The Beat Daddys

An ensemble fusing blues with Southern rock, the Beat Daddys include Lewis Ross on drums, Brill Morris handling bass and vocals, Larry Grisham covering guitar, harp and vocals, plus Britt Meacham on guitar and vocals. Originally from Mobile, Alabama, Meacham once belonged to Jackson Highway, which cut sides for Capitol Records, and he later toured alongside soul-blues man Little Milton Campbell. Morris, meanwhile, played in Mercury Records act David and the Giants before joining the well-known regional Gulf Coast outfit Magik. Fellow Mobile native Ross helped launch Wet Willie and co-wrote several of that group’s signature tracks, among them “Keep on Smilin’,” “Red Hot Chicken” and “Macon Hambone Blues.”

The quartet came together in Evansville, Indiana during the mid-1980s, issuing a self-produced album prior to inking a deal with Malaco Records. Their pair of mid-1990s Malaco/Waldoxy efforts—No, We Ain’t From Clarksdale and South to Mississippi—steer clear of conventional blues yet still offer plenty for enthusiasts of blues, roots-rock and Southern rock to enjoy.