In 1963, J.P. Pennington and several of his friends started a band, caught the cultural wave of the sixties, grew long hair, wore out-of-the-ordinary clothing and played rock 'n roll music. The simple folk of their hometown Richmond, Kentucky turned a cold shoulder to their radical ways and the boys felt shunned. They called themselves THE EXILES.

The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars hit the road in 1965 and picked up THE EXILES to perform on several dates in and around Kentucky. The band opened the shows and provided backup for headlining superstars like Freddie Cannon, B.J. Thomas and others. Clark hired the band again for the 1966 Caravan tour and gave them a piece of advice to boot: "Don't ever forget your audience." The boys adopted Dick Clark's advice as their creed.

The band changed musical styles throughout the mid-sixties, changed their base of operations to Lexington, Kentucky in 1968 and shortened the name to EXILE. Regional hit records such as Devil's Bite and Church Street Soul Revival established the band as a Kentucky music icon and drew the attention of major labels and producers. Finally in the fall of 1978, EXILE hit pay dirt with the #1 pop smash, Kiss You All Over, and hit the road touring with Aerosmith, Heart, Dave Mason, Boston, Seals & Crofts and other hot pop acts of the late seventies. The backdrop had changed, but the band never lost sight of its commitment to its audiences.

Devoting themselves to a killer combination of great music and showmanship, EXILE set standards for other Kentucky acts. A young singer, Les Taylor, watched the progress of the group while building his own fan base in central Kentucky. When original singer, Jimmy Stokley, left EXILE in 1980 Taylor accepted an invitation to join the group and share lead vocal duties with J.P. In the years following, the band enjoyed ten more #1 hit records in the country music format, all of them written or co-written by J.P. Pennington.

In 1980 and 1981 Alabama and Janie Fricke scored hits with EXILE songs: Take Me Down and The Closer You Get (Alabama), It Ain't Easy Bein' Easy (Janie Fricke). Kenny Rogers recorded Take This Heart. EXILE took their cue, switched to country music, landed a new deal on Epic Records Nashville and exploded into the format in early 1984 with another #1 hit, Woke Up In Love. A string of #1 hits to follow won them an appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and eleven nominations for Vocal and/or Instrumental Group of the Year from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. The group was on a roll, but the strain of success quietly took its toll.

Both Les and J.P. left EXILE in 1988 to pursue solo careers. J.P. signed with MCA Records and landed a top 30 hit with Whatever It Takes. Les inked a deal with Epic Records and took a song he'd written, Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda, into the top 20. Meanwhile, EXILE signed a new deal with Arista Records and enjoyed more hits with Keep It In The Middle Of The Road, Nobody's Talkin', Even Now and Yet. But the rigors of the road and their commitments to home and family eventually prompted all of them, Les, J.P. and EXILE, to write an end to the story. Many of the band's former members (twenty-one in all) joined in onstage for a farewell concert in Lexington, Kentucky. Later, EXILE played another farewell concert at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville and thirty years of great music paused on the country music stage of stages. But the story did not end afterall.

Les and J.P. continued writing songs and performing solo. Les sang national jingles and J.P. produced and developed new talent. One night the two of them performed together impromptu, on a night club stage in Lexington and talked about putting the group back together. More local appearances followed and crowds jammed wherever they played. Les and J.P. hand-picked several of the finest musicians Kentucky had to offer and resurrected the EXILE name. A healthy demand for the group responsible for hit songs like I Don't Want To Be A Memory, Give Me One More Chance, It'll Be Me, She's Too Good To Be True and Superlove came as a surprise to J.P. and Les and, almost immediately, they found themselves back on the road with a full itinerary.

In October 2006, after ten years reunited with J.P. under the EXILE banner, Les stepped down to pursue other interests and singer/songwriter Rick Huckaby accepted an offer from J.P. to join the band. Hailing from Huntington, West Virginia, Rick spent a number of years in Tracy Lawrence's band and, more recently, toured with Gretchen Wilson as an opening solo act. Huckaby's unique and soulful style breathes new life into the songs of EXILE as he shares lead vocals with J.P.

J.P. Pennington co-founded EXILE in 1963, leaving little doubt of its standing as one of the most successful and long running, self-contained bands in popular music history. Dick Clark's advice stands as their creed and sustains them still-the shows are dedicated to their fans-and the band is rolling with no end in sight.

The legacy of EXILE lives on!