Just a few years later they would have been huge
In the early 90's, Atlantans Bill Taft (guitar; see previous entries for more info on him), Kelly Hogan (vocals), and Walter Brewer (drums) formed The Jody Grind. Instead of following the popular styles of the day (or moving forwards), they decided to go backwards and follow the popular styles of 50 years earlier. Their first record, One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure, includes versions of Burt Bacharach's "Wishin and Hopin," Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn," Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo," The Gershwins' "It Ain't Necessarily So," and Frank Sinatra's "I'm a Fool To Want You." There are a ton of albums like that out there, though, right?
Nope.
Because The Jody Grind actually pull it off. Kelly's amazing voice is definitely the center of The Jody Grind. I would rate it right up there with Billie Holiday or Nina Simone. The band, though incredibly talented, pretty much just follow her, occasionally making something beautiful like Taft's restrained guitar work on "Blue and Far."
Not long after their next record, Lefty's Deceiver, came out, new drummer Robert Clayton and bassist Robert Hayes died in the same car accident that killed Deacon Lunchbox (who is sampled on One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure)
Hogan and Taft went on to form Kick Me before Hogan left to go solo and Taft started playing full-time in Smoke.
Here are some original tracks from their long out of print first CD:
Eight Ball
Blue and Far
And most importantly, some previously unreleased live tracks:
Don Gato (children's song
Lola Marie (Sung by Bill Taft)