'It's such a part of me': Ethridge finds friendship, purpose in music

Jul. 18—For Whitesville native Scott Ethridge, the lead guitarist for the local outlaw country five-piece Yellow Banks, rock music seemed to pave the way into the arts.

"My dad has always been a big music appreciator, so I grew up around vinyl and DVDs of bands," Ethridge, 25, said. "I think 'AC/DC: Live at Donington' was the first live concert I had ever seen in my life."

For then 5-year-old Ethridge, it made a big impact.

"I remember being in school the next day just thinking about it ... over and over and then going home and watching it again, and again and again," he said. "I pretended to be Angus Young ... and I used to dress up as (him) and watch (the concert) and play on a little plastic guitar and pretend that I was in it."

Ethridge began becoming a rockstar in his own right at about 10 years old when his father bought him a Fender Squier Mini Stratocaster, learning songs by AC/DC, Rush, ZZ Top, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and "a lot those classic hard rock (and) classic heavy metal guys I was listening to."

"I was hell on wheels, man," he said. "... I started playing along to it the best I could.

"I was obsessed. I was putting in 12 hours a day, nonstop."

Ethridge first performed for peers at a talent show when he was attending a Catholic middle school — a place where he felt his music tastes and personal style didn't mesh.

"... I wasn't super religious, ... I was rebellious, I was bullied a lot because I had long hair and everybody there listened to HOT 96; and I was like, 'That's lame,' " he said. "I didn't even listen to the radio; I listened to CDs and MP3s."

By the time he moved and attended Ohio County High School, it was a different story when he played Rush's "YYZ" during the talent show his freshman year.

"After that, I got known as the dude who played guitar and he does it really well," he said. "I got kind of popular out of it. That was the first time people knew me and I didn't know them ...."

But, at the time, Ethridge said there weren't "a whole lot of options" in Ohio County to perform live.

It was also during this part of his life that he went through what he coined as a "big metamorphosis" outgrowing his early favorite artists.

Besides Rush, Ethridge became "super into the blues" listening to Albert King, Freddie King, John Lee Hooker and Joe Bonamassa while also venturing into the sounds of hip hop and other artists including Jack White and Frank Zappa, with the latter would eventually "take over my life."

"I'm in the top 10 Spotify streamers for Frank Zappa in the whole world," he said. "... You either love that or you hate it; you either get it or you don't."

Ethridge began to network and eventually formed a short-lived two-piece band before playing shows with Owensboro blues group Beyond Blu and local country-rock musician Zach Jennings for two-year stints each.

While Ethridge enjoyed finally performing for live audiences, he found a more permanent home after meeting James Elliott, frontman for Yellow Banks, through Jennings.

He played his first official gig with the group on New Year's Eve 2022 at The Pint Haus in Tell City, Indiana, and hasn't looked back.

"This is what I've been wanting to do in a band for my entire life," he said. " ... I'm playing guitar now for the first time since I was a kid with the same type of passion."

Ethridge said the group — which currently consists of him, Elliott, steel guitarist and vocalist Tristan Howard, bass guitarist and vocalist Matthew Jeremy Smith and drummer and vocalist Bean Boyer — is staying busy.

Last week, the group began cutting its 13-track album, currently titled "Corner of First and Lonely," with Dustin Spencer at Spencer Recording Studios in Harned.

But the relationship with the members has gone beyond the tunes.

"... We're not just co-workers; we're friends," Ethridge said. "Me and James talk often through the week, we go do things together. ... We're all really good friends; so when you're recording this with friends, we're all really vocal about what we like about each other when we do something."

While Ethridge knows the music industry is "super competitive," he doesn't plan on putting it to the side any time soon.

"It's such a part of me," he said.

For more information on Ethridge and Yellow Banks, visit yellowbanksband.com or facebook.com/yellowbanks270.