Since forming as a band a few years ago, members of Dirt Road Addiction have continued to see an increase in musical gigs. This year they are introducing their Missouri-wide DRA Summer Tour spanning 24 concerts from April 8 through Sept. 23.
Through their rise in popularity one constant remains the same — they are all still friends and plan to remain so.
Newcomer Michael Bowman, the drummer for the group, complements band members Clay Clear, age 17, lead guitar; Patrick “PB” Wilson, lead singer; Kevin Ditzfeld, rhythm guitar and vocals; Tommy Hulse, bass; and Mike Adams, rhythm guitar.
DRA is now No. 1 locally on the ReverbNation country charts and No. 14 in the Midwest.
“How they do it, is they base it on how many people have played our songs on our website versus how many fans we have,” Wilson said Tuesday. “How many people have liked our Twitter or our Facebook page.”
The group is not only pleased with their advancement on various social networks but also at the high number of shows they have scheduled for this season.
“It’s actually kind of funny,” Wilson said. “Two years ago we even made a summer tour shirt and we had six shows. I thought it was so cool that we had six shows and now we have 24. It’s kind of crazy.”
“One stretch is six or seven shows in nine days,” Adams added.
“In June we have every weekend and in July we have every weekend,” Clear said. “Basically from June 30 to Aug. 26 we’re booked almost two shows a week, and maybe more. Then in September we have five shows.”
Wilson noted that the band’s rise in popularity is due to hard work and word of mouth.
“Basically we came up with a plan to contact these places and see who wanted us,” Wilson added. “What ended up happening, is after two years of that, people ended up contacting us a lot, because we started to get known. We are playing a lot of shows this summer that are places we’ve never played, which is great.”
This year the band will play at the Northwest Missouri State Fair in Bethany, they will return to Busch Stadium in St. Louis and also play a new venue at Brewskeez Smokehouse & Music in O’Fallon. They will participate in the Florence 185th anniversary in September and travel to Milan to play at the Sullivan County Fair in July.
“The popular ones that we are doing are the Missouri State Fair, and the Backyard Bash, which is always a big thing for the Lion’s Club,” Wilson said. “We’re down at the Lake (of the Ozarks) a couple times for Bear Bottom Resort and 142 Bar & Q.”
The group has been learning a new song each week and have practice sessions each Tuesday evening.
“We are probably going to keep that pace up, a song and possibly more a week, just to keep new material going,” Clear noted.
“We’ve been working up some original stuff too,” Wilson said. “Hopefully here pretty soon we’ll have four or five really strong ones that we can hopefully get something out to the public. That would be stellar.”
“We’ve had one that’s played really well,” Clear added.
The song, “Stomp Your Feet,” is played at almost every show, Adams added.
The song was written by Wilson was arranged by Clear. The other band members also added their take on the piece. The men said different members look at all the original songs and work on them together.
“Then it takes on a life of its own,” Adams added. “Then, it becomes a certain song that’s played a certain way, and sounds a certain way, and that’s how it is.”
The men said they attribute their success due to their ability to work well together. They are all friends, Wilson noted.
“I’ve been in a few other bands and this is probably the only band where everybody actually likes each other and gets along,” Clear said.
“It’s been a huge staple for our success …” Wilson added.
The Dirt Road Addiction Tour will bring the band to Sedalia May 6 where they will have a show at 9 p.m. at Dickie Doo Bar-B-Que, 4860 S. Limit Ave. For more information and tour dates, visit www.facebook.com/dirtroadaddiction.
