Nine Pound Hammer

Nine Pound Hammer stood out early on as a key act in the cowpunk movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s, merging punk rock, hard rock, country music, and hillbilly imagery into an exaggerated and boisterous style that helped lay groundwork for alt-country. Guitarist Blaine Cartwright and lead singer Scott Luallen steered the outfit, whose brash, unapologetic, and rowdy approach had fully crystallized by the recording of Hayseed Timebomb in 1995. Even while Cartwright split his efforts between Nine Pound Hammer and Nashville Pussy from the late 1990s forward, later releases including Kentucky Breakdown in 2004 and Sex, Drugs, and Bill Monroe in 2008 showed the group retained its core vitality. With Rock 'n' Roll Radio in 2023, the band turned its attention to key influences by interpreting material from acts they admired.

The group’s history opened in early 1986 when several friends from Owensboro, Kentucky formed a cover band called the Yuppie Mop Dogs. Scott Luallen handled vocals, Blaine Cartwright played guitar, Brian Payne (also known as Forrest Payne) covered bass, and Toby Myrick sat behind the drums; the Yuppie Mop Dogs landed a two-night engagement at the Ross Theater in Evansville, Indiana. Though the performances left the members unimpressed, they opted to carry on under a fresh name, the Raw Recruits. Payne exited, and Bart Altman took over on bass. The Raw Recruits began composing original songs and performed occasionally around Owensboro and Evansville; after winning over a doubtful audience at a Kentucky Wesleyan football team party, they approached their music with greater seriousness. The band then moved to Lexington, Kentucky, adopted the name the Black Sheep, and started appearing regularly at Great Scott’s Depot, where one concert even caused the PA system to ignite. When Toby Myrick departed, Darren Howard joined on drums, and the group took the name Nine Pound Hammer after the classic Merle Travis country song.

Soon after adopting the Nine Pound Hammer moniker, the musicians encountered Len Puch, the Detroit-based operator of independent Wanghead Records, the label that had issued the Gories’ earliest recordings. Puch liked what he heard and offered the band a deal. By the time Nine Pound Hammer reached Michigan to cut its debut album, Bart Altman and Darren Howard had exited, leaving bassist Brian Moore and drummer Rob Hulsman in the rhythm section. Wanghead issued The Mud, the Blood, and the Beers in 1988; the group toured extensively in support until Brian Moore left following an alcohol-related incident on the road, at which point Matt Bartholomy became the new bassist. After Wanghead Records folded around 1990, Nine Pound Hammer signed with Crypt Records. The band tracked its second album, Smokin’ Taters, in a three-day session in Brooklyn, New York, and the LP appeared in 1991. To promote the European edition, the musicians undertook a grueling tour of 56 shows across 65 days; Rob Hulsman exited before the run concluded, and Johnny Evans stepped in on drums. Once the trek ended, Evans resigned and Bill Waldron assumed the drum chair.

Nine Pound Hammer released its third album, Hayseed Timebomb, in 1994 after recording in Glasgow, Kentucky. The band resumed touring across the United States, Canada, and Europe, though the schedule eventually wore on Bill Waldron, prompting Adam Neal to handle drumming duties for additional North American dates while Waldron rejoined for a ten-day stretch in Japan. Upon returning home, the group disbanded, and Blaine Cartwright launched Nashville Pussy. A live recording from a 1994 performance in Holland, Live at the Vera, surfaced posthumously in 1998.

In 2000, Scott Luallen, Blaine Cartwright, Matt Bartholomy, and Bill Waldron staged two reunion concerts. By 2004, Luallen and Cartwright decided to revive the project full-time; they enlisted bassist Earl Crim and drummer Brian Pulito, then recorded Kentucky Breakdown for Acetate Records. From that point, Luallen and Cartwright periodically reactivated Nine Pound Hammer alongside other projects. In 2005 they issued Mulebite Deluxe, pairing rare 1989 tracks with fresh material cut by the Kentucky Breakdown lineup. That same year the band supplied the theme song for the Adult Swim series 12 Oz. Mouse. Nine Pound Hammer also contributed “Carl’s Theme” to the 2007 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. Sex, Drugs, and Bill Monroe arrived in 2008, followed in 2009 by the tour-only Country Classics, which consisted largely of high-energy covers of classic outlaw country songs along with select catalog revisits. In 2010 the group mounted a 25th-anniversary tour of North America and Europe with a five-piece configuration of Luallen on vocals, Cartwright and Crim on guitars, Mark Hendricks on bass, and Rob Hulsman on drums. After that tour Nine Pound Hammer remained quiet for several years before resurfacing in 2017 with two albums: the studio effort Bluegrass Conspiracy and the live set The Barn’s on Fire: Live in Kentucky.

Drummer Brian Pulito returned to replace Rob Hulsman for the sessions that produced When the Shit Goes Down in 2021, which Daniel Rey—previously associated with the Ramones, the Misfits, and White Zombie—produced. The same lineup reassembled for Rock ’n’ Roll Radio, released by Cleopatra Records in 2023. The album focused on interpretations of favorite songs by the Ramones, the Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzy, the Sex Pistols, and the Move, plus a new version of the band’s own “Run Fat Boy Run” from Hayseed Timebomb.