This year’s Muddy Roots Festival marks the third time Murfreesboro’s country-metal outfit The Hellbillies have announced their final show, but this time it’s for real. We think. Murfreesboro Pulse caught up with frontman Renner to confirm the breakup of “Murfreesboro’s most hated band” and discuss the group’s last nine years of “getting dressed up,” changing members and raising hell onstage.

The Hellbillies are playing Muddy Roots in September. It’s not your first time playing the festival, is it?

It’s our second year playing it. The first time was last year, at the inaugural.

Who do you want to see at Muddy Roots this year?

Wanda Jackson and The Legendary Shack Shakers.

How did the current Hellbillies lineup meet?

A bass player quit six years ago and we added Trey Call on bass. Then Trey switched to lead guitar and Sam Baker took the bass spot. Trey also hooked us up with our drummer Scott Cooper.

Did you know there are two other bands called The Hellbillies, or Hellbillys? One’s from California and I think the others are Norwegian.

Yeah, totally aware of it. Don’t really care.

How do you describe your sound? Metal and rockabilly?

It’s not rockabilly. It’s metal and outlaw country. We call it count-and-roll.

How did you develop your sound?

I grew up listening to hair metal, like Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue, and outlaw country—Hank Williams, Jr., Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard. A lot of stuff like that. So we just combined the two, because they’re really not that different.

How are the two alike?

The songs are constructed a lot the same. The chords. That’s why a lot of bands like Social Distortion will cover Johnny Cash and things like that, because they’re not that different.

Why haven’t The Hellbillies played for a year?

Our last show was November 14 at the Exit/In of last year and we opened up for Faster Pussycat, the hair metal band from the ’80s, and the very next day, our good friend Todd Partain passed away the next morning from a battle with cancer. At the beginning of the band, he was always the guy that came onstage and introduced us. And if we ever did a song that needed another vocalist, he would always get up and sing with us. He was a big part of the band. So we took a break and decided we were only going to play one show this year at Muddy Roots. We just found out Muddy Roots is going to be our final show, actually.

Why?

Our drummer, Scott, is taking a job in Colorado and moving out there. The Hellbillies pretty much turned into a tight-knit group of people, more of a family than a band. We got so used to him being on the drums, it doesn’t seem right to go on without him. It would not be the same.

Do you have any further plans for music?

I have a band Drunker Than Hellencamp. All it is is John Mellencamp covers [laughs]. One of our backup singers, Rachel, has a band, Pretty Ugly.

Do you think you’d ever start another band writing original material?

No, ma’am. We have one album called He Who Rocks Behind The Road, and we’re going to record our final show at Muddy Roots. We’re going to record it and release a live album called Tennessevil. It’ll have two songs that are new that aren’t on the last album. We played them live but never recorded them.

Do you think your one record is going to hang on and that your local fan base will remember it?

We’re not a studio band. We’re a live band. I’m more excited about this live album. I can’t sing worth a crap. We put on a great show, and that’s why people come out. We get dressed up and have a great time. When we dress up, we’re kind of like a country Motley Crue, and everybody in the audience, from the beginning, started dressing up. It became something, like, not just going to see a band. Girls get their hair done and get dressed up really nice and guys—it’s almost like it was 1987 again at a Poison show.

Do you think Muddy Roots is a good point for The Hellbillies to call it quits?

It is perfect. It’s in a big, giant field. We’re on a big stage. We’re playing at midnight. It’s going to be a good time. I wouldn’t want to go out any other way. We can walk from the stage back to our campsite and get drunk, there you go.

Sounds like you’ve got the evening planned.

Yeah [laughs]. We do think of ourselves as Murfreesboro’s most hated band because a lot of local bands always hated us just because we have a bunch of people come to our shows, and they could never understand why, because they missed out on the whole “having fun” factor. It’s because I can’t sing, and we used to be sloppy onstage, and they couldn’t figure out why a whole bunch of people would come to our show. The secret to The Hellbillies is that there are always a bunch of people in the audience thinking, “Hey, I could do that.” And there’s no such thing as bad publicity. If people are talking about you, it means something is going on. The best comment I ever got about The Hellbillies was when I was walking offstage one time at The Boro, and I was walking along the bar where people were sitting on the stools, and they were like, “Good show, good show, good show,” and this one guy said, “I’m not going to tell you you had a good show. As a matter of fact, you sucked. But, this is the most fun I’ve ever had at a local show.”

So you’re big on crowd interaction?

Oh, yeah. We always pull people up onstage. We usually end a show with at least 10 to 20 people from the audience onstage with us. We’re totally into the crowd. If you’re at the show, you’re in the band. That’s usually how it works. So it’s a little bit bittersweet. But we became a family, so it wouldn’t seem right to keep going.

If your drummer wasn’t moving away, would you still have aspirations for the band?

We’d still play two or three times a year, but we’re all getting older. Everybody’s older, married and our guitar player has two kids. It’s getting harder to get everyone’s schedules to match up and do something. This is our third time saying it would be our last show. It’s kind of a running joke. We’re serious this time. Number three—it’s Earnhardt’s number, so we’re going to quit there [laughs].

The Hellbillies play Muddy Roots Sept. 4 at midnight. Tickets can be purchased at muddyrootsmusic.com.