Strap yourselves in for this one- it’s a fabulous clip of high-octane left-wing southern rockers Lee Bains III and The Glory Fires on absolutely top form. Frontman Lee Bains begins with a “rap” about the song, which concerns his upbringing in his home city of Birmingham, Alabama. This was a place at the heart of the sixties Civil Rights movement and has a wonderful Civil Rights Museum, which is a “must-visit” if that is your type of thing. The museum is next to the 16th Street Baptist Church, where the KKK put a bomb that killed four young black girls, and which is mentioned in the Drive-By Truckers’ ‘Ronnie and Neil’.
He initially describes growing up in the urban southside of the city with people of different gender, race, class, religion and sexuality to him and learning from them. He then says that this made him a better neighbour, friend, citizen and steward of the area’s culture. Inspiring and touching words, particularly when you hear so much divisive language at the moment, with hostility to people who differ from the mainstream. But he seems to be a man who walks the walk as well as talking the talk- the group does lots of benefit gigs, for example, “for striking Alabama coal miners and Southern Black LGBTQ liberation organizations, and presenting gospel-music live streams for Birmingham and Atlanta food banks”.
They all then blast into the song, albeit with some changes of pace. It reminds me so much of the first time I saw them, in a small room in the Puzzle Hall Inn, in Sowerby Bridge near Halifax. The audience was right up to the microphone, and Lee went into the crowd on a number of occasions. It was a fantastic, incendiary gig, with the sort of energy I can only remember seeing elsewhere at the punk gigs of my youth. I expect that the venue had the Fire Brigade on speed dial, just in case of spontaneous combustion.
The song comes from the album “Youth Detention” (2017), which, like another album of theirs, “Dereconstructed” (2014), is a great, scorching southern rock album with some really excellent tracks- it was rated 9/10 by us at Americana UK. However, I slightly prefer their 2012 debut, “There is a Bomb in Gilead”, and 2022’s “Old-Time Folks”, which was my album of that year and got into the Rolling Stone Top 100. Both have more light and shade, and changes of pace, with a gospel/soul feel to some of the songs and a country influence on others. I saw a Lee Bains solo show at The Rose and Monkey Hotel in Manchester, where it was clear what a great, soulful voice he has. One example of this is on a nice version of The Box Tops’ ‘Cry Like A Baby’, written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.
I last saw the band in 2023 in Sheffield, where the two Williamson brothers seen in the video on bass and drums had been replaced. It was very good but not quite the same. However, the group has been touring in the US in 2025 as a threesome with the brothers thankfully back. Lee has also been doing some solo shows. You can only wish that they produce some new music and come back to the UK to play some gigs.
