Independence. Musicians crave some measure of it, yet many never quite attain it short of getting the ol' heave-ho. Staunton, Va.'s Statler Brothers have managed to pull it off.

After 34 studio albums for Mercury/Polygram Records since 1970's classic "Bed of Roses," the longtime hitmakers left the label five years ago. Little did they realize that it would be five years before another all-out stab at an album of new material would come along.

But there's a twist for the band's latest, "Showtime." See, it's released on their own label, Music Box Records.

"Well, it gave us the freedom to do exactly what and how we wanted to," says founding member Don Reid. "It's a good deal for us. A good business deal."

As such, Reid, 56, suggests that they may sign other acts to the label.

"That's a possibility," he says. "We're kind of testing the waters ourselves right now, but there's a possibility that that might happen. There's a lot of talent. You run into it all over the place. We're gonna first consider whether we're gonna do it, and then we're gonna consider who we're gonna do it with."

In the meantime, Reid and older brother Harold, Jimmy Fortune and Phil Balsley have some records to sell.

"There's all kinds of things to be taken into account," Reid says. "Distribution is your biggest thing (theirs is handled by Portland, Ore.-based Pamplin Music Distribution). We can go away and cut the album, get it packaged. That's no problem. It's the marketing, it's the distribution and making sure you get it in all the stores. That can be a harrying experience."

Now, given that the Statlers resided in the house of Mercury for nearly three decades and sold millions of albums, one wonders why they chose to leave. Be sure to realize, too, that their exit was a band decision; Mercury did not cut them loose.

But that doesn't mean it wouldn't have happened. As the mid-'90's rolled around, off the merry-go-round of radio airplay went the Statlers. Labelmates such as Shania Twain vastly outsold the veteran group. Oh sure, they still sold out shows as much as always, but for so-called contemporary country radio, it was as if the Statlers didn't even exist.

"We were with Mercury for a long, long time," Reid says. "As you well know, people in our category are not radio-active anymore. They've got a big catalog on us and still have great sales on the albums, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time."

No question about it. From the 46-time (!!) Music City News award winners' viewpoint, they no longer were a priority at Mercury as they'd been for so long. See, image didn't sell the Statlers' records, at least not a contrived image.

"That label like any other was looking for new acts," Reid says. "They can get new acts - they want new, young and fresh talent, of course - and they can get 'em cheaper. And they can handle 'em. This is a big thing with record labels, why they're constantly looking for new acts because they are easily handled and are cheap labor."

There, you have it. No big surprise, but Reid's comments highlight what many have known for so long about major labels in Nashville: It's all about the dollar. And that little ol' thing called control.

"The labels are trying to be more controlling today than they've ever been before. I think the artists of today have very little say in what they do and in what they record and in how they record. There's just so many people with their finger in the pie. I think that's why we have so little varied country music today. It's taken the style out of it. It's taken the individuality out of it. It's cookie-cutter stuff."

Little wonder, then, that the Statlers elected to veer clear of Nashville's current dictator-like regimes. With such power behind Music City's wheel, honest-to-goodness stylism appears to have become passŽ. At least among the big wheels that appears to be the case.

"Oh boy, there's no mistaking your Hank Snows and your Johnny Cashs and your Marty Robbins'. These people had style from the first two notes," Reid says. "It's just not the way now. And more emphasis is put on electronics and instrumentations instead of the voice and the song. That's what it ought be, the voice and the song."

Make no mistake, pardners, once you hear the Statlers sing, you've heard a sound not quite like any other.

"That's the most important thing, to be recognizable. That's more important than talent. To be original is more important than anything when you're in this business. That's what all the people who stick around, like your Merle Haggards, they're original and boy you know it's them."

Haggard said as much in an interview last October. Hag said that what's wrong with today's music is that it strives for perfection. "Music was never supposed to be perfect," Haggard said. "We're humans, and humans aren't perfect."

Reid could not agree more.

"That's the beauty of it. I can remember one time when we were in a session, and we had two guitars playing a unison break," Reid says. "Somebody said, 'aww, we'd better re-tune.' And this other picker said, 'no, that's the beauty of it.' They were not exactly there, a few beats short. Kind of what Merle was saying, but that's what gave it the breadth, that's what gave it the excitement. Electronically you can do it perfect. You can out that machine on it to make it perfect, but that doesn't make it pretty."

Indeed, what you get on the Statlers' latest album is them, not some digitized version. With longtime Nashville session players such as Sonny Garrish (steel guitar, dobro), Eddie Bayers (drums) and legendary ivory tickler Hargus "Pig" Robbins on board, the Statlers shot for heart and feeling, not some pickled in perfection sound.

"You want it to be you, and if it's not you, then it's not right," Reid says. He adds that when artists take such liberties in the studio as to perfect their sound, they do so at the peril of subsequent live performances.

That's never been a problem for the Statlers. For one thing, they've managed to record all their albums since 1970 -- including their latest -- with the same producer, Jerry Kennedy. For another, through the years the foursome penned most of its own material.

"Oh, Jerry's the fifth brother," Reid says. "He is everything to us. When we walk into a studio, he is it. He's been with us since 1970. We trust him explicitly. He was the first guy that gave us total freedom in the studio, and that's important. He had worked some sessions with us years ago as a guitar picker when we were on Columbia Records in our first five years in the business."

When the Statlers' Columbia contract expired, they simply walked across the street and looked up their pal Kennedy, by then Mercury's head honcho in Nashville.

"We said that we were looking for a label. He said 'I'd love to record you guys, but I've got one problem, I don't have time to look for material. Have y'all got any material?'"

Umm, yeah. The Statlers were overflowing with songs they'd written. "We'd been writing for years and hadn't been able to record it because Columbia was making us do what was handed down, ya know. So he opened the doors to the studio, and we started recording the stuff we wanted to the way we wanted with the pickers we wanted."

And gosh, consider the gems that have flowed from Staunton's finest pens: "Carry Me Back," "Class of '57," "Flowers on the Wall." All hits, all classics. No less than famed novelist Kurt Vonnegut wrote in his book "Palm Sunday" that "Class of '57" should be named America's new national anthem. Now that's high praise.

"That was nice what he said. He has proven to be a fan through the years. He and his wife come to our concerts. We call him up and sing "Happy Birthday" to him, so it's been a fun relationship."

Then there's filmmaker Quentin Tarrantino. He re-popularized the "Flowers on the Wall" when he used it in his seminal film from 1995, "Pulp Fiction."

"We were in strange company on that album for that movie," Reid says with a laugh. "When they contacted us, it wasn't even titled yet. So, we didn't really know until it came out. Of course, the album went platinum and was great for everybody involved, but we were in strange company when we look at everybody that's on that album."

Not that their fans noticed. Reid says after initially watching the movie, he worried that the band's fans would deluge their office with disapproving letters. That, however, never happened.

"Not one of our fans have written, called, stopped us or anything. We thought we were really gonna hear it from our fans. Our fans didn't go see that movie. Our fans didn't buy that album. We got to hear from the college crowd; it got all kinds of new people after us."

Still, "Flowers on the Wall" once again struck paydirt last year when country newcomer Eric Heatherly recorded the tune and took it into country's Top 40.

"We were very honored that (Eric) did it. We thought he did a great 'today' job on it," Reid says. "He gave a nice 21st century twist to it. It sounded like today, and it sounded good."

Today, Reid says that he's honored that both men would think so highly of the song. Still, he stops short of offering approval of Tarrantino's often violent film that clashes head-on with the Statlers' clean-cut and wholesome boys-next-door images.

But back to the new album. Jimmy Fortune penned one tune, "Look At Me," and then there's a Steve Wariner and Gordon Kennedy-penned tune, "Darlin' I Do." Elsewhere, it's all Reid written. Brothers Don and Harold along with several of their offspring wrote the album's remaining 10 tunes.

Including a pair of paint-peeling gospel tunes, "The Other Side of the Cross" and "I've Got Jesus On My Side."

"We like the way these gospel songs came off, and we're excited about the way the (upcoming) one will do," Reid says. "We've got about eight songs ready to go. In fact, we just got finished with rehearsals this morning. It's all gospel."

Reid says that though the band is perhaps more well known for such hits as "Silver Medals and Sweet Memories" and "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott," it's a gospel song that attracts most applause during their shows.

"Gospel music is our first love. We've never done a concert where we didn't do at least one or two. Of all our hit songs, the most requested song we've got is "How Great Thou Art." We've been doing it in concerts for 30 years. We grew up with gospel. Our hearts are really in it when we're doing them."

More simply put, the Statler Brothers are not merely a country group.

"We're basically a gospel quartet with country lyrics. We used everything we knew from the Southern gospel quartets and just put country lyrics to the songs. That makes us different. That makes us original."