Published: June 18, 2008 09:38 am            

Native plays at Country Fever

Country Fever brought in fans from across the nation but it was also responsible for bringing home a Pryor native and former Daily Times employee.

Steve Littleton plays keys for Stoney LaRue and the Arsenals and Friday he performed on the Country Fever main stage. Rain didn’t stop the Texas band from playing for a poncho clad crowd including Littleton’s parents George and Charlene Littleton, Pryor.

Littleton, who has been playing the piano since he was five, moved to Oklahoma from California when he was 13. He went on to graduate from Pryor High School in 1985. One summer, Littleton said he joined a local band. That’s when the networking began.

He said he would play with a band and through that band he would meet another. If they asked him to play he would and from there he kept moving. Despite advancement in the business, Littleton wasn’t sure if there was a solid future in music for him.

“I thought maybe I better quit this lifestyle,” said Littleton. “I needed something to fall back on, as my grandfather said.”

He got a job with Boeing and began to establish a solid career in the aerospace industry. Littleton said although it was a good career choice he began to notice the people he worked with weren’t really happy.

Littleton began to play music again while working in aerospace. He played with Stoney LaRue, Cory Morrow, Django Walker, Willie Nelson and Waylon Payne.

After a lot of thought and a call from Stoney LaRue to join his band, Littleton took a leap of faith and decided to go back into the music business full time.

“I wanted to be around people who wanted to be here,” said Littleton. “I just had to go.”

Littleton, who was living in Tulsa at the time, decided to move to New Braunfels, Texas, the hotbed for Texas musicians.

The Stoney LaRue schedule keeps him busy but when he’s not on the road, Littleton does studio work.

When on the road, Littleton said the band plays for crowds as large as 40,000 people. He said the Texas music scene is hot and people south of the Red River want to go out and enjoy the music. Littleton believes there are several reasons the Texas music scene is so big. He said one of the reasons is the history of the dance halls. He said Gruene Hall, located in New Braunfels, is the oldest dance hall in Texas and is a great place for musicians and fans. He said no matter who is playing there the crowd is excited. The musicians must enter through the crowd to get to the stage.

“That’s where it’s real. It just works that way,” said Littleton.

Life in Texas for Littleton is good and he enjoys living where the fans love the music and the artists go above and beyond to support each other. Now that he’s back in the music business full time, Littleton plans to keep working.

“I’m in the pool and you got to stay wet,” said Littleton.

        

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