
Stacie Collins is hardcore. Raised over a honky-tonk in Muscogee, Okla., and toughened up on the mean streets of Bakersfield, Calif., Collins has vivid memories of dancing on pool tables as a 5-year-old after stuffing jukeboxes with donated quarters to play her favorite songs by Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn.
Incorporating her love for Chicago blues harp with raw, gritty, Haggard-like lyrics, Collinsโ sound mixes hardcore honky-tonk and blues-tinged rock. With the help of Georgia Satellites/Yayhoos guitarist Dan Baird as producer and player, Collins recently released Lucky Spot, a raw country record that rocks hard. But finding a label has been difficult.
โA lot of the people here in Nashville donโt know what to do with it,โ Collins says. โThe blues people love it, but they donโt have any relationships in the country market, and the country people think itโs too rock.โ
But with Gretchen Wilson bringing a harder sound into country, slipping Zeppelinโs โBlack Dogโ and Heartโs โBarracudaโ into her concerts, Collins thought her chances for stardom were improving. But the manager of Montgomery-Gentry, the band with which Wilson shot to fame, told Collins that she could only rock onstage. If she wanted to make it, he said, her records had to be country. Thatโs tough for Lucky Spot.
With a set that jumps from Muddy Watersโ โBaby Please Donโt Goโ to a hard rockinโ original, she already rocks live. Still, Collinsโ gritty descriptions of low-life bar scum (โSorryvilleโ) and sorry-ass boyfriends (โNever Everโ) demand attention, even if mainstream country avenues canโt give it to her.
โIโd like to make a million dollars, but Iโm already so much rewarded. There are so many people so excited and pissed that weโre as good as we are but nobody knows it yet. Itโs been a win-win situation.โ
Stacie Collins plays Hideaway BBQ in Raleigh on Saturday, Oct. 28. Tickets are $5-$7, and the show starts at 9 p.m. For more, see www.hideawaybbq.com.


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