Dead Confederate was an American alternative rock band, formed in Augusta, Georgia and based in Athens, Georgia. The band's sound was described as a mix of alternative country, psychedelic rock and grunge, and has drawn comparisons to Nirvana and My Morning Jacket.

Childhood friends Thomas Hardy Morris and Walker Howle have played together since high school in Augusta, Georgia and along with Morris's brother Dawson hooked up with Jason Scarboro and Brantley Senn to form Redbelly in college in 1997.

Redbelly's original lead singer Dawson Morris left and the band eventually went on to release its self-titled debut in October 2003 (recorded in Augusta in December 2002). At this point the band was primarily a southern rock-influenced jam band whose songs would often be 20 or 30 minutes long and were styled between Neil Young and Pink Floyd. Drummer Jason Scarboro later commented that the band had had its "share of playing 20- and 30-minute songs and really, it sucked—It's something that gets really old"; Senn also commented that "We knew we were making music that didn’t match the music we were into. We were going nowhere".

A turning point for the band came when the members relocated to Atlanta, where John Watkins joined them and they renamed themselves The Redbelly Band. The Redbelly Band released an EP entitled Underbelly in 2004 and what would become the Redbelly Band's last album, Petition To The Queen (recorded at Transduction Studios in Athens) in 2006. The album featured the first version of the Senn-penned track The Rat, which was intentionally tighter than the band's previous looser, more improvised material.

In late 2006, the members relocated to Athens, where Morris and Senn attended college. Taking themselves more seriously and writing tighter, more song-based material, they renamed the band Dead Confederate. When questioned about the new name, frontman Morris commented that it "sounded like we did; a bit dark, a bit militant, a bit southern"; Senn later commented that the Redbelly Band was "a terrible name". After beating hundreds of bands to win the Open Mic Madness battle of the bands competition in Atlanta, the band was given the prize of two days' free recording at the city's Nickel and Dime Studios, where they produced a four-song demo.

In 2007, former Capitol Records president Gary Gersh, who had previously signed Sonic Youth and Nirvana to Geffen Records signed Dead Confederate as the first band on his new label TAO. Radio DJ and record company scout Scott Register had seen the band play in Birmingham, Alabama and had played the band's demo to Gersh. On January 22, 2008, the band released its self-titled debut EP, which was a collection of early recordings. The new EP and an appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas resulted in some national exposure.

On September 16, 2008, the band released its first LP, Wrecking Ball, on the TAO label. The band recorded the album earlier that year with producer Mike McCarthy in Austin.

The band toured the album nationwide, including shows with Dinosaur Jr, and in Europe with A Place To Bury Strangers and J Mascis.