(Photo : HitShop Records/Warner Music Nashville)
Natalie Stovall and The Drive EP
When Natalie Stovall was only four years old, her grandma saw an ad in their local Tennessee paper for a violin teacher who was accepting students. Six years later, she was playing professionally, and at the ripe old age of 12, the talented girl made her Grand Ole Opry debut. Many shows and many musicians later, fast forwarding to 2006 finds Natalie teamed up with James Bavendam, a drummer from Seattle, Miguel Cancino, a guitarist from Chile, Zach Morse, a bassist/singer from Cheyenne, Wyoming and Joel Dormer, a guitarist and vocalist from Redding, California. The group toured together and, as Natalie says, "kept playing, kept working and refining our live show until we felt we were getting it right." As they became more family and less "Natalie and her backup band," she said that she realized it was no longer just about her as a musician. "It came to a point where it didn’t matter that the posters at the venues just had my name – we had become a band," she explained. "And I felt that since we walk like a band, and talk like a band and play like a band…well, then let’s just call it what it is. That’s when The Drive was born."
For the next few years, The Drive performed over 200 shows a year. In 2012, they were named Entertainers of the Year by Campus Activities Magazine. Last year, on a chilly January night in Nashville, things amped up to the next level for the band. Natalie Stovall and The Drive kicked off their 2013 tour and, unbeknownst to them, HitShop Records president Skip Bishop was in the audience. "I knew immediately that I was in the presence of something great, explained Skip. "Natalie and her band are the personification of heart pounding performances, remarkable musicianship, dynamic material and purely joyful American-made music entertainment." The record label exec offered the band an exclusive recording contract.
They signed (of course), and were put in the studio with producer Paul Worley, whose work with the likes of country icons Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum, Big and Rich, and The Band Perry have earned him five Grammy Awards. After hearing them play, Worley was just as blown away as Bishop had been, He said, "Natalie Stovall and The Drive are a game changer in the same way that Lady Antebellum were when I first saw them. They have it all. The talent, the songs, the look, the entertainment chops- and a live show that will blow you away, and Natalie is one of the best singers I have ever worked with,"
To give the national audience a taste of what was to come, an EP was released in October. The six-track Natalie Stovall and The Drive EP is getting attention all over the place. Their full-length debut will follow later this year. The single, "Baby Come On With It," comes from the EP. It released to SiriusXM The Highway in mid-January and will be hitting country radio in February. The music video for the tune launched on CMT last week.
You can catch Natalie Stovall and The Drive on tour between now and the end of April. It's a show you don't want to miss because this is one of those bands to watch for 2014!
Natalie Stovall and The Drive Concert Dates:
February 2 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
February 7 - Augusta, GA - Country Club Dance Hall
February 8 - Macon, GA - The Crazy Bull
February 15 - Columbus, GA - Outlaw Saloon
February 26 - Tampa, FL - University of Tampa
February 28 - Daytona Beach, FL - Embry Riddle University
March 8 - 11 - Panama City Beach, FL - Spring Break!
March 22 - 25 - Panama City Beach, FL - Spinnaker Beach Club
April 9 - Savannah, GA - Armstrong Atlantic State University
April 10 - Dahlonega, GA - University of North Georgia
April 11 - Charlotte, NC - University of North Carolina
April 12 - Young Harris, GA - Young Harris College
April 17 - Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Casino
April 23 - Fayetteville, NC - Methodist University
