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Diamond Rio is staying with time-tested sound
By John Benson
It was more than a quarter of a century ago when Diamond Rio emerged, bridging the gap between classical country and the modern sounds coming out of the Music City.
Over the years, the sextet – Gene Johnson (mandolin, vocals), Jimmy Olander (guitar, banjo), Brian Prout (drums), Marty Roe (vocals), Dan Truman (keyboards) and Dana Williams (bass, vocals) – released 22 top-10 singles, including “How Your Love Makes Me Feel,” “One More Day,” “Beautiful Mess,” “Unbelievable” and “In a Week or Two.”
Further, the Grammy Award-winning outfit sold more than 10 million albums, the latest of which is its 10th studio effort, “I Made It.” While the group is currently on its own headlining tour, it booked a one-off gig with Tracy Lawrence on Sunday at Stambaugh Auditorium.
The Vindicator talked to Johnson about the band’s latest effort and the Diamond Rio legacy.
Q. First of all, when it came time to record “I Made It,” was the band looking for a different sound?
A. It seems like with every album we’ve ever done, stylistically we’ve tried to make it different than all of the other ones. And it seems like no matter what we do, it still comes out sounding like Diamond Rio. We don’t understand it. It’s hard to get away from the pickers and singers that we are. I think no matter what we do, it’s not going to come out stylistically too much different.
Q. Since the turn of the century, Diamond Rio has taken its time recording. At this point in the group’s career, is it important to release new material?
A. We’ve done some other projects in between. We’ve recorded a Christian album, and just released a little over a year ago was a live album. So we had other projects in there, but part of it is, we’re just great at procrastinating [laughs]. We can put things off with the best of them. Finally, we just decided we needed to get after it and have something new, especially in the straight-ahead country vein. We hadn’t done that country album in quite a while. It was overdue.
Q. Diamond Rio’s upcoming Youngstown show includes Tracy Lawrence. Have you shared the stage with him before?
A. Years ago we did, but we haven’t done anything with Tracy in years. He’s of the same ilk, the same time period, so it kind of brings back some memories. We both definitely sound different than the modern country that’s on the radio right now. I think it’s good for the people who missed that kind of county.
Q. Speaking of that kind of country, what’s the legacy of Diamond Rio?
A. We’ve always tried to stay positive in our music. We never did the drinking, carousing songs. We always tried to have a positive influence come out in our songs. That started way back when with “Mama Don’t Forget to Pray For Me.” We kind of made a plan at that time to always keep our music on the positive side. So, hopefully, when people hear it now, they’ll remember those things. I know a lot of songs have touched them.