About Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was founded by Matt Davenport, Danny Gregg, and Ty Herndon, the last of whom became a solo artist in the mid-1990s. After undergoing several membership changes in its initial years, the band consisted of the same six members from 1989 to 2022: Marty Roe , Gene Johnson , Jimmy Olander , Brian Prout , Dan Truman , and Dana Williams . After Prout and Johnson both departed in 2022, they were replaced by Micah Schweinsberg and Carson McKee respectively.
After assuming the name Diamond Rio, the band was signed to Arista Nashville and debuted in 1991 with the single "Meet in the Middle", which made them the first band ever to send a debut single to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The band charted 32 more singles between then and 2006, including four more that reached No. 1: "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" , "One More Day" , "Beautiful Mess" , and "I Believe" .
Diamond Rio has recorded nine studio albums, four Greatest Hits compilations, and an album of Christmas music. Three of the band's albums have achieved RIAA platinum certification in the United States. In addition, Diamond Rio has received four Group of the Year awards from the Country Music Association, two Top Vocal Group awards from the Academy of Country Music, and one Grammy Award. The band is known for its vocal harmonies, varied instrumentation, and near-exclusive use of only its own band members on recordings instead of session musicians. Their sound was originally defined by mainstream country, bluegrass, and rock influences, but later albums drew more influence from Christian country music and country pop.
In 1982, Matt Davenport and Danny Gregg founded a band at Opryland USA, a former country music-based amusement park in Nashville, Tennessee. The band was first named the Grizzly River Boys, after a new river rafting ride at the park, but quickly changed names to the Tennessee River Boys due to its members disliking the original name. Originally intended to promote the park through a one-time television special, the band proved popular enough that it became one of many regular performers there. Davenport, Gregg, and Ty Herndon alternated as lead vocalists, with Davenport also playing bass guitar and Gregg on rhythm guitar; completing the lineup were Larry Beard , Mel Deal , Al DeLeonibus , and Ed Mummert . The group "swapped lead voices, told jokes, and balanced old-school country concert shtick with a contemporary sound". Herndon left the group in 1983 to compete on the talent show Star Search, and became a solo artist for Epic Records between 1995 and the early 2000s. Herndon was temporarily replaced by Anthony Crawford and then Virgil True before his role was taken over by Marty Roe, who had originally toured nationally with the Christian band Windsong, and worked in the park by doing impersonations of Larry Gatlin. Following Herndon's departure, DeLonibus and Mummert quit as well, with Dan Truman ) and Jimmy "J. J." Whiteside taking their places. Beard quit shortly afterward and ultimately became a session musician, and former Mel McDaniel sideman Jimmy Olander took his place. The band, through the assistance of Bill Anderson's drummer Len "Snuffy" Miller, submitted demos to various Nashville record labels with no success.
By 1985, the Tennessee River Boys had quit working at Opryland. According to Roe, while the band enjoyed playing at the park, they also felt that their status as a theme park attraction discredited them as "real musicians" to those in the Nashville community. For the next few years, they played at small venues, such as high school auditoriums, and usually worked no more than four concerts a month. They also competed on Star Search, but were eliminated in the first round. Frustrated by the sporadic touring schedules, Whiteside quit the group and was replaced by Brian Prout, who previously performed in Hot Walker Band and Heartbreak Mountain. Around 1986, Deal and Gregg both left the group, the latter due to health complications from a serious illness he had developed as a teenager. They initially chose to operate as a quintet, with Davenport as the sole lead vocalist and Roe and Prout singing harmony; when this arrangement proved unsuccessful, they found mandolinist Gene Johnson, a former member of the bluegrass group Eddie Adcock's IInd Generation, which Olander was a fan of as a child. Johnson debuted at a concert in Clewiston, Florida, in May 1987. Also at this point, the band members supplemented their incomes with outside jobs: Johnson continued to work in carpentry, Olander and Roe mowed lawns, and Prout drove tour buses.
In 1988, the band caught the attention of Keith Stegall, a singer-songwriter who would later become known primarily for his work as Alan Jackson's record producer. Stegall produced demos for the Tennessee River Boys, but noted that Davenport could not record the lead vocal and bass parts at the same time, as they would be difficult to separate in the control room. As a result, Stegall had Roe sing a "scratch" vocal track live with the other musicians, which would then be replaced by Davenport's voice in post-production. Upon hearing Roe sing the "scratch" track, Stegall successfully convinced the other members that Roe should be the lead vocalist instead. Due to his discomfort outside the lead role and his wife's dissatisfaction with his career, Davenport quit in late 1988, becoming the last founding member to leave. The group quickly had to find a replacement, as they were scheduled to appear on the talk show Nashville Now on January 23, 1989. Alan LeBeouf, who had just left Baillie & the Boys, expressed interest in replacing Davenport but ultimately declined due to other commitments. They finally chose Dana Williams, a nephew of the bluegrass group Osborne Brothers and former sideman for Jimmy C. Newman, who had been a fan of the Tennessee River Boys since Herndon was a member.
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