Aug 21, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read

In the pantheon of popular music, Charlie Daniels is best know for playing bass on Bob Dylan’s “New Morning” album.

Gotcha.

Of course, Daniels’ star status is based on “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” a song you still hear on the airwaves, especially the censored “son of a gun” version.

Five years before Johnny outfiddled Satan, the Charlie Daniels Band released a song called “The South’s Gonna Do It” that namechecks acts that would go on to take the rest of the decade by storm: Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, ZZ Top and Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band, among them.

At the time, Bob Ridgeway was an Upper St. Clair youngster who so far had grown listening to the likes of the Beatles.

“As soon as Southern Rock hit, I just fell in love with it,” the now-Bethel Park resident recalled. “And that’s the genre of music that I love playing the best.”

Ridgeway plays drums for Shady Mugs, a band that is helping the South do it yet again, in the South Hills and beyond. With a repertoire that pays deep homage to the aforementioned artists, along with some classic rock tracks to mix it up a bit, the six-piece group has built a strong reputation for capturing the spirit of the ’70s.

Joining Ridgeway are lead vocalist George Kalafatis, guitarists Billy Eyler and Mark Maguda, bassist Bob Neglio and keyboard player Dan Rach. On many songs, Kalafatis straps on his Stratoscaster to emulate the three-guitar attack made famous by Skynynrd and such bands as the Outlaws and Molly Hatchet.

Four decades ago, Southern rock was a staple of radio stations that steered clear of the disco fad. Now, not so much.

“It’s only pick-and-choose from different rock deejays,” Ridgeway said. “We’d love to bring it back into people’s ears, and that’s what we’re doing.”

His beginnings as a musician extend back to when songs like the Allmans’ “Ramblin’ Man” and Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” were energizing the nation.

“I was in the school band, but I played trumpet,” he said. “And every time we would be playing a jazzier, kind of upbeat song, boy, my ears were drawn to the drums. I told myself I’ve just got to get a little drum set and see what happens.”

Bypassing percussion lessons, he teamed up with some classmates to form the proverbial garage band, with the members honing their chops at talent shows and the like.

Right around that time – Oct. 20, 1977 – a Convair CV-240 carrying members of Lynyrd Skynyrd ran out of fuel and crashed near Gillsburg, Miss. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and vocalist Cassie Gaines, his sister, were among the fatalities.

“That tore me up. I had the newspaper clippings for a little while, because that really hurt,” Ridgeway said. “It just made a big impact on me as a young musician.”

His musical career took him in a few different directions, including stints with heavy metal and R&B bands. And when his son, Louie, was born, he put aside his sticks to concentrate on fatherhood.

“When I enrolled him in college, I went on Craigslist and Mark had an ad: drummer wanted, Southern rock and classic rock,” Ridgeway recalled. “And I said, I have to answer the bell to that.”

Now that he’s back in the swing of things, he’s been pleasantly surprised to run across former bandmates and other friends from back in the day. For example, guitarist Barry Koehler and singer R.J. Naraskivitch still rock audiences in Jinx, a group with which Ridgeway once played.

And of course, keeping the rhythm behind the talented musicians of Shady Mugs makes for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

“That’s the bottom line for us,” he said, “how much fun it is.”