Easy rider Sam Baltrusis 4/23/2004 FLORA-BAMA’S URBAN COWBOY WHAT: Dallas Moore Band at the 20th Annual Mullet Toss. WHEN: 10:30 p.m. Friday, April 23; 10 p.m. Saturday, April 24; 9:30 p.m. Sunday, April 25. WHERE: Flora-Bama Lounge, 17401 Perdido Key Dr. COST: $5, 21 plus; $15 for 18 to 20; Free 12 and under. DETAILS: 850-492-0611 or www.florabama.com. Outlaw country’s bad boy Dallas Moore was dumbstruck when he was invited to the 20th Annual Flora-Bama Interstate Mullet Toss. “This is our inaugural toss, so we had no idea,” Moore says, phoning from his home near Cincinnati. “When they first asked us to perform, I’m thinking they were going to throw around little dudes with funny haircuts.” On the surface, Moore is Southern-fried badass. Think more Lynard Skynard and less Dixie Chicks. ”We’re full-on, balls to the wall outlaw country and Southern rock,” he says about his upcoming performances at the now infamous Flora-Bama staple. Moore, backed by his “Redneck Roadcrew,” headlines the three-day fish fest and will share the stage with Knee Deep, The Ray Band, Lisa Christian, Randy Robertson and Rick Whaley. “Basically, we’re a bunch of hillbillies turned up real loud,” he says. At first, the stereotypical image of a broken-beer-bottle wielding country singer strumming away onstage at a honky-tonk comes to mind. Chat with Moore long enough, however, and his tough-as-nails exterior slowly fades. The urban cowboy is, well, a hoot. “The first time I came in to the Flora-Bama I was driving my bike down from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,” Moore explains. “Just about the whole trip it rained on us. So, I came in and I was all soak and wet. When I first met Donna Slater, who booked us down there, she was like ‘you just pulled up on that bike? Don’t you know there’s a torrential rainstorm.’ And, I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And she says ‘they were right, you really are crazy.’” Moore may be crazy. But he’s no fool. With hits like “Down in Dixie” and “Mama was a God Fearin’ Woman (Daddy was a Hell-Raisin’ Man),” the up-and-coming country maverick has won over Willie Nelson, Lynard Skynard and David Allen Coe. “The music we do is too country for modern rock, and too heavy for modern country,” he says. “We’ve held our guns though and stayed true to what we do. There definitely seems to be a renewed interest in our kind of music ‘cause it seems like everywhere we go the crowds get bigger and bigger.” The easy rider has slowly built a loyal following of Panhandle regulars who flock to the Dallas Moore Band’s shows. “The first time we played at the Flora-Bama last year the people went nuts and the folks there have been like family ever since,” he says. Touring with David Allen Coe most of the year, Moore says the hell-raisin’ hotspot has become a nesting ground for his band. “We’ve been touring all over the country and there ain’t no place like the Flora-Bama. It’s in its own little world.” sam@ifsun.net