Hellbound Glory Is Back – An Interview with Leroy Virgil
That’s right, I said Hellbound Glory. And I said Leroy Virgil instead of Leon Virgil Bowers—the name Leroy Virgil decided to go with after he officially killed off Hellbound Glory and launched his solo career. If you’re sufficiently confused now, don’t worry. Just understand whatever he calls himself, he’s one of the best songwriters of our generation, and he’s still around kicking out tunes. Hellbound Glory’s Old Highs & New Lows was Saving Country Music’s 2010 Album of the Year.
This week Hellbound Glory (or Leroy Virgil) broke radio silence to release a lyric video for a new song called “College Girls” on a brand new pay per view format called Indie Exchange.
So just exactly what the hell is going on with Hellbound Glory and Leroy Virgil? I got him on the horn and gave him the Saving Country Music grilling.
My first question is, have you decided to bring back the Hellbound Glory name, and why?
Hellbound Glory is back. When I killed it off, it had more to do with some business stuff that I’d rather not talk about, but plus I just wanted a break from it because for the last 13 years Hellbound Glory’s been pretty much my whole life. I’m glad to have a separation of it, because people are always like, “You are Hellbound Glory.” I don’t want to be a band, I want to be a person. I brought it back because I wanted to get a band going again. The solo thing was fun but there’s nothing like having a band. So yeah, we’re back.
Before you went the solo route, you were fighting tooth and nail not to give up the Hellbound Glory name if I remember. So do you regret it now, or are you glad that you took that break?
I’m glad I killed [Hellbound Glory] off. It was awesome killing it off. We threw a big party, killed it off, and who knows, I might try and kill it off again this year.
How did the tour as Leon Virgil Bowers with Blackberry Smoke go? That was sort of the unveiling of the solo thing.
That tour was awesome. It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a tour. I didn’t have to worry about anyone else but myself. Instead of having to take care of a bunch of other people in a band, it was get to the gig, and do my thing. I’ll probably do more of that in the future.
So Leon Virgil Bowers is not dead right now. You’re just going to start doing Hellbound Glory again?
Exactly. And who knows what I’ll even put my music out as. When I went by the name Leon Virgil Bowers, I just thought it would be fake to go by my band stage name [Leroy Virgil]. I want people to know what my real name is. Even though I go by Leroy, it just didn’t seem right going by a fake name if I was going to go solo.
Since Hellbound Glory is being resurrected, I’m guessing there is actually a band that’s going to be involved and some touring and such. Is that in the offing? Any info about that? People in the band?
Yeah, I’m going to be headlining the Humbolt Hoedown on September 26th.
You’ve also got this single you co-wrote with Kid Rock called “College Girls.” I’ve heard you play it before, but I didn’t know you co-wrote it with Kid Rock. Tell us the story of how that all came about.
Well I wrote this song just sitting in my house one day, and I went to Detroit to record it. And when we finished recording it that day, I gave Kid Rock a call. He said, “Come on in, play the song for me.” I went into his studio and played it for him. He said it was a great song, but it needs a couple of changes. So he went to work on it, and made it better. Changed a couple of words, changed a bit of the structure. At first I was like, “What’s he doing to my song?” But he made it better.
And you’ve got a mess of recordings in the can from those Detroit sessions that we’ve never heard before, right?
Yeah. Yeah I’ve got ’em. I’m just picky about what I put out.
So they may come out in the future, or they may not?
I’m sure they’ll come out someday.
And so people can go to Indie Exchange and see the lyric video for “College Girls” for 25.
We’re going to start putting up all the concerts that we do up on that site. What I kind of compare it to is pay per view. We’ll take the concerts or videos, put them up on the site, and you only pay for what you watch. So let’s say it’s a two-hour concert and you put it on and you’re watching it and you say, “Oh, the guys are sucking tonight,” then you only have to pay for what you watch. So if it costs a $1.50 to watch the concert, and you only watch five or ten minutes of it, you only have to pay a couple of cents.
It’s done by some people I met out in Chicago. They seemed real nice, they called me up a couple of times, and they booked me to play a birthday party for them and they recorded it. It’s just a small business trying to build a name for themselves, and they picked me out to be the first guy they work with. It’s 100% independent. I’ve already started to make money off of it. A vast majority of the money goes back into the band. It’s not going to iTunes, Apple, not going to any other company, it’s going directly to me.
So should I refer to you as Leon still, or . . . ?
I prefer to go by Leroy. I have been going by Leroy since I was about 13-years-old. Call me whatever you want. I guess it’s kind of goofy to have a couple names, but I’ve always just gone by Leroy.
September 2, 2015 @ 6:12 pm
Good news, I was singing Hellbounds Hank Williams Records earlier tonight. I’ll checkout the new tune. Tour Michigan hoss.
September 2, 2015 @ 6:14 pm
Eh….still feel iffy about paying .25 to watch a lyric video for a song that you probably can’t watch again later without putting another quarter in the jukebox. But I’m also the type that is iffy about microtransactions in video games. I don’t like being nickel and dimed. That would be fine for full shows I guess, but lyric videos for a song we’ve never heard?
I guess I’ll wait till he produces an album either as Leon or Hellbound Glory to see if he can still produce country gold or if Hellbound Glory’s days are done.
September 2, 2015 @ 11:57 pm
its a great song, I met Leroy at one of his first solo shows in la, right after he called it quits with hellhound glory, and I’ve been waiting for him to put it out sense then.
September 2, 2015 @ 6:47 pm
I follow Hellbound Glory on Facebook, and somewhere on the feed today there was a mention of a new hbg album.
September 2, 2015 @ 7:33 pm
HBG are one of my favs,can’t wait for a new album I hope they record a version of “Big Time” for the upcoming release.
September 2, 2015 @ 8:12 pm
So what is the low down on the HB Glory name on the business side of things? Other band members claim ownership or something?
I love the 2nd and 3rd albums they put out. Hopefully we get a new album soon.
September 2, 2015 @ 8:36 pm
Great news! HGB’s albums are some of my absolute favorite.
September 2, 2015 @ 8:48 pm
corb Lund will always be my fave, but its a tossup between hbg and dallas moore for the #2 spot.
September 2, 2015 @ 8:50 pm
I am so stoked about this. I dig the solo stuff he had out but I’m excited that HBG is back. Maybe this means I’ll finally get a chance to see ’em live.
September 3, 2015 @ 12:35 am
I just wrote an extremely long post about HBG but I decided to delete it and only post this. Hellbound Glory/Leon/Leroy whatever you want to call it seriously needs a manager/publicist/anything. I love the music but I’ve got really tired of their/his fuckery.
September 3, 2015 @ 4:05 am
I’ve never heard the song Leroy co-wrote with Kid Rock, but Kid Rock claimed to have done the same thing with Jason Boland’s “Telephone Romeo.” He didn’t.
September 3, 2015 @ 5:00 am
I think one of the biggest problems with that was the fact that all us lifelong Boland fans had heard that song for years, it was a staple of his shows. I don’t care what anybody does to a song, if it’s a song that you love form a band and have been hearing it for years, it is going to be really hard to give a new re-worked version a legitimate listen and think its better. Most people have never heard “College Girls” and it has never been on an actual album, so it won’t have the same problem of an established song being re-worked.
I know a ton of people hate Kid Rock and that is fine, but the bottom line about him is a ton of mega talented people love to work with him and he built his career from the ground up on songs he wrote and recorded. Even from a country perspective, he has a handful of songs that are great. Songs like “God Knows Why” (If you re-worked the sound a little), “Picture” and “Blue Jeans and a Rosary” all are great songs. It got played to death, but I still say if “Picture would have been recorded by a traditional country duo, it would have been an all timer.
September 3, 2015 @ 7:18 am
I guess you’re right. The kick in the balls with “Purple Sky” was that Kid Rock basically said that Boland’s song was ok, but it wasn’t finished, needed some help. and that he (Kid Rock) made it better. That pissed me off because Boland is 100 times the songwriter that Kid Rock will ever be. And I don’t hate Kid Rock. I’d take his 70’s-ish rock sound any day over what currently passes for country.
September 3, 2015 @ 5:03 pm
Uh, kid rock didn’t make the claim in this case, Leroy Virgil did. Are you suggesting that Leroy Virgil is lying about kid rock improving his song? Cause I am not sure that really makes sense.
September 3, 2015 @ 5:02 am
I am so stoked for new music. I hope they are able to take it all across the country for us all to hear.
I am still a little iffy on this new pay for things that you don’t get to keep, but I will have an open mind about it and look into it a little more.
September 3, 2015 @ 5:42 am
I love him, but he’s exhausting. This interview alone just wears me out. He’s the perfect example of an artist you just want to sing (don’t speak).
September 3, 2015 @ 7:11 am
This is excellent news!
September 3, 2015 @ 10:33 am
Love Old Highs & New Lows, but I’m not paying a quarter for the privilege of watching a lyric video. A concert maybe.
September 5, 2015 @ 7:03 am
Yeah. Exactly right. I’d buy the song on iTunes, but I won’t go to the trouble of paying a quarter online to watch a video once. Bad move, says this nigh-fanatical fan of HBG.
September 3, 2015 @ 4:01 pm
Great news! Love Hellbound Glory. Hopefully HG puts out a new album soon.
September 3, 2015 @ 7:35 pm
This is great news! I’m his fan for life whether it’s called Hellbound Glory, Leon Virgil Bowers, or Leroy. He’s a gifted songwriter and musician and I’m in. The progression of his talent grows with each new album; I’m still playing LV (and the rest of the catalog).
I also like the new micro pay-per-view idea of releasing his music. I’m not into Spotify or the rest of them because I don’t think the artists benefit from the current business plan. Things need to change and here is a company with a new idea. A quarter isn’t much, and if you think of what you’d get for $5 it’s fantastic. Even if you go super bonkers, what’s that cost? $20?
September 3, 2015 @ 10:06 pm
Finally some one who gets it, Leon gets 90% of all monies…….. for a small yearly fee that will be offered to all by next week….. Compared to 10% from apple and the ability to share where spotify gets it (college girls) and he never makes any money again… not this time and not this song…. Ya see, we do not allow you to ever purchase a file or album just view,get it? Thanks for figuring it out. Did you join 2 pay I wonder, won.t know til tomorrow, Pat Sweeney from http://www.indieex,com
September 5, 2015 @ 3:09 pm
Yup! I’m in! I like the new song and video. I’m not sure why it’s promoted as a lyric video, as I figured that would be a photo of the band with lyrics going across the screen. This is an actual video with adorable college girls dancing and having fun to the music while wearing an LVB tee. I think it’s great. This could have been one of those silicone breast bouncing bikini videos with beers and trucks that Trig here brilliantly eviscerates but it’s not.
And there is other great content under the Leon Virgil Bowers tab including a house concert and interview. This is a great way for the artist to keep in touch with us fans as to the goings on between releases.
September 3, 2015 @ 10:16 pm
Finally some one who gets it, Leon gets 90% of all monies…….. for a small yearly fee that will be offered to all by next week….. Compared to 10% from apple and the ability to share where spotify gets it (college girls) and he never makes any money again… not this time and not this song…. Ya see, we do not allow you ever to purchase a file or album just view,get it? Thanks for figuring it out. Did you join 2 pay I wonder, won.t know til tomorrow, Pat Sweeney from http://www.indieex,com
September 4, 2015 @ 5:27 am
Not sure how I feel about the “pay per view” aspect of it, but such is the music economy we live in. I would prefer at least having the option to buy the song straight up for a $1 or $1.25 or whatever and being free to listen to it as much as I want. Plus, I feel like this makes it a bit harder to spread the word about Hellbound Glory. It’s a lot easier to convince someone to jump on their iPhone or Android phone and stream or buy a song from Apple or Google than it is to have them jump on this web site that most people probably haven’t heard of.
September 4, 2015 @ 6:59 am
Once it gets on apple it’s a file and it’s shared for free! Right? We R trying to support the artist were <apple and Google R not< Ask any artist how much they make from those crooks and they get butkis….. nada, we pay 90% back to artists for a small yearly fee…. Soon all music will be in the cloud (isn't already) we just want new content that will drive new trraffic to the sight http://www.indieex.com where people will feel good that they know who is making the money. It's the Artist not the man!
September 4, 2015 @ 12:36 pm
I don’t disagree with any of this, but isnt part of trying to build an artist or band’s brand, being able to be seen or heard in as many different places as possible? I don’t disagree that Apple, Googly, Spotify, etc. are all less than favorable for artists. At that same time, by releasing music only through this website, it does become harder for potential new fans of Hellbound Glory to discover them. I think this is a brilliant idea for concerts and live video’s, I love the idea in that sense….but using this service for audio seems risky.
Just my two cents is all.
September 27, 2015 @ 10:38 pm
Just Awesome!
October 8, 2015 @ 5:32 pm
Indieex LLC presents Leon and Rico AKA Hell Bound Glory are doing a show in Chicago on 10-29-2015 at a VFW semi private but you can go….we are filming Hell Bound Glory that night see link for yourself and see how you can be there. https://www.indieex.com/indieex/BetaParty.jsp