Diamond Rio to appear at Sublette’s Hops & Harmony this weekend

Sublette’s Hops & Harmony will feature an appearance by country music band Diamond Rio this weekend.

The band – which has been making country music for more than 30 years – is comprised of Marty Roe on lead vocals, Jimmy Olander on guitar and banjo, Dana Williams on bass and vocals, Dan Truman on piano, and new to the group, Carson McKee on fiddle and harmony vocals and Micah Schweinsberg on drums.

McKee and Schweinsberg join the group after the retirement of drummer Brian Prout and mandolin player and vocalist Gene Johnson.

Opening for Diamond Rio at Hops & Harmony will be Voth, a country music trio of siblings from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Gates will open and the beer tasting will start at 6 p.m. in Centennial Park. Music will start at 7:30 p.m.

Dani Holland, program director and radio announcer for Shaw Local Radio’s WALLS 102, recently spoke to Roe about the upcoming show at Hops & Harmony. Here is a transcript of their conversation:

Dani Holland: WALLS 102, good morning.

Marty Roe: Hello. This is Marty Roe, Diamond Rio.

Holland: Hey, Marty, how you doing?

Roe: I’m doing well.

Holland: Looks like you’re starting to stay busy. You got a lot going on these days.

Roe: We’re doing great. We’re headed your way here this weekend, looking forward to it.

Holland: Yes, you’re gonna be out at Hops & Harmony, and we are so excited to have you in our neck of the woods. And you guys have been a big deal since the ‘80s, and you guys have some new music coming out.

Roe: We had an instrumental almost two years ago that introduced a couple brand new bandmates of ours, (including) a new drummer. We had two guys retire. Our drummer, Brian Prout, and our high harmony singer, mandolin picker, Gene Johnson, they got old and decided to retire. ... Rest of us weren’t ready to quit. So we got a young girl, 25-year-old Carson McKee, who plays a fiddle and and the mandolin, and she can sing as high as Gene. We couldn’t find a guy that could sing that high. Doing, doing great, actually, just having a great time. And yeah, we’re working. We’re doing over 80 shows a year.

Holland: Oh, wow.

Roe: Bringing it to I guess – How you say that? – Sublette, Illinois.

Holland: Yep, Sublette, Illinois, for Hops & Harmony. We’re excited to have you.

Roe: Yeah, it’s going to be fun.

Holland: Yeah, and over on your website – you’re diamondrio.com – your new single track, “The Kick,” I watched the music video earlier this morning. I mean, it looks like you guys are having a whole lot of fun in that music video.

Roe: Absolutely, we wrote that – Jimmy kind of and Carson kind of started with it, and the rest of us jumped in. Then Micah (Schweinsberg), who is a filmographer. ... That’s what he was doing, mainly, for a living, but he’s always been, he’s been our sub drummer, and he grew up, learned to play drums listening to Brian, and he’s just fantastic. But he shot the video, produced the video, edited it all just then. Of course, the instrumental was mainly to to showcase their playing ability along with ours, and introduce them into our sound. It was just lots of fun shooting that video and, and I think it did, it went a long way to kind of introduce them to who they are and how they’ve added to the personality of the band. And you’ll see more of that Saturday night.

Holland: And you guys, I mean, gosh, Diamond Rio, you’ve been awarded top vocal group honors a total of six times from the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association. I mean, you’ve sold more than 10 million records. You’ve earned five gold and three platinum albums in the process. I mean, what a feat that you guys have accomplished since the ‘80s, in the past 30 years. Just a big congratulations to your guys’ career. And I’m so excited that you guys are getting back in action.

Roe: 1991 was our first No. 1 record. That was “Meet in The Middle.” May have heard of it. And we’ve been, we were fortunate to have over 30 top 10 records, and we’ll try to get almost all those. It’s hard to do. It’s a good problem to have, but we try to squeeze in as many as possible in our show. And it’s amazing. Thanks to the internet, I guess, how many folks, young people, are still singing along to all of our songs, not just the biggest hits. Oh, it’s it’s a lot of fun. It’s high energy, and those young kids are kind of kicking us old guys in the butt. We have a lot of fun.

Holland: What can people expect from a Diamond Rio show? What can they look forward to this weekend?

Roe: Well, just what I said, you’re gonna hear a bunch of our hits. I hope that’s what you come for. We worked our butts off for 30 years to have that a big, long list of hits, and so, you know, we tried not doing all of them and put in a whole bunch of brand new stuff, and that just doesn’t work. People don’t want it. They want to hear the hits. That’s what they come for. And I understand that. I’ve gone to see some of my favorite acts, and they wouldn’t play all the songs I remembered, and I wasn’t real happy when it was over. So I learned from that, and that’s not really what we do. We try to get to as much of the history as possible.

Holland: Absolutely, I mean, I grew up listening to you guys and “Beautiful Mess” and “Meet in the Middle” are my two favorites of your guys’ hits. Do you have a favorite song that you like to perform?

Roe: Not really. I mean, I love them all. I mean, they’re kind of like your children, you like them for different reasons. Yeah, I mean, we wouldn’t have recorded them in the first place if we didn’t really like them. And so there’s a couple that are probably my least favorites, and they may not show up in the show. But other than that, I tend to like the ballads as a vocalist, you know, “One More Day” and song called “Mama Don’t Forget To Pray For Me,” which is on the first album. Those are things that I’m able to kind of croon, you know, on a little bit as a singer. I might lean towards those, but we’ve been fortunate to have a whole lot. So I like getting a chance to go out there and do what I love, and to be able to do it now. Well, I celebrate my 40th year in this band, some of it was starving, but most of it I was doing OK. But over 30 years of having hits on the radio, so –

Holland: Well, congratulations. We love your guys’ music. We love you guys. We’re excited to have you in our neck of the woods this weekend. And when you guys aren’t on stage and you’re not touring and you’re not traveling, what’s something that you guys like to do on your off time?

Roe: Go home.

Holland: To stay at home and get your mortgage’s worth right?

Roe: And get my golf in and visit with my grandchildren.

Holland: How many grandchildren do you have?

Roe: Three. Three girls.

Holland: Oh fun, fun. and I’m happy that you guys are going to be coming up to Sublette at Hops & Harmony. We’re excited to see you. And where can people go to get more information about Diamond Rio and new things you’ve got coming up?

Roe: Obviously, diamondrio.com will be the best place to go. Of course, we’re on all the other stuff, Facebook, Instagram, blah blah, blah.

Holland: Blah, blah blah. That’s where we like to go. Well, thank you so much, Marty, for taking the time to call us here on WALLS 102. So nice to chat with you. We’re excited to see you this weekend.

Roe: Yes, ma’am good to talk to you, Dani.

WALLS 102 is part of Shaw Local Radio. To listen live, go to walls102.com.