In the early 1990s, four music veterans - Terry Taylor (Swirling Eddies), Gene Eugene (Adam Again), Derri Daugherty (The Choir), and Michael Roe (The 77s) - decided to extend the collective leash holding them back in each of their current bands by forming a virtual all-star group called The Lost Dogs.

"We had all been friends for quite a while ... and admired each other's music," explains guitarist/lead vocalist Daugherty via phone from his home in Nashville, "and had come to find out over the years that we had lots of musical things in common that we really didn't put into our other bands - like this whole kind of roots thing we were raised with. ... We all just showed up at the studio, spent three weeks recording and writing songs together ... I think we knew after we were done with that first recording that this was something we wanted to keep going. ... The challenge was for all of our writing styles to come together ... and trying to make it sound like The Lost Dogs, not each separate band."

The result was a shift from alternative rock to more of an Americana/country/southern gospel style. Four successful albums were recorded in the band's Green Room studio before Eugene suddenly died in his sleep at the Green Room shortly after the BEC Recordings 1999 release of Gift Horse. "I still think about Gene every day," expresses Daugherty. We miss him in the studio. He was the guy who kept everything focused. He was such a talented guy, always full of suggestions. ... After Gene died, we didn't know if we wanted to [be a band] or not."

But two albums followed, which helped the remaining founders realize there still was a Lost Dogs future. With Real Men Cry (2001), "It was working out a lot of things about losing Gene," admits Daugherty. "It was very hard doing that record because we did it at the studio, so there was kind of the ghost of Gene around us."

Nazarene Crying Towel, due to be released on BEC in November, has allowed the band to move on. "We feel pretty good about [the album]," says Daugherty. "We feel like this is the first one after Gene passed away that it's our own. ... I think that our lyrics have a lot of things from our personal lives - struggles of faith, the humanness of it, trying to survive in this nutty, crazy world, trying to be a good Christian guy ..."

The band's True Alternative tour nationwide will not only promote the band's upcoming album, but each member's solo effort. Daugherty will perform songs from his solo EP, A Few Unfinished Songs, an album he says is similar to early Fleetwood Mac. But he affirms that The Lost Dogs is "definitely going to make more records. We look at Lost Dogs as a way to keep making relevant music for a long time." For additional info, visit www.thelostdogs.com.