Long before there was a band called Tornado Road, there was a group of hard-working musicians in Nashville quietly establishing a reputation as a powerful new force on Music Row. Some of the guys in the band had toured for years, playing on stage with some of the biggest names in the industry like Wynnona and Lee Greenwood. And some had spent time in the studio creating the hot licks heard on albums by the likes of Mark Chestnutt, Lee Greenwood, Wynonna and many others. They were regular pinch-hitters on the local Nashville music scene, playing all kinds of music with all kinds of bands around town whenever a regular couldn’t make the gig. But it was in countless demo sessions for up- and -coming singers and songwriters that the guys began to realize they had something special.

Every year dozens of singers come to Nashville, hoping to break into country music and become, as Vince Gill sings on his recent hit, “The Next Big Thing”. Some have been hometown heroes, urged on by friends and family to give the big time a shot. Others are veterans of small clubs and dance halls, with a big regional following. But no matter how big the singers are back home, everyone has to start out the same way Garth Brooks and Leann Womack did, paying their dues and singing on demos, that middle stage of a song’s development in between the songwriters’ raw idea and the producers’ version heard on the radio.

The members of Tornado Road began backing these aspiring singers and songwriters as a group three years ago, and over time a real chemistry was formed. They developed a musical rapport that went far beyond the “hired-gun” feel of many Nashville sessions. In time they realized they were in fact a band, one of the tightest sounding bands around. And so it came time to pick a name and record their own demo album.

And as it happened, just when they needed a name for the group, Mother Nature delivered a record-breaking season of tornado activity all across the South and Midwest. And that’s where these guys are from. Six band members form six different states, from Michigan to Mississippi, but all from areas smack dab in the middle of Tornado Road.

And so a band was born. And they live up to their name by playing high-energy, toe-tapping rock, hony-tonk and country designed to get their fans revved up. So come on and feel the power as Tornado Alley roars in with their debut album, “Playin’ Up A Storm”.