The Have Nots:  No one knows who they were or what they were doing.

 

 

 

 

In early 1999, mysterious tapes were discovered amongst the ruins of the old burned down musician's union in Knoxville, Tennessee.  The tapes bore the title "The Have Nots - Have At It - File Under: County Music.  Made in Blaine, Tennessee."

 

 

 

 

(Yes, COUNTY Music.)

 

 

 

 

No other information could be discovered.

 

 

 

 

At their discovery, the "Have At It" masters were turned over to the County Music Restoration and Preservation Society in Davidson County.

 

 

 

 

Music experts Billy Mercer, Bucky Baxter and Doug Campbell were enlisted to help research the origins of the project.

 

 

 

 

C.M.R.P.S. founders John Paul Keith (Grainger County), David Jenkins (Blount County) and Paul Noe (Shelby County) supervised the restoration of the tapes and their eventual release on Disgraceland Records.

 

 

 

 

 

County Music is an obscure genre, reminiscent at times of straight 50's honky tonk, tex-mex, rockabilly, turn-of-the-century Vaudeville, R&B, 60's British beat music and even surf!  No known practitioners of the style are alive today.

 

 

 

 

To further add to the mystery, experts disagree on when exactly the Have Nots recorded the album.  Some believe it to have been the late 1950's, while others insist that the recordings were made as late as 1999.  

 

 

 

 

Researchers scoured the surrounding counties looking for clues as to the identities of the Have Nots.

 

 

 

 

Residents of Blaine vaguely recall the tale of a ne'er-do-well "musician type" who fell in love with a beautiful Knoxville debutante. 

 

 

 

 

He went out west to make his fortune, but when he returned to Knoxville Town, his sweetheart had married a wealthy politician.

 

 

 

 

According to the legend, "He wrote and recorded a bunch of songs - then disappeared - Never to be seen again."

 

 

 

 

Although the true origins of the recordings may never be known, the experts have reached one consensus:  The Have Nots "Have At It" is perhaps the greatest surviving example of the obscure and archaic genre known as County Music.  

 

 

 

 

These strange performances seem to exist in some musical time warp, residing in a place that could best be described (in the words of Knox County's Poet Laureate R.B. Morris) as "the Bermuda Triangle of the Appalachians."

 

 

 

 

Available now from Disgraceland Records.