Clever because the name implies that Lawyer Dave is the entire backing band, and, in fact, he is. While Golightly handles the lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Lawyer Dave plays drums with his feet and lead and slide guitar with his hands, and sings backing vocals as well.

Golightly met Lawyer Dave while searching for a bass player to complete a short U. S. tour. She claims this meeting occurred in the basement of a Chinatown smuggler's den -- proving she obviously learned a valuable lesson from her friend Jack White in terms of the importance of building a band mythology. The collaboration grew out of that meeting and marked a distinct change of direction musically for Golightly, who got her start as a member of Billy Childish's Thee Headcoatees and in 1995 began a solo career built around a smart garage rock sound with elements of R&B and jazz. With Lawyer Dave, Golightly began exploring the roots of American country music and developed a loose, twangy, mud-on-the-boots sound. Early in 2007, Golightly and Lawyer Dave met in England to make their debut Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs album, You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, writing and recording the entirety in four days in Golightly's living room. The final product, released on Damaged Goods Records, turned out to be much better received than either musician anticipated -- and the next calendar year was spent touring the album.

In 2008 Golightly and Lawyer Dave recorded their follow-up, Dirt Don't Hurt, over a five-day span, this time in an actual studio in Gijon, Spain. The album was released on Transdreamer Records in the U.S. (as have their subsequent releases), and the result was another underground classic that garnered them Americana Album of the Year at the ninth annual Independent Music Awards. Like You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, Dirt Don't Hurt incorporates clever songwriting about whiskey, religion, and guns, along with a few choice traditional cuts.

Golightly and Lawyer Dave purchased a parcel of rural property near Athens, GA in 2008 and moved there shortly after the release of Dirt Don't Hurt. In 2009 Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs released an EP entitled Devil Do and in 2010 their third full-length, Medicine County, came out. Medicine County was recorded in a foreclosed church near Golightly and Lawyer Dave's land, where the two also raise horses, dogs, chickens, geese, and goats. They followed it up in 2011 with No Help Coming. In 2012 the duo released Long Distance, an album that recycled ten songs from her earlier albums in country blues fashion. ~ Chris Berggren