Hot Apple Pie at TPAC

There are many performances in Nashville of course, but for the most part those are prior to artists/bands obtaining big record label deals. Very rarely do those acts perform at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. I recall nine years ago seeing ZZ Top in this same theater. (TPAC has two different theaters within the building.) Oddly enough, the band performing there this night has opened for the legendary rock band. Honestly, I wondered how exactly that happened. After all, the opening act for ZZ Top was Reverend Horton Heat and this band certainly didn't conjure up that image.

There is an interesting mix that makes up this new country band that's burning up the airwaves of television and radio.
Brady Seals was instrumental in the only number one hit for group, Little Texas, and has since put out three solo albums garnering six charting singles.
Mark "Sparky" Matejka majored in Jazz in college and was most recently a member of The Charlie Daniels Band.
Keith Horne was an eight-year flat-picking champion playing bluegrass in Virginia and played Jazz for the BET network.
Trey Landry's experience comes from the Bayou playing in bars, clubs and festivals throughout the Louisiana area even including a tenure with the legendary Percy Sledge.
Matejka, Horne and Landry each moved to Nashville and began playing with various country artists. Matejka and Landry each worked for Seals during his tenure as a solo artist.

As the TPAC stage darkened, lights began to flash and a pre-recorded voice announced the arrival of Hot Apple Pie. Opening the show with the new single "We're Makin' Up," the Hot Apple Pie boys made sure that you realized very quickly that this was a high energy show.

Each member seems to compliment the other and each is given spotlight time. Majetka borrowed from his former "bandmate" Charlie Daniels to take lead on "Long-Haired Country Boy." Majetka was then called on to fill-in for Willie Nelson who recorded the duet "Slowin' Down The Fall" on the Hot Apple Pie project.

It was Horne who first got the crowd dancing in the aisles though with his rendition of the hit "Shaky Ground" which has been recorded by performers from the Temptations to T. Graham Brown. Seals was able to do the same when they performed their own version of the classic "What I Like About You" interjected with a little bit of "My Sherona" during an instrumental break.

Teasing several times through the night with the line "Hey Hillbillies!, " the teasing was finally over and the boys performed the single that helped propel their CD to the number six slot on the Billboard charts. As they left the stage, the audience was still calling for more. It probably seemed longer than it really was before the band returned to the stage for an encore performance trading lead vocals on "The Weight."

Check out the band website and watch for them to come to a city near you. It will be well worth your trip. Even when the band is on the other side of the US, you can still follow what's going on through Seals' self-written journals also available on the site. Downloads of special editions of the bands music is available now!

Set List We're Makin' Up*
The Good Life*
I Should've Seen Her Leavin' Comin'*
Long-Haired Country Boy - (Charlie Daniels Band) - lead vocals: Mark "Sparky" Matejka
Slowin' Down The Fall*
Redneck Revolution*
Why Can't I Get To You*
Shaky Ground - (Delbert McClinton) - lead vocals: Keith Horne Easy Does It*
What I Like About You - (The Romantics)
The Shape I'm In*
Hillbillies*
The Weight - (The Band)

****Songs recorded by Hot Apple Pie on their self-titled debut are marked by an asterisk *.
Songs made popular by other artists' are named in parenthesis.

Article Written & Submitted by Michelle Durham