Hailing from the longtime country music hotspot of Bakersfield, California, Big House gives a soul inflection to its country music songs. The group made their debut in 1997 with a self-titled LP, and the following year released Travelin' Kind. Like many of their Dead Reckoning labelmates, they received critical raves but had too raw a sound for run-of-the-mill country radio. By now made up of singer Monty Byrom, guitarist David Neuhauser, bassist Steve Vines and drummer Benny Rappa, the group's Dead Reckoning release, Woodstock Nation, is a sort of thoughtful blues-rock approach with a raw energy, due to their underdubbed recording style, in which they record live in the studio then remove various parts. This resulting spare instrumentation gives Woodstock Nation a unique sound.