Crossing into the Heartland

Heartland started out as six childhood friends hanging out in Huntsville, Ala. who all shared a musical dream.

Since day one, the band takes pride in the fact that there’s no one else that sounds quite like they do when they get together. They started out in 1997 playing clubs, stingy southern bars trying to be seen and heard.

In 2006, the group of southern musicians was catapulted into mainstream country music stardom with a little song called “I Loved Her First.”

The country hit was followed up by a fast selling album, a lengthy world tour and a chance at what they had always dreamed of: A moment in the spotlight.

The catalyst for the group’s success is the poignant ballad “I Loved Her First,” which became one of the best selling country singles of 2006, reaching the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles charts in only 16 weeks, a rare feat for a debut release from an unheard of band.

Heartland’s debut album, “I Loved Her First,” was released in October of 2006 and country fans went wild. The music video for “I Loved Her First” helped to further bring Heartland into the country music mainstream. Like other one-hit wonders, a catchy ditty managed to hurl Heartland to the top.

In 2006, the band garnished nominations for both Best New Group and Single Record of the Year by The Academy of Country Music.

Guitarist Mike Myerson noted, “Just when ya think it can’t get any better for six rednecks from Alabama, something like this seems to come along and totally floors us.”

Collectively, Heartland encompasses a variety of musical influences including Johnny Cash, Alabama, Van Halen, Elvis Presley, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Sam Cooke, to name a few.

In 1997 they got their first real taste of that vision when they performed at the “June Jam,” an annual concert held in Ft. Payne, Ala. each year, hosted by country music legends Alabama. When Heartland took the stage in front of more than 20,000 screaming fans, they were awestruck to see people holding up Heartland signs and shouting their name.

In 2007 and 2008, Heartland have been touring junkies. In addition to headlining their own shows, they’ve played coast to coast with the like of Brad Paisley, Montgomery Gentry, Blake Shelton, and others, while continuing to build their ever-growing fan base.

After a lengthy battle with Heartland’s previous record company, Lofton Creek, the band went out looking for a better channel for their music, landing on the doorstep of Country Thunder Records in Texas. The move almost destroyed their passion for the business, but new momentum garnished a second wind for the band.

Currently Heartland is in the studio recording with famed producer Mark Bright (Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood) on the follow up to “I Loved Her First” with a new single release date tentatively scheduled for early May on the Country Thunder Records label.

Recently, Bullseye sat down with Heartland’s fiddler, Chuck Crawford, to ask what sudden fame means to a group of friends from the sticks of Huntsville, Ala. and what Heartland has been up to so far this year.

Bullseye: Have you guys been up to Alaska before?

Chuck Crawford: None of us have been to Alaska, for pleasure or business, so this will be a first. We are so far from Alaska that there’s not a lot of people down here who actually know what we’re to expect. We got back from Colorado last week, which is still a far cry from what you guys have, so we’ve been pretty close to the cold.

BE: What’s been happening with the band since the release of your first album almost two years ago?

CC: We went through the whole “Behind the Music” story with major turn-arounds where the band makes all the wrong decisions. We switched record labels, changed management, booking agents, and almost every business aspect, which really cost us a lot of momentum. To make that big of a change takes a lot of time, but we’re coming back and the fans are going to get to hear a good a record from Heartland in a short time.

BE: When will that be?

CC: We’re in the studio now, knocking out a few songs for the next album. We haven’t got a release date just yet, but we’ve got eight songs done, so we hope to have something out in the middle of this month.

BE: You guys have been hanging put since the fifth grade. Do you ever get tired of each other?

CC: You know, its really not that way. Everyone of us enjoys the same things and enjoys each other’s company, but it’s not like we all go and hang around with each other when we’re home. We’ll see each other out on the weekends so it’s never really been a big problem getting along.

BE: What does success mean for the band today?

CC: We all consider the day when we all crawled on the tour bus for the first time and quit our day jobs as our success story. “I Loved Her First” was such a huge song for us that there’s no way to come back and beat that. You can only go left, right, or down in this business, but you can’t really go up. We’d love to match the power that song had, but we want to keep doing what we’re doing. I’d love to keep the fans and keep playing for a living, that comes first.

BE: Does the band enjoy touring or is it really just work?

CC: No, there’s not a lot of work to it. We really enjoy that part. It’s really the pay-off after all the studio time and radio interviews, so that’s really what takes you to the show. You get paid for the travel time, so to me, the show is for free. It was really cool on Easter Sunday when we heard NASA woke the astronauts up on the shuttle Endeavor up with “I Loved Her First” because one of the astronaut’s daughter is getting married and that’s her favorite song. That’s the kind of thing that blows me away.

BE: It appears the younger players in country get most of the spotlight these days. Has country music changed much over the years?

CC: Yeah, I would say so. Country music is what rock used to be when I was younger. Country has taken the place of the 80s’ hair bands and southern rock. Kind of weird.

BE: What are fans going to get on Saturday’s show?

CC: “I Loved Her First” is one of the things people get really surprised we play once they hear us live, because it’s not typically a Heartland sound. We’re hard core rocking country, first and foremost. I’d say we’re close to what Charlie Daniels and Motley Crue would sound like together.

BE: Charlie played the fairgrounds, you should have asked him for tips on what to expect from Alaska’s country concert goers.

CC: I didn’t even think about that.

Heartland kicks off a night at the Alaska State Fairgrounds’ Raven Hall at 7:30 on Saturday. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for this 21 and over concert are $45 for reserved front-section seating, $35 for mid-section seats, or $30 for table seating at the rear. Tickets are available online at ticketmaster.com, at Alaskastatefair.com, at Fred Meyer stores, by calling 562-4800, or at the door the evening of the concert. Convenience fees apply.

For more information and music samples, please visit Alaskastatefair.org, or call the Alaska State Fair 745-4827.

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com.