Along with becoming a staff writer at one of Nashville's leading song publishers and forming the group the Hillbilly All-Stars with members of the Mavericks, Mead was also musical arranger and director of the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet from its workshop productions in Daytona and Seattle to its runs in Chicago, New York, and London. In 2009, Mead released his first album with the Grassy Knoll Boys, Journeyman's Wager; Back at the Quonset Hut, a collection of vintage country classics he recorded at Nashville's namesake studio with original BR5-49 producer Mike Janas, Old Crow Medicine Show, Bobby Bare, and Jamie Johnson, arrived in 2012. In 2014, Mead released his third solo effort, Free State Serenade, which featured a stronger rock & roll edge as well as guest appearances from former BR5-49 multi-instrumentalist Don Herron and Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome (the latter on theremin). ~ Heather Phares