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Diamond Rio is an American country and southern Gospel music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. After undergoing several membership changes in its initial years, the band has consisted of the same six members since 1989: Gene Johnson (mandolin, guitar, fiddle, tenor vocals), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, Dobro, banjo), Brian Prout (drums), Marty Roe (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Dan Truman (keyboards, organ, synthesizer), and Dana Williams (bass guitar, baritone vocals). Among the group's previous members is Ty Herndon, who became a solo country artist in the mid-1990s. After assuming the name Diamond Rio, the band was signed to Arista Nashville and debuted in 1991 with the single "Meet in the Middle", which made them the first band ever to send a debut single to No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts. "Meet in the Middle" was followed by 32 more charting singles throughout the band's career, including four more that reached No. 1: "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" (1997), "One More Day" (2001), "Beautiful Mess" (2002), and "I Believe" (2003). Diamond Rio has recorded nine studio albums, four Greatest Hits compilations, and an album of Christmas music. Three of the band's albums have achieved RIAA platinum certification in the United States. In addition, Diamond Rio has received four Group of the Year awards from the Country Music Association, two Top Vocal Group awards from the Academy of Country Music, and thirteen Grammy Award nominations. The band is known for the near-exclusive use of only its own membership on recordings, as opposed to using session musicians; their sound was originally defined by mainstream country, bluegrass, and rock influences, but later albums drew more influence from Christian country music and country pop. ==Beginnings== In 1982, Matt Davenport and Danny Gregg founded a band at Opryland USA, a former country music-based amusement park in Nashville, Tennessee. The band was first named the Grizzly River Boys, after a new river rafting ride at the park, but quickly changed names to the Tennessee River Boys due to its members disliking the original name. Originally intended to promote the park through a one-time television special, the band proved popular enough that it became one of many regular performers there. Davenport, Gregg, and Ty Herndon alternated as lead vocalists, with Davenport also playing bass guitar and Gregg on rhythm guitar; other original members included Larry Beard (lead guitar, fiddle, banjo), Mel Deal (steel guitar), Al DeLeonibus (piano), and Ed Mummert (drums). The group "swapped lead voices, told jokes, and balanced old-school country concert shtick with a contemporary sound." Herndon left the group in 1983 to compete on the talent show ''Star Search'', and became a solo artist for Epic Records between 1995 and the early 2000s. Herndon was temporarily replaced by Anthony Crawford and then Virgil True before his role was taken over by Marty Roe, who had originally toured nationally with the Christian band Windsong,〔 and worked in the park by doing impersonations of Larry Gatlin. Following Herndon's departure, DeLonibus and Mummert quit as well, with Dan Truman (who had previously played in Brigham Young University's Young Ambassadors〔) and Jimmy "J. J." Whiteside taking their places. Beard quit shortly afterward and ultimately became a session musician, and former Mel McDaniel sideman Jimmy Olander took his place. The band, through the assistance of Bill Anderson's drummer Len "Snuffy" Miller, submitted demos to various Nashville record labels with no success. By 1985, the Tennessee River Boys had quit working at Opryland; according to Roe, "Music Row completely discredited what we did out there because it was a bunch of kids and 'they're not real musicians. They're not real artists.'" For the next few years, they played at small venues such as high school auditoriums, and usually worked no more than four concerts a month. They also competed on ''Star Search'', but were eliminated in the first round. Frustrated by the sporadic touring schedules, Whiteside quit the group and was replaced by Brian Prout, who previously performed in Hot Walker Band and Heartbreak Mountain.〔〔 Around 1986, Deal and Gregg both left the group, the latter due to health complications from a serious illness he had developed as a teenager. They initially chose to operate as a quintet, with Davenport as the sole lead vocalist and Roe and Prout singing harmony; when this arrangement proved unsuccessful, they found mandolist Gene Johnson, a former member of the bluegrass group Eddie Adcock's IInd Generation, which Olander was a fan of as a child. Johnson debuted at a concert in Clewiston, Florida in May 1987. Also at this point, the band members supplemented their incomes with outside jobs: Johnson continued to work in carpentry, as he had done before joining the band, while Olander and Roe mowed lawns, and Prout drove tour buses. In 1988, the band caught the attention of Keith Stegall, a singer-songwriter who would later become known primarily for his work as Alan Jackson's record producer. Stegall produced demos for the Tennessee River Boys, but noted that Davenport could not record the lead vocal and bass parts at the same time, as they would be difficult to separate in the control room. As a result, Stegall had Roe sing a "scratch" vocal track live with the other musicians, which would then be replaced by Davenport's voice in post-production. Upon hearing Roe sing the "scratch" track, Stegall successfully convinced the other members that Roe should be the lead vocalist instead. Due to his discomfort outside the lead role and his wife's dissatisfaction with his career, Davenport quit in late 1988. The group quickly had to find a replacement, as they were scheduled to appear on the talk show ''Nashville Now'' on January 23, 1989; Alan LaBeouf, who had just left Baillie & the Boys, expressed interest in replacing Davenport, but ultimately declined due to other commitments. They finally chose Dana Williams, a nephew of the bluegrass group Osborne Brothers and former sideman for Jimmy C. Newman, who had been a fan of the Tennessee River Boys since Herndon was a member. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Diamond Rio」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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