Coming off performing 10 nights at the Minnesota State Fair, one may think Greene and Hurst (JD Greene and Todd Hurst) would kick back a bit and take some time off. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth as the band continues with a full show schedule heading into the last few months of 2012, including kicking things off on the main stage at Ramble Jam 2012 Sept. 15.
“The experience was kind of overwhelming, but it was fun,” Hurst said of the band’s 10 dates at the Fair. He said, for the last several years, there had been karaoke in the area they performed in, and that the neighboring food vendors wanted to get a live band back in the area.
“Working with our band was great because it was basically 10 days of playing, but 10 days of practice,” Hurst said. “We had a great time.”
After several of the featured country performances at the state fair grandstand like Blake Shelton and Rascal Flatts, country-loving crowds flocked to see Greene and Hurst to close down their night. And Greene and Hurst wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I think our main goal is to be the cover party band,” Greene said. “We know we party, and we want you to party, as well. It’s all about everybody else. It’s about having fun on stage and getting everybody involved in it.”
Greene said the band has worked on some original music with friends like fellow Ramble Jam artists Lee Brice and Josh Thompson. He said Hurst is also an exceptional songwriter, as is the band’s guitar player Josh Persian.
“That’s the future,” Greene said. “But, right now, I think our sights are on just taking over and having some fun with everybody in town.”
Like JD said, “we like to have fun, and so we just go out and just do it,” Hurst said. This was evident when the band passed around a bottle of Jack Daniels on the stage at Ramble Jam. Even Thompson came on stage for a quick shot with the band.
“Finding who you are is the whole thing,” Greene said. “It’s our hobby. We’re lucky to have day jobs and get together to open for these guys.
” Greene said that, after the Greene and Hurst performance at Ramble Jam that featured a few original songs, that Thompson hopefully would be interested in writing with them.”
“To be honest with you, it’s been so busy we haven’t had a chance to sit down and do this,” Greene said, but noted there are constant text messages with song ideas being bounced back and forth.
“I think once winter hits, we’ll have time to go, ‘OK, let’s collect all these ideas and we’ll figure something out,’” Greene said.
Hurst said, location-wise, the band members are far apart, which makes it difficult to meet up for songwriting sessions.
Persian and Greene are in the Buffalo and St. Michael area, Hurst lives in St. Louis Park, and other band members live in the St. Paul area.
“A lot of times, somebody will come across with an idea, and shoot it out to everybody,” Hurst said. “I might sit at home and work on something of my own. Josh sits at home and works on something of his own, and then we kind of bring it together, and then we see if it clicks or we like one person’s idea better.”
Hurst said Persian is also a solo performer who writes a lot of music on his own.
“If our originals build into something where we can put an album out, I think it’s all about the cards falling into the right place,” Hurst said. “For now, we just have a blast just going on stage and playing songs people know and hear on the radio.”
Greene said the state fair dates narrowed the vision of what direction the band is going. “It’s just a fun band,” Greene said, adding that one of the highlights is when people recognize the drumming talent or guitar picking along with Greene and Hurst. “It’s nice that they fit with everything,” Greene said. “We got lucky and found young guys that have fun.”
Greene said, with any band, there is always a band leader, and said in Greene and Hurst, there are two of them – Greene and Hurst. “When it comes down to it, we’re only as good as they are,” he said of their band. “If they didn’t kick ass, we wouldn’t sound good at all.” He said the band is continually evolving and will continue to do so.
Hurst said, several months after the band formed, the band was writing a lot. However, band member changes and booking more dates, along with day jobs, have kept them plenty busy.
“You gotta crawl before you walk,” Greene said. Greene hails from Bloomingdale, Ohio, and said he’s been doing radio since he was 17 years old. He has been an on-air DJ for K102 for four years, and presently can be heard from 3-7 p.m. weekdays.
Greene started out in pop radio, which he said he hated because he’s always been a country boy. However, he got into pop because his voice sounded “too young” for country, and he joked that it still does. “But that’s why K102 is better than any other station in the country, because we do stay young and we know that it ain’t about being old – it’s about being hip and cool. Country music’s hip and cool nowadays. “I got lucky enough to get hired here in Minnesota by a program director Gregg Swedberg, the OM, that knew that it’s about being today and current. He didn’t go and hire some old guy, he went and hired young people.
“Moving here was kind of a gamble, but it was the best gamble,” Greene added. “We built the house I’ll never leave. We’re here forever.”
Hurst hails from Indiana, and said he lived there for 25 years. He grew up listening to everything from The Beach Boys, Bob Seger, Tom Petty, Ritchie Valens, and Buddy Holly. He admitted he never really got into the country scene until junior high when he heard George Strait, Vince Gill, and the other stars of the early-90s country movement.
“During my summer break, I would watch TNN for like the first six hours of my morning, and I would record music videos,” Hurst said. “I kind of fell in love with country there. It opened up my horizons.”
In college, Hurst got into guitar playing. He met his wife when he had just finished college while they were working at a restaurant together. She was from Minnesota, so Hurst packed up and headed to the North Country.
Greene and Hurst’s wives went to college together, which led to a meeting between the two at a K102 Finally Friday event at the Bar Abilene in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. During that initial conversation, Greene threw out the idea of starting a band, and it went from there. With both their backgrounds, plus being in Minnesota, the idea was a no-brainer to the two musicians.
“If you get outside the 494 circle, it is country,” Greene said. “Everybody was raised in the country out here. Once you get outside the circle, it turns into farm fields. It’s people that have been living country all their lives.
The music speaks to them. “Country music has been around telling stories forever, and I think those kids all grew up on a farm or going to a bon fire at night, drinking beer, listening to Travis Tritt and listening to Garth back then.”
“The songs are the stories of their lives,” Hurst added. “It’s not about city life. It’s about stepping outside of the city.”
Since forming the band, some highlights have included Ramble Jam, opening for Kip Moore at the Cabooze July 19, and also opening for Frankie Ballard. The band’s first show was at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill in St. Louis Park.
Hurst said the Kip Moore show was one of his favorites because it is where they played the original song “Nineteen” for the first time. Every show, he said he enjoys seeing the crowd reaction to their music and hearing nice words from them following the show. “It tells you that the hard work paid off,” Hurst said.
Upcoming dates the band is looking forward to include playing Treasure Island in January, opening for Frankie Ballard again in November at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, and also Jerrod Niemann at the same establishment in December. They will also be performing every other Wednesday night for ladies night with Amy James from K102 at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill.
More on Greene and Hurst can be found HERE. Pictures from the event can be found on our Facebook page.
Ryan Gueningsman is at ryan.gueningsman@minnesotacountry.com or can be found on Facebook.