The Outskirts. L to R: Susan Morris, Alice Templeton, Janine Keirnan, Ruth Burch. Submitted photo.

Of the many bands that have sprouted in Bowling Green’s fertile musical environment perhaps none was more unique than The Outskirts.  With the musical foundation based on the vocal harmonies of four women.  The Outskirts were a feature of the local music scene for almost a decade.   The Skirts as they were nicknamed, played all kinds of venues and even released two CDs of their music.  The original configuration included:   Ruth Burch (acoustic guitar, vocals), Janine Keirnan (vocals, bass), Susan Morris (percussion, vocals), and Alice Templeton (electric guitar, vocals).  Later the group expanded to include Steve Groce (electric guitar), Bill Hanshaw (drums) and Graham Hudspeth. (Bass, vocals).  .

The Outskirts enjoyed considerable  radio airplay and received many good reviews including one in 1999 by Matthew Springer, in  “Pop-Culture-Corn” (Chicago, IL), where he said the Outskirts had “gorgeous harmonies, inspired instrumentation and a smooth, occasionally sinister vibe….this isn’t one of those ‘three great songs and they’re out’ indie releases. It’s a solid gold gem from top to bottom—songwriting, performance, vocals, vibe…”

I recently spoke to Alice, Janine, Susan and Ruth.  It is fascinating how everyone remembers different aspects of the same events.

Let’s start with the name.  How did you decide on The Outskirts?

Ruth: I think that Alice came up with the name.

Alice: Susan, Janine, Ruth, Steve, and I were sitting on the porch by the river being silly and probably drinking beer. Over the course of many brainstorming sessions, we had filled up a notebook with possible names (band names for sale!), all of them not quite right for us. Finally, on that day as we were just babbling out mostly ridiculous pieces of language, someone—I think it was me—stumbled upon The OutSkirts. It was unquestionably the name for us.

Susan: The four gals from “Lender Be” broke away from the big band on occasion and formed the all female band, Second Nature.  When we got ready to work on songs for the 1st CD we found out by doing a “service mark” search that the band name, “Second Nature”, was already registered.  Kind of an ironic story, because our long time friend, Janet Buckley, and very often our door gal for gigs, received a notice from her, I think High School or College reunion group and low and behold, the band, Second Nature was to play at her reunion. Steve contacted those folks about letting us buy their name, but they were polite and said “NO and if you use it we will sue you”, so the search for a new name began. This appears to have happened sometime between Oct. 1993 and July 1994 (according to some of my paper files).  The naming process occurred on the famous porch at Alice and Steve’s house overlooking the river.  We were all brainstorming names and drinking a few beers, so it is really hard to say who actually came up with The Outskirts name.  We all agreed on it and we all purchased an interest in the name to register it legally for use.  Two CDs were produced under the The OutSkirts name at the River Recording Studio (Steve Groce, owner/producer), under the independent record label, Rasselas Records (Steve Groce, CEO).  Later, Alice bought back our interest in the band name and became the sole owner of the name.

Janine: If memory serves, Susan, Alice, Ruth and I had been playing music as Second Nature for a couple of years, doing covers and originals.   But we found out some other band had a copyright on the name, so we had to find another!    After a few beers, I think the conversation led to our being on the outside of typical musicians in BG and even though none of us wear skirts, it seemed a good descriptive term, so many beers later, OutSkirts was born, and luckily no one else had registered the name, so we bought the name since we were planning on doing the first CD.

How did you come together as a group? 

Alice: I was invited to join the group Susan, Janine, and Ruth already had going, called Second Nature. They were doing copy songs. Our first gig was at Mr. C’s. Steve became our sound man.

Janine: That’s a really long sequence of events, but for my part, Susan and had met each other at a party in early 80’s and found our voices blended well together.   After that, she invited me to join a trio of women she was singing in (I think one was quitting), so I did and that basically started the tradition of Susan dragging me into whatever new activities she got herself into (musically speaking.)   We had many names and many different members over the next few years.   Then a rock group called Lender Be that Susan was in, needed a bass player, and even though I hadn’t played bass for several years, I agreed to try it out.  That band had Alice, Steve, Susan and a young drummer, Allen Stubblefield, who was also new to the band.    This was a mostly original music band, written by Alice and Steve, and not the type of music I had experience in playing, so a lot of new challenges.   But soundwise we blended well together and we played out regularly.   But Susan and I still liked to play cover songs and focus on our vocal skills, so we had the Second Nature side band and kept playing.  Eventually we dragged Alice along with us, and then learned Ruth Burch might be available, so talked her into joining us.   Ruth then also became a part of Lender Be.    Around 94 there was this annual competition the True Value/Jimmy Dean Talent Show, and Second Nature decided to enter and after that we changed to the OutSkirts.

Susan: We were born out of another band so to speak.  The four gals that had been singing in Lender Be (Ruth, Alice, Janine & Susan), took wings on occasion and sang a more laidback, acoustic, soft rock style of music.  On occasion, during the earlier days when a drummer was needed for The OutSkirts we would turn to Bill Hanshaw to sit in with the group.  Bill was the latest drummer from the Lender Be band. 

Ruth:  Alice, Janine & Susan decide to have a group that did music that was not original material. So Susan asked me if I would be interested in trying out for the band. The song material was to be based on nostalgic songs. At this time the band was named Second Nature. As time went on we started adding original material. When we decided to record a CD, the name Second Nature was already registered. So we had to choose another name for the band and that is why the name was changed to the Outskirts.

How would you define the Outskirts sound?  What were you trying to achieve musically?

Alice: As I recall, we were just trying to have a good time and become better players/singers/songwriters. It was definitely a learning experience to bring together four different people’s styles and musical backgrounds and make a coherent sound out of it. I think we each had slightly different goals.  I know I was interested in building a body of original material. Luckily, other members were interested in making us viable as a bar/party band, and so we kept up with our copy music as well.

Susan:  I think you will probably get a bunch of varied answers from us on this question.  I think our sound was a wonderful eclectic mix of folk, soft rock, county, and blues.   Musically,  I was really happy to be a part of an all female group playing music in the area.  At that time, in the early 90’s, there weren’t many females in bands in the area, let alone an all female group.  It was like making history in Bowling Green KY!   I think we really helped open the door to other female musicians in the area.  That sounds awfully vain, but I believe it.  I took a lot of pride in the vocal harmonies we produced.  To me that was a real strong point in the band.  We could all sing lead and we eventually could all pick out harmony parts on almost anything we did with ease.  Don’t get me wrong, the words meant a lot and the instrumentalists did a top of the class job.

We all had real day jobs, so I can’t say we were trying to get famous but we were just trying to make some good music and have fun doing it.  If there was money to be made while doing that, I think that was a plus!

Alice was the main writer in the group, and Ruth wrote several as well.  Janine and I added a couple. Everyone contributed to the vocal arrangements and some provided instrumental arrangements.

Janine: My definition is our sound centered on our rich vocal texture.   The songs we played were primarily original, but I always looked for songs that gave us vocal challenges, and arranging the vocals was my favorite part of being in the band.

You had a lot of original material.  Who were the songwriters?

Alice: I think everybody wrote something we did, but Ruth and I wrote most of the material. Janine was a particularly good arranger and Susan worked out a lot of the vocal parts. We also did several of Steve’s songs.

Ruth: Alice; Janine and Ruth

Susan: As I indicated earlier, Alice was the main writer, followed by Ruth.  Janine and I had a couple we tossed in the mix.

Janine: Alice and Ruth were the major contributors, also Steve, and other friends of the band.   We all added a few tunes to the mix, but each of our individual contributions created the final sound of the material.

Were you able to do much touring?

Alice: Yes, I guess you could say we toured around Kentucky and Tennessee in the rusty ’78 Chevy band truck.

Susan: Don’t know if you can call it touring really. Distance wise we played in Cincinnati OH and down in TN a bit and around KY and a lot locally.  We played a couple of times a month sometimes more.

Janine: We took a few road trips, but not anything more than an overnight away.   We all had full time jobs, so having longer than a weekend to get somewhere and back was not possible.

Did you work with a management company?  Who did your booking?

Alice: Never worked with a management company. Did our own booking.  Everybody in the band got gigs for us at some time or another.

Janine:   Mostly Steve and Alice did the booking, but we all got offers we brought in for consideration to play different places. 

Susan: We managed ourselves nicely.  We all found gigs.  Some for pay and some not.  We had good hearts and played several benefit concerts in the area.  Fees were negotiated depending on how far and what we had to haul to the gigs.

I’m sure you had many experiences as you were performing.  Can you tell me about one or two that stand out in your memory?

Ruth: Winning the local contest (Jimmy Dean/True Value Country showdown) and then performing for the Sate contest in Owensboro. We had written songs based on the contest and it was a great moment that gave me encouragement to continue song writing.

Alice:  Most emotional: I remember performing Peace on Paper the night after the Oklahoma City bombing and being deeply moved by that. That song was written in 1990 in the shadow of the first Persian Gulf War and has continued to resonate with various political contexts ever since.

Funniest: We had a very lucrative, promising gig for a happy hour celebration at the grand opening of some new (i.e., made-over) BG motel lounge. As the gig progressed, it became more horrible and the manager who hired us became more hostile. They had spread white flour (or something gross) on the dance floor, which of course people had spilled beer on, and at one point between songs, as the vibe in the place was becoming progressively weirder, Susan nonchalantly said, “Come on up and stick to the dance floor.”

Happiest: The outdoor gigs for July 4ths, summer picnics, birthday parties, or arts council celebrations, anything outside. Turn it up and Be-Here-Now.

Susan:  We played a gig at… I think the city was Tullahoma TN, a place called Daddy Billy’s.   It was like a museum inside, lots of stuff on the walls and ceiling.  Had a little loft area.  Kind of reminded me of the old Parakeet, now Tidballs, but bigger.  It was a restaurant with a bar. Alice had connections with that place.  We were playing in the front, in a corral like area (fence and all) and there was a big picture window behind us.  Some folks were out on the side walk and started to dance.  The whole place ended up outside, even the band as many as could go!  It was a blast!  Wild but a blast!  Everyone did a line dance coming back in.

We played a Farm Aide concert, not sure where that was, but it was rolling country.  We played on the back porch of a house out to some rolling fields.  Not too many folks came, but we had a good time!  Beautiful country!  I think I have some video of that concert!

We played a gig at Baker Street and I had a theater gig just before the concert, got there in time to take the stage with one conga.  “The show must go on!”

Actually, I could go on an on with some fun, fond memories!  But I’ll stop   

Janine:  That’s a hard one.   I think one experience that really shaped the band was the Jimmy Dean contest.   As we were making it through the levels, before the final show we decided to add two new originals, one by Ruth and one by me, Dance with Me, that I’d written after watching some folk at the bar during the competition, to give us a less serious tone.   I think we did 4 or 5 tunes for the final and won.   I think the other bands were pretty upset!   But it was fun.    We went from there to the state level competition in Owensboro which was another strange experience.   The girl who won sang I Will Always Love You, definite crowd pleaser.   I’m not sure if we were the only full band, but there weren’t many, the house band backed up the singers.  We had about 15 minutes of rehearsal with the stage and sound system, then a few hours later we were standing in front a few hundred strangers, could barely hear our instruments and vocals, but did our best.   Definitely learned a lesson on that stage.

Your first CD Running From the Rescue, was released in 1995 on the independent label Rasselas Records.  What was it like to be recording for the first time?  Any studio stories to share?

Alice: There were constant negotiations and decisions, but it was a rewarding experience – learned a lot about recording and arranging. Our goal was to have fun, yet learn as much as we could about the process, so the CD is fairly light-hearted in its content and its sound. I think we made that CD in about 6 months.

Janine: Any band that lives through a recording process becomes a better band.   I know instrumentally I had to really focus on my timing and notes, no wiggle room as with live playing!   Plus Rescue was recorded with a drum machine, we didn’t have a drummer in the beginning, so the beat didn’t give.   But, we really grew as musicians during those months, learned about recording, our strengths and weaknesses.    The one thing I learned is we were all perfectionists, but about different things.   I was the vocal nut, re-recorded parts probably more than we needed, but we were lucky that Steve and Alice had purchased the equipment to record so we weren’t paying out thousands of dollars for the changes!

Susan: I had done some previous recording work in various studios, some fancy and some not so fancy, so I guess I had a little edge.  It can be a long stressful process, but I had learned you have to have patience and you have to really learn how to listen with the head phones.  And watch out for mouth noises and playing with the chords!  The slightest click can be picked up with sensitive recording equipment.  You have to give a little sometimes also.  Striving for perfection can be way stressful.  The portable PVC sound booth was very interesting, a little warm, but it did the job!

Your second CD Unraveled (1998, Rasselas Records), was very different from the gentle melodies of the first CD and seemed a bit more direct and hard-edged.   To what do you attribute the changes?

Alice: We used different recording equipment, incorporated live drums, and went for a more edgy, less reverb-heavy sound. All the songs were written by me, which keeps the lyrical content more coherent and perhaps more introspective. Instead of love songs, it’s a collection of songs that ask questions about justice and faith and one’s role in the world. We spent probably two years making the second CD. It was a much more demanding project, for us and for the audience.

Janine: Alice.   Unraveled was Alice’s baby, all her tunes, mostly her arrangements.   Of course we had developed a lot more skill as a band during that time went through a few different drummers, but musically I think we were at a point of a more complex challenge.  We supported Alice’s vision, although originally it was going to be a bit more diversified in songs.   But it was a challenging project, both as a band member and as a musician.    The title song on the CD was probably the most rewarding as a bass player, both in creating the bass part and then actually pulling it off on tape! 

As the years passed, how did the band’s dynamics change?

Susan: Oh, we liked using dynamics, so I think they just got better over the years!  We had all been singers/ musicians before we got together, so we all knew about dynamics and how to work them in a song.  What helps in perfecting the dynamics is time playing together and getting the groove within the group.

Janine: Not sure our dynamics changed, definitely our skill levels grew, but the opportunities for local bands was decreasing rapidly with the reduction of live music forums in BG.   So besides recording, which we did individually not as a band, I think our strongest and most expressive dynamic, playing live, was diminishing.

Alice: Other than talking more about back aches, shoulder pains, etc., we continued to like each other and work well together.

What brought about the dissolution of the band?   Had the music just run its course?

Alice: The music was still full of possibility.  Ruth and I were writing new songs in new directions, but I needed to change my life. I moved to California in April 2002.

Susan:  Janine left The OutSkirts first, and was replaced by a A GUY! A great guy though, local music icon, Graham Hudspeth, and we continued on for a while.  Then Alice decided to move on and she moved to CA! 

Janine and I continue to play together.  We started playing  together at one of Dennis Angle’s famous Friday The 13th parties in the early 80’s (I think I have a tape of that!)  We now make up 2/3 of yet another Bowling Green all female band, Just Us (and that band name is another old story) and we are joined by Molly Kerby (new proprietor of Greener Grounds Café). 

Janine:  Well, music always provides options.   I like the challenges of playing original music, but there are thousands of great songwriters, and I’m always happy when I hear a great melody (old and new) to be able to translate it to my band’s vocal style.     I guess one problem for me was I didn’t see the band willing to develop other material, plus the bar scene for me was getting old very fast (as was I!), so I left around 1999.

Is there anything you’d like people to remember about the Outskirts?

Alice: The music that came from our creative collaboration gave us and our audiences a lot of pleasure, but it also had a dimension of critical, political thinking to it that was unseen or ignored by some audiences.  After all, we were four women with a smooth, unobtrusive, nice sound. I think our understated approach was both our beauty and our flaw, and if The OutSkirts reconstituted now, I’d insist, even more than before, on challenging our audiences with politically deliberate music. 

Susan: I am amazed to see that we still get air play on WKUTV-24,  (Main Street) occasionally and people still comment sometimes, “Hey, you were in The OutSkirts, you gals were great!”, which brings back some fond memories.   Those kinds of statements make me want to go get the ole CDs out and take a listen!  Let me know if anyone wants to take a listen, Steve might have a couple in the vault!

Janine: I believe people who came out to hear the OutSkirts perform know they experienced our best efforts as musicians, appreciated our unique style, skills, and our great camaraderie as musicians and friends.     I was lucky to have fallen into the group, and thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent, the lessons I learned, and the footnotes we left in the BG music scene.

Thanks so much.  Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Susan: Thanks to you Jack and the Amplifier, for pulling out some BG history from the archives.

Janine:  As usual, have said too much.   BTW, buy local!  

Jack Montgomery is a librarian, author and associate professor at Western Kentucky University where he handles bookings for musical acts in University Libraries, Java City coffeehouse. Jack has also been a professional musician since 1969 and performs with a local folk duet called “Shadowdancer” with Graham Hudspeth.