Dry Hills Distillery — with the help of XL Country, Railway Productions, and a number of generous sponsors — will present the Head to the Hills Concert featuring veteran country band Little Texas on Thursday, August 31st. Local neo-traditional country group River North will open up the evening at 6pm, followed by the main act at 8pm. Doors at 5pm. This is an all ages event.
As part of the Young Country movement of the early ‘90s, Little Texas were responsible for shaking up the country music world with a new, energetic sound that fused the look and attitude of modern rock music with traditional country themes and styles, bringing a much appreciated bolt of life into the genre.
Their first radio release in 1991, “Some Guys Have All The Love,” became a Top-10 hit, as did their next single, “First Time For Everything.” After the album First Time For Everything was released, five singles reached the top of the charts. The second album, Big Time, truly was the big time for Little Texas.
The sophomore release, which has sold more than three million copies to date, spawned three No. 1 singles — “What Might Have Been,” “God Blessed Texas” and “My Love” — and captured the group’s first CMT Award, a Billboard award, a Radio & Records award and their first Grammy nomination.
After the self-titled Little Texas album was released, Little Texas, the players, needed a break following years of performing a relentless concert schedule. Thus, at the end of 1997, each member went his separate way, opting to spend time with family and friends, and work on individual projects.
Fast forward to 2004 when the multi-platinum band’s four original members — Duane Propes, Porter Howell (lead vocals, lead guitar), Dwayne O’Brien (vocals, rhythm guitars) and Del Gray (drums) rebuilt the franchise with a completely new sound and they couldn’t have been happier to be back on tour and bringing fans what they do best.
“Everybody still has a ‘What Might Have Been,’ there’s always a ‘First Time For Everything,’ and folks still want to ‘Kick A Little,’ so we decided to take the party back on the road,” shares Propes, referring to the group’s continued rotation at radio and generations of both old and new fans that keep the band playing their classics and putting out new music.
The music the band has generated over the years is timeless, and has been featured on hundreds of television programs and sporting events including Good Morning America, American Idol, Don’t Forget The Words, America’s Got Talent and HBO’s True Blood, while “God Blessed Texas” has been the theme music for the Texas Ford Dealers commercials since 1998.
Little Texas continues to break new sonic ground as they tour their latest album, Young For A Long Time. Undoubtedly the band has never sounded more confident, as the chorus of the titular lead off track proudly declares, “Don’t you know by now we’ve got this down / That Friday night fire still hasn’t gone out / We got a rock solid life and a rock n’ roll state of mind / We were born to run / So sit down, son / We’ll show you just how it’s done / ‘Cause we’ve been young for a long time.” The musicianship has only improved with age as well with Howell truly coming into his own as the band’s lead vocalist in addition to his dazzling lead guitar work, and backed by the always solid playing of drummer Del Gray.
“Young For A Long Time pretty much runs the gamut of everything we’ve ever done, plus takes us down some new roads as well,” says Propes. “The vocals are there, the guitar work is there, the party songs are there, the ‘make you cry’ love songs, the songs about Texas. We even dive off into swamp rock and torch music, so each song has a totally different fuel behind it.”
“The four of us appreciate each other and still have a ball on stage,” says drummer Gray of the band’s chemistry on stage after all this time. “There is a comfort level that happens to us when we play together that can only happen with 20-something years of experience.”
Tickets to the Head to the Hills Concert are $12 in advance at Dry Hills Distillery and https://events.ticketprinting.com/event/headtothehills, and $15 at the door. Children 14 and under admitted FREE. Full Bar provided for those 21+ by the Butte Depot, with local taps from Bridger Brewing and MAP Brewing. Stack Shack, Grille 406, and Poutine & Stuff will be serving up some great food as well. Lawn chairs welcome, no outside drinks allowed. Dry Hills Distillery is located at 106 Village Center Lane in Four Corners. •
