A Little Bit Country: Texas natives, Casey Donahew and the Casey Donahew Band, perform on SPI

By ESTEVAN MEDRANO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
press@portisabelsouthpadre.com

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

Casey Donahew, of the Casey Donahew band, ignited South Padre Island alongside the Randy Rogers Band on March 17 and was willing to open up a bit about his life and future music endeavors in an exclusive interview with the Parade. Performing in the Lone Star State of course holds special significance to the Burleson, Texas born country singer.

“You know it’s home,” says Donahew. “We love Texas, we sing about Texas and do a lot of songs about Texas. You know this is where it all started for us. And this is the most important place for us for sure,” he said. “I enjoy crowd interaction at a live show and being on stage. It’s definitely my favorite part of what we do.”

Despite the pressures of playing in front of a home crowd, there are no nerves to be found for these seasoned performers.

“Nerves? Nah man, I think we’re past nerves. We’re old school veterans now. You know we just look forward to really big shows like this and getting to do something with Randy Rogers and his band is always a good time to see those guys and I always enjoy their shows as well,” he said.

The band has never been afraid to voice their opinions through their music, either. Their latest studio album “Standoff,” which dropped in 2013 and debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes County Chart, got its name based on the group’s adamant belief in the Second Amendment. “We just wanted to be a band that stood up and said ‘hey, we believe in the Second Amendment’ and we’re gun owners and gun advocates and we wanted to let people know it’s OK to believe that.” He went on to say that, “We’re really happy with the way the record turned out. I always feel like I’m rushing to put stuff together, you know I’m a producer of all of our records so far so and usually you just try to stay in there and hammer it out until it sounds like I thought it would in my head. That’s usually how we roll.”

There were certainly those who came to see the Texas sensation at Clayton’s who are still hoping to find similar success their own music, and Donahew advises anyone hoping to break into the industry to endure the bumpy ride with the momentum gained by having a deep passion for music. “You know it’s that you’ve got to love music. It’s a big part of it. You’ve got to enjoy it. Get out there and play is the most important thing I can tell young guys — to get in front of fans,” he said. He went on to describe how connecting with the audience is increasingly important in today’s ever-evolving music industry. “With what’s changing in the music industry it’s more important than ever to make sure you work on your live show and entertain people and build up the fan base.”

Donahew also spoke of fellow musicians he admired, including Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty and John Mayer, for their phenomenal creativity and work ethic as artists.

Casey Donahew Band fans will be happy to know the group is living up to their reputation of being one of the hardest working bands in the business, already working on a new project. “Yeah, we’ve been in the studio and we got about half of it done and we’re still working on some new songs and I’m hoping to put out something that we’re working on in the summer… I’m always trying to grow and trying to get better at what I do. I don’t try to change or go in a different direction with what we do. I can only do Casey Donahew songs and I’m always getting better at it.”

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