CEDAR BLUFF — Cherokee County natives familiar with the longtime athletics rivalry between Cedar Bluff and Sand Rock might be somewhat surprised, at first, to learn the hometowns of the members of the locally-based three-man county band that calls itself Bent in Bama.

In fact, if it wasn't for a little bad luck on the high school football field, lead singer and songwriter Colton Richardson might not even be playing music today.
In the band's press kit, Richardson explained that a broken hand he received while playing for the Cedar Bluff Tigers led him to try his (other) hand at the guitar.

"With some minor coaching from friends and family and his ear for music, he began finding his own sound," read the press kit.

After graduating, Richardson moved down to road to Jacksonville to begin college, but still played his own brand of music whenever he could. After playing for tips in a small Cedar Bluff cafe for a while, Richardson graduated to playing live for customers in the famous Peerless Saloon near the Jacksonville State campus whenever time and his class schedule permitted.

Somewhere along the way, Richardson bumped into 2005 Sand Rock graduate Brian Beck, a former scholarship tennis player at Gadsden State who, as it turned out, loved country music as much as his acquaintance from the other side of Cherokee County.

"Country music touches the heart and soul of everyday people living everyday lives," Brian said. "It brings each of them a little happiness in hard times."

Brian loved music so much that he taught himself to play both the guitar and drums as a teenager by downloading chords and music from the Internet. After joining the Army Reserve, Richardson and Brian began organizing jam sessions at Brian's pool house. Crowds soon began to gather to listen in, and the "pool house gang" was born.

It was around that time that Cody Beck, Brian's younger brother, got involved in the sessions at their house.

Cody said he knew he wanted to play music the first time he saw Brian perform in a talent show at Sand Rock School.

"From that moment on, my passion for music has grown more every day," Cody said.

Cody and Brian took turns on the drums and guitar their parents had bought them, then moved up to a set of electric drums they found under the Christmas tree in 2008. In fact, Cody has become so adept at the drums that he was asked to sit in with a Christian band that visited their church, Sand Rock Baptist.

When Richardson and Brian made up their minds to form a band a few months back, the first person they asked about playing bass guitar was Brian's little brother.

And that's how Bent in Bama got as far as it has, so far.

Now, the three Cherokee County boys are hoping for a little more. They recently released a CD of original songs (all written by Richardson) that they recorded at Jeff Cook's studio on Lookout Mountain near Fort Payne.

Recent live performances include the Gridiron in Gadsden. And they're doing very well, so far, in the Second Annual Roman Roast on the River Battle of the Bands.

The guys recently found out they have made the cut of 16 finalists and will fight it out for online votes in a popularity contest that runs through May 9. The top four bands will perform 15-20 minutes sets at the Roman Roast in Rome, Ga. on May 14.

Richardson's song "Muddy Waters," a coming-of-age ballad that will surely conjure long-forgotten images of sitting on the banks of Weiss Lake to many locals, came in at No. 15 on the contest list.

According to a press release from the contest's organizers, the audience will vote for the winning band, which will open for KISS ARMY at its May 21 performance at the DeSoto Theater in downtown Rome. The winning band will also be allowed to create a music video, compliments of the contest organizers.

To cast votes for Cherokee County's very own Bent in Bama go to http://rn-t.com/pages/contest_bob2011. ”