They play a guitar-oriented, melodic jangle pop type of rock music with introspective lyrics that reflect themes and history of the American South.
The Connell brothers moved around in their early years, as their father was in medical school and getting a degree in cancer research at Duke University.
In 1978, while attending Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, Mike Connell met fellow students Clark Eason and Wade Stooksberry (also a 1977 First Presbyterian Day School graduate).
Connell then occasionally made guest appearances with "Clark Eason and the Greaseguns" while visiting his father in Macon, until that band broke up in 1980.
The band tried a few singers that spring before settling on Doug MacMillan, a childhood friend of Schultz's and a swimmer at East Carolina University.