The Kentucky Headhunters formed in Edmonton, Kentucky, growing out of an earlier group called Itchy Brother that brothers Richard Young (rhythm guitar, vocals) and Fred Young (drums) had started playing together in 1968 with their cousins Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney at the Youngs' grandmother's house . That original lineup played together informally for over a decade before disbanding, with members scattering into other projects. In 1985 Martin decided to reassemble the group, and when Kenney declined to return, Martin remembered Doug Phelps, whom he had met while on tour with McDowell . Phelps joined, and brought along his older brother Ricky Lee Phelps to sing lead vocals and play harmonica, rounding out the classic lineup. After discovering that other bands existed with that name, the band added "Kentucky" to its name and thus became The Kentucky Headhunters , and the group began honing its raw, genre blending sound.
The band's breakthrough arrived with astonishing speed. The Headhunters found mainstream success with their landmark 1989 album Pickin' On Nashville, recorded at Sound Shop in Nashville and released by Mercury Records, thrusting the band from the Kentucky underground into the mainstream . The album won a GRAMMY Award, three CMA Awards, an American Music Award and an ACM Award, and following its original release in October 1989 went on to sell over two million copies, earning the band multi-platinum status . It produced four consecutive Top 40 country hits: "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine," "Dumas Walker," "Oh Lonesome Me," and "Rock 'n' Roll Angel" , with the cover of "Oh Lonesome Me" reaching number 8, its highest charting single. The classic lineup driving this success paired brothers Richard and Fred Young with Greg Martin and the Phelps brothers, a configuration fans still associate most closely with the band's signature sound.
The years after that breakout brought both triumph and turbulence. A second Mercury album, Electric Barnyard, sold well but did not match its predecessor, and shortly after its release the Phelps brothers left after its release to form Brother Phelps , prompting a string of lineup shuffles through the 1990s that saw Anthony Kenney and singer Mark S. Orr cycle through the group before Doug Phelps eventually returned as bassist. Despite the turnover, the band toured with Hank Williams Jr. and others, released another big-selling album with 1991's Electric Barnyard, and collaborated with Gov't Mule and the great Johnnie Johnson, Little Richard's old pianist . In 2013 the group's contributions were formally recognized when the Headhunters were inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, an honor they especially cherished because they were inducted alongside fellow Kentucky heroes Exile and Jackie DeShannon . Over the decades the band built a catalog that would eventually include 15 albums and sales of over 11 million records worldwide .
Remarkably, The Kentucky Headhunters remain active into the mid-2020s, still fronted by core members Richard Young, Fred Young, Greg Martin and Doug Phelps. The band continues to tour and record, and in 2025 they reissued a long shelved project, with press materials noting they are still touring and recording with the same fire that launched their career, remaining a powerful force continuing to bridge generations and genres with their unmistakable Southern grit and spirit . Critics have long regarded them as one of the last true torchbearers of an older Southern rock tradition, a reputation summed up by one music writer's observation that they're one of the last authentic southern rock bands still standing .
It is fitting that a band built on decades of hard touring and hometown loyalty found its way into Wayne Dennon's lens as well. Wayne photographed The Kentucky Headhunters at one show in 2009, capturing the band in the kind of raucous, road worn performance that defined their career, and the 43 photographs from that night remain part of this archive today. Visitors have returned to view them more than 32,000 times, a testament to how the Headhunters' rowdy blend of country, blues, and rock still resonates with fans who remember, or wish they had witnessed, the band in full flight.
