If you were a musically adventurous soul, someone in the tradition of Vance Randolph who wanted to traipse around the hills looking for something homegrown, genuine and real, Fayetteville would be a good place to start. It's an Ozark town, but also a southern town, a blues town and a meeting place for various influences. How pleased you would be once you had discovered Charliehorse, musically, a horse of a different color. Charliehorse embodies the confluence of styles you would hope to find there, bringing bits of country, bluegrass, southern rock, blues, and even New Orleans funk into their mix. God bless them for it! Charliehorse is a great country rock band, and in the best sense of the term. They are not at all like this deplorable squashed-together mess of sound currently being churned out by the recording studios in Nashville. No, these guys are what country rock should be: organic, soulful and rootsy. This Fayetteville quintet evolved out of a core of guys from southern Missouri and northern Arkansas picking buddies who decided to make a go of it in Fayetteville bars. They stuck to it, tinkered with the formula, and with the addition of New Orleans transplant and guitarist/songwriter Brad Helms, the lineup was complete. Southwest Missouri-born Ben Wardlaw handles most of the lead vocals. Brad Helms adds his sure sense of vocal melody on a few tunes. Bassist Stacy Liles contributes to vocals as well and the lineup is rounded out by the solid backbeat of drummer David Bright and the talents of Cody Russell on banjo and pedal steel. Written by: Mark Bilyeu of the band Big Smith, Mayapple Records.