The PovertyNeck Hillbillies, a regional band that at one time seemed primed for country stardom, has called it quits -- for now.

Founding member Chris Higbee released a statement on Monday saying that four members -- singer Chris "Abby" Abbondanza, bassist Jeff Volek, guitarist David "Junior" Guthrie and keyboardist Dave Cramer -- have left the band.

That leaves Higbee, the fiddler, and drummer Ryan Lucotch as the only remaining members. "After seven years of extensive performing in support of our albums and fans, we have decided to take a break of indefinite length," Higbee announced on the band's Web site, which has been stripped of all other material about the band.

"Life on the road, as a member of a band, requires a lot of continued personal sacrifice and perseverance,'' he added in his statement. "At this time, Abby, Jeff, Junior and Dave have chosen to stop performing with the band."

Formed in 2000 in Fayette County, the PovertyNeck Hillbillies made an early impression, progressing to the finals of the local Graffiti Rock Challenge. The band was a consistent draw ever since, selling out such venues as the Pepsi-Cola Roadhouse, Fayette County Fairgrounds and Chevrolet Amphitheatre.

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The group had wide appeal, not only becoming "the official band of the Pittsburgh Steelers," but having success on WQED-TV with the special "PovertyNeck Hillbillies Live!" Its independently released first album, "Hillbilly State of Mind," produced by Bob Corbin, put them on Billboard's Top 100 country songs chart in 2003.

But rather than hooking up with a Nashville label, the Hillbillies released their national debut, "Don't Look Back," on the Cleveland-based Rust Records in 2006. Unfortunately, the label was floundering and went under in early 2007, hurting the band's chances at national stardom.

"It's the end of an era," said Frank Bell, vice president of programming at Froggy. "I've been in radio for a little over 30 years, and have never seen a local country band accomplish what they did. They sold more than 50,000 CDs locally. We played them over 6,000 times since 2003, so that's a lot of support. We will miss them going forward, but, by the same token, it's the music business, and you know the ups and downs that go with that."

Bell says one of the obstacles the Hillbillies faced was the simple fact that they were a band, and a homegrown one, to boot. In the current era, the industry clearly prefers solo performers or duos.

"Why that is, it makes no sense to me,'' he said. "Alabama, one of the biggest-selling artists in the country genre of all time, was a band. One of the biggest bands out there now is Rascal Flatts. But when you talk to people in Nashville, they say, 'We don't want a band, they're too hard to manage, too much this, too much that."

Over the past year, Abbondanza and Guthrie have been performing acoustic shows together under the name of West Virginia Push, and Abbondanza was in Nashville earlier this week. But there's no word on their future plans, and they did not return phone calls yesterday.

As for the Hillbilly name, Higbee vows to keep it in business.

"I want our fans to know that I have managed the band with honesty and integrity -- it has truly been my life's work. I will be reevaluating the level of commitment required for individuals to continue in the band and will let our fans know once the future of PNH is determined. The make-up of the band may change, but it is my intention for the PovertyNeck Hillbillies to continue performing and entertaining our fans in the future. Thank you for your patience and support during this time of transition."