Little Texas Will Rock Valley City

Next week, Valley City’s Winter Show Arena will host a southern rock show that is guaranteed to get your booty moving. Little Texas, a Grammy-nominated band that was knocking hits out every couple of months a decade ago, is back touring, drawing fans as if the six-year hiatus never happened.
In 1988, Tim Rushlow and Dwayne O’Brien formed a monster Southern rock band they called Little Texas.

At the time, only the Kentucky Headhunters (1985) had crossed the genre barrier from rock to country and was pumping out Southern Rock sounds. The Allman Brothers had laid the groundwork for Southern Rock, however, as early as 1969, and Widespread Panic picked up the mantle in 1988. Even so, the Allman Brothers remained within rock and blues realms and Widespread Panic found a home in the jam revival that Phish and Dead followers had encouraged. But Little Texas and the Kentucky Headhunters pushed the envelope, moving into strict country turf, raising quite a few eyebrows but attracting fans like a bug zapper.

Little Texas toured brutally, playing 300 gigs that first year, all on their own without a label. The next year, their mushrooming fanbase drew the attention of Warner Bros., and they signed a record deal. The label, however, didn’t know what to do with them. “They’d never tried to do anything with anybody that young before,” says Duane Propes. “Thankfully, what they did wind up doing was they turned us loose.” In other words, the band was given creative freedom. They wrote and recorded what they wanted and picked what songs would be singles. “With all three of the first albums, we were literally writing in the studio, finishing songs,” says Propes. “That’s not always the best way to do things.”

Yet, they were able to chart hit after hit, selling over six million records. “That was back in the time when you could have five singles in a year,” Propes says. “Now, you’re lucky if you get two singles in a year. It takes 40 weeks sometimes to go through a chart cycle. But we were bopping these things out one album a year.” Awards for those albums and singles started piling up. They had fifteen top-ten hits. Little Texas earned the first CMT award and many others followed, including CMA awards and several Grammy nominations. They toured with Clink Black, Travis Tritt, and Tricia Yearwood. Then in 1994, they started headlining their own arena show, being supported by Tim McGraw.
But management and label trouble cast a pall on the band’s quick rise. Brady Seals left to pursue a solo career, and by 1997 everyone finally called the band quits. Propes and the rest of the band found places in the music industry, but on the other side of the soundboard. Propes first helped market a large rehearsal facility, then worked in the public relations department of Curve Records, and finally did entertainment relations marketing for Gibson musical instruments. “We all learned it from other direction during that six year break,” he says.
Then in 2003, the band decided to try to get back together and see if they could play some shows. They took a year to work out legalities with former band members so that they could operate under the same name. Tim Rushlow and Brady Seals decided not to rejoin the band, but Dwayne O’Brien (guitar) wanted to be a part of the group and so joined Propes (bass), Gray (drums), and Howell (lead guitar, lead vocals) to form the new Little Texas.
“We did our first show for Mardi Gras in 2004 down in Galveston. “Even then, we said that we’d play maybe 20-30 shows a year, and have it just as a hobby,” Propes remembers. “We drew something like 7-8,000 people to that thing.” They did three other large-draw shows right after that and realized something. “This was not going to be a part time gig.”
So, come on down for a good time at the Valley City Winter Show Arena on March 7. “It’s going to be a night full of hits,” says Propes. “You’re going to hear almost everything we’ve ever released plus a lot of new stuff off of our new album.” He also added, “We like the crowd to be up to the front of the stage and be a part of it.” It’s going to be a high-energy show.

If You Go

WHAT: Little Texas
WHERE: Winter Show Arena, Valley City ND
WHEN: Friday, March 7, 8 pm
HOW MUCH: $25
WHO: All ages
INFO: 1-800-437-0218, (701) 845-1401