500 Miles to Memphis is an Americana punk band from Cincinnati, OH. Their music is a cross-genre blend of country, Americana, bluegrass, and punk rock. Ryan Malott formed the band in 2003. Since then they have released four studio albums, which have won multiple awards, and been licensed to numerous movies, TV shows, and video games. They have actively toured the United States since 2003. 500 Miles to Memphis consists of Ryan Malott, David Rhodes Brown, Noah Sugarman, Kevin Hogle, Aaron Whalen, and Nate Hickey.
History
2002–2003
At the age of 19, Ryan Malott started the band under the name of Underclass Motto which was then changed 500 Miles to Memphis. The name and the band were born out of a move from Cincinnati, OH to Dallas, TX in 2002 where Malott and friends hoped to start a punk band. In 2003 Malott formed the group and played their first show near the University of Cincinnati.
2004–2005
David Rhodes Brown and Noah Sugarman joined and helped the group take on a more mature sound and establish themselves as a serious act. Shortly after, Malott and co. signed with a local record label called 3rd Silo Records. They released their first full-length album, self-titled, and received a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for best “Roots/Folk/Americana”. The band began touring and wrote what would become, Sunshine In a Shot Glass.
2006–2007
Malott met a local drummer, Kevin Hogle, who was touring with MOTH at the time. Originally, Hogle was hired as a session player on the record until Malott could find a permanent drummer. In the spring of 2006, 500MTM began recording the album, Sunshine In a Shot Glass. Once they had rough mixes of the album, Malott began sending demos to national labels with all passing except forDeep Elm Records. In May 2007, they released Sunshine In a Shot Glass and hit the road once again. At this point, Kevin Hogle had become a full-time member, solidifying the band's lineup. For many years following, Noah Sugarman played lead guitar and Jeff Snyder joined on bass.
2008–2012
There were many lineup changes, but the core members, Ryan Malott, Noah Sugarman, Kevin Hogle, David Rhodes Brown, stayed together. In 2010, 500MTM cut We’ve Built Up to Nothing. Shortly after the album’s release, Aaron Whalen joined on lead guitar moving Noah Sugarman back to his original position on bass.
2013–2017
500MTM decided to take some time off to sober up and concentrate on other projects. In 2014, the band reunited for another album, Stand There and Bleed, which was backed by their friends and fans through Kickstarter. It was a self-released album recorded by Ashley Shepherd at Audiogrotto.
2018–2019
Malott and co. clear-headed and more driven than ever to create music, started doing regional tours and pre-production on the album "". For the first time in their careers, Malott and Sugarman decided to start writing together. In May of 2018 the boys of 500 jumped in the studio to record with engineer Adam Pleiman and producer John Pedigo. Philip W. Peeples of Old 97s joined the band for a few tracks adding percussion to the songs "Save Me" and "I'm a Bastard"
2019–present
Their 5th studio album, "Blessed Be the Damned" was released on Jan. 26th, 2019 and dubbed "one of the first must-have records of 2019" by New Noise Magazine. Their album spent 5 weeks on the and 4 weeks on the . In May of 2019, 500 Miles to Memphis signed a deal with Vinnie Fiorello at to release a vinyl record on August 9th.
Awards
500 Miles to Memphis
Winner of the 2005 Cincinnati Entertainment Award for best Roots/Americana/Folk
