ALBANY’S MUSIC SCENE … THEN AND NOW

Holly Drive became one of Albany’s most popular bands a generation ago

A generation ago, as the late-’80s bled into the turn of the century, Albany, Georgia, had a thriving music scene. On any given weekend, dozens of local and area bands would perform live sets at venues that thrived by opening their doors to these modern-day troubadours. Those days, alas, have all but vanished, only a few local establishments now offering live music by a dwindling number of local musical artists. Over the next several weeks, The Albany Herald will look at past and present music scenes, getting feedback from artists of decades ago and those playing today, some of them whose longevity has kept them playing for both generations of fans. 

ALBANY – If you’re looking for a cool “origin story,” few bands can match popular Albany-based late-’90s/2000s alternative rockers Holly Drive.

A few east Albany buds – Chad and Brad Basko, Dusty Ashberry and Zac Etheridge – all came from musical families and started playing at early ages. As they grew older and started taking their music a little more seriously, they started looking for someone to front their little group.

That someone turned out to be a teacher at their school, Byne Christian.

“They talked with me about music, and I told them I was interested in learning to play,” Kris Morrill, who would become the singer/acoustic guitarist for the collective that would be known as Holly Drive, said. “They came to my house and showed me a few chords, and since they had their instruments with them, we started messing around with a few things.

“I was able to pick up a few chords, but those guys were all worlds ahead of me as guitarists.”

But the jam session that grew from that early meet-up was the genesis of a band that would grow into one of the most popular musical groups in southwest Georgia.

“We were just amazed that Kris could play guitar and sing,” Chad Basko, who played drums for Holly Drive and later, after the group’s demise, provided rhythm for one of Albany’s most popular and enduring bands, Unbreakable Bloodline, said. “None of us could do that. He was our man.”

Morrill, who now owns the dog-training business Revolutionary Canine, said he joined the band for the novelty of the experience, never expecting much to come of it.

“We’d started out – like everybody else – doing cover songs,” he said. “We’d play at pool halls, neighborhood parties, anywhere anybody wanted us to play. But after a while, it kind of morphed into this thing where we built a regional following and we started doing more and more shows.

“I remember going to what we were told was a festival in Valdosta, and we were told that the show was going to be at the corner of this street and that street. When we got there, there was a flat-bed trailer with one extension cord running to the site. It wouldn’t even be enough power for our amp, much less all of our equipment.”

Discouraged, the members of Holly Drive changed tack. They went to the tiny Remerton community and found a bar that would allow them to play.

“We had a guy who kind of served as our manager, and he went from bar to bar in that tiny community until he finally found one that would let us play,” Morrill said. “They had a guy doing acoustic stuff inside, and they told us they couldn’t pay us but we could play on their deck. I felt sorry for that guy inside, because once we set up and started playing, everyone came outside to hear us.

“The crowd bought up all of our CDs and our merch, and the next time we played down there, everyone was singing along to our songs. That kind of blew our minds.”

All of the members of Holly Drive except Morrill were too young to be in many of the places the band played, an issue that was solved by the makeup of the band’s “road crew.”

“Once we finished playing at one of these bars, we couldn’t hang around,” Basko said. “So our parents, who handled our sound system and went to all of our shows, had to load out our equipment.”

Before they started playing on a regular basis, the members of Holly Drive became something of an annoyance in their neighborhoods. In fact, that’s what led indirectly to the band’s name.

“We’d practice at Kris’ house on 10th Avenue, and we’d get the cops called on us for noise complaints almost every time we rehearsed,” Basko said. “And when we’d play at one of our dad’s buildings on Holly Drive, the cops were called on us every night.

“We decided to go with the band name Holly Drive because everyone would complain to our parents, ‘Are y’all the parents of those loud Holly Drive kids? Those kids are too loud.’”

Holly Drive went on to record an album of original material in Nashville, Tenn., and another they recorded at Stallion Music in Albany. The band played throughout the region, at all of the Albany and south Georgia venues and at clubs in Alabama and Florida.

The music scene in the region, Morrill noted, was thriving at the time the band started to make a name for itself.

“There were a lot of bands around here, and a lot of venues that loved hosting live music,” he said. “Folks like the guys in Monroe Brown became good friends. We’d go see their shows, and they’d come to ours. That was the thing about it then: We were more of an alternative band and Monroe Brown played a little harder-edged music, but we all supported each other.

“Back then, the club owners were willing to pay the bands. You might get the gate or 2- or 300 bucks plus a meal. There’s not a lot of that now, but saying there are no live venues now is bullsh–. If you want to play, you can find a place to play. You can set up on a street corner or just set up somewhere on someone’s property and play. There may not be a big scene, but you can create a scene.”

Life as a regional band around the turn of the century led to some interesting times, Basko said.

“There were actually a bunch of crazy times,” the former drummer said. “We were signed to play a ‘big party’ at Panama City Beach during what we were told was ‘spring break.’ When we got down there, there was a flatbed, two extension cords and maybe five people. Turns out it was the week before spring break.

“During that time, there were a lot of venues for bands in our area. There just aren’t that many places that have live music now. Of course, during the time that we were playing, people would show up to hear live music. Not so much any more.”

When Morrill told his younger bandmates that it was time for him to move on into the adult world to make a living, the band members divided the money they had saved and split up amicably. The members of Holly Drive played in other bands for a short period, Chad Basko doing seven years with UBL, but they never matched the success they had with the band that became one of the region’s most popular groups.

Ashberry is an engineer now; Brad Basko works for Safe-Aire, and Etheridge tragically passed away a short while ago.

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