It was an ordinary day when Three Legged Dawg band member Billy Ray took a walk in his yard. His dog had taken a dump in the grass. To his amazement, a butterfly was perched on the excrement as if to symbolize the triumph of freedom and beauty over ¾ well, crap.
That was Billy Ray's inspiration for one of the possible titles of Three Legged Dawg's upcoming album: "Dogshit Butterfly." The independent local band already has an album out and will be performing Thursday night at Lightnin' Salvage from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Satchel's Pizza, which is located at 1800 NE 23rd Ave.
Three Legged Dawg's music can best be described as "crunky-tonk." To understand such an elusive term, one must first understand the meaning of "honky-tonk," said the band members, Billy Ray and Krissy Mae.
"Honky-tonk is music about drinkin', bein' in bars, your wife leavin' ya and your truck poppin' out of park and runnin' over your dog," said Billy Ray, who plays, writes and sings for Three Legged Dawg. "Crunky-tonk is honky-tonk with a rougher edge."
The rougher edge refers to the influence of metal and punk in their music.
"One time, we inspired a small but messy mosh pit," Krissy Mae said.
She was a self-proclaimed metal-head before her interest in country slowly snuck up on her. Now she plays drums, writes and sings for Three Legged Dawg, inspired by a long list of dead country stars, including Karen Carpenter and Sarah Romweder.
"Gainesville is like an energy vortex," she said. "Sit here long enough and some strange talent will beseech you. For me, it was pounding drums."
She spent her childhood moving through the Midwest. She lived in Ohio, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas before she moved to Gainesville and started making noise with Billy Ray.
Billy Ray lived in Louisiana as a small child before moving to Boston and later, Daytona, Fla.
"Daytona was such a weird place," he said. "There were maybe a dozen people I could relate to ¾ the punks, the hippies, the surfers ¾ they inspired some of the songs I write."
In Three Legged Dawg, he plays the guitar, harmonica, and gitjo, which is a 6-stringed banjo-guitar. He also created the art for the cover of their self-produced album, "Malt Lick'er."
"My influences are probably R.E.M., Minutemen, Ernest Tubb, Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson, the most prolific songwriter in existence," he said.
The band's songs are filled with classical country themes, which he described as "lovin' and losin' and drinkin' in between."
"We probably have the saddest theme song of any band," Krissy Mae said, referring to the song "3LD Theme," which begins with the lyrics, "I'm a three-legged dog."
"For Halloween, we plan to dress up as four legged dogs," she said, laughing.
Other songs include "Jesus Song," which humorously describes an epic struggle between Satan and Jesus, while "Squirrel Song" contemplates the nature of life, death and pain through the experience of a squirrel that accidentally impaled itself on Billy Ray's fence.
At Lightnin' Salvage, Three Legged Dawg will play some of its favorites, covers of old rock songs and some new original songs, including "Eastside Manifesto," a song about the east Gainesville.
Krissy Mae said the band likes to play at Satchel's because it "has the best food in town."
