Singled Out: Petunia & the Vipers' Billy The Kid

Roots based modern rockers Petunia & the Vipers pay homage to old west gunslinger "Billy The Kid" with their brand new single and to celebrate we asked them to tell us about inspiration for the track. Here is the story:

Billy the Kid. Said to have killed his first man at 12 years old over an alternation this man might have been having with Billy's single mom of two. Followed by 19 more men shot dead before he was purportedly shot down by Pat Garrett, his former pal.

There are so many twists and turns in the story of Billy the Kid. No dad - the Englishmen who takes him under his wing kinda becomes his dad. A gang war ensues and the Englishmen is shot and killed. Gunfights breakout in the town of Lincoln over the next little while between the two rival gangs. The governor even makes a trip to Lincoln to try and get Billy to call off the fighting. In a famous Lincoln battle between the two gangs, the cavalry arrives to break up the fighting. Billy's gang is holed up in a mansion surrounded by the opposing gangs' forces. The mansion is set afire as the cavalry is leaving in the distance. All of Billy's gang are picked off fleeing the fire over the course of the evening and night as the fire engulfed the mansion... Except Billy, who spends the next little while avenging the deaths of his friends and would be father. He finally is brought in for trial but escapes!

He's later supposedly shot dead but between the death records and present day dna research, it is deemed by some that he was never shot down at all.

The word "underdog" is rampant throughout this compelling tale. I'm a sucker for underdogs. Who isn't? I couldn't NOT write a song about Billy after the stories I'd heard about and read. Sometimes the urge to write is an itch and sometimes it's all consuming.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here

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