Bastard Sons feel right at home in Southwest
By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out

With the most audacious band moniker in the annals of country music, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash have a big name to live up to.

Of course, the twangy quartet aren't really the illegitimate spawn of the legendary singer, but the band earned The Man in Black's blessing to use his name, and BSOJC singer/songwriter Mark Stuart says the band was invited by Cash to visit his home and to record some tunes in the legend's studio.

“The first time I met him I was nervous,” Stuart says of meeting his idol. “But after that I didn't feel bad because he was a very simple, down-to-earth guy that puts you at ease. He immediately disarmed you with his humbleness. When you meet your hero and he's even cooler than you even anticipated him being, you really come away with even more respect for him.”

One would think that San Diego and country music go together like ... well ... not exactly like chorizo and eggs. As a premier vacation destination for Arizonans, San Diego is known for cool summer weather, long stretches of sandy beach and surfable surf. The last thing one would expect to emerge from there is a top-notch country band, but Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, who perform Friday at the Cave Creek Coffee Company, put down roots in “America's Finest City” in the mid-’90s.

“San Diego is still a border town,” Stuart says. “You experience a lot of that Southwestern culture with the food and the music — it gets in your blood.”

After playing in a series of rock and punk bands growing up in the area, Stuart rediscovered a love for country music, and the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash were born.

“The musicianship with punk isn't as good as with country, nor is it melodic, but it shares a lot of similar attitude themes with country music,” Stuart says. “You know, defiance of authority and going your own road in life and kind of looking away from the usual norm that everybody is else is about.”

Stuart listened to country music as a youngster and turned to the form again as a songwriter as an adult.

“I experienced country music through my mom early,” he says. “I found it again later and realized how cool it was. I am a big fan of the Lubbock (Texas) guys like Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore — I connected with the second-generation Outlaws, and I am of the third generation of Outlaws. I am also a fan of the craft of Willie (Nelson) and Waylon and Kris (Kristofferson) too.”

The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash have flown in the face of the Nashville pop-country trend and have found themselves aligned with artists like Merle Haggard, whom the band has toured with, and other country greats on the outside of mainstream Nashville looking in.

“People always say to me, ‘You play country? How embarrassing,’” Stuart says. “It's only embarrassing because (Nashville) keeps reaffirming this horrible, hokey image of Trace Adkins and Kenny Chesney on a tractor and stuff like that — they are not helping the PR any, for sure.”

Despite the hard country stance BSOJC champions on their terrific records, Stuart isn't holding his breath for Nashville to start playing the band's records, even after the success of the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack and Loretta Lynn's recent Grammy success with her traditional country record “Van Lear Rose.”

“Everybody is wondering how to turn off the monster, you know?” Stuart says of the current pop trend in Nashville. “You go out there and talk to those people and they hate it, too, but they just don't know how to switch it off. It's one of those strange things where you have an 800-pound gorilla as a house pet now — how do you get rid of it? There's too much money and marketing in it now to get rid of it. “I think the only hope was back in the ’80s when (producer) Tony Brown worked with Steve Earle and people like Lyle Lovett and Junior Brown were coming out,” Stuart says. “I think that was the only glimmer of hope right up until Garth Brooks busted it wide open. I think we are still reeling in the post-Garth Brooks era and the hokey machine that he started.”

With several terrific records and a new release due out this summer, Stuart is planning to keep doing what works for the band — constant touring to make up for lack of radio airplay.

“The white man has left me nowhere to dance but the underground,” Stuart laughs. “You go where you're allowed to go and where you can meet and play for people that want to hear that type of sound and they don't necessarily get access to it on a regular basis.”

The band has built up a following of all ages, from teenagers who identify with the “outsider” themes of country music to senior citizens who treasure the traditional country sound they grew up on.

“My favorite fan moment was when I was in Iowa one night,” Stuart says. “I came out onstage and in the front row there was a kid with a purple Mohawk sitting next to an 80-year-old lady with an oxygen tank and I thought, ‘All right! We've got a pretty broad base of fans here!’ ”

Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash
Where: Cave Creek Coffee Company, 6033 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
How Much: $18
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