kentucky Headhunters began performing together the following year, playing twice monthly on the 90-minute Chitlin' Show, a radio program on WLOC in Munfordville, Kentucky.
Richard co-produced some tracks on Flynnville Train's self-titled debut album, which was released on September 11, 2007 by Show Dog Nashville, a label owned by Toby Keith. This album includes the song "Truck Stop in the Sky", which Richard and Fred co-wrote with two of Flynnville Train's members, brothers Brent Flynn and David Flynn. Also in 2007, Greg Martin released a gospel rock album called The Mighty Jeremiahs, as a side project. The album features Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie and Jeff Beck, plus appearances by members of The Kentucky Headhunters, Phil Keaggy, Darrell Mansfield (for whom Martin has previously played) and others. Martin also played for Hall on his 2007 album Build Your Own Fire, a tribute album to Eddie Hinton. In 2009, Martin also began a side project called Rufus Huff with Chris Hardesty, Dean Smith and Jarrod England. This side project released an album via Zoho Music in April 2009.
Richard's son, John Fred Young, plays drums in the rock band Black Stone Cherry. The band practices at the same farm house where The Kentucky Headhunters once rehearsed.
The band's sound is influenced by country music, blues, Southern rock and heavy metal, and has been described as "guitar-heavy, rambunctious music". Lead singer Doug Phelps' voice has been described as "alternately suggest[ing] Count Basie's storied blues shouter Jimmy Rushing and the laid-back cool of Eagle Glenn Frey." The band's combination of styles is most notable in its cover song choices on early albums. All three Mercury albums contain a Bill Monroe cover, and other covers on these albums include Waylon Jennings, Carl Perkins, Norman Greenbaum and The Lovin' Spoonful. Soul showcased the band's blues and R&B influences. The band's original compositions, such as "Dumas Walker" and the title track to Songs from the Grass String Ranch, often develop a regional theme.
At its peak in the early 1990s, The Kentucky Headhunters was considered a dark horse in country music, due to the significant mainstream attention that the band received despite its rougher sound and the members' rural Southern image. In 1991, Entertainment Weekly critic Alanna Nash wrote that although the band did not sell as many albums as contemporaries George Strait or Garth Brooks, "they may just end up redefining country for the '90s" given the diverse range of influences and styles. Billboard critic Ray Waddell called the band "arguably the most consistent and durable Southern rock outfit on the planet."
Kentucky Headhunters - Dumas Walker (External Embedding Disabled)
Dumas Walker
Kentucky Headhunters - Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine (External Embedding Disabled)
Walk Softly On This Heart Of Mine
Kentucky Headhunters - Oh Lonesome Me (External Embedding Disabled)
Oh Lonesome Me
Kentucky Headhunters - Honky Tonk Walkin' (External Embedding Disabled)
Honky Tonk Walkin'
Kentucky Headhunters - The Ballad Of Davy Crockett (External Embedding Disabled)
The Ballad Of Davy Crockett
Kentucky Headhunters - Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line (External Embedding Disabled)
Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line
