Bio

Betsy Badwater hammers down a stout distillation of rockabilly, country, blues, soul and high-lonesome. Betsy writes the songs, sings, plays guitar, and a tambourine-topped bass drum all at the same time. The Americana bandleader insists on organic instrumentation, guts-out-gospel vocalization, and rich, passionate, storytelling. 
 
Betsy is the daughter of 5 generations of Primitive "Footwashin'" Baptist preachers, church founders, and singers. Like Ralph Stanley, Betsy learned, from infancy, to sing in the Appalachian High-Lonesome and shape-note ”song lining” singing style heard almost exclusively in Primitive Baptist churches. Betsy’s gigantic voice came out of a family of gigantic voices- when there’s no music in church, you have to sing “out.”  The sound can be as frightening as it is beautiful. 
 
In just the last 5 years, Betsy has recorded three 16-20 song albums: TALL TALES (2008), TALES of the WAYWARD (2009), and HOMETOWN MONEY (2013), which are available from all major online retailers and at live shows. Since 2005, Betsy has toured and performed on numerous music festivals across the south east annually, and has opened for many of her heroes. Betsy Badwater & The Hillbilly Chrome have performed as supporting act for David Allen Coe, Chris Thomas King,  Reverend Peyton & The Big Damn Band, Rodney Atkins, Ray Benson & Asleep at the Wheel, Larry Mitchell Band, Buckwheat Zydeco, The Ten Foot Pole Cats, Ramblin’ Steve Gardner & Bill Steber, Miss Izzy Cox, and more. The sound of Betsy Badwater has been featured on NPR radio shows as well as commercial radio stations in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as featured on PBS television, CNN and Headline News.
 
 

Hometown Money

Betsy's newest record, released Aug 17, 2013, Hometown Money, was completed at The Shed Recording Studio in New Orleans, LA with the fabulous Recording Engineer, Ben Lorio. Hometown Money features Grammy-winning movie star and Blues/Americana hero, Chris Thomas King ( O' Brother Where Art Thou, Ray) as Producer and multi-instrumentalist. Betsy toured Hometown Money as a One-Man-Band with a 52 date / 9 state tour of The South, from August to October of 2013. 

Betsy is currently between working as strictly a one-man-band and nurturing a brand new project.

Press


"Nearly a decade after working with Ray Charles on the score for the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning film “Ray,” Chris Thomas King chose to work with Badwater. “I think she’s a very good songwriter, and I think her songs can go quite far,” King said of Badwater and the songs he produced for her upcoming album."
- Michael L. Smith, Pensacola News Journal (Jun 21, 2013)

"She’s not a tall drink of water; she’s Betsy Badwater, and you’ll definitely want to take a sip. Since 2005, Badwater and her musical collective “The Hillbilly Chrome” have been performing their rockabilly, Americana-style music with such a writhing intensity, it’s easy to justify packed venues of fans and future fans alike."
- B.Davis, Independant News (Mar 02, 2011)

"An outlaw will ride into town this Thursday, and a new sheriff will welcome him with a hearty handshake of old fashioned foot stompin‘ justice. The baddest of the bad, David Allan Coe, will be stopping into Vinyl Music Hall to sing a few songs and have a few kicks, and joining him in this night of revelry will be Pensacola’s own pint sized preacher’s daughter with a man sized attitude, Betsy Badwater.,..."There’s not a venue in town that isn’t licking their chops to have them back once they’ve played there, nor a soul left in the joint that isn’t a fan by the end of the show."..."Betsy throws everything at you, including the kitchen sink from time to time, and leaves it all out there on the stage. Take it how you want to, but you best believe that you will feel something when she’s done."
- Joani Delezen, Independant News (Jan 04, 2011)

"Tattoo artist & musician, Betsy Badwater, inspires other single moms"
- Katie Hawkins-Gaar, CNN News (Dec, 17, 2010)



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