Artists That Begin With D

Diamond Rio

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:37:00 GMT

All that I am and all I’ll ever be
Is in your hands you’ve given every victory
You are the reason I stand here today
Lifting my voice, raising you up ‘cause I believe
I believe
I’m nothing
I’m nothing without you

From “The Reason” by Joe Beck, Jimmy Olander, Marty Roe

For longtime Diamond Rio fans wondering why their favorite country band decided to record a Christian record, the answer lies in the music. As the lyric above from “The Reason” illustrates, this was no casual decision, but a cherished opportunity by a group of believers looking to share their faith and celebrate God’s grace and mercy.

“It was no mistake that we wrote a song called ‘The Reason’ and it exactly answers the question,” Jimmy Olander says. “It’s the reason why we’re here. It’s our story.”

“We’re all believers. We always have been,” adds lead vocalist Marty Roe. “I think a lot of our songs reflected that part of who we are, but this was different to actually able to say in a stronger voice what our hearts are about.”

Making the transition from mainstream country music to a Christian deal with Word Records was not a major stretch for Diamond Rio. The group has long been known for such positive hits as “I Believe,” “Mama Don’t Forget to Pray for Me” and “One More Day.” Formed in 1984, Diamond Rio features Roe, Olander, drummer Brian Prout, keyboardist Dan Truman, bassist Dana Williams and Gene Johnson on mandolin, guitar and fiddle. The band signed with Arista in 1988 and embarked on one of the most successful careers in country music.

Diamond Rio has released seven studio albums, two greatest hits collections and “A Diamond Rio Christmas: The Star Still Shines,” a 2007 holiday album that marked their debut with Word. The band has earned three platinum albums and won the Country Music Association’s Vocal Group of the Year award four times as well as netting two Academy of Country Music Awards in the top Vocal Group of the Year category. When they debuted in 1991 with the hit “Meet in the Middle,” Diamond Rio became the first group in the history of country music to have a debut single reach No. 1. They continued to place 32 more singles on the Billboard chart, including “How Your Love Makes Me Feel,” “Norma Jean Riley,” “Beautiful Mess” and “Love a Little Stronger.”

“The fact that we have recorded songs with positive messages is not by accident. We chose to do that,” says Johnson. “We’ve had songs that touched people beyond their ears, and got down into their hearts. When we did ‘Mama Don’t Forget To Pray For Me,’ we were getting letters from people talking about that song and how it touched them. I remember one specifically from a young girl who had run away from home. She called her mom and dad after hearing ‘Mama Don’t Forget To Pray For Me.’ After months of being gone, that song caused her to call home. That was a powerful thing. It makes you really stop and think. Songs touch people. Sometimes they can influence people’s lives more than we realize.”

Over the years, Diamond Rio developed a reputation as one of the industry’s most musically inventive outfits, a band of skilled musicians with a dedicated work ethic and the ability to find and record songs that struck a universal chord with audiences. Obviously, they bring that same impressive skill set to their debut in the Christian market, and in recording their Word debut they could have approached this new chapter in their career with a “business as usual” attitude. However, there was nothing routine about having a chance to fulfill a long held dream—an album that reflected their passion for God and all He’s done in their lives.

So instead of turning to Music Row’s top songwriters to find songs that said what they were looking to say, the band opted to write from their own experiences and the result is their most personal collection ever. “When you are talking about faith and your spirituality, your connection to God, it felt less genuine to let other people speak for us,” says Olander. “So we’ve gone to great efforts to try to make sure we’ve written a record that’s from the heart. These songs share what we believe in. This is who we are.”

The band admits there was a sense of freedom in sharing their faith so openly. “There has always been a veil on our Christianity and the veil is off,” says Olander. “We’re revealing who we are. We’re not preaching. We’re not preachers, but we’re saying, ‘This is who I am and I’m proud of it.’ God is working and we’re here for a reason.”

Writing and singing about his faith is particularly poignant to Olander, whose father wasn’t a believer and forbid him from even attending church during his youth. Nevertheless he found Christ and became a believer. Faith is something that came more easily to other Rio members who grew up in Christian homes. “I was raised on a small farm outside Sugar Grove, PA,” recalls Johnson. “We attended the Presbyterian church down in Sugar Grove that my mom and dad had been members of for a long, long time. It was the typical little country church with the steeple that’s been a part of that small town forever and ever. I was baptized when I was 12, old enough to know what it meant. There have been times when I look back that I was probably much less of a Christian than I should have been then, but still having that in your upbringing and growing up in church, never really leaves you. It’s there in your makeup and your being and you go back to it.”

Prout agrees. He grew up attending church and singing in the choir, but like many young musicians, he went through a time when he wasn’t walking as close to God. Then the father pulled him back. “I was living in Fort Lauderdale, FL and I was in my early 20’s playing in a band,” recalls Prout. “I just kind of felt myself spiraling out of control. I drove by a church and they always had a saying out on the sign out front. A guy was literally just coming down off the ladder from changing the sign and I was sitting there at the red light. The sign said ‘Would the boy that you were, be proud of the man you are?’ In that moment, I knew the answer was no. The timing couldn’t have been any more dramatic, any more impacting.”

Over the years, each member of Diamond Rio has heard God call his name and felt the heavenly father guide and teach them through a myriad of experiences, and it’s those joys and challenges that are reflected in the songs on this new album. Williams wrote the poignant “What Are We Going to Do Now” in the wake of his pastor’s death. Talking to a friend after the funeral, Williams found himself wondering how they would carry on without their beloved preacher, mentor and friend. “He had meant so much to our church,” he says. “What were we going to do now? Then it hit me, we’re going to keep doing what he’s preached for 20 years. It ain’t about him. It’s about God and about us being faithful and us staying on the path and bringing people to the Lord.”

Truman and Don Pfrimmer, who penned Diamond Rio’s breakthrough hit, “Meet in the Middle,” contributed “Moments of Heaven.” “It’s always a lot of fun to write with him and he’s such a great lyricist,” says Truman. “I had the music that I really liked and this idea called ‘moments of heaven on earth.’ Whether it’s your wife, your mate, your son or daughter or anyone, there’s good and bad experiences, but there are certain moments that you have with a loved one that are amazing. Those moments are what bond you with them and get you through some of the moments that are lot tougher.”

The band felt a renewed sense of purpose, and they knew what they needed to say with this album. Songs about God’s grace and mercy began bubbling through the creative process and singing about surrender never felt more real and right. As they began pouring their experiences into songs, Olander and Roe began co-writing with some of the Christian music community’s top songwriters. Matthew West, who had also gone through vocal problems, collaborates with Olander and Roe on “Wherever I Am” and “This is My Life.” Bernie Herms, who co-wrote the award-winning Casting Crowns song “Praise You in this Storm,” joined Olander and Roe to pen the powerful anthem “God is There.” Acclaimed singer/songwriter Chris Eaton co-wrote “Just Love” and the poignant “Into Your Hands.”

“We had a blast with those guys,” Olander says of collaborating with Herms, Eaton and West. “There’s a whole community of incredibly talented people that I’d never crossed paths with. I must tell you that the Christian community has made us feel so welcome. We were a little bit nervous about how we would be received in this market, but as far as the writers and the people in the creative Christian industry, it’s been open arms. I’ve felt very welcomed by all these folks.”

The members of Diamond Rio are grateful for that acceptance. After all, this is the most personal album they’ve ever recorded and opens a new chapter in the band’s impressive career. “It’s so personal and it’s very cool to lay this out there for all to hear,” says Williams. “It’s professing our faith publicly and it really feels good.”

Find Due West on the web:

Ronnie Dunn

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:51:00 GMT

I PLAYED TEXAS, BEER JOINTS AND RODEOS
BIG D ARENAS, TRUCK STOPS, CASINOS
SANG IN EVERY DIVE AND JOINT IN OKLAHOMA
DID HARD TIME IN A FEW IN ARIZONA
BEEN IN EVERY HOLE IN THE WALL FROM MEMPHIS TO MAINE

OUT HERE ROCKIN’, ROLLIN’
MIXIN’ UP THE FAST WITH THE SLOW ONES
LIVIN’, BREATHIN’
SONGS ABOUT LOVIN’ AND LEAVIN’
MAMA DON’T GET IT, PREACHER DON’T UNDERSTAND
WHY I’M A SINGER
IN A COWBOY BAND

-- “SINGER IN A COWBOY BAND” BY RONNIE DUNN & CRAIG WISEMAN

Ronnie Dunn is more than just the first-ever solo album by one of country music’s most beloved artists -- a man who’s already learned a thing or two about being a singer in a cowboy band. As familiar as his winning voice has become, Ronnie Dunn has only now taken the time to explore once and for all his own powerful voice as a brand new solo artist. And as Dunn himself notes with a laugh, “I have to say, I’m sure enjoying feeling ‘new’ all over again.”

For Dunn and for all the fans he earned along the way, this deeply felt new effort has been a long time coming. In many ways, Ronnie Dunnis literally the album of a lifetime for the man whose name now gives this remarkable collection of songs its title. “Yeah, you really could say that I have been waiting my whole life to make this album,” Ronnie Dunn says with a smile as he sits back in The Barn outside his home where he spent countless hours working on this music over the last few years. “Like one of the songs on the album says, ‘We all bleed red,’ and frankly there’s a whole lot of my blood all over these particular tracks.”

As a result of all his hard work,Ronnie Dunnreflects perhaps the most intense soul searching Ronnie Dunn has ever done as a recording artist -- and as a man too. “More than ever before, I felt as if I had a chance here to tell my own story through songs that mean a lot to me -- some I wrote, some I co-wrote, and some that I just tried to make my own,” Dunn says. “Having waited so long to make my own album and say exactly what I wanted to say, I think that I became obsessed with making every song here really count.”

Of course, Ronnie Dunn has had an excellent reason to wait until now to make a solo album. For 20 years, Dunn was extremely proud and thankful to be a big part of the single most successful duo in country music history -- and one of the most popular performing acts in recent music history. “When my musical partnership with Kix happened, lightning just struck. All of a sudden, all that success took us both by surprise, and away we went. It’s like we created these two characters, and we just took off on the rocket together, and kept going.” Brooks & Dunn’s remarkable rocket ride would ultimately result is more than 30 millions albums sold, countless crowd-pleasing stadium and arena shows and multiple CMA Awards, ACM Awards, GRAMMYs, CMT Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards. “Kix and I were very honored in so many ways,” says Dunn. “We didn’t just accomplish everything we dreamed of as a duo. We accomplished a lot more than we ever expected. I have absolutely no complaints and no regrets.”

So when Brooks & Dunn decided to hang up their boots while they were still on top -- ultimately playing their very last show together on September 2, 2010, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee -- Dunn finally had the time to call upon all his skills as one of music’s finest voices and storytellers to tell his own story in a way he’s never done before. As he explains, “When I started this album, right from the first song, every track that I wrote or co-wrote or picked was autobiographical in a way. I began with ‘Singer in a Cowboy Band’ -- which is definitely a big part of my story -- and we went on from there, and on and on.”

A famed perfectionist by nature, Dunn admits that he threw himself into the creative process for the album in a very big way as he produced his own solo debut. “This time around I baked it, I baked it and cooked it, and cooked it again,” Dunn says shaking his head. “I wrote or was involved with recording 34 songs for this album. I was all over the place, literally and figuratively. I mean, was cutting all over town everywhere, nonstop. I became a man obsessed, and maybe a man a little lost too. But I kept going because making this album all it could be became so important to me. I wanted this to be something special for all the fans who’ve given me this opportunity -- and for myself too.”

In the end, however, it was Janine Dunn -- Dunn’s wife of 20 years -- who ultimately helped him figure out the secret to making this solo album work. “I’d go home after writing, and it’s the first time Janine, my wife, has ever come to me and said, ‘You need to stop writing right now. Stop the madness.’ She said, ‘If you do anything, go down to The Barn, stare out into space or whatever you’ve got to stare out into, and find yourself.’ She told me, ‘You’ve been running hard for 20 years -- and for about 15 years before that you were running hard to get here. You need to stop and spend time trying to find where you are in your heart.’ As usual, Janine was right. That’s what I fought to do with this album, and I feel like, for the most part, I captured that in the end.”

LET THE COWBOY ROCK
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
THIS IS WHERE THE HURT STOPS
WHERE THE WHISKEY FLOWS
LET HIM DRINK EVERY DROP
GO, GO, GO ‘TIL HE DROPS
LET THE COWBOY ROCK!

-- “LET THE COWBOY ROCK” BY RONNIE DUNN & DALLAS DAVIDSON

At heart, Ronnie Dunn has always been a man of music.

“I started listening to music with my father who was a guitar player and a singer in a band,” Dunn remembers. “In a way, this was his aspiration -- to do what I’m doing now. My father loved Merle Haggard, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, hardcore country. When I became a teenager I would sneak off and listen to rock too. I remember getting a little record player that played 45s for Christmas in New Mexico. I think I was maybe six or seven, and I played ‘Peace in the Valley’ from Elvis over and over, thinking, ‘Man, that’s different.’ I mean, that was rocking compared to what I was accustomed to. And then later on I snuck off and was into listening to everything -- and I still am.”

That initial introduction to music is reflected loud and clear in the music that Ronnie Dunn has made all his life, and now it’s all over Ronnie Dunn -- a potent signature combination of hard country and hard rock with a healthy serving of down home gospel soul. Truth be told, Dunn has always loved singing “the fast and the slow ones” -- the deeply felt sounds of Saturday night and Sunday morning.

That’s been one big musical constant in a busy life that’s found Dunn covering so much territory. Born in Coleman, Texas, Dunn would go on to attend 13 schools in his first 12 years of education. In a sense, Ronnie Dunn’s path was forever determined while studying psychology at Abilene Christian University and playing with bands in bars at night. He was forced to choose between his studies or his music. “Choosing between a life in the church or making music in the bars comes from the dynamic between my mother and my father,” Dunn says. “My mother was the oldest of seven kids, very stable, Louisiana farm family, Baptist church going. My dad had been raised in orphanages all his life, bounced around and had just the opposite life. Opposites obviously attract.” Ultimately and perhaps predictably, Dunn chose music, and eventually moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to make his way.

“Tulsa is a great music town -- and it was a crazy town in the day,” Dunn says with a warm smile. “I was urged to move to Tulsa to break into the music business before I was urged to go to Nashville. See at the time, Eric Clapton’s band was from there. Guys who were playing with Joe Cocker were there. You had J.J. Cale and his cats, and the guys from The Gap Band too. Then there was Leon Russell who was kind of the king daddy with his whole Shelter Records scene. It was also the home to the largest country booking agency in the world at the time. So Tulsa was this crazy mix-match of music styles at the time, and it was all there and very much alive. Live music was really important, and the club scene there was hot. So for someone like me, it was the perfect place to learn your chops.”

Dunn’s big break -- and his eventual move to Nashville -- came thanks to Jamie Oldaker, a distinguished Tulsa drummer who had already played with Bob Seger, Leon Russell and, most recently, Eric Clapton. “I had a house band at a country club there, and Jamie would come in every now and then and sit in with us,” Dunn recalls. “One night Jamie called and said he was at the QuikTrip getting gas after all the clubs closed down, and there was an application at the counter for some talent contest and that he put my name down. I was like, ‘Dude, that is so uncool.’ But it ended up being a whole lot cooler than I could have imagined.”

In the end, Dunn was accepted -- and ultimately won -- the Marlboro Country Music Contest. The demo that Dunn was asked to send in to the contest included such future hits as “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and “Neon Moon.” The finals for the contest brought Dunn to Nashville, and when he won, Dunn was given the chance to record a single with producer Scott Hendricks. Impressed with what he heard in Dunn, Hendricks suggested that famed music executive, writer and producer Tim DuBois check the singer-songwriter out. It was DuBois who suggested that Dunn meet up with another singer-songwriter in town named Kix Brooks, and the rest would soon be history.

WE’VE SEEN IT ALL, ME AND THIS OLD GUITAR
SWEATIN’ IT OUT IN THESE COWBOY BARS
WITH THE LOST SOULS, WINNERS, LOSERS AND CHEATERS

DONE EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO IN HERE
LATE NIGHTS, FIST FIGHTS, STRIPPIN’ MY GEARS
I’VE HAD A GOOD TIME
I KNOW WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE

I DON’T DANCE
THAT’S SOMETHIN’ I DON’T DO
I DON’T DANCE
I BRING IT HOME TO YOU
STANDIN’ UP HERE IN THE SMOKE AND THE LIGHTS
I KNOW WHO’S GONNA HOLD ME TONIGHT

-- “I DON’T DANCE” by RONNIE DUNN / DAVID LEE MURPHY / CRAIG WISEMAN

Ronnie Dunn is an album that vividly reflects one man’s whole journey to this point. While working on the album, Dunn thought a lot about the good luck and great fortune that have taken him this far. It’s an inspired song cycle that covers much of the path Ronnie Dunn has taken as a travelling troubadour -- with up-tempo country rockers like “Singer in a Cowboy Band” and “Let the Cowboy Rock” and the mariachi-flavored “How Far to Waco” -- and on more intimate and romantic ballads like “Last Love I’m Tryin’” and “I Don’t Dance,” about the real-life love that’s somehow sustained Dunn through all the highs and the lows. Even the songs Dunn has chosen to cover here, he makes forever his own -- like the stunning first single “Bleed Red,” written by Tommy Lee James and Andrew Dorff, a song that represents a grand statement about our shared humanity.

“It’s amazing when I think back on it all,” Dunn says, shaking his head now. “Consider this -- my first landlords in Nashville were Johnny Cash and June Carter. June knew my wife Janine forever, and they offered us one of their cabins when I first came to town. I can remember when I was first introduced to John. He had just given June a new Rolls Royce -- this big, blue thing. She took Janine shopping and said, ‘You boys stay here and visit.’ They left me in the house with Johnny Cash. Here’s this hero of mine sitting in a black recliner in a black suit in front of a TV, and I don’t think he says two words the whole time they’re out. Janine comes back, and she looks like she’s seen a ghost. Later, Janine told me, ‘June just read me the riot act about being with someone in the music business.’ June warned Janine about every dark aspect that could -- and usually does --happen. I’ll never forget Janine looking at me and saying, ‘Maybe we should just go home tomorrow.’”

Ronnie Dunn didn’t run home -- instead, he stayed put and began the very public life in music that continues now in a whole new and exciting way with the album that shares his good name. “All these years later, I think back and realize that June was right to warn my wife,” Dunn says. “After all, what were our chances then? And yet here we are today. We’re still married with beautiful kids, and I’m still making music that I truly love. And Johnny Cash was the first to call me up and tell me he was proud of me when I first made it. How amazing is that? So all things considered, I’m glad that we didn’t just turn and go home that next day. I still had a lot more songs to sing then -- and I still do now.”

Find Ronnie on the web:

Billy Dean

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:23:00 GMT

Tennessee has long been known throughout the world for its rich musical heritage; talented musicians from across the nation have traveled to Nashville to begin legendary careers that have earned Music City USA a reputation that is unsurpassed in the pantheon of American Music.

One such talented musician is Billy Dean, whose insightful songwriting, clear and distinctive voice, and masterful instrumental gifts have earned him accolades from many awards academies and countless devoted fans.

A native of Quincy, Florida, Billy was raised appreciating the value of music and has a diverse array of musical influences. After attending college on a basketball scholarship, Billy moved to Nashville in 1983 and by 1990 had recorded his first Top 5 Hit "Only Here For A Little While".

Since then, Billy has transcended genres with his unique repertoire earning numerous awards, including: The Academy of Country Music's Song of the Year "Somewhere In My Broken Heart", ACM New Male Vocalist of The Year, BMI Pop Awards, BMI Song Awards, BMI Million Air Plays Award, Country Music Television Rising Star Award, NSAI Song of The Year, and a Grammy for a Country Tribute "Amazing Grace".

Billy's appeal reaches beyond the music world. He has appeared on numerous television shows as well as made-for TV movies, including: Blue Valley Songbird, A Face to Kill For, Lois & Clark, One Life to Live, Diagnosis Murder, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The Montel Show, and many others.

After twelve albums and eleven Top 10 singles spanning over a period of eighteen years, Billy has founded the publishing company BDMG (Billy Dean Music Group). Billy continues to make contributions to the Country Music world by building brands with music and empowering children, by being a spokesperson for Averitt Cares For Kids, and Sunkist's Take A Stand Program.

His latest album "Let Them Be Little" was inspired by those closest to him, his two children Hannah & Eli, and his wife Stephanie. Billy's illustrious career was recently recognized with a proclamation from the State of Tennessee House of Representatives.

Find Billy on the web:

Joe Diffie

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:32:00 GMT

"I always had in mind to do a bluegrass album someday,” says Joe Diffie. “It was something I wanted from the first day that I got my country deal.” And while he might not be the first to say that, it not only has the ring of truth when you hear it straight from the man himself, it’s got a lifetime’s worth of bluegrass roots and connections to back it up. In fact, the most surprising thing about the translation of that thought into reality—and given the way that the country music industry has kept bluegrass at arms length, it’s not very surprising at all—is that it’s taken this long.

The simple truth is that while this is Joe’s first bluegrass release, it’s not the first bluegrass release on which he’s appeared; that distinction belongs to a 25 year old album by The Special Edition, released when he was already immersed in the bluegrass scene of his native Oklahoma and environs. “My dad was a big bluegrass fan,” he notes, and Joe had followed something of a traditional path when he went into the music after first singing in a gospel group—yet it’s also true, and not insignificant, that he was absorbing country and honky-tonk influences at the same time. “I didn’t see much difference between country and bluegrass,” he says, echoing a sentiment that finds its justification in the history of heroes like Flatt & Scruggs, along with more contemporary peers like Keith Whitley. And like them and plenty of others, including Special Edition bandmate Billy Joe Foster, he decided that where he belonged was Nashville.

On his way to Music City, he stopped in to visit one young bluegrass friend he’d already made, an Arkansas fiddler by the name of Shawn Camp, and he visited others, too, in Memphis—an occasion still remembered by the SteelDrivers’ banjo man, Richard Bailey. And naturally enough, when he finally landed in Nashville, Joe took to hanging out at the bluegrass Mecca, The world famous Station Inn; there he ran into still another bluegrass buddy, the late Charlie Derrington, who gave him a job at Gibson Guitars. He began in the shipping department and moved up to the role of inspector—making yet another bluegrass friend along the way in fellow Gibson employee Danny Roberts, then playing with the New Tradition—but it was clear he was destined for other things.

The subsequent arc of Diffie’s career can be followed in any number of sources, from internet articles and fan sites to research staples like the Country Music Foundation’s Encyclopedia Of Country Music, so there’s no need to retrace it here. But even as he was racking up Top 10 hits as quickly as he could turn them out, Joe kept up his bluegrass connections, and not always in the most obvious ways. He co-hosted and performed on the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual awards show in 1993 and 1999 (the latter time in a notable appearance with the Lonesome River Band and the Del McCoury Band’s fiddler, Jason Carter), and he popped up on the legendary Ralph Stanley’s award-winning, all-star production, Clinch Mountain Country, with a gripping rendition of “Another Night,” but he also turned over a strong co-write of his, “I Got A Feeling,” to bluegrass singer David Parmley years before he got around to recording it himself. And he kept listening, not just to the classics and contemporary releases he’d grown up on in the 70s and 80s, but the new stuff, too. Indeed, he says, “most of what I listen to is bluegrass.”

So when Joe looked up from finishing a self-produced, years-in-the-making set of remakes of his hits a couple of years ago and saw Rounder Records on the other side of the table, the way was cleared for the project to finally get under way—and in fact, he remembers that it was suggested by Rounder’s Ken Irwin, whose memory for talented bluegrass artists is long indeed. So while it might not be accurate to call this release “long-awaited,” it’s surely right to say that it’s been a long time in the making, and perhaps all the better for it.

Indeed, one of the most striking things about this release is the way that it comfortably fits beside the very best of today’s bluegrass. Even when Diffie tackles a song he wrote back in those Special Edition days, there’s not a trace of nostalgia, nor a self-conscious reach for a retro feeling—yet neither is it in a newgrass, nor quite a country-grass mold, either. This music is, quite simply, state-of-the-art bluegrass, shaped by in-depth knowledge, played by some of the finest talents available, and sung by an artist who’s already widely admired—not only in the country world, but among bluegrassers, too—as a consummate vocalist.

“I knew Luke Wooten a little bit already,” Diffie says of his co-producer for the project. “And he had been working with the SteelDrivers, and I loved the way that they sounded. He has a real love for bluegrass, and he kind of multi-tasked on this—he got the musicians set up and got the studio time booked. Luke and I were very simpatico when it came to choosing the musicians, choosing the material—we really worked well together.” And indeed, though Wooten had plenty of input, Diffie’s approach was a seriously hands-on one. “I knew most of the musicians already,” he recalls, “like Aubrey Haynie, who had played on some of my country albums, and Bryan Sutton, who we kind of leaned on in putting the group together. Luke brought some songs in, but so did I—in fact, I’d already had ‘Tall Cornstalk’ on hold once before for a country project—and I wrote a couple, too. Some were new, but ‘Tennessee Tea,’ that’s one that was written years ago, before I ever moved to Nashville. It never seemed appropriate for a country record, but we loved playing it live with Special Edition—Billy Joe would always introduce it by saying ‘it doesn’t mean anything about anything, but we love to do it’—so it was natural to put it on this project and just burn it up.”

Old friends like Camp turn up elsewhere in the songwriting credits, while Harley Allen pulls double duty as both a writer and harmony singer—“That was a no-brainer,” Diffie laughs, “he’s the kind of singer where you love to listen to his demos and steal every lick you can”—and another Diffie favorite, Larry Cordle, contributed the gripping “I Know How It Feels.” “That’s one I resang a couple of times,” Joe confesses, “because I knew I just had to put the same angst into singing it that he did.”

Still, there’s no doubt that the completed project is Diffie’s from start to finish, as his masterful voice dominates every selection, no matter how brilliant the players or powerful the harmony singers—and there’s no doubt that bluegrass is an indelible part of his musical make-up. Most of all, though, Joe’s just glad to have finally gotten this one out. “It’s like the stars all finally aligned,” he says with a chuckle—and for those who enjoy hearing an artist at the top of his game tackle the most demanding kind of music under the country umbrella, those stars must surely be counted as lucky ones.

Find Joe on the web:

Sarah Darling

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:12:00 GMT

Find Sarah on the web:

Due West

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:29:00 GMT

When the pieces fall into place, you know it. For the three guys known as Due West, that time is now.

You could start with songwriting skills that quickly earned all three publishing deals and help define their fresh, unique sound. You could start with producer Garth Fundis, whose credits include Keith Whitley, Don Williams, Trisha Yearwood and Sugarland. But anyone who's heard them sing will tell you that the place to start with Due West is with their vocals, collectively a three-lane road to magic.

It happened the first time they ever sang together when old friends Matt Lopez and Brad Hull met Tim Gates at a party. The three started harmonizing and the other attendees—Music Row stars, newcomers, and friends—kept asking how long they'd been a group. It’s been happening ever since as they've toured the country, visiting radio stations and playing for appreciative audiences along the way.

"We've been told that when we sing harmony, it's something special," says Brad, "and we've learned to believe it." "It just seems like anytime we play live," adds Tim, "we usually end up with some long-term fans."

That phenomenon is about to get much bigger as Due West puts the finishing touches on new material, releasing on Black River Entertainment in 2012, that is already garnering industry buzz.

"The energy is definitely there," says Matt. "We're at a new label with new music. This is all about new beginnings." They’re especially excited about the chance to work with legendary producer Garth Fundis and engineer Chuck Ainlay, whose own list of credits includes producing and engineering Miranda Lambert’s Four The Record, engineering all of Taylor Swift’s work, Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee and many others.

"At the end of the day," says Matt, "the guy with the most experience is the guy who knows how to do it best and Garth Fundis has made so many amazing records in this town. We were really happy that he bought into the way we approach making music. In fact, he came in and heard us sing and said, 'Well, there's your record. Your sound is just you three blending together.’ Then he set about capturing what we do."

"He's like Obi-Wan Kenobi," adds Tim with a laugh, "and we're training." Fundis is quick to return the compliment. “Due West made a huge impression on me at our first meeting,” he says. “Their appeal struck me instantly, both musically and personally. They just sounded so good and so right. They’re delivering top-notch songs and are as focused as any artist I’ve ever known.”

Drawing on the groove and energy the three bring to their live performances, Fundis had Matt play acoustic guitar on the new sessions and brought a fresh eye to their vocal blend. "Usually," says Matt, "Tim is the lead singer and Brad and I are kind of the background singers but the first thing Garth picked up on is, 'No, you three are a vocal trio.'" That observation alone added a new measure of richness to their already incredible blend.

"There are choruses where we all sing lead," says Brad, "and you can pick which voice you want to hear as the melody and hear the other two as harmony parts. It's pretty exciting how these songs are turning out." Though great harmony groups like Diamond Rio, Restless Heart, and Shenandoah influenced all of them, they continue to explore the possibilities inherent in their own sound.

"We're pushing the envelope a bit," says Brad, "with a bit of '70s guitar here, a touch of soul there." "But you still have that little whine of a steel guitar in the background," adds Tim.

"And anything Tim Gates sings," says Matt, "is going to have that country feel. But it's the three of us together that makes the magic. I've harmonized with people a lot my whole life, but there was something that happened when our three voices came together. Siblings often have that thing that make that blend happen and with us it was just kind of undeniable. We thought, 'Well, we have to do this.’"

Wyoming native Matt grew up in a musical household—his mother was in a band—and remembers being awed at his sister's ability to sing harmony. As a result, he learned to sing harmonies himself and had plenty of opportunity to practice since his parents "were always pulling guitars out at parties to sing for everybody." He came to Nashville by way of New York, where he honed his craft in subway stations, playing for each new group of commuters to pass through and learning what it took to get them to throw money in his guitar case. Brad, hailing from Arizona, could carry a tune before his mother could understand the words he was singing. He began studying classical guitar at 11 because that's what the only guitar teacher in town taught. He learned to love the music he heard around the house, whether it was Motown and the Beach Boys or George Strait and Kenny Rogers. After earning a degree from Belmont University, Brad got his start in Nashville working for BMI. Tim, a Utah native and the third of seven children, grew up on "stone cold country" and was a DJ on an AM station at 13. He picked up a guitar in middle school and learned Keith Whitley's "Don't Close Your Eyes" for a talent show. "I had sunglasses on and had my eyes closed, I was so nervous," he says. "When the crowd started cheering, I opened my eyes and I haven't looked back since." He played occasional weddings, other gigs and worked as a social worker before moving to Nashville.

"We've definitely seen our ups and downs," says Brad, "the highs and lows of the music business but we've stuck together through this thing and we've got each other to rely on. That's really what gets us through." "We're three completely different personalities," adds Matt, "but it comes together to make this thing that just seems to make an impression on people and we don't take that for granted. We've always been able to make some waves with our live music, whether it's the three of us or with a full band, and now we've got the record to lead the way and knock on people's doors to introduce us."

"We feel like we're still heading Due West," adds Tim, "just with a bigger machine. We're in a position to make some real noise." "It's our time," says Brad.

The last word belongs to producer Fundis, who is quick to point out the sheer enjoyment of working with the trio. “This is one of the most fun and creative musical experiences I’ve had in a recording studio,” he says. “And we’ve only just begun.”

Find Due West on the web: