Povertyneck Hillbillies

The Hillbilly Way or THW are an American country music band formed in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2012 and originally consisted of Chris "Abby" Abbondanza (lead vocals), Dave Cramer (keyboards), Ryan Lucotch (drums), Jeff Volek (bass guitar, accordion), David "Junior" Guthrie (electric guitar), and Bob "Crafty" Crafton (steel guitar). The band originally started as a Reunion to their previous band name The Povertyneck Hillbillies. Under their previous name, The Povertyneck Hillbillies, they released a total of three albums: the independently released Hillbilly State of Mind and Don't Look Back in 2002 and 2004, followed by a self-titled effort in 2006 on Rust Records, Universal Music Group. Although these three albums produced no chart hits, they sold more than 10,000 copies nationwide and their video for the song "Mr. Right Now", went to #2 on Great American Country, GAC, for 15 weeks. The group toured all over the continental US during this time under "The Dale Morris & Associates", now called Paradigm Talent Agency and were marketed by AristoMedia. They also attended the CMA Awards and were featured in magazines such as Country Weekly and Rolling Stone. In 2008, Higbee, the founder of "The Povertyneck Hillbillies", issued a press release indicating that the band would be on hiatus indefinitely. Higbee then went on with his own band called "The Chris Higbee Project", while Abbondanza began a solo career, and "Junior", Ryan, and Jeff formed a band called "The West Virginia Push", A.K.A. "Junior & The Push". In 2012, the band reformed under the name of The Hillbilly Way, and had a kickoff concert August 25, 2012, at CONSOL Energy Park, home of the Washington Wild Things minor league baseball team, in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The band now consists of Chris "Abby" Abbondanza, Jeff Volek, David "Junior" Guthrie, and Keith Kleinhampl.

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