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21-501: 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

42-652: A result, they were named by the Country Music Association as one of the top-selling independent country acts of 2005. Crafton was forced out of the group by Rust Records in 2006, allowing them to be signed to Rust Records and released their self-titled third album. This album produced non-charting singles in "Mr. Right Now" and "One Night in New Orleans", the latter of which was previously recorded by Blackhawk . The Povertyneck Hillbillies left Rust in 2007. On January 14, 2008, Higbee announced that

63-417: A self-titled 4 song EP on the night of the concert, containing the single "My Kinda Sunday Drive", that is part of the 4 song EP. "My Kind of Sunday Drive" has received moderate airplay in the local Pittsburgh country music market, mostly on WOGI , known as "Froggy Radio", on frequencies 94.9 and 104.3. The band also released a second single from that EP, "Fear of Greyhounds", later that year. In May 2014, it

84-663: 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. The Povertyneck Hillbillies were founded in 2000 in

105-512: A way to promote his band rock band Vertigogo. Upon the band's major label signing to Atlantic Records and change of the band's name to Sinomatic due to infringement upon a recording group from France , Rust Records again went onto the back burner. Shortly after the release of Sinomatic's debut album however, the band fell apart in early 2002 and was subsequently dropped by their label. Ken Cooper returned to his roots, once again thinking about his recording company in early 2003. The first release on

126-602: Is a radio station that broadcasts a Froggy-branded , country music , format . Licensed in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township, Pennsylvania , United States, the station serves the Pittsburgh Media Market . This station serves as the de facto flagship station of Forever Media, LLC (based in Pittsburgh) and simulcasts on WOGG and WOGH . WOGI signed on the air April 15, 1959 as WOHI-FM ,

147-560: The FM sister station of WOHI , both owned by East Liverpool Broadcasting Company. WOHI and WOHI-FM were sold to Constrander Corporation, owned by Joseph D. Coons for $ 175,000 on December 20, 1960. The acquisition of the stations took effect January 27, 1961. WOHI-FM changed callsigns to WRTS in June 1967, and in November 1971, Coons sold both WOHI and WRTS to Frank Mangano for $ 290,493; however,

168-507: The band had "decided to take a break of indefinite length." According to his press release, "Abby, Jeff, Junior and Dave have chosen to stop performing with the band. On April 9, 2012, it was announced by Chris "Abby" Abbondanza, on WOGI Froggy Radio, that The Povertyneck Hillbillies would be hosting a reunion concert on August 25, 2012. The concert was held at CONSOL Energy Park, in Washington, Pennsylvania. The line up consists of all of

189-631: The band signed emerging artists The Povertyneck Hillbillies and Shane Owens . In 2006, Rust signed a partnership agreement with Aaron Tippin to release his work in partnership with his startup label Nippit Records and trio BlackHawk , who came over after being dropped from Columbia Records . In January 2007, Rust Records closed its doors due to issues with its financial partners. All artists were released from their recording obligations at that time. WOGI 40°35′14.00″N 80°25′15.00″W  /  40.5872222°N 80.4208333°W  / 40.5872222; -80.4208333 WOGI (104.3 FM )

210-554: The band to play " The Star-Spangled Banner " at a halftime show for the team. Eventually, the Povertyneck Hillbillies were chosen as the Steelers' official band. By 2002, the band had released its debut album, Hillbilly State of Mind ; a second album, Don't Look Back , followed two years later on Cort Records. Although neither album produced any chart singles, the albums sold more than 10,000 copies nationwide; as

231-502: The borough of Dawson, Pennsylvania by fiddler Chris Higbee. After multiple band members he met future lead vocalist Chris "Abby" Abbondanza, they met and befriended each other after discovering common musical interests. Through the help of other friends, the two musicians found five more members who would complete the band's lineup: guitarist David Guthrie, keyboardist Dave Cramer, bass guitarist Jeff Volek, steel guitarist Bob Crafton and drummer Ryan Lucotch. The seven-piece band then assumed

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252-601: The callsign to WOGF on July 7, 2000, and adopted a country music format with the "Froggy" moniker; a format which continues today. WOGF recently changed its city of license to Moon Township, Pennsylvania from East Liverpool, Ohio. The tower location remains in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. WOGF assumed the callsign WOGI in 2009, a callsign that was previously used on 98.3, which is a station in Pittsburgh that Keymarket sold to EMF in 2009. The new callsign on 98.3

273-566: 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, Chris 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

294-406: The label was a rock band called Dear Violet, once again with Ken Cooper as the frontman. In 2004 Cooper retired from performing, began to focus on the label full-time. VP of Operations Keith Simmerer was brought on board, and proved to be the only other person to stay with the company over the course of its run. Starting with the alternative rock group Cherry Monroe, Rust became a Universal Imprint and

315-558: The name The Povertyneck Hillbillies. Povertyneck was a name derived from a small area near Dawson, PA known to locals, near Higbee's grandfather's farm. In the 2000s, the band began touring throughout Pennsylvania, playing at various bars and clubs to help develop a fanbase. Eventually, they were discovered by members of the Pittsburgh Steelers , a franchise of the National Football League , who chose

336-462: The name of the company remained the same under the new owner. WRTS changed callsigns once again to WELA in May 1974. In the mid-1970s, WELA was an easy listening format. By 1981, the easy listening format was dropped in favor of a C&W format. By the late 1990s, the station had a classic hits format dubbed "Classic Hits 104." Keymarket purchased both WOHI and WELA in 2000. The new owner changed

357-463: The previous members, with the exception of Chris Higbee, who was replaced by guest fiddle player John Parrendo, who later joined the band. Abbondanza stated that numerous requests to Higbee to join the show have been declined as the relationship has been changed indefinitely . The band is now known as THW which is short for The Hillbilly Way, which was one of the songs they performed while they were with The Povertyneck Hillbillies. The band then released

378-487: The single " Lonely Girl " for 2019. Their music can be found on all music streaming sites. Rust Nashville Rust Nashville was a recording company founded by Ken Cooper in 1998 , originally to promote his band Vertigogo . It was originally based out of Northeast Ohio , most notably Cleveland , before its move to Nashville , TN , in 2005. The label represented notable country artists such as Aaron Tippin and Shane Owens . Ken Cooper started Rust Records as

399-455: Was among the first labels to sign a deal with the then new Fontana Distribution company. They then released records by other local artists Between Home and Serenity, Blush, View From Everest, Southcott, and Lareau before venturing into country music with artist Shane Owens. In 2005, Rust Records made the move from Cleveland, OH, to Nashville, TN, where the company made a major change: it switched genres from rock & roll to country . In 2005,

420-592: Was announced that Dave Cramer (Keyboard) and John Parrendo (Fiddle) had quit the band. Dave stated on his personal Facebook page that he chose to leave the band due to wanting to spend more time with his family. Bob "Crafty" Crafton and Ryan Lucotch also left the band in 2015. THW has re-organized since then, and now consists of Chris "Abby" Abbondanza on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Jeff Volek on bass guitar and backing vocals, David "Junior" Guthrie on lead guitars and backing vocals and Keith Kleinhampl on Drums, percussion and percussion programming. During 2016 to 2018, THW

441-536: Was signed to the Pennington Entertainment management group out of Nashville, TN . Under Pennington, they recorded the singles Best Night of Our Lives , and Damn I Just Wanna Kiss You . They made a video for Best Night of Our Lives , which was directed by Ford Fairchild . Damn I Just Wanna Kiss You was released in 2018 and went as high as #42 on the Music Row charts. THW has just released

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