Former leader of the Cornbred Blues Band, Worley was a fixture on the local music scene for several years — playing shows, couch-surfing and getting into all manner of trouble, usually with a good story to tell. But then, around 2008, he dropped off the radar.

“I played 600-plus shows in 2.5 years, and I woke up homeless in the back of my van with my tooth falling out and arthritis in my leg,” Worley told me this afternoon. “I had to reevaluate and take a little time off. I got with a real good woman, and she straightened my ass out.”

Worley is calling from Akron, Pa., with news of an East Tennessee bombing run — a June 4 date at Sunspot in Knoxville and a June 5 date at “The Shed” at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson in Maryville, where he’ll open for Hayes Carll. He’ll be traveling in style, he said — driving a 23-foot 1977 Apache RV on a Chevy G30 van frame.

“I’m gonna convert the damn thing over to propane and rock on down the road,” he said. “Here I’m going all green in my old age.”

First things first — he’ll be in town by the weekend to play the Boombutywah Festival (see the next post), and on May 30, he’s gonna rock the Farragut Building at 530 S. Gay St. (the corner of Clinch and Gay) at a shindig being put on to commemorate the late local moonshining legend “Popcorn” Sutton.

“We’re gonna call it the ‘Popcorn’ Sutton Memorial Jam,” he said. “We’ll have a full sound man, a couple of kegs from Woodruff’s and I’m gonna make up a batch of Jon Worley’s Purple Jesus.”

Worley’s planning on putting together an impromptu member of Cornbred; in addition, local Celtic rockers Cutthroat Shamrock will perform. An unedited version of a “Popcorn” Sutton documentary will also be shown, he added.

“It’s all in there — all the cussin’, all the Johnny Knoxville getting (messed) up and retarded and puking — that’s all in the film,” he said.

Doors open at 7 p.m.; cost is $7 and the show is open to the public. (”Unless you’re a cop,” Worley added.)

We profiled the band this time last year, and the group continues to evolve and branch out. Not only did the guys release the album “Blood Rust Whiskey” last year, they’re already putting together a new CD — this time around, an acoustic offering tentatively titled “Hope Chest,” front man Ben Whitehead told The Daily Times recently.

“Three strings, no drums,” Whitehead said. “We’ve been playing acoustic shows at the Fox and Parrot Tavern in Gatlinburg for years, and people have been asking us for a long time — ‘Do you have this acoustic, softer-sounding music on CD?’ We didn’t, and we never planned to record anything like that, but around Christmas we decided to do one. We’ve got quite a few songs recorded, and we hope to record some more and have it out by the end of spring.”

Next week’s Valarium show — which includes local bands The High Score and Big Country’s Empty Bottle (admission is $6 in advance and $8 at the door) — is actually the capper to a busy St. Patty’s Day for the band, Whitehead said. First up is an appearance on the WDVX-FM “Blue Plate Special,” a live radio show/concert that’s recorded — and open to the public — at WDVX studios, 301 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville.

It’s a band full of Celtic goodness, featuring — in addition to Cutthroat Shamrock — local bands Shamrock Road, Four Leaf Peat (profiled in this coming Friday’s edition of The Daily Times Weekend section) and singer-songwriter Matt McNeely, all playing for an extended, 90-minute special. It’s the kick-off for WDVX’s spring fundraising drive, supporting efforts to keep the independent, community-supported radio station — which plays an eclectic mix of music celebrating the arts and culture of Southern Appalachia — going. (To make donations, contact the station at 544-1029 or visit the website.)

For Whitehead and his bandmates, their foray into Celtic music happened quite by accident, he said.

“Years ago, when we found our rhythm, we didn’t know it was a Celtic rhythm,” he said. “We were sitting around, jamming out and playing music, and before we ended up singing, someone said, ‘You sound like The Pogues.’ We were like, ‘Who are they? Let’s look into it.’ So we checked it out and decided, wow — we do kind of sound like them.

“We just stumbled onto it kind of by coincidence. We didn’t set out to say, ‘Let’s make a Celtic rock band.’ The sound sort of found us.”

Over time, the band’s music evolved from the roughshod, primal sounds of a band of Celtic warriors to a sound that’s more refined — although still hearty and anchored in rock ‘n’ roll. The Pogues and The Chieftains are still present, however, and the sound will always be a part of the band, Whitehead said.

“There’s just a liveliness to Celtic music that you can’t find in any other kind,” he said. “Just the good time, the feel, the camaraderie that you have — even if it’s a dark song, there’s still a liveliness to it.”

They’ll need that liveliness next week — immediately after playing “The Blue Plate,” they’ll head over to WUTK-FM, 90.3 The Rock, for an on-air performance; one hour later, they’re due at WFIV-FM, 105.3 for more St. Patty’s Day madness. After that, it’s time to load-in at The Valarium and rock the house.

The challenge, Whitehead said, will be in curbing the guys’ notoriously hard-drinking ways to make it through until the end of the night. As long as there’s no moonshine involved, they should be OK, he said with a laugh.

“We made that rule last year — the next day after The Valarium show, actually,” he said. “The night before, I decided to drink some moonshine on stage, and things got a little belligerent toward the end of the set. I at least want to try to remember some of it this year.

“Don’t get me wrong — we’re still gonna drink, just nothing from a jar if we can help it.”

Free music! Cutthroat Shamrock, “Dry Bones”: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)
Buy music by Cutthroat Shamrock: Click here
Cutthroat Shamrock on Myspace: Click here

Southbound (cover story)

The Drunk Uncles: (cover story)

Jonathan Sexton and The Big Love Choir (cover story)

Whitechapel 2 (front page story)

Dirty Guv’nahs 1 (cover story)

Royal Bangs (cover story)

R.B. Morris (cover story)

Maryville Metal Fest (cover story)

Brandy Robinson (cover story)

Scott Miller (cover story)

The Black Lillies (cover story)

Teenage Love13 (cover story)

Jill Andrews

Drunk Uncles 1

Whitechapel 1

The Dirty Guv’nahs

Skyfall

Mic Harrison and The High Score

Homer Hart

“Sneaky” Pete Rizzo

Color of Fate

Bellfield

Senryu

Ian Thomas

Soundtrack Black

Robinella: Final Barley’s gig

Mountain Folk Reunion

Cain and Annabelle

Diacon-Panthers

The Dirty Works

Seeing Skies

Kings County Gumbo

John Myers

The Dirty Gunnz

Christopher Scum

Bright Shining Lie

J.C. and The Dirty Smokers

Sisters of the Silver Sage

Kevin Abernathy Band

Scott McMahan

Facelock

Awake the Suffering

Madeline Ava

The Retroholics

The LoneTones

1220

Dishwater Blonde

The American Plague

Mr. Kobayashi

Roscoe Morgan

Johnson Swingtet

Cutthroat Shamrock

Van Eaton

Steve Kaufman

Taylor Brown

Mumbillies

Panorama

Allen Swank

Flashback

Angel Zuniga Martinez

The Akashic Mysteries

Jamie Cook

Dig 6 Down

Avenue C Band

Brad Walker Orchestra

After Saturday’s show, at which they opened for The Hackensaw Boys, the band hit the road for a multi-city jaunt they’re dubbing “The Rowdy Soul Tour,” after the final track on the new album. Check out the band on Myspace to get a run-down of all the dates, and mark two in particular on you calendar — Sept. 24, when the guys will headline “Old City Live” behind Southbound in Knoxville’s Old City; and Oct. 24, when they’ll play the Knoxville Brewers’ Jam. You can also keep track of the latest tour happenings by following singer/guitarist Ben Whitehead on Twitter. While you’re poking around online, go here to read a March story we did on the band.

An adorable side note — my 3-year-old son, Ezra, has been a fan of C.S. since I first started playing him their music. He knows them only as “Shamrock,” and his favorite song is “South Australia,” off of “The Wake.” The guys graciously included the song in their soundcheck, just for him. He had such a good time on Saturday night, even though we didn’t stay long, that when we got home, he got out his toy guitar and “played Shamrock,” hitting random pre-programmed chords and growling his way through his own special version of “South Australia.” He sounded possessed by demons, shouting and singing so loud the veins in his neck were popping against his skin and his little face turned beet-red. I was indeed a proud papa. The kid may not be able to tie his own shoes (yet), but by God he appreciates good music. I’m gonna film it and post the video on the group’s Myspace page, I think.

UPDATED! The guys have graciously allowed us to include a track off the new album in our steadily growing library of music by local artists. Download it now and get a taste of what you’re missing, if you’ve never taken the opportunity to see Cutthroat Shamrock perform live.

Download “Dry Bones,” by Cutthroat Shamrock: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)

As soon as we get a link to where you can purchase this fine album online, we’ll post it here.

It kicks off July 2 in Knoxville’s Old City, in what’s known as the Old City Courtyard — the area behind Southbound (located at 106 S. Central St.) and adjacent to Barley’s Taproom (200 E. Jackson Ave.). The series is an all-ages affair being billed as “Old City Live,” and there are some great local and national acts.

All shows take place at 8 p.m., and there’s never a cover. The lineup:

July 2: J.C. and the Dirty Smokers opening for Mic Harrison and The High Score

July 9: Matt Woods’ Plan A opening for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (VERY COOL! Roger is a former member of The Refreshments)

July 16: Chuck Norris opening for Paul Thorn

July 23: The Grassabillies opening for John Cowan

July 30: Homer Hart opening for The Coalmen

Aug. 6: TBA

Aug. 13: Brendon James Wright opening for Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

Aug. 20: Kata and the Blaze opening for Cody McCarver

Aug. 27: The Dixie Highway Band opening for Blueground Undergrass

Sept. 3: An Evening with The Coveralls: A three-hour show!

Sept. 10: The Dirty Guv’nahs with TBA

Sept. 17: TBA

Sept. 24: Honky Tonks Anonymous opening for Cutthroat Shamrock

For those of you without the luxury of such hook-ups, there’s good news — Wilco won’t be performing there, but according to Pitchfork, the guys will put in an appearance at The Disc Exchange, Knoxville’s most excellent music store, located on Chapman Highway. It’s part of National Record Store Day (which you can read about here), which will feature live music and appearances by all sorts of local and regional acts, all day long. Here’s the lineup:

Van Eaton and Friends at noon (read a recent interview here)

Greg Koons at 1 p.m

The Rockwells at 3:30 p.m.

Wild Sweet Orange at 4:30 p.m.

Tenderhooks at 5:30 p.m. (read last fall’s story on the band here)

John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives at 6:30 p.m. (read today’s interview with JPK here)

Cutthroat Shamrock at 7:30 p.m. (read a recent story here)

For more information about Wilco — including a new album due in late June and featuring guest vocals by Feist — click here.

Read the new Weekend interview with A Hawk and a Hacksaw, opening for Wilco on Saturday night at The Tennessee Theatre, by clicking here.