BAND ON THE RUN

Mark Chesnutt, left, and Sawyer Brown will perform with Boy Howdy at 7:30 tonight at the Show Me Center.

They grew up on bluegrass, fiddlin' around with three-part harmony and an expression that was popular when Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were cinematic cowboys.

"When you're raised around those things, they just seem natural when you incorporate them into the band," said Boy Howdy singer and guitarist Cary Park.

The band owes its name to an expression used in old cowboy movies and spoken with a slow drawl deep in the heart of Texas. However, their roots can be traced to fast-lane clubs like the Palomino in Los Angeles.

"We played on the club circuit for 10 years," Park said. "You do that long enough and you realize it's nowheresville. We're definitely happy to be out of that and playing our own material."

Boy Howdy will be at the Show Me Center tonight with country superstars Sawyer Brown and Mark Chesnutt. The concert begins at 7:30.

Spending a decade chasing success wasn't the only ordeal the band endured. Just as their first single came out, drummer Hugh Wright was hit by a car while trying to help a roadside victim. He was in a coma for five months.

"He had to learn how to walk and talk all over again," Cary said. "But Hugh never lost his ability to play the drums. Fortunately the injuries he sustained weren't permanent and he was able to continue playing again."

During the time Wright was in the hospital the band held his position open and hired a replacement on a temporary basis. After a year of rehabilitation, Wright was able to reclaim his spot in the band.

"The experience made us closer as a band," Park said. "It makes you realize that life is pretty fragile. One minute you're playing together as a band and starting to enjoy some success; the next, one of your brothers, whom you love deeply, is trying to survive."

Park said the song "Our Love" became the springboard that vaulted the band into prominence. "That was the first single that hit the top 30 charts and got us going," Park said.

Lead singer, bassist and songwriter Jeffrey Steele said having his songs hit the air waves is a dream come true. "All I ever hoped to do was touch somebody with my songs. After five years of trying, finally getting some acceptance makes me feel very good," he said.

Steele's songs have turned into platinum on the pop charts with Gerald Levert's interpretation of "She'd Give Anything To Fall In Love," produced by David Foster as "I'd Give Anything."

Country Guitar Magazine deemed Cary and his brother Larry Park "one of the most inventive and exciting guitar duos to hit country music in years."

Their father Ray was a champion bluegrass fiddler. "Dad had a big influence on the kind of music we ended up playing," Cary said. "He's the one who taught us how to play with three-part harmony as naturally as walking or talking."

Like the Boy Howdy band, Chesnutt, a native of Beaumont, Texas, also broke into the music business the hard way. He paid his dues on the Texas nightclub circuit.

"Southeast Texas people really live their music," Chesnutt said. "You get honky-tonk, swing, Cajun and blues all rolled up because people live to dance."

From his four albums : "Too Cold At Home," "Longnecks and Short Stories," "Almost Goodbye," and "What A Way To Live," Chesnutt has amassed eight No. 1 singles.

His latest single, "Gonna Get a Life," is ranged at number 9 on the country charts.

Sawyer Brown, known as one of country music's hardest working acts, will bring a $3 million stage show to the Show Me Center. Mark Miller (lead vocals), Gregg Hubbard (keyboards), Duncan Cameron (guitar), Jim Scholten (bass) and Joe Smyth (drums) are on the road more than 200 days a year.

Among the band's hits are "The Walk", "Some Girls Do", "The Dirt Road", and "Cafe On The Corner".

The band's "Greatest Hits 1990-1995" reprises this decade's hits, containing five No. 1 songs, three more top fives and two new singles: "This Time" and "I Don't Believe In Goodbye." The latter currently is at number 19 on the charts.