Confederate Railroad

Few acts have carved as distinctive a niche in modern musical history as Confederate Railroad. With their high-energy combination of honky-tonk rockers, sensitive ballads, and offbeat humor, they have created a unique identity that has brought them chart success, multi-platinum sales, and continued popularity as a road band. Songs like “Queen Of Memphis,” “Trashy Women,” “Jesus And Mama,” and “Daddy Never Was The Cadillac Kind” became major hits and established Confederate Railroad as a key part of country music’s landscape during the genre’s expansion of the ’90s.

The accolades kicked off with the Academy of Country Music’s Best New Group award in 1993 and have included a Grammy nomination, and a host of nominations from the Country Music Association and the British Country Music Foundation. The payoff took awhile, but it came.  “Our first single, ‘She Took It Like A Man,’ went to #26,” says Shirley, “and management and the label were bummed out, but I was thrilled.” He had reason to be. The next two singles, “Jesus And Mama,” and “Queen Of Memphis,” shot to the top of the charts, and three more–“Trashy Women,” “When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back,” and “She Never Cried,” gave them an even half-dozen hits from their first album, which has sold nearly three million copies.

Confederate Railroad performed at the Topsfield Fair in 2014!