The only thing guitarist Brad Carr could think of that rhymed with “lying through my teeth” was “Yasmine Bleeth.”
The former “Baywatch” babe also provided the title for the roots rock song, which appears on King Cotton & The Remnants’ 2008 disc “Borderline Brilliant.” Carr’s Lynyrd Skynyrd worthy slide solo highlights the track. “I’ve never even seen an episode of ‘Baywatch,’ ” Carr says. “I just couldn’t think of any lyrics that would go with ‘Jennifer Connelly’ or ‘Scarlett Johansson.’ ” Inside Carr’s guitar case you’ll find random setlists dating back four or five years. Back then, he was still playing Aretha Franklin covers in a dubiously named band, The Big Chill. These days Carr’s clang and twang are put to better use in The Remnants’ chicken-wire originals, which are likely to connect with John Hiatt fans.
Cotton (aka Bill Earle) fronts the band, which also includes bassist Eric Anderson, multi-instrumentalist Travis Bland, drummer Cameron Gardner and singer Kate Carr. “King owns the stage,” Carr, a Greenville resident, says. “It’s almost like Wilson Pickett has come back as a balding white guy.”
You play a 1964 Stratocaster. You could put your kids through college if you sold that guitar. Where did you buy it? I bought it for $100 in 1970 at Dixieland Music which is where Capri’s (Italian Restaurant) is now on Stone Avenue.
How have your listening tastes changed since those days? I still listen to the same things: The Beatles, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music. As I’ve gotten older I also listen to more jazz and bluegrass.
What jazz and bluegrass artists do you like? For jazz, Roland Kirk. He would do an original song or a Dizzy Gillespie song and then do Burt Bacharach. For bluegrass I like Del McCoury and Gillian Welch is one of my favorite acoustic artists.
Your singer calls himself King Cotton. What is he the king of? He’s the king of a vast wasteland, but he has hope. He’s a big Obama supporter.
The cover art for your band’s 2008 LP “Borderline Brilliance,” which includes photos of Einstein and Elvis Costello, is pretty interesting. What’s the story behind that design? We were brainstorming and they decided they wanted to put our influences on the cover, good and bad, without getting permission from any of these people. We only had to vote one of them off.
Who did you vote off? I had to veto Strom Thurmond.
Who else is on the cover? Jimmy Cliff…I think Buddy Holly, Steve Earle.
Has your band received any cease-and-desist orders yet? We haven’t sold enough copies. I’m waiting though. I think that might get us some publicity. We should have put The Grateful Dead on there—I hear they’re masters of cease-and-desist letters.
Where did you record the album? In Baby Moon studios, which is in the King’s garage in Columbia.
What kind of stuff is lying around in his garage? There’s a Southern Culture on the Skids poster. (The studio) is actually in a family room above his garage. There are some great mics, a pretty inexpensive 16-track hard drive recorder and the King’s vinyl collection. Everything from Stravinsky to Doc Watson.
Where were you when you wrote the song “Dixie Gem?" Riding down Poinsett Highway. There’s a rock store there named Dixie Gem that’s been there for like 40 years, and I thought it would be cool if a guy thought of his girl as a “Dixie Gem.” I actually wrote (the guitar parts) on my wife’s Giannini baby classical guitar. I was sitting on the couch, probably watching “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or baseball.
King Cotton & The Remnants play Horizon Records/The Bohemian at 10 p.m. Oct. 30. The show is free.
