Fueled by the success of their third Atlantic album, When and Where, Confederate Railroad's party train is bearing down once again on southeastern Virginia for a Jan. 19 concert at the Hampton Coliseum.
    Just what can you expect to see and hear from the group this time? "The new album wasn't out" forRailroad's last visit to Hampton Roads, says frontman Danny Shirley, "so we're doing three or four songs off the new album... (and) we'll be doing all the old stuff."
    You can expect to hear their next single, "See Ya," featured.
    "This will be our first attempt at a love song of sorts... unless you consider "Trashy Women" a love song!" says Shirley.
    Confederate Railroad's southern humor and heart-tugging ballads have also endeared them to country fans abroad, and a European tour is set for April, after completion of their fourth album.
    Key elements of the Railroad's success is their honest approach to music and song selection. A case in point is Shirley's all-time favorite Railroad song, "When You Leave That Way, You Can Never Go Home."
    "I just really appreciate the honesty in that song; there's absolutely no fluff like there is in a lot of country music," says Shirley emphatically.
    "Nobody ever talks about getting in a fight with your dad, or leaving your pregnant girlfriend, or anything like that, but I felt that overall there was still a positive message in that song that overshadowed all the negatives."
    One hallmark of Confederate Railroad is the ability of their ballads to reduce grown men to tears.
    "The whole project (Confederate Railroad) has always been very male oriented... and 'male' doesn't mean that you can't have some feelings about something," says Shirley. "I try real hard to find the songs that a tough guy can listen to and still have feelings about."
    Shirley is quick to defend the group's humorous songs. "I think a lot of people misread (some of them). If you really listen to them, it's pretty much just been poking fun at ourselves. Like Elvis and Andy wasn't so much about those two people as it was me laughing at myself for what most people consider outdated southern values."
    Those southern values, coupled with Shirley and the band's friendly southern demeanor, are key to the Railroad's success.