The buzz in Country Music this week is the long awaited release of Hot Country Knights' debut single "Pick Her Up" featuring some guy named Travis Tritt (who in my opinion has a LOT of potential!)
I remember the first time I saw them in concert...August 11, 2018 Ameris Bank Amphitheater Alpharetta, GA. I had gone to the pit early to get a good spot to see LANCO & Brother's Osborne and these guys burst onto the stage! Their timing was....different. Their sound was... kinda like Dierks Bentley on steroids. Their look was....like the broke into Brooks & Dunn's storage unit. But the music was really good!
Who are the guys behind Hot Country Knights and where did they come from?
Excerpts from the band's official Facebook page explain more about the band:
Douglas "Big Rhythm Doug” Douglason, Born 8 pounds 6 inches, Douglas “Doug” Douglason set out for the bright lights of Silicone Valley at age 16, pursuing an Adult film star career. When that didn't pan out, he followed country music. A showboating, ill-tempered former adult film actor who longs for the days when Joe Diffie ruled the country charts. With his alarmingly attractive mustache and party up front and business in the back tour bus mentality, Doug realized he had found his calling. And that calling was called Hot Country Knights.
Trevor Travis, Raised by a single mother and 9 older sisters, Trevor Travis waS a born ladies’ man. He spent the bulk of his youth enrolled in home economics, hair styling, and massage classes before picking up the bass at age 13. Trevor’s first taste of fame was on the Ricki Lake episode “Mom, You Can't Stop Me from Having Sex in the House---You Do It, Too.” He caught the ear of Big Rhythm Doug in 1993 after breaking into song when he was awarded the “Most Failed Paternity Tests” honor on a later episode “Did You See Yesterday's DNA Show? Want to See What Happened After the Show? Stick Around...(Part 2).” The planets aligned in 1995 when Big Rhythm Doug treated Trevor to an Italian feast of endless salad and breadsticks, introducing him to Marty Ray Roeburn, who in turn treated them to an herbal dessert behind that fortuitous Olive Garden dumpster.
Marty “Rayro” Ray Roburn, spent his weekends competing in the Southeastern Fried Bologna Cook-off circuit. He was highly esteemed among the “Bologna Brigade,” but had a surprising amount of trouble making friends in school, even though he could do a headstand. After finally winning the coveted Golden Skillet and a $385 cash prize at the ’87 Crisco Slam, RayRo chose to step away from the burner while he was on top. He took his earnings straight to the pawnshop to see what he could buy. That’s when he spotted what would become his new obsession, a Telecaster guitar. He played non stop and quickly rose through the ranks of his local music scene. People began referring to him as the Rick Moranis of country telecaster guitar. After many years of getting knocked down, RayRo finally found himself center stage at the historic Ramen Auditorium, a local Nashville Japanese restaurant that had an open mic night every Wednesday. Many country stars had been discovered at the Ramen, and this night was no exception. Tina, who performed right after RayRo, got offered a record deal on the spot. With tears raining onto RayRo’s Wranglers he raced home and realized he was ready for a change. He set aside his dream of becoming a star and returned to his first love, the culinary arts. He landed a job at White Castle and was soon called up to the big leagues when he was offered the head chef position at his favorite restaurant, The Olive Garden. It was there he overheard a conversation between two dudes saying they needed a guitar player for their band. It turns out the two mystery men were Big Rhythm Doug and Trevor Travis. And that band they were talking about? Well, it was a little band called the HOT COUNTRY KNIGHTS! The rest is country music history!
Terotej “Terry” Dvoraczekynski, born in 1974 in a small village just north of Chekhov, Russia. His father was a pig farmer (as was his grandfather and great-grandfather), so most of Terry’s youth was spent helping out on the family farm - moonlighting as a taxi driver that his life would be changed forever. The year was 1988, and he had just picked up a new passenger from the Stringing Airport (Аэропорт Стригино). As fate would have it, this passenger was the director of the National Pork Producers Council, an American trade association based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. Impressed by Terry’s knowledge of all things swine and his love of America, the passenger gave Terry an old cassette tape to listen to while making the rounds in his taxi: Lee Greenwood’s You’ve Got a Good Love Comin’, featuring the most patriotic American song ever to be written, God Bless The U.S.A. That was all it took. Terry was hooked on America and hooked on American country music. He mercilessly played that song over and over in his taxi until he was eventually fired due to excessive complaints from his passengers. But Terry didn’t care. At that point, he had saved up enough rubles for a one-way plane ticket to Nashville…Music City, USA!
Barry Van Ricky, Upon completion as 2nd chair Recorder player and staff musician for all Wrangler Country Showdown competitions in the Northeastern Kentucky area, Barry set out to fulfill his 2nd dream in life….a professional bowler. Barry was blessed with a decent average and even appeared on 2 episodes of Pro Bowling Television (PBTV). As time passed, Barry’s average dwindled and he realized that he could no longer compare to the stiff competition, and much higher average as the pro’s on PBTV. Barry then set out for Nashville where he met up with Doug Douglason at a local American Legion. Realizing that the call for a Recorder player was diminishing, he began to learn the pedal steel guitar. A much, much more in demand instrument. Barry learned to play the steel guitar by watching VHS tapes of old Hee Haw reruns and Pop Goes The Country.
Monte Montgomery, raised in Los Angeles California. He always had a talent towards painting. So after High School, he moved to Paris to study painting with the famed Vincent Van Gogh. When he couldn't find him, he found himself on the streets of Paris, homeless. And it was there he met and survived with several dogs. Pomey, Bruford, Sherrod and Kane. He quickly found out that the dogs wanted their portraits painted so he started painting their portraits.. Dogs from miles around flocked to him to have their portraits done until he realized dogs don’t have money . Starving, he decided to join a band and at the same time he landed an opportunity at a local Walmart in the photo development department. One day, a commotion at the photo counter got my attention. Two young men armed with some of the best mullets he'd ever seen were trying to get some photos developed. The photos violated Walmart’s code of conduct policy. They got kicked out., But he met them in the parking lot and told them that he would be probably be able to get the photos developed after hours and could for sure find a ‘home’ for them on this new thing called the internet. They said “that’s cool” and noticed a cool set of drums in the back of Monte's Monte Carlo. That is when, Doug Douglasson and Trevor Travis realized they found their drummer.