MusicRowPics: Gator Park

Gator Park visit

While rock, pop and hip-hop influences can be heard all over today’s country radio, you are much more likely to hear fiddles, pedal steel, and three-part harmonies on newcomer trio Gator Park’s debut album The Lake.

“I love Texas style, Steve Earle stuff,” says vocalist and bass player Bryan Hobbs. “Andy’s into bluegrass, while Kerry’s all about Garth Brooks. You add our producer, who is from southern California, and that’s another layer to the music.”

Gator Park stopped by MusicRow’s Nashville office recently to perform songs from the project, including “Hayseed Highway,” which earned a recent “Discovery Award” from longtime MusicRow contributor Robert K. Oermann.

The musical partnership between brothers Bryan and Andy Hobbs (vocals/guitar), and friend Kerry Justin Degman (vocals/guitar), formed swiftly and organically. “When I first moved to town, my wife was babysitting for Bryan’s kids. I discovered Bryan was a musician, and I liked the music he was doing, so we eventually started writing songs together,” says Degman. Andy soon joined the writing sessions.

Approximately one year ago, the trio went into the studio with producers Max Collins, perhaps best-known as the lead singer of ‘90s alt-rock band Eve 6, and Jon Siebels. The project was recorded in Collin’s Los Angeles’ studio, as well as Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and Sound Emporium.

The trio’s organic growth continued once they were in the recording booth. “We had written all these songs, but we had no clue who would sing lead,” says Bryan. The solution? All three members share frontman duties, trading off lead verses. “We each took a turn singing lead, to see who sounded best on each song. That way there were no hurt feelings,” Bryan said, laughing.

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world in Gator Park,” quipped Kerry.

As for the band’s quirky, catchy name? It’s inspired by the brothers’ childhoods vacations. “Our family went to Florida once a year,” says Andy. “While the adults were chatting, we would sneak away and go to the pond and look at alligators. The 11 songs on this album kind of have a youthful, carefree vibe to them. We love songs with strong storylines to them, and these songs just reminded us of that time of being a kid, before the real world kicked in.”

[slide]