ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
iHeartRadio’s annual Wango Tango concert will be coming up in just a couple weeks, and an area band has the chance to be part of the festivities.
Joey Dean and the Dry River Band are currently participating in the Next Music Star contest, and one artist or group will be flown to Hollywood to open for music superstars Doja Cat, Gwen Stefani, David Guetta, Katseye and more at the upcoming concert and win $10,000.
“It's amusing we've entered this contest, because we haven't done that great in competitions like this in the past – I've been doing music since around 2010, and there are a few other online competitions I've entered that ultimately didn't work out, so I've more or less ignored these opportunities the past several years,” Dean said. “But then I got an email about this competition and saw many, many ads for it on Facebook, and I got annoyed to the point where I ultimately said 'Let's just see what happens.' So I told the guys what was going on, and then we did some promotion of it. I expected us to only get through the first couple rounds of the competition and then get kicked out, but we've ranked pretty steadily high since the start, and we've made it to this point. The competition started in March, and the top five will be announced at the end of this week, so we're waiting to see what happens. We keep laughing to ourselves because this is a big concert featuring some pretty major artists, and we're just a group from Southwest Kansas and don't really have the look one would expect for a show like this.”
As of April 16, the group is sitting in 6th place, and Dean said he and his bandmates are thrilled to have made it so far in the competition, and encouraged people to keep voting. People can cast their vote HERE
“We're really ecstatic, and this has been the dominant topic in our group chats. We've had so many people contacting us and telling us they voted from places like Texas and North Carolina, even as far away as Australia, so somehow, we've got a following going on,” Dean said. “We've also had some people tell us they took the option to purchase votes on the contest Web site, which we're not requiring, but it's still great to hear because we've really just encouraged people to do the free voting option. It's been kind of surreal because again, we didn't expect to make it this far and get this total outpouring of support. Help us make a dream come true. We want to get our music out to as many people as possible, and what better way to do that than to perform at this huge concert all the way out in California in front of thousands of people? We've kind of been joking about how we'd be almost crashing the party as 'country bumpkins' compared to the headliners and other big names there, but I think it would be absolutely wonderful if we end up winning.”
Overall, Dean said, there would be a lot of excitement for the group should they end up winning the contest.
“Initially, there will be some ecstasy probably followed by some light panic,” Dean said with a laugh. “The winner will be announced May 2 or 3, and then May 10 is the actual show, so if we win, we'll have a very quick turnaround in terms of getting travel plans together and our set list and everything else. We're doing some preparation for it and we're working on some of the songs we'd play at the show if we end up winning, things like that, but as far as everything else, it's a bit of a waiting game because we have to see how we do. This opportunity is just absolutely wild for us.”
The band got its start in 2020, but Dean said his interest in music started before that.
“I've been a musician since around 2010 and I put out an acoustic album in 2011 or 2012. I previously lived in Virginia and played in bars there, and when I came to Kansas, I played at some bars in Wichita and did my own thing for a while,” Dean said. “After a while, I decided I wanted a backing band to work with, so I talked with my wife, and she wanted me to do more with my music than what was happening at that time, because I'd taken some time off after my son was born, and she knew I wanted the same thing. I rather happened into some luck, I had a couple friends who were also musicians and played drums and guitar, and then later on, I happened into meeting my bandmate, Rob. At that time, he was the general manager of a restaurant and brewery in Garden City, and he said 'Why don't you come in and we'll have a private meeting?' We all sat there and talked, and by the end of the conversation, we discovered Rob played bass, so we talked him into also joining the band. We've gone through a few different drummers and guitarists due to moves and other circumstances and there was one point in time when I was the general manager of a handful of radio stations in Garden City, and one of my sales guys one day told me he happened to be a drummer, so he's also been with me for a while. At that time, my drummer had just quit and he said 'I'll come and play with you, though I'm not much of a country musician,' since he was more into jazz and blues. But he ended up really enjoying playing with us and our music, and I refer to him as the 'old man' of the group.”
The group’s love of music has kept it going, and Dean said currently, there are no plans to slow down too much.
“All three of us love music, and we're all constantly sending each other lyrics and song ideas, and we've all introduced different musical artists and genres to each other since we've come together, and it's great. We all love playing music, and we have a lot of fun together, and that shows onstage,” Dean said. “We enjoy the traveling and getting feedback from the audiences, that's always a blast especially if we get asked back to a venue. Right now, we're focusing on playing shows, but we have started some preliminary work on our next album. I wrote the entire first album and I've already got some songs written I would like to include on our next album, one of which has already debuted on our social media. We've got some shows throughout Kansas coming up, and then we're taking the summer off because not only do I have to have back surgery, but I'm also going to be commentating Garden City baseball games in June and July. Then we've got shows when we come back in the fall, and then at the end of the year, we should have stuff recorded.”
Overall, Dean said, he is happy with the group’s trajectory right now.
“If people can just keep voting, that would be great, we're really excited to see how this competition ends up going for us,” Dean said. “And anyone living in Southwest Kansas or the Oklahoma Panhandle who think something like this isn't possible, it definitely is, and good things can and do happen. We're absolutely floored by the response we've gotten so far, and I'm excited to see how we do.”
