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Two years ago, the Povertyneck Hillbillies were not only the biggest country band in the area, they were one of the biggest bands period -- an oddity for a town north of the Mason-Dixon line.
Despite the cowboy hats and fiddles, the Fayette County country-rock band developed into a local institution, playing to crowds of 4,000-plus, making videos with Ben Roethlisberger, doing a pledge special for WQED-TV and opening for the likes of Toby Keith and Big & Rich in various places in the country.
Abby Abbondanza
* With: Junior and Vanessa Campagna.
* Where: Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse, Burgettstown.
* When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
* Tickets: $25; 412-323-1919 or 724-947-1900.
Then in January, the band had fans crying in their beers with the announcement that the Hillbillies were history.
"Five out of six of us decided it was time to move on," says singer Chris "Abby" Abbondanza. "The way I look at it is, it's not like we didn't try. It's not like we didn't succeed, by any means. We had a little bit of national success. In the Tri-State area, you're right, we were on top of the world. We accomplished a lot, probably more than any country band has out of Pittsburgh, but I think it ran its course, and I think we hit a plateau that we just couldn't get to that next level.
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It's not that big a mystery. If you look at who's breaking out of Nashville, it sure isn't country bands from Steeler Nation. Most of the hot Nashville product is the solo stud, and that's what Abbondanza is shooting for now.
The week the Hillbillies split, the singer-songwriter was in Nashville planting the seeds for his solo debut, "Promised Land," which will hit the streets Nov. 11 on Matchless Records, the label run by his manager, Pittsburgh native Shawn Pennington, who also manages Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson, among others. There will be a CD release party Saturday at the Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse.
Like Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney, Abbondanza won't be confused with a new traditionalist like Brad Paisley. "The Promised Land" has as much or more in common with the heartland rock of John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen as it does with Merle Haggard or George Jones. The title track, which the Hillbillies used to play, is like a Houserockers song with steel guitar and banjo. There's even an electric rocker, "Under the Hood," that's a dead ringer for ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man.
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"The lines have broadened, expanded between pop, rock and country," Abbondanza says. "You can get away with a lot these days in country music, which is good for artists like me 'cause I'm not straight country. I have a little bit of a rock edge, which allows me to be more universal in the writing.
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Abbondanza wrote nine of the 11 songs -- a rarity for a Nashville record -- including a collaboration with another of Pittsburgh's favorites, Scott Blasey of the Clarks. Abbondanza says they grew up in the same vicinity south of Pittsburgh -- Scott in Connellsville, Abby in Washington -- and always hit it off.
"We were trying to write while he was in Dallas, but it was too hard," Abbondanza says. "When he moved back this year, I sat down and started writing a song -- more poppy, but with a country twist -- and said, 'This sounds like a Scott Blasey song,' so I called him and said, 'You gotta hear this, you gotta help me finish writing it.' So he came over, and we ended up writing the song that day.
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Blasey also stuck around for vocal duties, making "Miracle Man" a duet Pittsburghers will want to hear. Elsewhere, Abbondanza delivers a tough-talkin' Joe-Sixpack anthem with "Bring It On," puts raising a family in context in "Good Kind of Crazy" and shows his tender side with two covers, "Johnny Rivers' "Slow Dancing" and a Nashville team's ballad "That's Love Y'all.
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For Abbondanza, part of the beauty of working on "The Promised Land" was the independence to make the record he wanted to make.
With the Hillbillies, he says, "I wrote about 50, 60 percent for the band, but that was all voted upon, if everyone thought the song fit and that was the route we were going in. Now, if I like the song, then I decide whether I want to cut it or not.
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Cutting it meant stepping into the studio with Nashville ringers, along with producers Shawn Pennington and Steve Peffer, rather than his own band of Hillbillies (the only former member joining him for the project is drummer Ryan Lucotch).
The slicker project with slicker musicians, he says, "just takes it to a whole other level. That's all they do every day. You pick what guys you want on the record, you bring them into a room and give them a piece of paper, they chart it out, take a listen to the acoustic demo and they play the song like they've been playing it for years.
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Abbondanza admits one thing he misses about the Hillbillies is the camaraderie. But he has a new group about to hit the road to promote "Promised Land," and they know who's the leader of the band.
Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2576.
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