First published in March 2016 issue, Buddy Magazine

The LaRue Crue is credited with selecting most of the songs on Stoney LaRue’s latest CD, Us Time. LaRue said, “It’s really about and for the fans. Dean (Dillon, the co-writer on the title cut) thought the title, ‘Us Time’ is a good theme for it all.”

When LaRue decided to produce this time of fan-favorites CD, he said, “We got out and asked the public what they’d like on it. They gave us a long list, through social media and at the merch tables at shows and such; and we whittled it down to the 11 laid down on Us Time.”

After about 15-ish years on the road, playing in every honky-tonk and festival he could get in, LaRue has gathered lots more than a bushel basket full of fans. And, he said, the fans’ response to Us Time has been good. “It’s just another step in what I am doing.”

Two important stops for LaRue, and for his fans, are the March 26 concert as the headliner for KHYI’s Texas Music Revolution 20. Then, on April 19, he’s playing Larry Joe Taylor’s Texas Music Festival in Stephenville.

“I first went to LJT’s festival as a fan, very early in its inception. I went with my friends, Jason Boland and with (Cross Canadian) Ragweed. They were playing it. Now, I’m playing the deal. That’s a lot of way to go.”

Stoney continued, “And I’ve got to meet Larry Joe and hang out backstage. But, it’s the campfires, where after the shows are over for the night… I get in the truck with him and we show up at the campfires and jam. You can connect with everybody then. In a bar scene, you don’t get the peaceful, outside feeling, where everybody is there for the commonality, I guess, because you are out camping, and it’s summertime.

“I prefer festival season the most. Everything is alive again, and people are there in mass numbers, and you can get your finger on the pulse of the crowd,” Stoney continued.

About Texas Music Revolution, which he’s played so many times, Stoney said he can’t remember the first time. “They all run together, and it’s always fun and friendly.”

Another factor of festivals is that, LaRue added, is that “We all get to see and visit with our peers, the others out there making music who we usually pass on the highways.”

One musician rapidly becoming Stoney’s ‘peer’s his brother, Bo Phillips. (Yeah, Stoney’s full name is Stoney LaRue Phillips). Bo only got into full-time music a few years ago, giving up school teaching for a career on the road. Bo once said in a radio interview that he could either work at what he liked (school teaching) or he could work at what he loved — music. Since then, Stoney and Bo are two of those often passing one another on the highways.

“We have different schedules, and live in different places, but we get together as often as we can,” Stoney said. That includes jamming together every chance they get, but not “getting into each other’s business. We both do our things. We’d rather showcase individually. We enjoyed music (growing up) and gravitated toward it. Bo was an agriculture teacher, and liked it when he got out and opened up into new things in music. Me? I had tunnel vision. I always had an affinity for music.”

One of those ‘steps in what I am doing’ is already writing songs for his next CD, all while touring.

LaRue knows that he has to stay vigilant in advancing his talent, to continue growing. He keeps writing, all the time, he said, often with other songwriters everywhere, and even in Nashville.

“I’ve been working in Nashville now for about 10 years,” Stoney said. The broad feelings about Nashville are that they pour out songs to please the masses. I will write from my experiences, it’s got me this far. I want to keep on honing my craft, so people will recognize my songs and come out and see me.”

It was in Nashville where he got the opportunity to work in the studio with grammy-award winner Miranda Lambert on her hit “All Kinds of Kind.” He smiled when he added, “I’m keeping my goals as Grammy-oriented. And Nashville is a wonderful spot. There are a lot of people there doing the music thing, it is a wonderful place to be around.”

About song-writing with others, Stoney quietly commented, “I’ve written with so many, it’s hard to name. I want to continue writing with my locals, Cody (Canada) and (Wade) Bowen. You have to have some commonality if you want to write from your heart.”

That friendship with Canada began in Stillwater, Oklahoma, recognized as the creative center of the Red Dirt music rising. He friended others drawn to the music, including Jason Boland and Canada, and the three moved into the now-famous “Yellow House,” where they were joined often with other recognized-Red Dirt champions Mike McClure and Brandon Jenkins.

He released his first album, Downtown, in 2002. Then, a short one year later, Smith Music Group recognized the talent in his Texan-turned-Okie and recorded him in its series “Live At Billy Bob’s Texas.” There’ve been several in between, and Us Time is a collection of songs from those previous recordings, plus his and his fans’ favorite cover songs.

For instance, the covers include Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman;” the classic Seals/Setser “Seven Spanish Angels,” joined on vocals by his bud Cody Canada; and Jim Croce’s “Box No. 10.” He’s re-recorded his co-penned (with Jenkins) “Til The Morning Comes;” and Jenkins’ “Feet Don’t Touch The Ground,” both big fan faves. The two news ones are the title cut, and “Easy As She Comes,” which he wrote with Mando Saenz. And, of course and without saying, there’s “Oklahoma Breakdown,” a standard requirement at every Stoney LaRue concert.

The Red Dirt music champion title-holder is obviously a fan of his fans. He said that, although his material has changed, and grown, over the years, he gets these songs requested over and over, and it was a treat to be able to put them all on the one CD for those fans.

And every song comes with that unique rootsy swagger that is Stoney LaRue, who breathes life into every one of those songs.

“I’ve been playing a lot of these songs all my career,” LaRue reminisced. The earlier projects got the stuff I’ve written, and Velvet and Aviator (the two most previous CDs he’s released), show progress of my songwriting, and sell people on another idea of what and who I am. This CD is by request of and for the fans. They would ask me why I don’t record or sing these songs anymore.”

Stoney LaRue will be headlining KHYI’s 20^th Texas Music Revolution at Oak Point Theater in Plano on Saturday, March 26. For more information on that event, go Online to KHYI.com. He is playing on Tuesday, April 19, at the LJT Texas Music Festival in Stephenville, and more information on that is available at LarryJoeTaylor.com.  Print copies of Buddy Magazine will be available at the LJT fest. And to follow LaRue’s schedule, go to his Website, StoneyLaRue.com. And the CD, Us Time, is available on all the electronic purchasing sites, his own Website, and at his concerts.