Government Cheese
Back in 1985, in Government Cheese’s very first year as a band, singer-songwriter-guitarist Tommy Womack had a premonition at a nightclub in Bowling Green, Ky. “I remember being at a Cheese soundcheck at the Alibi disco in May of ’85,” Womack says, “and I just got this feeling that this is gonna last a long time.”
While Womack didn’t mention his premonition to any of his bandmates because they would have “mocked” him, it turned out to be spot-on. Now the band is performing a number of concerts billed as “40 Damn Years of Government Cheese” to celebrate four decades, culminating with a show Saturday night at 3rd and Lindsey.
What makes the anniversary even more remarkable is the fact the band’s original lineup — Womack (vocals, guitar), Scott Willis (vocals, guitar), Billy Mack Hill (vocals, bass) and “Joe Elvis” King (drums) — is still intact. The one lineup change was the addition of guitarist Viva McQueen in 1990. Thus far, the anniversary shows have been everything the band could hope for and more.
“It moved me to tears at the Louisville show a couple of times, just looking out there at these people I’ve seen for 40 years, and they keep coming,” Willis says. “It’s a real honor because it’s our music they’re singing along to. It means a lot. We’re pulling out all the stops for these shows because we want to make them special.”
The band, which got its start in Bowling Green and rose to regional fame in the late ’80s, has had a different set list for each of the anniversary shows. They draw from their entire catalog, which includes three EPs, four full-length albums and a 43-track, two-disc anthology released in 2010, Government Cheese 1985-1995. According to Womack, the Cheese will play at least one new song Saturday night.
“We’ve got something we’ve never played before that we’re gonna do,” he says. “It’s a cover — ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones. And there’re deep cuts we’ve rotated in and out. We do a fair amount from the more recent stuff, but we also know that’s not why the people are coming out, so we cover all the classics they want to hear — ‘The Shrubbery’s Dead,’ ‘Mammaw Drives the Bus,’ ‘Camping on Acid,’ ‘Fish Stick Day’ and ‘C’mon Back to Bowling Green (And Marry Me).’”
The group will also play “Horny Mormon,” a song that didn’t make the cut for their 2022 album Love, but which will appear on Womack’s forthcoming solo album Live a Little. It’s a hilarious take on the worldly desires of Mormon missionaries.
“The minute we do ‘Horny Mormon,’ the whole crowd erupts,” Womack says.
In addition to their 40th anniversary, Government Cheese has another reason to celebrate. They are among the artists being honored in a new exhibit titled Sonic Landscape at the Kentucky Museum in Bowling Green. The exhibit, which opened on Sept. 6 for a planned five-year run, puts a spotlight on dozens of influential artists from the Bowling Green area, many of whom now call Nashville home, such as Sam Bush, Bill Lloyd and Jonell Mosser.
“We’re all very proud to be associated with those artists,” Womack says. “There are a lot of great artists that came out of the Bowling Green area.”
None of the artists is more prominently featured in the exhibit than Government Cheese.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Willis says. “We were able to provide more stuff than any other bands because we’ve had more stuff. We’re the band that’s been around for 40 years.”
“It’s one of the biggest feelings of accomplishment I’ve ever had,” adds Womack. “If you had told me 40 years ago we would be in a museum someday, it would have been hard to believe.”
