Quittin’ Snakes
Quittin' Snakes playing an open-air stage under string lights among the pines

Northeast Florida Lenten Hick Rock

Quittin’
Snakes

That don't make no sense.

Jacksonville, Florida · 1988–1996 · Swamp Rock / Southern Hick Rock

1988Formed, Jacksonville
4Records, one label
7On the board
3:59Longest a song is allowed to run
1Snake. Whereabouts unknown.
Times said on the drive home: 17. Approximate. Everybody counted different.

The Lot

One parking lot. One teenager. One snake. One man who said he was trying to quit.

A Kountry Mart parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida during the season of Lent. A First Officer on an overnight was offered a foot-long snake by a teenage hick. He declined on the grounds that he was trying to quit. The teenager, baffled, responded "Quittin' Snakes, that don't make no sense" and stomped off in a huff. He named a band. He has no idea.

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
Quittin' Snakes, that don't make no sense.
— Unnamed teenage hick, Jacksonville, FL, season of Lent

Two accounts are on file. They do not agree on who was standing where. They agree on the snake.

Two pickup trucks parked outside a roadside building in northeast Florida
A convenience store parking lot at dusk under sodium lights, northeast Florida, 1991

Kountry Mart, Jacksonville. Season of Lent, 1991. Dusk. The light is the light from the song.

Account 1The Origin

Quittin' Snakes formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1988, and their name has never been satisfactorily explained to anyone who has asked.

When asked what "quittin' snakes" meant, lead vocalist Bobby Ray Durrence said: "It means what it means." When asked to elaborate, he said: "You either get it or you don't." When pressed: "Some folks are quitting snakes. Some folks aren't. We're the ones that are." This has never clarified anything.

The name generates a consistent response from everyone who hears it for the first time: a pause, a slight head tilt, and the words "that don't make no sense." The band considers this the correct response.

Account 2The True Origin

The name has a documented origin that Bobby Ray Durrence has never confirmed, denied, or discussed.

A Kountry Mart parking lot. Jacksonville, Florida. The season of Lent.

A First Officer on an overnight, walking through the parking lot toward a seafood restaurant with his captain, was approached by two teenage hicks. One was holding a foot-long snake. The teenager held it up and said: "Y'all want a snake?"

The First Officer — his mind on Lent, it being the season of Lent — responded without particular deliberation: "No thanks. Trying to quit."

The teenager stared. "Whaaaaaaa?"

"Trying to quit," the First Officer repeated, with the calm of a man who has said a perfectly reasonable thing.

The teenager processed this. He arrived at his conclusion: "Quittin' Snakes. That don't make no sense." He stomped off in a huff. His companion followed. The snake went with them.

Somewhere in Jacksonville that evening, a teenage hick was telling someone about the crazy pilot who said he was trying to quit snakes. He had, without knowing it, named a band. He has no idea. The snake's whereabouts are unknown.

The Parking Lot and the Season of Lent

A date that is also a mood.

The Season of Lent places the incident with precision. You can say "Season of Lent 1991" and know the month, the religious context, the quality of Northeast Florida evening in the weeks before Easter, the specific quality of Kountry Mart parking lot light at dusk. It is a date that is also a mood. Bobby Ray kept mentioning it in interviews not because he was being precious but because he was being accurate.

The snake was calm. That is the part people do not mention. The snake had been in parking lots before. The snake was not alarmed. The snake was simply there, being held up, in a Kountry Mart parking lot, in the Season of Lent, in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1991.

The Board

Seven cards by the door

Four players and three people who were always there. Cards go up on the board by the door. Nobody takes them down.

Bobby Ray Durrence, Lead Vocals / Guitar

HELLOBobby Ray

Bobby Ray Durrence

Lead Vocals / Guitar · 1988–1996

  • “That don't make no sense.”
  • “I said it maybe seventeen times on the drive home. I couldn't stop. It was just true.”
  • “He said he was tryin' to quit. Like it was cigarettes.”

How he ends a song. Bobby Ray ends songs facing the audience with his guitar slightly lower than at the start — a gradual descent over the course of the song he does not notice.

Now. Moved to Waycross, Georgia in 1996 for reasons he described as reasons. He plays occasionally at a bar in Waycross. The bar does not know about the band.

Dale "Snake" Conner, Lead Guitar

HELLOSnake

Dale "Snake" Conner

Lead Guitar · 1988–1996

  • “That don't make no sense.”
  • “I knew when he said it. The moment he said it I knew that was the name.”
  • “The snake was calm. That's the part people don't mention.”

How he ends a song. Dale ends guitar solos by returning to the root note. Every time. Without thinking. The musical equivalent of coming home.

Now. Got the nickname before the band formed. Its origin is unrelated to the band name. The coincidence has been noted. He has nothing to say about it.

Terry Mizell, Bass

HELLOTerry

Terry Mizell

Bass · 1988–1996

  • “That don't make no sense.”
  • “I was watching the whole thing. The kid ran across that parking lot with purpose.”
  • “Northeast Florida is full of Terrys. I am one of the specific ones.”

How he ends a song. Terry ends every song by letting the last note ring completely out — four seconds — until it is simply gone.

Now. From Callahan, FL. Still in Callahan. Has not moved. Plays bass with the patience of someone who has never been in a hurry in his life.

Phil "Bryceville" Strickland, Drums

HELLOBryceville

Phil "Bryceville" Strickland

Drums · 1988–1996

  • “That don't make no sense.”
  • “Bobby Ray said it seventeen times on the drive home. Everybody counted different.”
  • “Bryceville is where I'm from. The cap is proof.”

How he ends a song. Phil ends songs by riding the crash cymbal out slowly — one stroke, letting it ring and fade. When it fades the song is over.

Now. From Bryceville, FL. He goes by Bryceville because he is from Bryceville. People not from northeast Florida have no frame of reference for why this is a nickname. That is fine.

Also on the board

Not in the band. Not optional.

Truck Owner / Logistics

James Durrence “Jimbo”

1988–1996

  • “I own the truck.”
  • “The barn closes at eleven.”
  • “It was loud.”

Standing orders. Jimbo arrives at every show, finds the nearest wall, leans against it with his arms crossed, and does not move until it is time to load the truck. He does not drink at shows because someone has to drive the truck and the truck is his.

Now. Same property in Callahan. Same truck. The pole barn is now a storage unit he rents to a guy who sells mulch.

Venue Owner (The Copperhead Saloon)

Darlene Poole “Dar”

1988–1996

  • “Wednesday is your night. That is what I said.”
  • “Not in my room.”
  • “I do not give compliments. I give Wednesdays.”

Standing orders. Darlene arrives at the Copperhead at 2 PM, checks the coolers, counts the register, tests the taps, and unlocks the door at 3. She stands behind the bar. She does not sit on the customer side. She has never sat on the customer side. When asked why, she says "That is not my side."

Now. Still owns the Copperhead. Still pours. Still does not explain the connection between Army nursing and bar ownership.

Kountry Mart Witness

Earl Prescott “Earl”

1988

  • “I was there. I need you to understand that. I was there.”
  • “And this is the part people get wrong.”
  • “Bobby Ray says it was a shopping cart. It was not a shopping cart. It was a flatbed cart. There is a difference and it matters to the historical record.”

Standing orders. Earl arrives at every social gathering with the notebook in his shirt pocket. He does not take it out immediately. He waits for a natural opening. His definition of a natural opening is broader than most. If someone mentions a parking lot, a snake, a Kountry Mart, Florida, music, bands, coincidence, fate, or Tuesday, the notebook comes out.

Now. Hilliard, Florida. Still telling the story. The notes have been updated.

A four-piece band rehearsing inside an open pole barn at night beside a pickup truck

The pole barn, Callahan. Rehearsal. The barn closes at eleven.

Records

Priced by the year

Four records. Every one on Kountry Mart Parking Lot Records. Every song under four minutes. Signs lettered by hand, priced by year.

No. 11989That Don't Make No SenseDebut. Self-released. 300 copies from the truck. Distributed at a gas station in Macclenny.
  1. That Don't Make No Sense
Track list →No. 21991Trying to QuitThe follow-up. Title refers to something. Nobody says what.
  1. Trying to Quit
  2. Kountry Mart Parking Lot at Dusk
  3. Season of Whatever
  4. Huff and Stomp
Track list →No. 31993JacksonvilleNamed after the city. The city did not respond.
  1. Lent (Bobby Ray Doesn't Know What That Is)
Track list →No. 41995Quittin' (The Final Record)Just Quittin'. No snakes in the title. Make of that what you will.
  1. Waycross Is Not That Far (But It Is)
  2. Quittin' Snakes (Reprise)
Track list →
Cassette tapes in a cardboard box on a gas station counter with a hand-lettered sign

Macclenny, 1989. Three hundred copies. This is where they went.

In the truck tape deck

That Don't Make No Sense

From the debut, 1989. Side A, track 1.

This is the one Bobby Ray could not stop saying. One riff. One verse he sometimes remembers. Under four minutes.

The Log

Behind the counter

Kept behind the counter. Three entries. Each one complete.

  1. 1991The Walmart Parking Lot

    Kountry Mart Parking Lot, Jacksonville, Florida, Season of Lent

    A teenage boy offered a snake. The pilot-type said he was trying to quit. Bobby Ray said "That don't make no sense" seventeen times on the drive home. Band name established.

    Full entry

    In a Kountry Mart parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, during the Season of Lent in 1991, Bobby Ray Durrence, Dale Conner, Terry Mizell, and a man the archive identifies only as "the pilot type" were walking to a seafood restaurant when a teenage boy ran across the lot holding a foot-long snake in the air and said "Y'all want a snake?" The pilot-type looked at the snake, looked at his feet, and said calmly "No thanks, I'm tryin' to quit." The teenage boy stared with his mouth open. Nobody said anything. The boy walked off. Bobby Ray said "That don't make no sense." He said it approximately seventeen times on the drive home. By the second time, the band had a name. By the seventeenth, they had a song.

  2. 1992The Waycross Show

    A bar in Waycross, Georgia

    Bobby Ray forgot a verse and improvised worse lyrics. Terry played three strings for forty minutes. Both happened in the same song. Nobody mentioned either until the drive home.

    Full entry

    The Waycross show is notable for two simultaneous failures that neither the audience nor most of the band noticed. First, Bobby Ray forgot the second verse of "That Don't Make No Sense" and improvised lyrics that were, Dale has confirmed, worse than the original but thematically consistent. Second, Terry's bass string broke in the same song and he played the remaining forty minutes on three strings. Terry did not mention the string until the drive home. Bobby Ray had not noticed. Dale had noticed immediately and said nothing. Phil had noticed at the break. Terry considers this proof that the band could proceed without comment through most things. He is right.

  3. 1996The End

    Jacksonville, Florida

    Bobby Ray said they'd played what they were going to play. Phil said okay. Terry said he figured. Dale said nothing.

    Full entry

    Quittin' Snakes ended in 1996 in the way most things in Northeast Florida end — gradually, without a specific moment, with everyone understanding before anyone says it. Bobby Ray said at a Tuesday rehearsal that he thought they had played what they were going to play. Phil said okay. Terry said he figured. Dale said nothing, which is what Dale says when he has already known something for a while. They did not play again.

A Southern rock band playing a small bar in south Georgia, the bass player looking at his strings

Waycross, Georgia, 1992. Three strings. Forty minutes. Nobody mentioned it.

Northeast Florida Circuit

The Circuit, 1991

Eleven lines on one sheet of poster board. Two states. One truck. The truck is his.

6Florida
3Georgia
1Parking lot

Jimbo drives. Jimbo finds a wall. The truck leaves when the truck is loaded.

A small wood-paneled saloon on a Wednesday night, a woman behind the bar, a band in the corner
The Copperhead Saloon. Wednesday. Darlene's side of the bar.
A man leaning against a pickup truck with his arms crossed while amplifiers are loaded at night
Load-out. Jimbo did not drink. Someone has to drive the truck.
  1. StopWhere
  2. 01Jacksonville, FL
  3. 02The Walmart Parking Lot (Opener)
  4. 03Orange Park, FL
  5. 04Waycross, GA
  6. 05Folkston, GA
  7. 06Callahan, FL
  8. 07Bryceville, FL
  9. 08Macclenny, FL
  10. 09Kingsland, GA
  11. 10Jacksonville, FL (Return)
  12. 11Every stop "That Don't Make No Sense"

Comment cards

From the box by the register

The comment box is by the register. These are the cards on file.

How did we do?★★★★★

I grew up in Macclenny. Every person I've shown this shirt to either immediately understood it or said "that don't make no sense." Both groups bought one.

T. Crews · Macclenny, FL

How did we do?★★★★★

I was not there. I have heard the story enough times I feel like I was. I have not corrected this.

A Person From Jacksonville · Jacksonville, FL

How did we do?★★★★★

My priest saw me wearing this during Lent. He laughed for forty-five seconds. Then he bought one.

Anonymous · Jacksonville, FL

How did we do?★★★★★

The snake was calm. The kid was not calm. The pilot-type was calmest. Bobby Ray was the funniest. That don't make no sense is correct.

Dale Conner · Jacksonville, FL

How did we do?★★★★★

Someone offered me a snake once. I said no thanks. I didn't know that was a whole thing. Apparently it's a whole thing.

Pilot · Jacksonville layover

How did we do?★★★★★

The bass player played three strings the whole Waycross show. I didn't know until after. That's a tight band.

A Fan from Waycross · Waycross, GA

How did we do?★★★★★

"Kountry Mart Parking Lot at Dusk" is the greatest instrumental in Florida rock history. It sounds exactly like what it's called.

Music Fan · Orange Park, FL

Window signs

Still quitting.

Printed on black shirts in white ink. Snake green where it counts.

  • AlternateTrying to quit.
  • Shirt, frontHe said he was tryin' to quit.
  • Window cardJacksonville, FL. Season of Lent. Long story.
  • Shirt, backJacksonville, FL. Season of Lent, 1991. The snake was calm.
  • Window cardNamed by someone who still doesn't know.
  • Shirt, frontStill quitting.

Put your name on the clipboard by the register. The Sideband Label list sends word when a recording surfaces, a shirt is reprinted, or Earl updates the notes.

Sign the clipboardGet the shirt

We will not offer you a snake.

Quittin' Snakes swamp-rock revival show poster