Confederate Railroad is a country band founded in the early 1990s from Texas, USA. The lead singer is Danny Shirly.
During the first half of the '90's when country music made a dramatic stylistic shift towards up-tempo material, Confederate Railroad rose to prominence with contributions like " Trashy Women" and " Queen of Memphis." In doing so, this Southern-rock influenced band fortified a collective musical style that helped put Americans from every walk of life back onto the dance floor, while at the same time providing classic ballads which helped define '90's country music.
Although Confederate Railroad has taken its blend of simply-themed emotional ballads and turbo-charged dance floor favorites all over the map and up and down the music charts, the group's roots are traceable to several of country music's revolutionaries, including Waylon Jennings, The Charlie Daniels Band and Hank Williams, Jr.
In a 1992 interview, Chattanooga-born Danny Shirley explained, "Our roots are real deep in Southern rock. I used to run with the boys in Lynyrd Skynyrd, but what turned me on to country music was when Waylon and Willie hit. I saw that the music I grew up around could have some balls to it."
By the time Atlantic records released Confederate Railroad's self-titled debut album in 1992, the group had ten years of live performing experience, and had developed a beer-soaked, high-energy road show which melded traditional country sensibilities with the free-wheeling energy of rock, including several years as the house band at Miss Kitty's, a storied Atlanta area night club.
