Hey ya’ll, my name is Denver Evans. I am a country singer/songwriter out of East Tennessee. I was born in San Jose, California and moved to Tennessee when I was three years old. My dad, Randy Evans had a band, so I was always around live music growing up. I guess I was destined to become a country music entertainer because thinking back, I remember how I loved the smell of my dad’s guitar case when he would open it up after performing in a bar somewhere. When I was around twelve years old, my...
Hey ya’ll, my name is Denver Evans. I am a country singer/songwriter out of East Tennessee. I was born in San Jose, California and moved to Tennessee when I was three years old. My dad, Randy Evans had a band, so I was always around live music growing up. I guess I was destined to become a country music entertainer because thinking back, I remember how I loved the smell of my dad’s guitar case when he would open it up after performing in a bar somewhere. When I was around twelve years old, my dad brought home a small, battery operated keyboard and that’s where my journey as a musician began. He started teaching me notes and chords and before long, I was able to play along with songs on the radio. My first song I learned to play was “Walk through this world with me” by George Jones. I started playing keyboard full time with my dad’s band when I was thirteen. I remember him telling me “just play on the songs you know and the one’s you don’t know, wait ‘til you get home to learn them.” We played in every beer joint there was around, but we also did a lot of festivals, grand openings and things like that. I played in some other bands along the way and even picked up playing drums for a band here and there. When I was about seventeen, I was working in a woodworking factory and playing music on the weekends. I found out quick that I didn’t like the idea of being at work at 6:30 in the morning and spending all my time in one place. But, I stayed with my job until I got an offer one day to play for a full-time road band. It wasn’t too hard to decide which to choose….working in a factory or playing music for a living. My first “road gig” was in Tampa, Florida at a hotel nightclub playing Wednesday through Saturday. I kept moving on and the next thing you know, I was performing with bands at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee, big casinos and corporate events. The bass player in a band I was working with at the time was leaving to play for a new artist named Trini Triggs on Curb Records. I told him I was interested in playing keyboard for Trini if they had the position open. Curb had just released Trini‘s first song “Straight Tequila” to radio and I had been dreaming of an artist gig, riding on a big tour bus, playing huge shows and all of that stuff. After a few weeks, someone from Curb called and told me to meet the bus in Nashville because I had the job! Coincidentally, the first city I performed in with Trini was Tampa, Florida. Difference was, I was on a tour bus and playing the Ice Palace Arena opening for Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks instead of a hotel bar. I played for Trini up until about 2001. It was a great experience being out with a signed artist, but there was more I wanted. I wanted to be out front singing just like my dad. So, I finally decided to start up my own band and promote my own music. I was getting into songwriting and wanted to share my music with other people. Well, but guess what? There I was, back in the van and trailer playing the honky-tonks once again. But it wasn’t as bad as it seems. It felt like I was back home where I needed to be. Even though I missed all the perks of playing with a label artist, I was doing my own music and playing the songs I liked to do. Ever since then, I’ve been writing and playing my music with my band all over the country. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have a record deal if the right opportunity came to be, but no matter what, I’ll always be seen playing in a honky-tonk somewhere in this world.
show more...
