The JudyBats

Although Knoxville, TN's Judybats managed a few minor college radio hits, their brand of genial, folk-inflected college rock was rendered passé around the time Nevermind came out, which limited their commercial success considerably. This was a shame, because although their albums were extremely uneven, the group's best tracks were something special. The Judybats formed in Knoxville in 1988, initially consisting of University of Tennessee students Jeff Heiskell on vocals, Johnny Sughrue on acoustic guitar, and Ed Winters on electric guitar. The nascent group took their distinctive name from a friend's unrecorded song, which featured the line "punch me with a judybat," a reference to medieval Punch and Judy puppet shows. The trio slowly added keyboardist Peggy Hambright (whose occasional violin and backing vocals were an integral part of the group's early sound), bassist Timothy Stutz, and drummer Terry Casper, and after a self-released demo cassette attracted considerable local attention, the group was signed to Sire Records in 1990. After debuting on Sire's fine 1990 Roky Erickson tribute Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye (despite the fact that only Stutz had ever even heard of Erickson when the band were asked to appear), the Judybats released 1991's Native Son. By far the folkiest of the group's albums, the album garnered generally positive reviews and college radio warmed to the atypically synth-poppy single "Don't Drop the Baby," but sales were uninspiring. 1992's Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow was a more eclectic affair featuring a much stronger set of songs, but although it's by far the Judybats' best album, it did not build on the modest alternative success of Native Son. Casper had already left the band prior to the recording of the second...