Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s rewind

Part 9: Enter James the Fang Ramone

Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s was history in the making, friends, in oh so many ways. Not only did the world-famous Fiddleworms reach their fund-raising goal, Jamie Barrier, founder and frontman of the legendary Pine Hill Haints, created yet another new music genre right before our eyes.

What? That's right, y'all — night one, set one, song nine, we witnessed the birth of Alabama Ghost Punk Rock at the hands of our very own James the Fang Ramone right there on the Shoals Theatre stage. You heard it here first. Jamie entered stage right wearing a T-shirt and red converse — not exactly his usual Haints attire — but like always, he had a bandana in his back pocket, his trusty acoustic guitar in his left hand, and his ghost music amp in the other. Have spooky amp, will travel, friends.

Here's the thing: I love all of our Shoals/MSM artists but I can't help but have my favorites. I'm only human, you know. It's kind of like how as a parent, you're not supposed to have a favorite child but in a weird sort of unintentional way, you kinda do. All 57 performances of the MSM the 70s four-set, two-night stand were stellar but Jamie performing the Ramones classic, "I Wanna Be Sedated" was everything to me. Jamie attacked the song as only a Haint could. He jump-kicked ... he kneel-played ... he Haint-ified this garage rock punk classic with ghostly coolness straight from Pine Hill Cemetery. I missed Katie Kat, though, maybe next time? Meow.

It's so funny, I know the Ramones came on the scene in the 1970s but I discovered Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny, and Tommy when I was a teenager in the 1980s. In the early 1990s, the Ramones infiltrated the soundtrack of my life. By the late 1990s, my Pine Hill Haints fandom took root, too. Yeah. That’s right, the Haints have been hainting for 25+ years. Time is a thief.

Ahh ... speaking of the fabulous 90s, y'all. Raise your hand (see what I did there?) if you saw Russell Mefford’s MSM 2026 teaser post/poster. All hail Scott Campbell. All hail the Fiddleworms. All hail MSM.

More to come ... stay tuned.

Dig worms, friends.

Photo credit: Angel DeAnn Pilati