Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys

Rex Hobart grew up in St. James, MO, but moved to Kansas City to find his fortune. Around 1989, he was playing in a rock & roll combo called Giant's Chair, but it just didn't feel right. What felt great were the honky tonk and country numbers he was writing in his spare time. So Hobart hooked up with Solomon Hofer, Vincent Floyd, and Blackjack Snow, and the Misery Boys were born. Later, JB Morris also joined up. Forever Always Ends, their debut, was recorded with Lou Whitney and appeared on the Chicago-based insurgent country label Bloodshot in 1999. Hobart and the boys then road-tested their honky tonk and heartbreak with a series of U.S. tours. Arriving back in K.C., TC Dobbs was brought in to replace Floyd behind the kit, and the band re-entered the studio with Whitney, this time emerging with The Spectacular Sadness of Rex Hobart & the Misery Boys, again for Bloodshot. They returned in 2003 with the acclaimed Your Favorite Fool, which featured more of the band's signature honky tonk and a duet with like-minded Chicago torch rocker Kelly Hogan. Fiddler Betse Ellis had joined the lineup in time for the recording of the group's fourth album, Empty House.

~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide