RESTLESS HEART invites you to come out to the Wildhorse in Nashville on October 28, and join us for a pre-Halloween bash to celebrate the launch of our new label, Tuniverse.Tv. Costumes are welcome and encouraged. Show information: Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available at wildhorsesaloon.com - See you there!
Article published Mar 19, 2009
Preview by Dave Richards
When Motley Crue pulled into Erie, PA, band members arrived on four separate buses. That won't be the case for reunited country band Restless Heart, which plays Meadville on Sunday.
Lead singer Larry Stewart says time and distance healed whatever rifts rocked them in past. They're fine now.
"We all ride on the same bus and everything," said Stewart with a laugh. "We all get along great. Everybody knows each other so well, the little quirks and idiosyncrasies. It's just a more mature environment.
"Why would I want to be on a bus by myself? I'd have nobody to tell my really bad jokes to!"
Like this one: Why would a successful country vocal group that had nine Top 10 hits, including "Bluest Eyes in Texas," "Til I Love You," and "That Rock Won't Roll," break up in the first place?
Stewart said it was a case of career overload. Country bands record, tour, record, tour. Restless Heart needed some rest.
"The true story behind it all is that myself and Greg Jennings, our guitar player, were going to take some time off at the end of [1991]," Stewart said. "We got to the point where the five of us were just fried. People were having professional issues, personal issues.
"You know it's like a marriage, only with five guys. You're spending more time together than normal, and in country music, it's a 12-month-a-year deal especially when things are rolling well."
At the last minute, however, Jennings decided not to step away.
"I just went ahead," said Stewart. "I couldn't continue on in that environment. I decided to get out for a while."
Stewart later cut a solo record. Two years later, keyboard player Dave Innis also left Restless Heart. Four members -- everyone but Innis -- reunited to assemble a second "Greatest Hits" set in 1998 and to tour with Vince Gill. Then they parted again.
By 2001 -- some 10 years after he first walked away -- Stewart was instrumental in getting all five members back together for good.
"Probably me and our drummer John Dittrich were the most aggressive, as far as everyone getting together," Stewart said. "Dave came to town; he wasn't living here. I called a couple of the guys. One thing led to another. We all talked and said, 'You know, what we had was great. What a great run. Let's go see if they can book us some shows.'
"We called our booking agent, and he couldn't believe we were all together. He had to come over to Greg's to see us all talking to believe us. That's when it started, right there."
It didn't hurt their case that contemporary stars cited Restless Heart's harmony-laden country as a huge influence.
"Brad Paisley and the Rascal Flatts guys on a number of occasions mentioned us as giving them the opportunity to do what they do," Steward said. "We heard from a lot of musicians and songwriters who heard 'Bluest Eyes in Texas' and said, 'Wow, if that's country, I want to be a part of it.'
"Paisley used to cover a bunch of our songs. We did a few shows with him last year, and on his encore, we came out and did Restless Heart songs, like 'Big Dreams in a Small Town.' You know, that's pretty neat."'
2009 marks the 25th anniversary of Restless Heart's debut. Stewart says they're not done yet. They'll record a studio CD and their first Christmas release later this year.
The second time around, he's enjoying it more.
"To put the original five guys together was really neat, and lo and behold, we're still doing it. We realized that we have something that's very special when we play and sing together. It's really magical."
The harmonies are pure silver, polished to a high sheen. And, as easily as silver conducts electricity, their music has electrified audiences around the world for 25 years. Legendary country music group, Restless Heart, is celebrating their Silver Anniversary – 25 years of perfecting the art of entertaining.
As silver starts as a by-product of the mining of other minerals, Restless Heart came together in late 1983 as the by-product of a project by famed writer/producer Tim Dubois. He was looking for exceptionally talented studio musicians to record demos of songs he had written. The lustrous voices of that “demo band” rose quickly to the surface and Restless Heart signed a recording contract with RCA Records in 1985.
With the release of their first album that year, the vocal style of Restless Heart became instantly identifiable – an intertwining five part harmony led by Larry Stewart, with Dave Innis ..boards, Greg Jennings on lead guitar, Paul Gregg on bass and drummer, John Dittrich. They brought a new, contemporary sound to Nashville, a sound with a touch of pop – the sound which so strongly influences the popular country acts of today like Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts and Little Big Town.
Gold became the standard for the group with the release of that self-titled album. Three more gold albums followed between 1986 and 1991. With an additional six albums released through the years, Restless Heart put 26 hits on the country charts with six 1 hits and nine others in the Top Ten. Cross-over success, rare in the music world, was also theirs with six songs making the adult contemporary charts, including taking the 1, 2 and 3 spots.
Success is rarely easy to manage. The controversies in creating a new sound, the endless concert trail, the demand for interviews and appearances, and lack of time with their families took a toll on the band. Larry Stewart left the group for a solo career in 1991 and Dave Innis left in 1993. With seven albums behind them, the group disbanded by 1996.
Four band members, minus Dave Innis, reunited briefly in 1998 to produce a second “Greatest Hits” compilation and tour with good friend, Vince Gill. In 2001, those same four members gathered in Greg Jennings’ home studio to record a special tribute for a long-time fan. The spark was ignited to bring the original group back together. An emotional phone call to Dave Innis put Restless Heart back on the road. Their first real gig as a reunited group was the 2002 Operation Season’s Greetings, an overseas military entertainment tour. They haven’t stopped touring since, averaging more than 100 shows per year, including an around-the-world military tour in 2007.
Today, driven by the musical force which brought them together 25 years ago and tempered by experience, Restless Heart continues to thrill old and new fans by doing what they do best, making great music and having fun.
25 Years is a long time to be a part of anything let alone the music business, but for Restless Heart they have succeeded with that such feat and then some. With their mainstream success behind them, they resurfaced through their 2008 triple threat tour and have brought it back again this year with Little Texas and Diamond Rio. Country Thunder welcomed 2/3 of the tour to their main stage this year, which is where we had the chance to catch up with Restless Heart.
1. You recently just celebrated 25 years in the music business. Congratulations! What do you feel kept your music relevant throughout the years?.
The songs I believe. From day one we were blessed to have people around us our producers came to us and at that time some of the greatest songwriters in the world let us record their songs. To me, in this genre especially, it’s about the song. The song lasts forever. We just got lucky to record some songs and to have the sound as well but record some songs that people would want to hear. We got lucky. I think we were very picky and very selective about the songs we picked. This band has a wide variety of interests as far as music is concerned. So, for five guys to be able to find music that we could all settle on it adds to the music which is a pretty cool thing..
2. To celebrate the anniversary you offered up a 25th anniversary collection. For people that haven’t heard about it yet, what can you tell them about this collection?.
Well, it has our first and only live album called “25 and Live” and it has our “Still Restless” album which is our first studio album from 5 guys since 1989 which came out in 2005 and also it has video hits with all the 80’s hairdos. You gotta get it just for that. It’s those 3 albums and the songs from the “25 and Live” and up to the new songs that covers a big history of those 3 projects and we’ve really gotten some great response from them..
3. Why did you decide to participate in this year’s Country Thunder USA?.
Cause they paid us. Actually, these are the most fun things to do. I love the festivals because all our buddies, old sound men and old road managers and bus drivers. We ran into and talked to Phil Vassar awhile ago but we don’t care anything about Phil. We’re kidding Phil! I love running into all our pals cause we don’t see them in Nashville we have to go on the road to see them and there’s 3 or 4 big festivals like this of course this one is the biggest and we were tickled when they asked us to come and participate..
4. Other than your own performance, is there one at this year’s event that you are looking forward to seeing?.
We can’t watch, we have to leave, we are on our way. Check this out for some routing, we are on a 2-3 o’clock and we have to be loaded back up and headed out of here by 5 pm to go to Boston, MA for a show tomorrow afternoon. So we’ll catch up with our bus driver at Midway in Chicago tonight and deadhead to Boston..
5. On the subject of live performances, you are once again on the Triple Threat Tour this year and it features yourselves, Diamond Rio, and Little Texas. What has been the best part of these shows so far?.
Hanging out with all the guys and the audience gets a full night of hits. It’s fun for us and for the fans and we get great response on our website from people who come to the shows and enjoy the three different acts and all the hits. It’s a pretty good bill..
6. For someone that hasn’t bought tickets to see this tour why do you feel it is a must see show?.
All the new haircuts, just kidding. Actually it’s great because it spans through 25 years of music from the old to the new and both Diamond Rio and Little Texas are great groups that really rock and the audience really responds great to it because it really is unique. .
7. You have been busy on the road but Branson has really taken to you and you have played numerous times at The Oak Ridge Boys Theatre. What is the most special thing about playing in Branson for you?.
The Oak Ridge Boys Theater may be one of the best production theaters. Actually we got spoiled because the production of 50 moving lights that big wall of lights that you can so many different scenes I mean it really looks like it’s a multi million production. So when you’re there for a couple of weeks and when you get back out here and face reality you start to say Man, I really miss that. Plus I got to meet Andy Williams. Yah, Andy Williams came to one of our shows, I mean the curtains were coming up and I said Andy Williams is in the audience. Paul and I looked at each other and we were like Crap! We were all loose and having fun until he said that and then we just got real stiff. Any way we met him and Bill Meadly, the Righteous Brothers came to a show and we met them. So, some neat things have happened and we’re hoping that we could kind of slow walk our way into Branson and be able to spend some weeks there every year..
8. You have had a tremendous career so far, and have achieved a ton of success. Is there one achievement that stands out above the rest for you?.
Probably the ACM award for vocal group of the year because that one was voted by the fans. Also being nominated be your peers and stuff like that. So being recognized is important. We’ve done a lot of cool things, world tours and playing for the troops but that’s the only award where we were nominated a bunch but it was nice to finally win one. .
9. What piece of advice can you offer to someone that is looking to break into the country music industry?.
Don’t give up your day job. Learn the business. Let’s see Music Business 101 – Don’t be the artist. In all honesty, it is so tough right now. It’s nothing like it was when we got started but I mean obviously you don’t want to squash someone’s dreams cause we all have dreams, that’s why we’re here. And there is so much talent out there. One thing I would say is to surround yourself with good people, with talented people and the right people that can help you. Do not settle for less because that’s really in the end whether you’re successful or you can trust people to take care of your business and people with knowledge and experience. That’s what it’s all about and somehow you really got to do that. And that’s what happened with us. We really got involved with great and talented people from the very beginning because we as artists don’t know what we’re doing. We’re musicians and singers and performers so you got to really surround yourself with people that can help. It’s also important especially in the music business it’s about relationships and people so putting yourself in a position where you can take advantage of opportunity is as much of it as anything. Make your own luck if you can. It helps to be in the right place at the right time like Nashville. We all moved to Nashville to chase it and so if you want to get noticed you really have to spend some time there..
Experience 25 incredible years of music and memories in this new special collection. For the first time ever, you can purchase: Still Restless, 25 & Live, and The Video Hits for just $29.99 (a 40% discount). If you don't own this collection of RH history, now is the time to buy.
This limited time offer contains: Still Restless CD: The only studio album with the original five members in over a decade. This album will no longer be printed so pick up one of the final physical copies before they're gone.
Video Hits DVD: The complete collection of video history with songs like The Bluest Eyes In Texas, When She Cries, Dancy's Dream, Tender Lie, Fast Moving Train and many more.
25 And Live CD: The first and only Live CD ever recorded by the band - now in its 2nd pressing. You get 14 favorites, including 7 number 1 hits and 13 Top 10's. Proving that their unique, awesome sound is just as good now, as it ever was.
**BONUS: Order today and receive a never before available, 8 x 10 photo autographed by all 5 members of the band!
This package is available only through this offer and only while supplies last.
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