The Country Rockers' moniker precisely captured both their sonic approach and visual style. Formed as a little-known Memphis, TN-based trio, the unit took direction from Durand Easley, a seasoned producer and session player. During a 1986 stop at a Mississippi roadhouse, Easley encountered Sam Baird, whose lengthy run on the Memphis club scene had already made him familiar; despite the singer-guitarist's mid-sixties age and Easley's own thirty-five years, the pair resolved to start a group and recruited seventy-three-year-old drummer Gaius L. "Ringo" Farnham to complete the lineup.
Once they assembled a set blending country standards with assorted rarities, the three musicians recorded a demo under the supervision of Easley's brother Doug, a noted indie-rock producer. Immediately afterward Easley departed for a European tour alongside longtime associate Alex Chilton, who then presented the tape to New Rose Records—the label to which Chilton himself was signed—resulting in a contract. The trio's first full-length release, Free Range Chicken, surfaced in 1989 as an eclectic mix of rockabilly, country, and novelty numbers that combined the original demo cuts with fresh studio work; lead vocals alternated chiefly between Easley and Baird, although Ringo Farnham, echoing the Beatles connection suggested by his nickname, contributed one vocal track. Their follow-up album, Cypress Room, arrived two years later in 1991.
