By Wayne Gates –Summerfest is coming back to the Mt. Orab Park on August 5 and 6. Performing Saturday night as the headliner will be Restless Heart.
The country band has been together for over thirty years with original members John Dittrich, Greg Jennings, Paul Gregg, Dave Innis, and Larry Stewart.
The band has had 25 singles on the country and pop charts over the years, including six number ones on the country chart.
Their number one hits include “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”.
Band member David Ennis recently spoke to The News Democrat about what the band is doing these days.
“We play about 80 dates a year all over the country as well as around the Nashville area and the Grand Old Opry,” Ennis said.
“We also just released a single about a month ago. We covered ‘Wichita Lineman’ that was originally done by Glen Campbell in the late 1960’s.”
Ennis said that the band likes to pay tribute to their friends in the music business during their concerts.
“We have a medley in the middle of our show that is comprised of songs from other artists that were instrumental in our career early on, like Alabama and Alan Jackson,” he said.
Ennis added that the band watched Jackson’s rise to fame up close.
“He used to open for us, but after ‘Don’t Rock the Jukebox’ came out, we told him that we couldn’t follow him anymore, so we started opening for Alan and finished the tour out that way,” Ennis said.
“Vince Gill also used to open for us and then he released ‘When I Call Your Name’ and became a huge star overnight.”
Ennis said that playing live is still one of his favorite things after thirty years as a musician.
“Our fan base loves to hear the songs they grew up with. We’ve been honored to provide cornerstones to the soundtrack of their lives.”
Summerfest will begin Friday, August 5 with Noah Smith, Daniel Lee and Daryle Singletary performing.
Saturday, August 6 will see Big Easy and the Gators and Shelby Lee Lowe take the stage and then Restless Heart will close the show at 9 p.m.
