Little Texas

Infobox musical artist
Name = Little Texas


Img_capt =
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Background = group_or_band
Origin = Arlington, Texas, USA
Genre = Country
Years_active = 1988-1997, 2004-present
Label = Warner Bros. Nashville
Montage Music Group
Associated_acts = Hot Apple Pie
Rushlow
Rushlow Harris
URL = http://littletexasonline.com
Current_members = Del Gray
Porter Howell
Dwayne O'Brien
Duane Propes
Past_members = Jeff Huskins
Tim Rushlow
Brady Seals
Steven Troy

Little Texas is an American country music band founded in Arlington, Texas in 1988 by Tim Rushlow (lead vocals), 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 "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). Seals departed in 1995, with Jeff Huskins succeeding him on keyboards.

After four albums and a Greatest Hits package, the group disbanded in 1997, with Rushlow also pursuing a solo career. 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.

History

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. [ [http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1470837/03282003/little_texas.jhtml CMT.com : Little Texas : HOT TALK: Little Texas in Court, Gilman in Transition ] ]

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 2007.

Members

Other charted songs

*^A"What Might Have Been" also peaked at #16 on U. S. Adult Contemporary.
*^BFailed to chart.

References

External links

* [http://littletexasonline.com Official website]