Little Texas
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| Little Texas | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Arlington, Texas, USA |
| Genre(s) | Country |
| Years active | 1988-1997, 2004-present |
| Label(s) | Warner Bros. Nashville Montage Music Group |
| Associated acts | Hot Apple Pie Rushlow Rushlow Harris |
| Website | http://littletexasonline.com |
| Members | |
| Del Gray Porter Howell Dwayne O'Brien Duane Propes |
|
| Former members | |
| Jeff Huskins Tim Rushlow Brady Seals Steven Troy |
|
Little Texas is an American country music band founded in Arlington, Texas in 1988. Originally, the band's lineup comprised Tim Rushlow (lead vocals) and Brady Seals (lead vocals, background vocals, keyboards), Del Gray (drums), Porter Howell (lead guitar), Dwayne O'Brien (rhythm guitar), and Duane Propes (bass guitar).
Signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1991, Little Texas released its debut album First Time For Everything that year; the album's lead off single, "Some Guys Have All the Love", reached a peak of #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Little Texas continued to produce hit singles throughout the mid-1990s, including the Number One single "My Love", and Top Ten hits in "You and Forever and Me" (1992), "What Might Have Been" (1993), "God Blessed Texas" (1993), "Kick a Little" (1994), "Amy's Back in Austin" (1995) and "Life Goes On" (1995).
After four albums and a Greatest Hits package, the group disbanded in 1997, with Rushlow and Seals both forming solo careers, and eventually other bands. By 2004, the four remaining original members — Gray, Howell, O'Brien, and Propes, along with newly-selected lead vocalist Steven Troy — re-established the group. Troy departed in 2006, with Howell taking over on lead vocals; under the four piece lineup of Gray, Howell, O'Brien and Propes, the band has recorded two albums for Montage Music Group.
Contents |
[edit] History
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This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (October 2007). |
Little Texas was pieced together, member by member, by the original manager Christy DiNapoli in November 1988. Tim Rushlow and Dwayne O'Brien began playing together in Arlington, Texas, in 1984. Rushlow was originally a member of the band Perry Hoover and the Gamblers. Porter Howell and Duane Propes got together while they were in high school in 1983 and moved to Nashville to attend Belmont College. Brady Seals and Del Gray played in the backup band of country music recording artist Josh Logan. Tim, Dwayne, Duane and Porter first started making music at Opryland as a 50's showband. With both Tim's first wife and Porter's wife, plus two other members, they took the showband on the road, naming their act "The Varsities". When two of the members left to pursue other interests, they contacted Del and Brady, whom they had met while playing in Springfield, Massachusetts, in hopes of forging a more country/Southern rock sound. All six members eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where they started playing together, and Little Texas was born.
The band played at venues across the United States (around 300 dates a year) where it caught the attention of Nashville's division of Warner Bros. Records. Warner Bros. signed Little Texas in 1989, and a couple of years later, the band released its first album, First Time For Everything. The album spawned five singles that landed on the Billboard country singles chart. In 1993, Little Texas released its second album, Big Time. Big Time was Little Texas' biggest selling album of their career, selling more than three million copies. It spawned three Top 5 singles, a Top 15, and the band's only No. 1 record with My Love, which was sung as a lead vocal by Brady. 1994 saw the release of Little Texas's third album, Kick a Little. It spawned three more singles in the Billboard country chart.
However, just weeks before the release of Kick a Little, Brady left Little Texas to pursue a solo career. His peak at solo success would come in early 1997 with the single "Another You, Another Me", which peaked at #32. Brady was replaced by Jeff Huskins, who had previously played in country singer Clint Black's backing band. Little Texas soldiered on with a greatest-hits album, and a self-titled album that was released in 1997. That same year, however, the band split up after a New Year's Eve performance at the Cookeville, TN nightclub Cotton Eyed Joe. During Little Texas' hiatus, Tim Rushlow had one Top 10 hit as a solo act.
In 2004, four of the original Little Texas's members - Duane Propes, Del Gray, Porter Howell, and Dwayne O'Brien - decided to reunite the band. Tim Rushlow, Jeff Huskins, and Brady Seals opted not to rejoin the original lineup; Rushlow and Seals had formed bands of their own (Rushlow and Hot Apple Pie, respectively). When Little Texas reunited, Rushlow and Huskins made a legal attempt to keep their ex-bandmates from using the Little Texas name.[1]
Little Texas briefly brought Steven Troy to the front as lead singer. After his departure, guitarist Porter Howell (who had not previously been one of the band's vocalists) took over as lead singer.
The album Missing Years was released in June of 2007.
A modified version of their song "God Blessed Texas" has been used in Texas Ford commercials from the late 1990s to the present, substituting the line "God blessed Texas" with "Ford is the best in Texas."
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | RIAA Certification | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US 200 | |||
| 1992 | First Time for Everything | 19 | 99 | Gold |
| 1993 | Big Time | 6 | 55 | 2× Multi-Platinum |
| 1994 | Kick a Little | 10 | 51 | Platinum |
| 1995 | Greatest Hits | 17 | 82 | Gold |
| 1997 | Little Texas | 47 | ||
| 2007 | The Very Best of Little Texas: Live and Loud | |||
| 2007 | Missing Years | |||
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country | US Hot 100 | |||
| 1991 | "Some Guys Have All the Love" | 8 | First Time for Everything | |
| 1992 | "First Time for Everything" | 13 | ||
| "You and Forever and Me" | 5 | |||
| "What Were You Thinkin'" | 17 | |||
| 1993 | "I'd Rather Miss You" | 16 | ||
| "What Might Have Been"A | 2 | 74 | Big Time | |
| "God Blessed Texas" | 4 | 55 | ||
| 1994 | "My Love" | 1 | 83 | |
| "Stop on a Dime" | 14 | |||
| "Peaceful Easy Feeling" | 74 | Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles | ||
| "Kick a Little" | 5 | 108 | Kick a Little | |
| 1995 | "Amy's Back in Austin" | 4 | ||
| "Southern Grace" | 27 | |||
| "Party All Night" (w/ Jeff Foxworthy and Scott Rouse) | 53 | 101 | Crank It Up: The Music Album | |
| "Life Goes On" | 5 | Greatest Hits | ||
| 1996 | "Country Crazy" | 44 | ||
| "Kiss the Girl" | 52 | The Best of Country Sing the Best of Disney | ||
| 1997 | "Bad For Us" | 45 | Little Texas | |
| 2006 | "Your Woman"B | Missing Years | ||
| 2007 | "Missing Years" | 45 | ||
| "Party Life"B | ||||
- A"What Might Have Been" also peaked at #16 on U. S. Adult Contemporary, and #1 on U.S. Radio & Records country singles charts.
- BFailed to chart.
