Whiskey Revival returning country to its roots

If Kenny Chesney makes you reach for the barf bag, fear not true country music fans, for Whiskey Revival is here to slake your thirst for 100-proof honky-tonk. Go ahead, drink 'em in.

What does Whiskey Revival sound like?

"Whiskey Revival sounds like you just stepped into a honky-tonk in Texas in 1973, back when men were men and country music was great."

You all hail from a variety of established Vegas acts like The Clydesdale, Cherry Hill, Jaxy and The 357s and Darby O'Gill and the Little People. What initially brought Whiskey Revival together?

"The genius and brilliance of our fearless leader Andy Morris. He designed this act from the very fabric of the human soul and the plight of the working man, as he is the hardest working man in show business now that James Brown has passed, God rest his soul."

The notion of what country music really is has devolved in recent years. Now, it's basically pop music with a fiddle. How would you define the sound?

"Country music nowadays is a steaming crap pile. That's why Whiskey Revival makes their musical cutoff period right before George Strait, the man who drove a stake into the greatest genre of music the world ever created.

"If it doesn't talk about boozing or prison, some sort of train or losing/killing your wife/husband, it ain't country. Fifteen-year-old schoolgirl crushes and hanging out at the beach with your ass in the sand should not qualify as country music."

What are some classic country records that no one should be without?

"Willie Nelson, 'Red Headed Stranger'; any Jerry Reed record; Johnny Cash, 'Live at Folsom Prison'; Merle Haggard's 'Greatest Hits.' And sometimes, when you put on a Waylon Jennings record at just the right time of day, you can hear the voice of God."

Since you do call yourselves Whiskey Revival, share with us some of your all-time favorite drinking songs?

" 'Think I'll Just Sit Here and Drink,' Merle Haggard; 'Whiskey River,' Willie Nelson; 'Cocaine Blues,' Johnny Cash (we know that's not about drinking, but the original name for the band was Cocaine Revival); 'Lost Highway,' Hank Williams."

See Whiskey Revival at 5 p.m. Sundays at Club Fortune Casino, 725 S. Racetrack Road, Henderson.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.