Little Texas brings 30 years of touring experience to Cedar County Fair stage

HARTINGTON – People who have seen Little Texas perform in person know they are in for a highly visual and interactive show.

The band will bring its classic rock-influenced brand of country music to the 2022 Cedar County Fair’s grandstand main stage at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Little Texas’ performance will be part of the fair’s three-day concert series known as the CedarStock Music Fest, which will also include country music singers Walker Hayes and Dylan Scott.

“County fairs are the heart of America,” Little Texas member Duane Propes said. “They’re where neighbors see and visit with neighbors, where they might otherwise not see each other at all these days, outside of social media.

“They create a great setting for a concert, especially when folks can bring their families and share memories, perhaps of seeing Little Texas for the first time, and continue the circle,” he said. “That’s a great thing to see from the stage.”

Propes said they love performing at venues like the one in Hartington.

“We generally do a lot of fairs, festivals, special city events and the like during the summer and fall. All those things are a staple of any country or classic rock touring act.”

Propes mentioned what Little Texas’ performance at the Cedar County Fair may include.

“We have a lot of charted material that is still being played on country radio currently, so if we didn’t do those songs, we might not get paid,” he said. “But we have some surprises that we throw into the show that will make people realize where the true roots of Little Texas started.”

Propes noted the band was started and still is based in Nashville, “but with one foot in the red dirt of Texas and Oklahoma.”

He plays bass guitar and performs vocals for Little Texas. Porter Howell is the band’s lead singer and lead guitar, Dwayne O’Brien plays acoustic and electric guitars and performs vocals, and Del Gray is the drummer.

“All four of us are original members going back to 1988, and Porter and I played together in high school in 1983,” Propes said.

He noted the band is “perpetually on tour.”

“Even in the ‘90s when we were on arena tours, we didn’t stop just because the ‘tour’ ended,” Propes said. “We’ve always been what I call ‘blue collar workers with expensive guitars,’ so we just do what we do all year long.

“We really haven’t had a tour name for a while, although in 2021, with all the makeup dates from 2020, we called it the ‘Let’s Try This Again Tour,’” he said.

He encouraged people who have seen Little Texas perform before to share the band’s music with their children.

“Start blasting the songs at your kids now so they can have the same feeling you had at your first show, and share those memories with them afterward,” Propes said. “They might not understand at the moment, but come showtime they’ll really come to life.”

For more about Little Texas, people may visit www.LittleTexasOnline.com, which includes links to the band’s Facebook and Instagram.