Since BR549 last played Lawrence two years ago, the band has lost its hyphen. Say goodbye to BR5-49; say howdy to BR549.

“It’s just an aesthetic thing,” says the group’s frontman Chuck Mead. “Mary Chapin Carpenter dropped her hyphen and no one said a word … Actually, we thought it might stop people in England from calling us ‘BR5-forty nine.'”

The punctuation is not all that has changed.

The retro country quintet, led by Lawrence expatriates Mead and Shaw Wilson, has undergone its first lineup shift since its formation in the mid-’90s. Gone are guitarist Gary Bennett and bassist Smilin’ Jay McDowell. Stepping into their bullhide boots are instrumentalist Chris Scruggs and bassist Geoff Firebaugh.

“They’re young guys, and their earnestness has rubbed off on us,” Mead says. “Last year when Gary and Jay quit the band because they were tired of being on the road, we didn’t know what we were going to do. Shaw and Donnie (Herron) and I all knew that we wanted to keep playing together some way. But we didn’t know anything about keeping the band together.”

The three stayed busy by revisiting their roots, performing in Nashville’s Lower Broadway district where they first forged their reputation. They hooked up with Firebaugh, Scruggs (grandson of bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs) and guitarist Joe Buck (bassist for Hank Williams III) and called the project the Hillbilly All-Stars.

“We started playing with them and started thinking we should make them part of BR,” Mead recalls. “So we put Chris and Geoff in BR, and we’ve been out since May gathering steam. Of course, every place we go they have to reprove themselves. But we’ve done really great. We went to Europe, and the hardcore fans have accepted these guys. It’s put a lot of fun back into it. We remember how much fun this could be.”

The resigned members have gone on to other gigs in the industry. McDowell has a film and video production company in Nashville, while Bennett is concentrating on honing his own songwriting skills for a solo career.

BR549's new lineup includes Donnie Herron (front), Shaw Wilson, Chuck Mead (middle row), Geoff Firebaugh and Chris Scruggs (back).

“We miss them,” Mead says, mentioning the original lineup’s last gig was on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. “But we thought, ‘We put in all this work, let’s get out on the road and play’

“We wouldn’t come out with something that we considered second rate just in the name of trying to make a living. We had somewhat of a reputation for having a certain amount of integrity. Whether other people (believed that), we thought we did.”

Western wear

Although BR549 has always envisioned integrity and country music as partners, the industry has not necessarily subscribed to that ideal.

“I was just watching some video on CMT about 10 minutes ago, and I couldn’t tell that from some video on VH1,” Mead says. “What’s the difference? The woman sounded like Sheryl Crow; she looked like her. The only thing country was she had a ripped-up Alabama T-shirt on in the video. It wasn’t that it was a bad song, it just had more to do with Sheryl Crow and less to do with Merle Haggard.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the clothes you wear. I mean, sure, we dress in our old garb, but that’s just something I grew up doing. Big deal. You could put us in (expletive) scuba gear and we’d still sound country.”

In fact, Mead reveals that for the band’s traditional New Year’s Eve gig at Lawrence’s Liberty Hall, the gang had considered unveiling a new look.

“Shaw’s big idea for 2001 was to dress up in Star Trek uniforms,” he says. “But we never could get that together.”

Although the members will be clad in full rustic regalia when appearing Saturday in Kansas, they will be bypassing their go-to venue because of scheduling conflicts. For the first time ever, BR549 will perform at The Bottleneck a locale with which Mead is quite familiar, however.

“The last time I played The Bottleneck was in 1993 when Shaw and I were in Dos Cajones and we opened for Reverend Horton Heat,” says Mead, who grew up in Lawrence and whose parents still live here. “We’re looking for the triumphant return of Dos Cajones now we’re ‘Dos Cajones Plus Three.'”

BR549 comes back to Lawrence for its first show in two years.

Regardless of the venue, Mead is clear on what the objective for his band is when taking the stage.

“We want people to come in there and sweat and ‘sway they hands’ to the hillbilly music,” he explains.

The good life

Interview with Chuck Mead of BR549¢ How is your line-up working out?¢ What are Jay and Gary up to now that they’ve left the band?¢ Chuck Mead musing on the Outhouse…before it was a strip club.¢ What do you think of ‘country’ music these days?¢ So what was it like for you growing up in Lawrence?¢ How did you get signed so quickly after moving to Nashville?¢ An on-air interview with Chuck Mead on KJHK 90.7fm circa 1985.¢ Chains of This Town mp3 by BR549

Mead’s ensemble has toured the world, recorded six albums for Arista and two for Sony, been featured on programs such as “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “Austin City Limits,” shared stages with Bob Dylan, Faith Hill and George Jones, and even played the wedding reception of actress Kate Hudson and rock singer Chris Robinson.

So now that BR549 has launched its new-and-improved lineup, what exactly is the remaining career ambition for this audacious honky-tonk outfit?

“Super-stardom,” Mead says.

“We just want to continue not having jobs. We want to ride around and play music for people and have enough money to pay for our houses … I haven’t prepared myself for anything else. I don’t think anybody else has either. We’ll keep doing it until people are sick and tired of us.”

Now, does Mead mean “super-stardom” or does he mean “superstardom?”