So, what do you have when you team up a virtuoso guitar player and a prolific songwriter? Whiskey Bent, that's what. Guitarist Billy Ray McClelland and songwriter Jack Wingfield started writing songs together while they were in high school in Buna, Texas. "The first song we ever wrote together was called 'Remember Me', and we wrote it on my grandmother's porch", Jack says, "I had written the lyrics and Billy wrote the music. Acoustic guitar and vocals, that's our roots, for sure." Whiskey Bent probably has more in common with Rock bands from the 70's than modern day Country artists. Not unlike The Eagles, The Allman Brothers Band and the Doobie Brothers, Whiskey Bent has more than one voice. "We both write and sing, so it adds alot of different elements to the makeup of the music", Billy Ray says.

With the ability to front a metal band and the diversity to grace a Southern Rock stage, Billy Ray is one picker than can get the job done. Wanting to be Paul Stanley from Kiss as a kid and rooted with the sound of Skynyrd, he has ultimately merged a unique sound. From playing in the 80’s Metal band Hired Gunz to sharing the stage with Gerry Evans in northern Louisiana-based Southern Rock act Southern Reign, he has surely been seasoned a Rock and Roll-Southern Rock guitar phenomenon. Billy Ray says,” Meeting Jack was like Jimmy Page meeting Robert Plant; we have put together music and words perfectly from the day we met.” Now, being back together from a 14 year separation due to career moves and bad women, Billy Ray and Jack are stronger than ever working the proverbial cat to death with 9 lives to go.

With comparisons to brilliant songwriters Gram Parsons, the "Harvard educated hillbilly", and Rhodes scholar Kris Kristofferson, Jack Wingfield has some big shoes to fill. "Subtlety seems to be a lost art in Country music songwriting", Jack says. "There are writers who continue to elevate the genre like Billy Joe Shaver and Steve Earle, and we have to respect them and give them their due." Originally slated to be the band's keyboard player, a hand injury changed that. After writing much of the band's early keyboard arrangements, most notably for "I'll Be Here (Waiting For You)", Wingfield will continue to work on arrangements while someone else will probably take over the playing duties. "Between Billy's Southern Rock and Bluesy stuff and my Country Rock material," Jack continues,"... we should cast a wide net."

Keep your eyes open and your ears peeled for what Whiskey Bent has on the table and has on the way. They will truly give the world of music a twist of realism and a diverse sound. Whiskey Bent is truly a Southern Rock and Country original. Nashville won't know what hit 'em.