Steve, Larry, and Rudy Gatlin

First appeared in Paris Life Magazine, August 2018 issue. Story by Mary Jane Farmer, Courtesy photos

When one mentions Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers, one person’s mind’s eye might swing over to thoughts of harmonies, tight lyrics, and comradeship among family while others’ envisions California gold and Houston love.

Since their first recording in 1973, a project called The Pilgrim, which landed high on the music charts at No. 33, the sibling trio of Larry, Steve, and Rudy have released about 17 studio albums; some of them compilations such as 16 Biggest Hits,  their millenium project released in 2000; several Christmas music albums, the latest one in 2016 called We Say Merry Christmas, and even two albums recorded completely while they were on stage, the second being Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, when they played the historic Cowtown stage in 2004.

Now, Larry, Steve, and Rudy are coming to the Event Center in Grant’s Choctaw Casino on Saturday, August 18. And they’ll be bringing those harmonies, tight lyrics and brotherly comradeship to the stage. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster, 800-745-3000.  Downbeat at 8 p.m.

All three men now live in Nashville, but were born and grew up in West Texas, where their dad was an oilfield worker. They cut their musical teeth by singing at church, Larry in the leads then since he was the eldest of the three boys. They sometimes sang on radio and on television. The trio even beat out Roy Orbison in a talent contest when they were all just young rednecks. Larry was the first to move to Nashville, too, years later, after attending college in Houston. There, he auditioned for and became a part of the gospel music group The Imperials. While in Las Vegas with that group, he caught country singer Dottie West’s attention. It didn’t take long for Larry Gatlin to impress West with his songwriting skills, and she recorded two of his songs, “You’re The Other Half of Me” and “Once You Were Mine.” She carried Larry’s demo tapes around with her, and handed them out like business cards. West even bought Larry an airplane ticket to Nashville, where she felt he needed to be to advance his career, and all the while continuing to record his songs, including what later became a major hit for Larry and the brothers, “Broken Lady.” Larry worked for a while as a backup singer to Kris Kristofferson and put some guitar licks down on a Willie Nelson recording.

Steve and Rudy joined him a few years later in Nashville, and the real fun began. It was in the 1970s and 80s, when CountryPolitan was the name of the new country music genre, music with a touch of pop to it. Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers had their first No. 1 single, “I Just Wish You Were Someone I love,” followed soon by “All The Gold In California,” a No. 1 chart hit in 1979. Though they stayed at the top of the game, it wasn’t until 1983 when they charted another song, “Houston (Means I’m One Day Closer To You).” But there were some No. 3s and No. 5s and No. 12s in between all those hits.

Rudy Gatlin was the last one to move back to Nashville, where he’s now brewing tea fresh like is dad did for years. “He brewed his tea. He put the tea in a strainer and poured hot water over it, and then poured that over his ice.” Always fresh. One difference is that Rudy is brewing his tea in Tennessee, while his dad brewed his in Texas. The move from his home in the Dallas area, he said, was prompted about three years ago by the fact that Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers stay so busy. “We had a lot of stuff going on and Larry and Steve already lived in Nashville. Plus my son and daughter are adults, now, 27 and 21, and she’s going to college at the University of Texas. I was spending more time in Nashville than in Dallas.”

The group is going on about 50 road gigs a year now. “Mostly,” Rudy said, “ We’ll go out on just one or two dates.” That Grant/Choctaw date is one of a duo, with the second one that weekend being in Kansas. Larry does a few solo gigs, too. And it’ll be a cold day in December before they get back to Texas or Oklahoma, according to their Online tour schedule, GatlinBrothers.com.

They will have branched out on a two-week trip westward, into New Mexico, Colorado, California, and other places before the August 18 date in Grant. Nashville, alone, is giving them plenty of gig time.

Rudy laughed when asked “Do you have to practice much with your band?” His answer? “Do you practice walking?” But, he did say that before their Christmas concerts or before a strictly-Gospel concert, they do have a get-together to rehearse. “We don’t do those often. Heck, I don’t even have time to practice my golf swing,” he said as he laughed.

No recording going on right now. Their last CD was We Say Merry Christmas, a collection of Christmas carols and seasonal songs, the songs of their youths.

Rudy is one Gatlin (and they may all be,…or not) who is quite concerned with the way of the world today. “I maybe watch WSM at times, watch a little bit of news in the morning, and then shut the TV off. Civility is out the window. I can get fired up about topics every now and then, and hope to be more understanding and see both sides. Maybe they can come to an agreement, if they can do that too. Bless their hearts, they mean well.

I preface all my sayings with ‘Bless Their Hearts’,” Rudy said.

The Gatlins have a little bit of Oklahoma in them, too, and Rudy said that playing the Grant concert will kinda be back home. “Our grandparents are from Idabel, Oklahoma. Yeah, there’s a little Okie in all of us, But when the Texas-OU game is on, we gotta say, ‘Hook ‘em, Horns.’.”

The brothers grew up with gospel music in the churches around Abilene and Odessa. They grew up just like other normal, red-blooded Texan boys — playing sports, including football and baseball, in Boy Scouts. “We know about hard work, too. We mowed yards and painted fences and worked at the YMCA, we had all kinds of summer jobs. We got $3 a yard, and if we cleaned out your flower beds, we got $5. Seems like gas was 19 cents then.”

Steve, Larry and Rudy Gatlin

They are still normal brothers, on the road or off. “We sing, we play golf and race and do opry shows. We’re having a very busy summer,” Rudy said. As an example, they were to spend Independence Day together at Steve’s house, “because it’s on a hill, and we can see the fireworks from there. We’ll eat ice cream, watermelon, and a hot dog. I’m one patriotic dude, and anyone who doesn’t like that can kiss my foot.”

And the saying goes, “You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the boy.” Rudy said, “Texas is the greatest state in the world. Okie right up there, too.”

He hopes, as do his brothers, he said, to have a great turnout at the concert. “Come see us, we’ll have a great time together.”

Not many changes in the Gatlin Brothers’ lives. Still together. Rudy said, “We love golf, God, and all things Baptist.”

Story by Mary Jane Farmer, Courtesy photos. Originally appeared in the Friday, June 28, issue of Paris News. Photos from the concert will be posted later.

The Eli Young Band is unique in today’s country music. The band of brothers play their own instruments, write many of their own songs, share in harmonies, and so far, no matter how far they have gone, they haven’t forgotten where they came from — blue collar country Texans without the cowboy hats. The band formed as a duo, then the 4-piece it is today while all were in college in Denton. That was about 18 years ago.

The Eli Young Band will be at the Choctaw Event Center in Grant, Okla., this coming Friday, July 6, with the concert starting at 8 p.m. There are still seats available, and tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.

Mike Eli, lead singer, said, “The whole atmosphere of the casino and resort feels like you’re on vacation. It’s such a treat to play shows at Choctaw.  The rooms are nice and the pools are awesome. The fans are also rowdy and they have a ton of energy, which makes the whole show a ton of fun. Plus, we get to play some of the old songs like ‘Oklahoma Girl.’”

The Eli Young Band is made up of lead singer Mike Eli, guitarist James Young, bassist Jon Jones, and drummer Chris Thompson. Unlike many bands, actually unlike most bands, this foursome has been together since they first became a foursome. Over the years, they have released six albums, the first one in 2002, Eli Young Band, and the most recent, Fingerprints, last year. The group released “Saltwater Gospel” off the Fingerprints CD to radio in 2016, almost a year before they issued the CD. One can only wonder if that is the same game plan the group is using now that they have released “Love Ain’t,” including a passionate and aching video on YouTube. Hopefully, it will be included in a future CD.

The song, written by Ross Copperman, Ashley Gorley, and Shane McAnally, is a love song. However, not at all typical, as this song never defines ‘love,’ instead it makes it perfectly clear what ‘love ain’t.’ The video centers around the remarkable recovery of a quadruple amputee, Taylor Morris, who was involved in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan. The forwarding narration to the video explains that Taylor’s girlfriend, Danielle, dropped everything to go to and stay by his side. Photos and videos tell the struggles the brave and tenacious Taylor went through after surgeries, as he was fitted with prostheses and learned to use them, and it continues into his and Danielle’s future. A stunning video in its stark simplicity, shedding light and inspiration on the sacrifices partners make for one another, and that our military makes for us. The Eli Young Band is a strong supporter for the Wooded Warriors Project.

Many of the Eli Young Band’s songs have hit the state and national charts, and have become standard play on radio stations. “Drunk Last Night,” “Even If It Breaks Your Heart,” “Crazy Girl,” “Guinevere” — songs with driving rhythms and tight harmonies.

Their start was timely, as it came about the same time that Red Dirt music was moving from Oklahoma into Texas, and this band was one of those that embraced the newer sounds, while keeping their own soulful essence intact. No compromises, just growth. And they have kept growing musically since. They know when to put on ‘intense project recording’ personas, and then when to switch over to live-show mentality, with their guitars and drums leaving no holes in the sound and their distinctive and harmonious voices — and smiles. All the while these four are on stage, it’s apparent they are there for the music, the integrity of feeling, and potency of the lyrics. It’s contagious.

Sometime when one listens to Eli Young Band songs, one can hear the pop influence, another time brings out the two-step or waltz in all of us, and then there could be a touch of Tejano thrown in… it’s all a part of their growth as a band, their plan to keep dialing it up a notch.

And it’s why they keep getting nominated and winning awards. Those began in 2009, with an Academy of Country Music nomination for Top New Vocal. Two years later, they took the ACM award for Song of the Year for “Crazy Girl” and were chosen by Music Row as the Breakthrough Artist. The nominations keep sweeping in through the years.

Through this time, though, the band has remained No. 1 to innumerable fans and created a bevy of new ones across this country. They’re undeniable.

This current song, “Love Ain’t,” was only released on June 25, and the charts for the week haven’t been posted yet. The video on YouTube, however, has already had more than 240,000 views.

This summer, the road will take them from California to Maine. This stop in Grant is just one on that tour. More about the tour are on their Website, www.EliYoungBand.com

Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer, first appeared in Paris Life Magazine, March 2018 issue

Wynonna asks in one of her songs, “Is It Over Yet?”. The answer is a firm and definite ‘No, it is not over yet.’ Though her career and her life seemed to be on hold for a while, she’s emerged from it all and is continuing to make the world a better place with her music.

Wynonna & The Big Noise are performing at the Choctaw Casino Event Center, Grant, Okla., Saturday, Feb. 24.

Wynonna and her mother, Naomi, rose to fame in the 1980s as The Judds. After a cross-country moves from their native Kentucky to California and back again, and after Wynonna received a guitar as a Christmas gift and learned to play it, she and her mother moved, in 1979, to Nashville. It was four years later when they were signed with RCA Records, recorded, and the hits started pouring in, 14 No. 1 hits of a total of 23 charted singles. And the tours, the awards, the fans, and good times. They stayed on top as the biggest-selling duo in country music until Brooks & Dunn took that title away in the 1990s.

But then, in 1991, Naomi had to back away from it all after being diagnosed with a chronic bout of Hepatitis C. They took a Farewell Tour. The two were able to reunite for a 1999 New Year’s Eve concert and in 2000 they toured again together and recorded new duo songs. Then, in 2010, came The Judds’ The Last Encore, 18-city tour and a new album, I Will Stand By You, under their name. In 2013, The Judds celebrated their 30 years in country music.

Wynonna and Cactus

In between all those times, Wynonna has been busy, not only with her music, but with acting, writing, philanthropy, and getting married.

She first appeared solo on television at the American Music Awards in 1991, debuting her single, “She Is His Only Need,” the first release from her first solo album. That song hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Singles chart, as did the next three singles off the self-titled CD, “I Saw The Light,” “My Strongest Weakness,” and “No One Else on Earth.”

She’s recorded other albums since then, and has appeared as a guest on recordings, such as singing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird,” and Christmas duets with Clint Black and Kenny Rogers. Her releases then were still making the charts, but none hitting the Top 10. She toured with Clint Black in a tour titled “The Black & Wy Tour.”

With the turn of the millennium, Wynonna began experiencing more successes, with the song “What The World Needs” off her 6^th album reaching No. 15 on the country charts. She switched her style slightly, recording Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love it,” which hit the appropriate chart at No. 12 in 2005.

That was the same time she released her autobiography, Coming Home to Myself, and her first solo Christmas album which included a Latin version of “Ave Maria.” Then, jump to 2011 and Wynonna found herself to be a best-selling author with her Novel, Restless Heart.”

Wynonna’s new band, called Wynonna & The Big Noise, debuted and recorded at the popular venue 3^rd & Lindsley in Nashville in 2011. Then, in 2013, she recorded one more project, but this time recording at her own home studio, featuring personal songs especially about the life-changing events she and her husband and drummer, Cactus Moser, had endured and come out of on the other side.

Sounds like the ideal life of a country singer? Well, there have been many ups and down, including the temporary disbanding of The Judds, estranged times with her family, two broken marriages before meeting Cactus and feeling her heart jump when he first kissed her, struggles with weight control, and the usual roller-coaster rides most of us go on sooner or later in life. But the iconic singer has and continues to work in solution mode.

The last tragic event, which has been worked through by both her and by Cactus and which she talks about on stage, happened in 2012. Cactus was riding his motorcycle in South Dakota when he crossed the centerline and struck a car. The result was a severely injured hand — not good at all for a drummer — and injuries to his left leg being so severe that amputation was the only solution.

Both of them, Wynonna and Cactus, talk about the accident and what they learned from it on their Website, WynonnaAndTheBigNoise.com.

The crash happened just months after their wedding. She said, “His hand was so shattered he had to struggle to hold a fork.” He was fit with a prosthetic leg and did all his physical therapy, at first, in bed. “Our bedroom was turned into a medical facility,” Wynonna said. But he worked constantly at it, and she stayed by his side, helping when she could. “I’ve seen him overcome so many obstacles. The sign of him using the stairs again for the first time had me in tears.”

Cactus is back in action, not only as husband and drummer, but as The Big Noise band leader. The Big Noise is also the name of that last album, which is definitely country but with a bit more bluesy feel than much of her other work.

And The Big Noise is Wynonna’s battle cry, “Because it’s me with my fists in the air, saying ‘I will over.’ That’s what we’ve done.”

And through the years, Wynonna’s songs have and continue to speak of love, of values, of acceptance, of faith, of romance. In “Things I Lean On,” she sings “Psalms 23 when I feel scared… 12 Steps when I need to find my way back… My Mama’s voice on the telephone… These are the things I lean on.” And more, so much more.

“Now it’s very much about the songwriting,” Judd said in a recent interview. “This is about really telling your story. It feels very intimate, too.”

“Life is for the living, if you can look it in the face.” — Charlie McDonald

For tickets to the Wynonna & The Big Noise concert, go Online to ChoctawCasinos.com, select “Grant,” then “Entertainment,” then “Tickets” on Wynonna’s listing.

Top of Form