Satellite radio favorites Charm City Devils bringing take on folk staple to Flint, MI.

These days, Charm City Devils are learning the effect that satellite radio actually has on record sales.

The Baltimore hard rock band recently released its take on the American folk song "Man of Constant Sorrow," which has received major airplay on Sirius/XM stations like Octane.

"They've been in the forefront of the airplay with that and I think it's part of the sales nationally, especially where there isn't a traditional or terrestrial rock station," said lead singer John Allen, a former drummer with the band SR-71.

"We're looking at sales reports and we're going, 'Why are we selling this and that in record stores in Cape Girardeau, Mo., or Paducah, Ky.? It's all grouped into one category. Maybe there's terrestrial station down there playing it, but we're unaware of it. It's perhaps the reach of satellite. It's phenomenal. It's so great."

The choice was easy to cover "Man of Constant Sorrow," which was revived thanks to the George Clooney film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

"That song, written in its original form over 100 years ago, it's stood the test of time," Allen said. "It's definitely a ringing endorsement to learn how to craft a song and do it well if you can."

Through its popularity, Allen learned there's no set path to have success in the music business, as far as what channels a band must choose.

"One thing that'll ring true -- it's as true 100 years ago as it was now -- if you write a song that connects with other human beings that is what is going to really stand the test of time," he said. "That's what's going to help you have success."

The song appears on Charm City Devils' sophomore album "Sins," which hits stores on July 31. It was recorded with the band -- which also includes Vic Karrera (guitar), Anthony Arambula (bass) Nick Kay (guitar) and Jason Heiser (drums) -- at Sound Kitchen Studios in Franklin, Tenn. "Sins" was produced by Grammy-winning knob-turner Skidd Mills, whose influence is far reaching.

"When we started this record, we really wanted to expand our horizons on all fronts if we could," he said. "We wanted to improve the songwriting. We wanted to improve the playing, t he musicianship. We wanted to do better lyrics, everything, all encompassing. We wanted it to sound better than the first record. We wanted it to sound sonically bigger.

"I think he did a really great job in achieving those goals. Of course we bit off a lot. We were attempting to not stay the same. We didn't want to stay stagnant with what we did on the last record. It's up to the public to decide whether we achieved it or not. But we feel really good about what we did collectively here."

So far, so good. The WWE picked up its track "Unstoppable" as the theme song to its June 17 pay-per-view "No Way Out." Allen admitted he isn't a fan of wrestling or sports in general as he has tunnel vision for music. But he thinks he understands how the WWE can help his career.

"I have fans that are just like, 'John, you don't understand. This is huge. This is going to take you to another level.' That's really exciting. That's fantastic. I know they have diehard fans and hopefully they'll be some transfer over to that. 

We were very excited when we heard they were using it when they were mentioning the pay-per-view special, like, two weeks ago and our song was under the bed. Our Twitter account lit up, our Facebook account lit up."

Allen himself lights up at the very mention of playing The Machine Shop in Flint with Aranda and Theory of a Deadman on Monday, July 16. Allen -- whose former band SR-71 wrote "1985," a song made famous by Bowling for Soup -- has never visited The Machine Shop but has heard great things about it.

"Everybody that I mention The Machine Shop to, they say, 'Oh, you're going to love that room,'" Allen said.

"I love Michigan audiences, anyway. I've had the pleasure of playing the Intersection in Grand Rapids, played Pontiac, played DTE Energy Music Theatre. I played St. Andrew's. I'm familiar. It seems that people in Michigan love rock music. 

They love to come out and support live music. It's very cool."

Charm City Devils and Aranda open for Theory of a Deadman
7 p.m. Monday, July 16
The Machine Shop, 3539 S. Dort Highway, Flint
The show is sold out.
Etix.com or (810) 715-2650