Harsh Lessons, Homeless in a Chevy Inspired Lyrics

Two men sat somewhere outside Gatlinburg, Tenn. – a park, along a lonely back mountain road, a friend’s driveway, wherever.
Writing songs. Derek, whose last name is now McRotten, and his buddy Benjamin Whitehead poured forth the foundation for their band Cutthroat Shamrock while crafting songs in a 1973 Chevy Nova.
They were homeless.
Now, see them on stage when five-piece band Cutthroat Shamrock appears at O’Mainnin’s Pub in Bristol, Tenn., on July 19. About five years, exactly two albums and one sharp memory made after another later, the experience of homelessness resonates in their music.
They perform hungry.
“[We sound as] if bluegrass and punk rock walked into an Irish pub and got kidnapped by pirates,” Whitehead said by phone last week from his home in Seveirville, Tenn. “I say it’s Appalachian punk rock.”
Harsh lessons in life permeate songs like “Drunk in the Gutter.” Performed mostly acoustically , though at breakneck speed, they do not dodge their past.
But how did homelessness happen? Short story, three people shared rent. One failed to pay, and the other two ended up in a Nova.
“It was a beast of a car,” Whitehead said. “Derek would sleep in the back seat, and I would sleep in the front and vice versa. We kept our guitars in the trunk. We were like that for a year.”
They drank. They moped. They worried. You know, stereotypically.
But they also wrote songs. Each had played music in their teens in punk bands, and so with time on their hands and nothing in their pockets, they created music.
“We actually wrote our first six or eight songs in the Nova,” Whitehead said.
Then, one day while lifting a pint in a local pub, they were approached about performing there for St. Patrick’s Day. The offer: no money, just beer, interested?
Huzzah! They lifted a pint in cheers and sat about putting on a show.
“We played those eight songs, took a break,” Whitehead said. “Then, we played those same eight songs again, took a break and drank some more. That’s all we knew how to play.”
One night, the owner of the Preservation Pub in Knoxville, Tenn., heard, loved and asked them to appear regularly at his pub. For pay.
Time passed and about five years after living in a Nova, the two founding members of Cutthroat Shamrock played for a mammoth-sized crowd.
“We played for 13,000 in Knoxville opening for [punk band] The Presidents of the United States of America,” Whitehead said. “They gave us 45 minutes. We got to play in front of our parents. Looking at 13,000 people, it was overwhelming. We were stompin.’ ”
They still are.
They play music like Dale Earnhardt Jr. races cars – lightning fast.
“Speed matters,” Whitehead said. “It’s stompin’ and shoutin.’ We have a handful of slow songs that we keep for moments when things are getting out of hand.”
Translated, bring a towel. Wear deodorant.
“If we don’t walk off stage in a full sweat, then I haven’t done my job,” Whitehead said. “We’ll lift a pint, get a cheer and get to stompin.’ ”

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. You can reach him at .

IF YOU GO
Who: Cutthroat Shamrock
When: July 19, 10 p.m.
Where: O’Mainnin’s Pub, 712 State St., Bristol, Tenn.
Tickets: $5
Info: (423) 844-0049
Web: http://www.myspace.com/cutthroatshamrock

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. You can reach him at .