Published: September 06, 2008 06:20 pm            

Perfect Strangers coming to Jacksonville

From staff reports

Perfect Stranger is no stranger to the county music scene.

The band will be part of the Music in the Mud Festival on Sept. 13 at Mud Creek Off-Road Park in Jacksonville.

Perfect Stranger formed in Carthage in 1986. Led by bassist Shayne Morrison and guitarist Richard Raines, the band also included vocalist Steve Murray and drummer Andy Ginn. The band’s formative years were spent fighting for fans at dive bars, honky tonks, and rodeos across Texas.

But by 1992, the band had established themselves enough to enter a Nashville recording studio. Their debut LP, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, was released in December 1994, and soon its Vince Gill-penned single, “Ridin’ the Rodeo,” was the number one independent country song in America.

The album’s title track became Perfect Stranger’s second single. It hit the airwaves in the spring of 1995 and garnered widespread airplay both on radio and CMT. The exposure didn’t go unnoticed by the major labels, and soon Nashville powerhouse Curb came calling.

The label signed Stranger within a week and immediately picked up distribution rights for Right from the indie Pacific. Curb re-released the album with additional tracks, and it spent an additional 26 weeks on the country charts.

In 1998, Marty Arbter replaced original drummer Ginn, and the band continued to tour as they readied their follow-up release. The Hits appeared in summer 2001; it included another version of the band’s biggest hit, “You Have the Right to Remain Silent.”

The year 2002 found the band readying another album and continuing to tour the honky tonks and rodeos where they first found their fans.

Catch Perfect Stranger on Sept. 13, during the first-ever Music in the Mud Festival, Sept. 12-14, at Mud Creek Off-Road Park in Jacksonville.

Other performers scheduled to perform include the Eli Young Band, Lauren Alexander, Derek Sholl, Nearly There, Rich O’Toole, Backseat Molly, No Justice and Tyrone & Wilbur.

Admission is $45, which includes entry to the park for one person, one ATV and one other vehicle. Call the off-road park, 903-586-6972, to make reservations or to get directions to the park.

This article was written by Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide and published on www.cmt.com.

        

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