Straying from the trends and aiming to be true, Southern rock/country band Holman Autry Band of Danielsville, Ga., takes pride in being different and bringing real Southern music back.

“No one does what we do. We don’t go too far to the left or too far to the right,” said Josh Walker, rhythm guitarist and background vocalist of the band.

“We’re stripped down rock and roll. You [the listener] tell us what genre we are after listening to us.”

The Holman Autry Band vows to be itself – to be original – with a sound inspired by multiple styles of music.

“We’re not the country on the radio or the rock ‘n’ roll your parents listened to growing up,” said lead vocalist and bassist Casey King. “We’re somewhere in between. We’re the redheaded stepchild of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Getting its start in early 2006, the band’s five members include King, Walker, Brodye Brooks (lead guitarist), Daniel Sartain (rhythm guitar, background vocals) and Brandon Myers (drums), who all met while attending Madison County High. They started performing together shortly after forming.

“The Georgia Theatre, before it burned down, was our sanctuary,” said Walker. “The crowd was well above the fire code on many nights, to [the point] where we would have to turn people away.”

Despite indicating the group’s considerable popularity, The Holman Autry Band never enjoys turning people away at shows since the fans are the reason it performs. Once there was a woman who was going through a trying time, Sartain said.

“There was a death in her family, so she wasn’t going out at all at that time [in her life],” he said. “Our show was the first show she had been to in a while. After she consistently traveled an hour to see us perform, one day she approached me and told me that our music helped her to be herself again.”

When all the members of the band were made aware of the woman’s comments, they realized their music was serving a real purpose.

“We want, after someone has listened to our songs, to be like ‘Yep, I’ve been there. I know how that feels,’” King said.

Besides providing encouragement to listeners, the band also likes to party.

Their lyrics focus on everything: women, drinking, love, experiences, where they come from, having fun, and living life. Their chief influences come from known acts like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Bob Dylan and Gov’t Mule.

Two years ago, The Holman Autry Band opened for the Academy of Country Music Award-winning Zac Brown Band at The Library just before the group became famous. Now the group is in a league of their own.

“The evolving chemistry [our] band attains when performing is my favorite part of doing live shows,” Sartain said.

Besides selling out shows, having music on iTunes, and selling records all over the world, the unsigned group admits that it has never really had a large University student following – but they would like one.

“Our first fraternity performance was for the fraternity Sigma Nu,” Sartain said. “We loved their energy, because we have a lot of energy. And if the rest of UGA is like that, then we want that.”