Backwater was an American jazz fusion band, formed in Mobile, Alabama and active in the 1970s. The group was formed by Robby Catlin and Scott Pettersen, with Larry Hardin and Trippe Thomason rounding out the original lineup. The quartet formed in 1975, playing clubs and working as session musicians in Birmingham, Alabama. The group's first album, Backwater (1976), sold well throughout the Southeast and received radio airplay, leading to touring stints with B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris. Lineup changes plagued the band for much of the rest of their career. Pettersen and Catlin, alongside Tom and Myra Woodruff, produced one more recording (1978's North of the Mason-Dixon and the Heart of Dixie) before splitting as the decade closed. The band's original members reunited in 1997 f