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2007 Best Country Music Performer 39.41% Renegade *
Others with Votes (more than one):
* On the ballot |
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For Renegade, winning a Whammy isn’t nearly as hard as getting their mail. Formed in 1997 as Renegade, the band has also been known as John Curran and Renegade, Dakota Sunrise and, again, Renegade. (If “Renegade” fails to do the trick again, which is unlikely, I suggest Billy Ray Cyrus Vance Hartke.) Now that they’re back playing and recording under the name Renegade, everyone is happy. Especially the guys in Renegade, who lassoed their sixth Whammy at the big event last week. “I’m pretty excited about it,” Curran said. “I was not expecting it. It’s really cool. We’re shocked we won it.” Renegade opened the main stage at the ceremony and gave a little example of why people find them so likeable. Curran wandered the floor and interacted with the crowd while the rest of the band twanged and twisted through a number of country favorites. Their down-home feel came off as natural as a cowboy on a horse. But in reality, things haven’t been quite that easy for Renegade. Curran and company called it quits last year following a farewell show at the Rock-N-Horse. The fun had gone out of playing, Curran said. “Everybody was broken up about it,” he said. “I took six months off. I was going to retire. Jack (Martinez, who plays lead guitar and sings) started playing with Amarillo (also a Best Country Music Performer nominee), then he and one of my old drummers got together.” Then one day bassist John Mazza was at a local music store and bumped into a guy picking on a guitar, and doing a damn good job at it. The guy, Doug Gushing, had recently moved from the Dakotas where he was in the military. Though he had never played in a band before, not counting the ill-fated rock group he did two shows with before that gig imploded, once Mazza heard him play, a new band seemed inevitable. In this case the new band was the old band, just retooled. “They called me up,” Curran said. “I thought about it for two weeks and told them if we were going to do it we should do it right.” With Scott Byler on drums and Gushing taking some of the chores Curran had, the new Renegade hit the Rock-N-Horse stage about a month ago, boasting a new set list and a renewed attitude. “They told us we set a record for people at a show,” Curran said. The band is working on a new CD, drawing from about 200 originals between Martinez, Gushing and Curran. And Renegade fans (Curran said no one much cared for the Dakota Sunrise moniker) are kicking up their boots at the prospect of seeing their favorite country band back on the wheel. “They put a fire under us,” Curran said.(Mark Hunter) |
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