Birmingham, Alabama-bred, Austin, Texas-based visual artist, playwright, and roots musician
Charlie Terrell was raised on a steady diet of sacred harp singing,
the Allman Brothers, snake handling,
Lynyrd Skynyrd, voodoo,
Springsteen,
Prine,
Zevon, and
Dylan. After relocating to Los Angeles from Nashville in the late '80s, he inked a major-label deal with Giant/Warner Bros., releasing the well-received
On the Wings of Dirty Angels under the moniker
Terrell. Personal differences and a good deal of bad luck (the group's equipment truck was hijacked) resulted in
Terrell taking a break from pursuing music full-time, but he returned to the studio in 1995 for the Point Blank/Virgin Records-issued
Angry Southern Gentleman.
Beautiful Side of Madness arrived in 1996, followed by the self-released
3 Links in a Broken Chain in 2000 and the rowdy multimedia theatrical play
Taking the Jesus Pill in 2009. Alabama Steampunk Blues was released in 2010 under his most recent incarnation, the rough-and-tumble bluesy roots rockers Charlie Terrell and the Murdered Johns. ~ James Christopher Monger