SALAMANCA — Restless Heart will help spread holiday cheer when they perform “Restless Heart Christmas: A Season of Harmony” live for two nights at the Seneca Allegany Events Center. The group will take the stage at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, and at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4.
The award-winning country music group will sing holiday favorites and some of their chart-topping hits with their signature vocal harmonies. The men who make up Restless Heart are Larry Stewart, lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Dave Innis, vocals and keyboards; Paul Gregg, lead vocals and bass guitar; Greg Jennings, vocals and lead guitar; and John Dittrich, lead vocals, drums and percussion.
In a recent interview with The Salamanca Press, Jennings said they are the same five original guys, 33 years later. He thinks Diamond Rio is the only other band in country music that has the same original members.
Three Restless Heart members come from Oklahoma, one from Kentucky and the other from New York. According to Jennings, they met in Nashville after they all had moved there to be in the music business.
“It turned out we had a friend in common — Tim DuBois, a songwriter and producer. Tim introduced us to some people he had worked with and those people knew other people they were connected with,” he said. “We kind of all pulled together at our rehearsal-demo studio where we sang and played some songs Tim had written. It was then we decided there was a real chemistry there and it was something we wanted to pursue.”
Restless Heart came to be one of the most popular country bands of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Placing over 25 singles on the charts, they had six consecutive No. 1 hits: “That Rock Won’t Roll,” “I’ll Still Be Loving You,” “Wheels,” “Why Does It Have To Be Wrong or Right,” “The Bluest Eyes In Texas” and “A Tender Lie.”
The Recording Industry Association of America certified four of their albums Gold and the group has won numerous awards including the Academy of Country Music’s Vocal Group of the Year in 1990. They are four-time Grammy nominees, seven-time Country Music Association nominees, and four-time ACM nominees.
According to Jennings, their hit “I’ll Still Be Loving You” was a popular wedding song around 1987. However, they had trouble working in the state of Texas at first because they were non-traditional and their style didn’t fit the Texas dance hall demographics very well.
“After we released ‘The Bluest Eyes In Texas,’ we were booked (in Texas) for months on end and we still go there quite a bit. That’s probably our biggest market at this point,” he said.
Restless Heart is still at the top of their game when it comes to singing and playing together, and they’ve been working some projects. The group recently paid tribute to Glen Campbell by recording a new version of his classic song, “Wichita Lineman” that was released last February.
Jennings said Restless Heart steps up as volunteers and do as much as they can around Nashville to help charities for cancer, kids and One Generation Away, an organization that helps feed hungry people. He said for several years, they did a series of concerts with the Nashville Symphony called Music With a Mission and hosted the benefit to raise money and awareness for the Nashville Rescue Mission. The band has also done tours all over the world in support of the men and women of the Armed Forces.
According to Jennings, this is the group’s first trip to Salamanca to perform at the casino. Since it’s the holiday season, the band will be performing songs from a Christmas album they released a couple of years ago and are proud of yet, along with some of their popular hits.
“It’ll be a good show and I hope a lot of people come out to see us. We’ll get the audience into the Christmas spirit,” he said.
To find out more, visit online at restlessheartband.com and facebook.com/RestlessHeartOfficial and senecaalleganycasino.com.
