Phoenix band Plowed Under injects humor into its unique brand of country music
by Jenifer DeLemont
published on Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Jenifer DeLemont / STATE PRESS MAGAZINE
The name Plowed Under comes from a poem and picture by Charles Russell, a famous cowboy artist. It was his style and the look of the early West, in general, that inspired the members of the laid back honky-tonk band Plowed Under.

"It's like that sound that came out of Bakersfield, Calif., in the 1970s," says singer Rodd Mas, an ASU business alumnus, referencing the simple California country sound that developed — a contrast to Nashville's breed of country dominated by strings and background noise. Mas compares the band's sound to that of Buck Owens.

Like Owens or Merle Haggard, Plowed Under writes humor into their songs. While the old joke about country music — What do you get when you play a country song backwards? You get your wife back, your house back and your truck back — may be true of many Western songs that leave you crying in your beer, Plowed Under tries to make songs about sad subjects turn out funny.

For example, is the band's take on prison blues, "Puked on Myself." The upbeat song — which singer Rodd Mas calls "autobiofictional" — describes getting thrown in Tent City, with a chorus that begins "Damn that Joe Arpaio and damn that Tent City jail."

In the song "Paycheck to Paycheck," the band laments every college student's woes of being broke and eating baloney. In a line that most college students can relate to, the band claims, "They say the best things in life are free. They need to get back to reality."

Mas says the band members — which include drummer Ryan Rice, an ASU broadcast journalism alumnus, and new guitar player Dave Eras — have known each other for years, with the exception of Eras, who recently replaced Ben Cox. Plowed Under has been playing shows around the Valley at places like The Yucca Tap Room since 2003, plus shows in Prescott and other out-of-town locations.

Despite the band's rockabilly sound, Plowed Under gets billed with a variety of other groups, says bassist Mike Meyer, a journalism graduate student. "We've been booked with all kinds of different bands: from rockabilly to punk," he says.

The distinct carefree attitude that shines through in the band's songs just shows that the members are having fun, Mas says. "The cool thing about us is we're playing music we like," he says.

— jenifer.delemont@asu.edu




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Plowed Under - one of the valley's top five rockabilly bands.  The Arizona Republic

Plowed Under Formed in 2003, this outfit is more country than rock but still plenty of fun for rockabilly fans. –Michael Senft, The Arizona Republic

By CHRIS HANSEN ORF GET OUT



There is perhaps no genre of music more confusing than country.

There is the “contemporary,” or “mainstream,” country music that is played on country radio, and then there is the altcountry movement, which is largely ignored by radio.

Mainstream country fans, who enjoy the music of Kenny Chesney and Trace Adkins, probably have never heard of alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo, while alt-country fans and readers of alt-country bible No Depression magazine openly disdain, with a certain degree of snobbery, mainstream country, which, detractors claim, doesn’t sound like country music at all, but more like ’80s rock.

Rodd Mas, the leader of Valley honky-tonkers Plowed Under, talks openly — and with a refreshing lack of an air of superiority — of mainstream country music and its alt-country sub-genre, into which Mas’ twangy songwriting has firmly landed Plowed Under.

“Sure he does, just like Garth Brooks did,” Mas says when asked if Chesney and his ilk have anything to do with “real” country music. “I think people that like him would also like some of the stuff we play. I used to hold it against people if they liked ‘mainstream’ music, but what I found is that I was missing out on some good ideas because of presentation.”

In fact, Mas believes that the barrier between alt-country and mainstream country can be broken down enough to allow Plowed Under entrance to the Valley’s mainstream country bars, which notoriously book cover bands over groups who play country originals. Plowed Under plays most of their gigs in Valley rock bars, which appreciate the band’s danceable, old-school honky-tonk originals.

“Most of the folks going to the country bars are going there to drink or dance, and it is convenient for them to dance to songs they recognize,” Mas explains. “However, we did get a chance to play at a country bar in Scottsdale and the folks in the crowd came out and danced while we played. That was really cool because that’s the seal of approval from a crowd.”

If any Valley country band has a chance to make hay in the country venues around town, it’s Plowed Under, whose infectious twang is perfect for two-stepping and is radio-ready. In fact, popular morning team Tim and Willy of Valley country station KNIX (102.5 FM) have given the band their stamp of approval.

“We recorded two songs for the Tim and Willy show on KNIX,” Mas says. “They saw the band play and thought they could do a bit with our song ‘Puked on Myself.’ ”

While contemporary country fans at the Handlebar J in Scottsdale might not be ready for a tune called “Puked on Myself” — a brilliant, hilarious drinking tune found on the band’s MySpace page. The twangy Telecaster picking and catchy chorus should get the jeans-andboots crowd out on the dance floor.

“I really want to break into the country bar circuit,” Mas enthuses. “Like I said before, it was so cool to see people dancing around doing the Arizona twostep.”

>> Plowed Under performs 9 p.m. Friday,

Nov. 10, at Yucca Tap Room, 29 W.

Southern Ave., Tempe. Free. (480) 967-4777 or myspace.com/plowedunder.

PLOWING A NEW FIELD: Valley honky-tonkers Plowed Under mostly play rock clubs, where their twangy original tunes draw fans of everything from rockabilly to altcountry, but the band hopes to break into the Valley’s mainstream country clubs. JOE TREVINO, SPECIAL TO GET OUT

From Kathy Coleman
There's a little place out in Tempe, Arizona, that's just a little bit more than just a tiny little bar in a strip mall. It has become, mostly by simple attrition, the last great place in the Phoenix Metropolitan area where you can reliably hear great live music without paying an arm and a leg to do so. The Yucca Tap Room is small, it's dark, it gleefully calls itself a "dive," but to Dave Insley, it's home. He comes back to us to celebrate the release of his newest CD, Here With You Tonight. 

The night's festivities opened up with another great local group, Plowed Under. These boys really do that ol' hillbilly rock right. With some great good cheer (including a terrific song poking fun at our nationally infamous Sheriff Joe) and even better licks, the boys of Plowed Under warmed the crowd up right, with Rodd Mas's crisp vocals and tight rhythm guitar, Ben Cox alternating between lead and steel guitars, Ryan Rice on the drums and Mike Meyer hitting the bass, they were all kinds of terrific Arizona country. 

These boys have t-shirts, but they don't have an album (or apparently, a label) yet; I hope they get one soon, because this was some fine music. With great dance tunes that stick close to traditional country roots, Plowed Under got the evening off to a rousing start. I see on their website they're working on an EP, which is good news. Insley himself was already in residence for their set, hanging out with the crowd and selling CDs, both the tremendous new release Here With You Tonight and last year's impressive Call Me Lonesome, as well as t-shirts. The CDs are available on Dave's website, but his t-shirts you can only get at his shows. I recommend heading out to one if he comes to your town! 

Insley is a personable guy, always willing to stop and chat with everyone, share a drink or a story, and he's always got some good things to say about the groups he's playing with, whether he's opening for them or vice versa. He also takes a personal interest in making sure everyone sounds good, checking sound levels throughout his own show as well as those around him. Of course, all these indie groups have to do their own roadie work, moving and setting up their own instruments and equipment, but it's always kind of a treat to see it happening, as the stage goes from empty to full, back to empty then full again as the bands change. Dave's band is the Careless Smokers, a tight little four-man group called the Careless Smokers - on this particular night, this was Dale Allen on vocals and lead guitar, Mickey Ferrell on vocals and bass, and Tom Post on drums, and Dave himself on lead vocals and rhythm. (The Careless Smokers can and do change without notice, but their sound is always pretty tight.) I wasn't even paying attention to the clock when Dave took the stage and kicked off his night with one of his new tracks, "You're The One That I Prefer," and it set the mood and the tone for the whole night. 

Blending a solid combination of his own songs and some terrific covers, including Merle Haggard's "Swinging Doors" and George Jones' "When The Grass Grows Over Me," Insley connects tightly with his audience (in a small space like the Tap Room, that's got to be a necessity), laughing and joking with folks in the audience as well as the guys and gals who work at the Tap Room. He cheerfully takes requests, as long as he knows the song he'll do it, and he doesn't really follow a regular set list. He has a list of songs the group knows, and they pull from that seemingly at random. There were fewer songs from the new album played than I expected, but most of the favorites from "Call Me Lonesome" were there, although the performance of "Laid to Waste" was aborted when, laughing, Dave turned to the audience and admitted his guitar had suddenly, for some reason, gone wildly out of tune and he was forced to stop everything to get it back. By the time the laughter and silliness died down, they'd forgotten what they started. So another song was picked and the night swung out to a late-night close, as Dave played until very nearly two in the morning (last call). It was a great party, the company was fun, and the music was awesome.