Rio Grand and Kyle Park to Play at Wild Bill's

HARLINGEN - Danny Rivera looks forward to performing tonight at Wild Bill's Saloon and Honky Tonk.

"It's going to be great," said the 32-year-old McAllen native and lead singer of Rio Grand, which will perform at the venue along with Kyle Park.

"I haven't been home in a while," Rivera said. "It's really good to get back home and see family and friends, and get back to Mom's home cooking."

Rio Grand has played in the Valley several times in the past, including a gig at Hillbilly's in McAllen and a benefit concert for Easter Seals Rio Grande Valley. The group has never played at Wild Bill's, but the musicians are looking forward to another performance in the Valley.

"Every time we play in the Valley, the crowd comes unglued," said Fred Stallcup, lead guitarist for Rio Grand. "We just have the greatest time."

Park, who will also perform Saturday at the same venue along with Arnold and the Junction Band, remembers very well the last time he performed at Wild Bill's, about 1½ years ago.

"That place was packed!" he said of the night he played with Kevin Fowler.

The 23-year-old San Marcos resident just cut the new album Anywhere in Texas and looks forward to performing numbers from that collection.

"I hope to play every song," Park said. "Right now our single ‘Tossin' and Turnin" is on the radio."

The lyrics for the title track "Anywhere in Texas" were inspired by the band's experience touring Europe last year.

"We wanted to be back in Texas, anywhere," he recalled. "I don't need to be home, just anywhere in Texas."

Park said the three-year-old band only spent a week in Europe, "kind of getting the feel of what it was like," he said. For the foreseeable future, he and the four-piece band just want to expand their audience base throughout Texas and then onto Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, and beyond. "I mean to the highest mountains," he said.

Meanwhile, Rio Grand has played for about seven years and just signed on with Curb Records. The song "Nothing To Go On," written by the band Detox, helped seal the deal, Stallcup said. The song is about to be released as a single.

"I don't know exactly the release date," he said. "It should be really soon. It's from a different perspective, a guy's perspective," Stallcup said. "All of his friends know his girlfriend is being unfaithful. He doesn't want to believe it. He doesn't think he's got enough evidence to warrant a breakup. He says he has nothing to go on. To me, it's the best song we've recorded to date."

Rivera agreed.

"We have cut a bunch of songs," he said. "People say, ‘I really like ‘Nothing To Go On.' It just makes sense to release it as a single. People, they gravitate toward that song."

 Travis Whitehead is a regional features writer for Valley Freedom Newspapers based at The Brownsville Herald.