“Just Go Baby,” the latest single from Charleston retro-rock trio Jared Petteys & the Headliners, is yet another excellent addition to the party-starting tunes that the group has excelled at since its formation in the late 2010s.
The vinegary kiss-off song rides a monster boogie-saturated guitar riff. Pettey’s signature vocal howls while making the most of its early rock ’n’ roll ingredients, pushing the volume and distortion just short of the point of punk rock raggedness. But is it still the trademark rockabilly that the band built their reputation on, or is it sliding into the blues, riff-heavy 70s AOR (album-oriented rock), or even postmodern pastiche of the various retro-rock aesthetics?
According to Petteys, the band has always pretty organically found itself in the rockabilly space, but the new tune is “kind of stepping out of [the genre] a little bit.”
“Rockabilly is a huge part of what we do and what I love, but I’m also really into the blues; I’m really big into 70s rock ’n’ roll [too],” he says. “We’re kind of at the point where we’re introducing these other elements and not making it fit in the box of rockabilly.”
It’s been a gradual coming out of their shell for the group, which made a splash with its entry in the Charleston scene thanks to its consciously 1950s rockabilly panache, complete with Pettey’s evocation of James Dean’s style and an embrace of old-school car culture. But Petteys said it was always more about the independent spirit of rockabilly more than the specific signifiers that drew him to the style.
“Rockabilly is built on that do-it-yourself mentality, very much like the punk community,” he says.” It’s all about getting out there and grinding to build your own fan base.”
Streak of individualism
And given that streak of individualism that drew him to the music in the first place, it also became clear to Petteys that he wasn’t being completely honest by staying purely with the confines of rockabilly. He says the group toured with so many different styles of bands, from punk and hard rock to blues and Americana, that he felt the pull of possibility on his music and the group’s sound.
“It didn’t feel completely genuine if we were only trying to fit what I thought [rockabilly] meant,” he says now. “I’m at a point now where it’s like I just want to take everything that I love and mix it into a big vat, and then whatever comes out of that is [inherently] a more original kind of thing.”
And following that pull is really the whole point–Petteys, a military vet and father of three, left more stable fields in construction and real estate to pursue music full-time on the basis of pure passion.
“I just feel like my life was positioned in this direction the whole time,” he says. “I went through a series of really tough times — I was in the military for six years and deployed to Iraq. I lost friends during that time, and I saw how short life can be. It really made me shift into focusing on what was important to me.”
Fast-forward to 2024, and Petteys and the Headliners keep up a steady flow of shows and a stream of singles to support their vivacious, crowd-pleasing performance style. The trio is currently set to take off on a two-week run through the Midwest on the heels of the new single, including a couple of festival appearances.
“The next step is booking out some more tour dates … and pushing to be as big as we can on a national scale,” Petteys said.
Jared Petteys & the Headliners will perform at Burns Alley Tavern Sept. 6 and 7 at 10 p.m. For tickets and more info, visit jaredpetteys.com.
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