After eight years of sound and frenzy signifying bupkes, former Columbia City resident and nascent Nashville sweetheart Megan Mullins parted ways in 2011 with her label, Broken Bow Records.

Rather than shed tears into a succession of demure and paint-peeling beverages, Mullins decided to form her own band with her brother Marcus and her husband, John Bollinger, who was the music director for the USA Network program “Nashville Star.”

It’s called the Tennessee Hot Damns, and it arrives unsullied by focus groups and image consultants.

Marcus Mullins says the origin of the first part of the band’s name should be obvious.

As for the second part, it “was in tribute to the 100-proof liquor that fueled our recording sessions and songwriting.”

The title of the band’s debut album – “Ready! Fire! Aim!” – gives potential listeners a good idea of what forces were brought to bear in its creation: chutzpah, footloose-and-fancy-freedom and imagination running riotous.

No matter how one defines the gamut, the songs on the CD run it: There’s country-pop reminiscent of Miranda Lambert; sweet bluegrass reminiscent of Alison Kraus; even country swing in the style of any number of young swing revival bands.

The self-titled album – which is available from Amazon.com, CDBaby.com and iTunes – was recorded in Megan Mullins’ Nashville living room, and the budget, she says, “was zero point zero.”

Now, Mullins says she has something she didn’t have in her eight years at Broken Bow: a CD to sell at concerts.

“My husband pointed out to me, ‘Honey, do you realize you’ve sold more music in one day than you sold in eight years at Broken Bow?’ ”

All statistics aside, Mullins says there are no hard feelings between her and Broken Bow.

“I don’t have any resentment toward them at all,” she says. “I wish them all the best. It was an amicable parting.

“The crazy thing is – I recorded three albums with three different producers and, for whatever reason, they never put any of them out. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

“We’re all friendly about it,” Mullins says. “Every time I would get an album recorded, there would be a change of A&R staff or some new manager would come in and they would say, ‘No, this is what you need to do.’ It’s fine. It all worked out.”

In the days when the masses were willing to pay for music recorded onto profitable disks, the end of a record contract signaled the start of some serious soul-searching on the part of the suddenly unsigned musician. But that’s just not true anymore.

“I think we’re open to any opportunities and possibilities,” Megan Mullins says. “I think with the way the music industry is going, we’re not limited to having to have a label or whatever it is people used to need to have.”

“There really is no business model now,” adds brother Marcus, who is a forward observer with the 101st Airborne Division and is currently on medical leave.

“A lot of bands are breaking out of nowhere and doing really big things without a label.”

Megan Mullins says a song from the new CD will be part of the soundtrack for a new movie starring Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn fame called “Thriftstore Cowboy.”