Southern B is a musical project created in 2007 by Justin Louallen and his father, Rick Louallen for the Rock Band series. Southern B is a fictional "virtual band" created by Justin and Rick for the purpose of listening to their favorite songs on music video games and for paying tribute to various classic-rock bands including Creedence Clearwater Revival and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Justin and Rick lent their likenesses to the games as playable avatars along with Justin's cousin Darren Bohlman, Darren's wife Kim Bohlman, and Kim's brother Jeffrey "Duff" Houlton. Southern B appeared in Rock Band in 2007 as playable characters, then in Rock Band 2 in 2008. Southern B are last seen in the game Rock Band 3 in 2010 with a story arc showing their rise to fame and ending with their glory as legendary musicians. The band has also crossed over into other music video games including the Guitar Hero series as guest acts. Since 2007, Southern B has played over hundreds of songs and to this day has a popular fanbase by many of Justin's friends and family. However, the band has also experienced problems with its members and has made several changes throughout their line-up of songs. In the present, Justin and Rick still play as Southern B with new songs that are released as downloadable songs.

When the first Rock Band game was released back in 2007, Justin Louallen, a gamer and movie-goer from Fort Smith, Arkansas, had always liked playing music video games since the first Guitar Hero game came out. So, when his dad bought him all the instruments for Rock Band, Justin decided to form a band with Rick, Darren Bohlman (Justin's cousin), and Jeffrey "Duff" Houlton (Darren's brother-in-law) on the game. To make things subtle, Justin and Rick decided to go by alias names for the band as a homage to the band Gorillaz. All four of the members chose to go with the name Southern B as a throwback to all the classic rock and southern rock bands that were famous back in the 60's and 70's. When the idea came to using alias's, Justin used Just, Rick used Ricky D, Darren used Der, and Duff chose his own name because that's what everyone called him all the time. When Rock Band 2 came out in 2008, Darren's wife Kim was invited to the project as well and she formed her own avatar as well. She named her Kimmy and she would remain on the rest of the future games that come out up until the final game Rock Band 3 was released. Justin had also formed his own side-band in 2008 called The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies which consists of Just on lead vocals, Eric Adamson (Eazy Eric,Darren's brother) on lead guitar, and Just's friends Marco Villa (Marcus) and Todd White (TK) on drums and bass guitar, respectively. In July 2010, Just's ex-girlfriend Tiffany Barrett (Tiff) had joined TFSRH as a guest vocalist for songs. To this day Just still performs with his band mates in both The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies and Southern B when new songs come out for Rock Band 3. In 2011, there were legal problems that involved Der (see below), and he was out of the band for 9 months, but came back on November 28th, 2011.

Southern B first started out in Rock Band with Der on lead guitar, Duff on bass guitar, Ricky D on lead vocals, and Just on drums. Southern B started out playing in various bars and clubs and were critically acclaimed to their performances bringing back the sounds of classic, moody, rock songs and having a musical style similar to how the 60's 70's and 90's were. In September 2008,(Rock Band 2), After getting alto of fame and fortune for their performances, the band bought a van and drove across states to more bars and clubs where they gained a huge notoriety of fans and followers. However,a month later, it was decided that Duff was leaving the band temporarily due to having a burnout with playing so many songs with his band mates. With Duff's departure, Der brought his wife Kimmy in to replace Just on the drums and Just would take over as bassist for Duff. With more Downloadable content being released following Duff's leaving, the 4 played the songs with hope that it would satisfy new fans of the band with Kimmy's involvement. After being on tour for a month, Southern B crossed over into other video games following including Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock. It's also worth noting that Duff had also joined Southern B in Band Hero as a guest musician. He also joined Just on a song with his band The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies. While World Tour was praised for the band's involvement with their line-up of classic rock and heavy rock songs, Guitar Hero 5 got mixed reviews due to the fact that Southern B was playing songs that didn't fit in with their type of genre and also due to the fact that only a limited amount of songs were available for Southern B to play. It was also notable for Southern B joining Metallica on stage, making this the first time that Southern B has crossed over with other musicians. They were also praised for their performance with Billy Corgan in Guitar Hero 5. In November 2009, Southern B were hugely highlighted for their performances in Band Hero when they crossed over with other musicians including Adam Levine and Taylor Swift. In Early 2010 (Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock), Southern B and The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies had one last collaboration with the musicians from the previous Guitar Hero series and were joined on a quest with them for the true guitar legends, guest showing in certain venues, but, only the Guitar Hero characters had their victory. By July 2010 (during the pre-Rock Band 3 release), Southern B had returned to mainstream when they played live performances on stage and Duff came back for one last show returning as bass guitarist and Just played as drummer again after 2 years. Soon after the band's live tour, Duff was sent to prison for a year. After Duff's leavement, it was decided that Just would be keyboardist from now on and Kimmy would remain on drums for the remainder of the band's line-up of songs. Southern B finally went on a world tour in October 2010 (Rock Band 3) and they became gold-record legends earning up to 50 gold records and making over 15,000,000 fans worldwide. However, on February 28th, 2011, Der was sent to RPF for undisclosed purposes and the band considered to stop playing songs after while. Southern B's last mainstream performance on stage was on February 26th, 2011. The last two songs were Tuesday's Gone and Free Bird by Lynryd Skynyrd. To this day, the only remaining members that are left of Southern B are Just, Ricky D, and Kimmy. Occasionaly, Eazy Eric provides guitar for some songs, and TK provides bass, and other members of the band The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies appear with Southern B, but, Just has stated he does not wish to continue the band on a world tour until all the legal disputes are over in 2011. While Der is currently serving in rehab, Just has stated that Southern B will still continue playing more forthcoming songs with Eazy Eric being a temporary replacement for Der until he is released in November 2011. On March 28th, 2011, Just announced that due to strains between Der and Kimmy with their marriage, Southern B will be excluding both of them because of their problems. However, he did say that Der and Kimmy can still participate in the band, but, with their marriage problems, they would have to perform separately because of their issues. On August 19, it was confirmed that Duff would be returning to Southern B as the bassist once he gets out of jail in September 2011. It was also confirmed that Darren would be coming back to Southern B on November 28 continuing the line up of DLC released. On September 13, Duff was released from prison and had returned to Southern B and served as a guest musician as well for The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies. Der was also released on November 28th, and returned after a 9 month departure from his band mates and the both bands welcomed his return as the lead guitarist. On June 18th, 2012, Der and Kimmy were separated and Kimmy decided to no longer be part of the band and Just had announced that there would be no world tour until there is a permanent drummer for the band as he is currently the lead singer for TFSRH and keyboardist for southern B.

In 2008 (During the Rock Band 2 tour), Just had formed his own side-band called The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies with his cousin Eazy Eric and his friends Marcus and TK as a band that played mostly modern day hits and heavy metal songs that were biased toward Southern B. For Just, it was a just a band he wanted to play on his own with his friends and just perform in clubs and bars. Occasionally, Der, Ricky D, Kimmy, Duff, and Tiff would make guest appearances with Just's band with various instruments. To this day, Just still performs with both bands but only considers Southern B his true presence because he does not wish to compete with both bands seeing as how he is the lead vocalist for The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies and as the keyboardist for Southern B. In April, Just decided to stop playing songs due to a strain in his relationship with Tiff. Just felt heartbroken and felt that he wouldnt feel comfortable on stage playing songs. So, in regards, Just has said that he doesnt no longer want to continue the trend of songs, resulting in the bands Southern B and FSRH breaking up. Just said, "I really dont want to, but, in the end, i just have no choice. with none of our members willing to participate, i feel like I shouldnt continue without my bandmates. I wish them well but I dont wish to continue my bands anytime in the future." On April 29th, Eazy Eric was sentenced to 3 years in prison, which struck the band and Just doesnt know if he could replace Eric since he was his best guitarist in that band. With Der, Duff, Eazy Eric, and Tiff out of the band, Just originally wanted to no longer continue either bands due to his heartbreak relationship with Tiffany and losing three of his other band mates. In response, the last line-up of songs for Southern B were the Fleetwood Mac songs released in April and for The Fort Smith Rockin' Homies, the last songs were by Linkin Park. On May 5th, both bands had broken up and Just no longer wanted to continue his lineup of songs. However, he has said that maybe someday things might work out if he could get Der, Duff, and Eazy Eric back in the bands in a year or so. With Tiff however, Just said that since he and her no longer are together, it would be hard for him to have her as a guest vocalist due to the material of songs. On May 26th, It was confirmed that despite his break-up that Just would continue playing with his band mates and Eazy Eric was released from jail and both bands will continue on to play DLC for the Rock Band series. By August 2011, Eazy Eric's friend Willy had joined TFSRH as a guest guitarist and bassist. To this day, both bands still perform and with Duff back as a member, Just and Ricky D continue the line-up of DLC released and on November 28th, Der had returned to Southern B as the lead guitarist and now both bands occasionally play the line up of DLC.

Ricky D-Lead vocals
Der-Lead guitar (2007-Feburary 28th, 2011, November 28th, 2011-Present)*
Just-Drums (2007-2008, 2010), bass guitar, keyboards, back-up vocals, and rhythm guitar (2008-present)
Kimmy-Drums (2008-June 18th, 2012)
Duff-Bass guitar (2007-2008, July 2010, September 13th,2011-present)

Eazy Eric-Lead guitar
TK-Bass guitar
Marcus-Drums
Tiff-Vocals

Just-Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards (2008-present)
Tiff-Guest vocals(2010-2011)
Eazy Eric-Lead and rhythym guitar (2008-present)
TK-Bass guitar, drums
Marcus-Drums

Der-Lead guitar
Duff-Lead and bass guitar
Kimmy-Drums
Willy-Guitar and Bass

Rock Band
Rock Band 2
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero 5
Band Hero
Rock Band 3
Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock
Guitar Hero Metallica

• Official website