The outlaws will ride again at the Village Idiot in Maumee this weekend, as country band Whitey Morgan and the 78s plug in for Saturday night’s concert.

The band’s frontman, Eric Allen, known better as “Whitey,” received his nickname while growing up in a predominantly black neighborhood in his hometown Flint, Mich. He never took the name offensively though, and decided it appropriate to carry the title into the name of his five-piece band.

Whitey’s pseudo-surname, Morgan, was the first name of his late grandfather, who acted as his guitar mentor and introduced Whitey to music, teaching him his first chords at age 8. Now 34, Whitey said he still looks back to his grandfather’s lessons and memories of them playing together. One of his more poignant memories, Whitey said, was when he found an old tape recording shortly after his grandfather passed away of the two of them singing and playing one of his grandfather’s favorite songs while Whitey was still very young.

“I had pretty much forgotten all about it, because it was way back when I was probably 11,” he said. “It ended up being the same song some of his friends sang at his funeral, so it’s one of those big things I really remember.”

Whitey keeps that tape to this day.

The ’78’ in the band’s name, according to Whitey, is a reference to the last year he feels country music was still good and genuine.

“For me, the records I listen to, that seems to be the last year music was really good and raw,” he said. “After that, things started to go downhill, especially country.”

Whitey has toned down his insults to mainstream country a bit these days — on the advice of his management — but there is still no mistaking his sentiments about the monotony he said is in many of today’s Nashville products.

While nothing new or revolutionary, the “stripped-down” honesty of Whitey’s music is appreciable for those who prefer their country with a little less flash, a little more grit. The band’s soul-stirring guitar and harmonica solos, adhered with swaying pedal steel guitar accompaniment, give it the sound of the kind of gunslinger genre that slaps commercial country across the face with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. Though inspired by artists of decades gone, this style is still able to reach a younger audience.

“I really like that old outlaw kind of feel his songs have,” said sophomore Andy Cocke. “[Whitey] seems like a really down-to-earth guy and he’s not going to be swayed by what the mainstream wants to hear.”

Cocke said he first heard about WM and the 78s through a recommendation from his friend’s boss, and he has since seen the band live four times; the most memorable concert being the most recent.

“The last show was pretty cool,” he said. “It was kind of a surprise show at the Idiot, and they were a lot more involved with the crowd, taking requests on originals and cover songs people wanted to hear.”

The band has toured extensively since releasing its first full-length album “Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels” in 2008, racking up roughly 200 shows a year and venturing as far west as Texas and all the way to the east coast. The band members are no stranger to the Idiot either, according to Whitey, having played there around ten times.

Tom Sullivan, the executive chef for the bar, said the 78s first came to the Village Idiot as an opener for a larger band, but that Whitey and company’s performance overshadowed that of the act they were supporting. Since then the club has continued to book the band every chance they can — and the response has been extremely positive.

“We’ve had dozens of phone calls in the past week with people just checking show times and double checking to make sure [Whitey] is really going to be here,” he said. “They’re authentic honky tonk guys who just like to drink Jack Daniel’s and fool around, you know? … They’ve got a good following.”

According to Village Idiot owner John Schafer, the show will start at 9:30 p.m. Saturday night with a $5 cover. Unfortunately for younger fans of the genre, the bar is 21-and-over only. Those of age, however, are encouraged by Schafer to come and see what it’s all about. And don’t let Whitey’s Pantera-like exterior fool you, he and his band are really a friendly and outgoing group.

“They’re really nice guys, really fun to work with,” Schafer said. “They’re definitely friends of the Idiot.”