Wade Bowen brings Texas sound to town: My Article for The Crimson White

Wade Bowen brings Texas sound to town

IN CULTURE, MUSIC / BY KINSEY HAYNES / ON FEBRUARY 20, 2014 AT 12:00 AM 

The country music sub-genre Red Dirt is an important element of the Texas music scene. Early pioneers include Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Bob Childers. Recently, bands like Cross Canadian Ragweed, No Justice and The Randy Rogers Band have started refining this style to sound more distinctive.

Wade Bowen, a native of Waco, Texas, is one of the artists helping to keep the Red Dirt scene prosperous.

His upcoming tour, Four On The Floor, will stop in Tuscaloosa on Thursday night at The Jupiter Bar. It will also include Randy Rogers, Josh Abbott and Stoney Larue, other prominent members of the Red Dirt genre.

“Randy and I have been friends for years,” Bowen said. “I’m anxious to see everybody’s shows. It’s going to be a lot of camaraderie. This is something that has never been done before with four major acts from this region, getting together and doing a show. It should be a lot of fun.”

One aspect of this tour Bowen said he is most excited about is crowd response. He has been to Tuscaloosa fewer than five times and is looking forward to exploring new territory.

“We’ve been trying really hard the last two years just to get out of our region, and it’s worked really well,” Bowen said. “It’s friendly competition. We all try to support each other, and we all know that if one of us succeeds, we all succeed.”

This isn’t the first time the musicians have played The Jupiter Bar. Jeremiah Jones, owner of The Jupiter Bar, has booked each artist for individual shows in the past.

“It made sense to do a package show like this,” said Jones, who expects a large crowd Thursday night.

Bowen said the diverse styles that separate the Red Dirt scene will be apparent with all four acts that are performing. Red Dirt is just Texas, Bowen said.

“It’s always meant home, life on the road and to live my dream and follow it out,” Bowen said. “When I first started, I thought I had to move to Nashville to make a living. After starting a band, I found out I didn’t have to do that. To me, Texas music is life. It’s country. It’s rock. It’s no boundaries – anything you want to play, sing about. It’s complete and total freedom.”

The Four on the Floor Tour starts at 7 p.m. at The Jupiter Bar. Tickets are $18

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