Confederate Railroad is an American country and Southern Rock band founded in 1987 in Marietta, Georgia, by Danny Shirley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Michael Lamb (lead guitar), Mark Dufresne (drums), Chris McDaniel (keyboards), Warren "Gates" Nichols (steel guitar) and Wayne Secrest (bass guitar). After serving as a backing band for outlaw country acts David Allan Coe and Johnny Paycheck, the band signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records, releasing their self-titled debut album that year. In the 1990s, they released four more albums for Atlantic.