It might seem like folky singer-songwriters and virtuoso jam bands wouldn’t get along all that well. Not only do those musicians typically hang in different crowds, but the former’s soft sonics don’t exactly gel with the latter’s searing live performances. That’s not the case for Hard Working Americans, a supergroup led by East Nashville troubadour Todd Snider, who is joined by a laundry list of ace jam players, including Dave Schools of Widespread Panic on bass, Neal Casal of the Chris Robinson Brotherhood on guitar, Chad Staehly of Great American Taxi on keys, Duane Trucks of Widespread Panic on drums and Jesse Aycock on guitar.

“Todd likes jam bands, and he got so sick and tired of his friends in the songwriting world thinking that music didn’t matter, and that it was all about poetry and words and cowboy chords,” says Schools. “What happened to the days when a good song and a good melody can meet up with great players?”

After expressing a mutual respect for one another’s work, the group’s members convened around a collection of songs hand-picked by Snider, each of which was originally recorded by one of his favorite artists. Songs from The Bottle Rockets, Drivin’ N Cryin’, Hayes Carll and others found their way onto the band’s self-titled debut.

But Schools says the band soon realized original songs would emerge. “We got away pretty quickly from deconstructing cover songs… and started finding common ground for new songs,” says Schools, who adds that the chemistry amongst the band’s members quickly took their sound in a wildly different direction.

“We’ve gone from being this Americana-folk-songwriter-y thing to a crazy psych-rock, garage-rock thing,” says Schools, admitting he had no idea how the band would sound live. “It was an interesting gambit—to put a band together and then go into the studio and record a record without having played a single show,” he says. “We didn’t know what would happen when we played live. We didn’t know if we’d be any good.”

To call the experiment a success would be an understatement. Not only did Hard Working Americans sell out a series of shows around the U.S. last fall, the band entered Chase Park Transduction in Athens within a matter of months to begin work on a follow-up record.

The band’s upcoming live Athens debut will be momentous for several reasons. In addition to having mixed the group’s first record at John Keane’s studio in town, Schools still has strong ties to Athens, with many friends living in the area and the Panic headquarters stationed near downtown.

“It can be nerve-wracking for me, because I want it to be a good show, and I want people to show up and have a good time, but this Hard Working Americans thing is always a fun circus,” says Schools.

With a band name like Hard Working Americans, one might expect the band’s music to be politically motivated. That’s not so, says Schools, who emphasizes that the group’s guiding philosophy is not to “push any message, other than to have a good time.”

“We’re not up there to preach, we’re up there to provide the soundtrack for a couple of hours in the evening where the average person can come in and see the show and not get yelled at or have fear shoved down their throats, like they do the other 21 hours of the day,” says Schools.

Indeed, Schools promises that a good time will be had by all. “We’re not gonna rage against the machine… We’re just going to rage and party.”

WHO: Hard Working Americans, Elizabeth Cook
WHERE: Georgia Theatre
WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $20