Boy Howdy

Boy Howdy
Boy Howdy promotional image. L-R: Cary Park, Jeffrey Steele, Larry Park, Hugh Wright.
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
Genres	Country
Years active	1990 – 1996
Labels	Curb
Past members	Cary Park Larry Park Jeffrey Steele Hugh Wright

Boy Howdy was an American country music band. It was founded in 1990 in Los Angeles, California, United States by Jeffrey Steele (lead vocals, bass guitar), Hugh Wright (drums), and brothers Cary (guitar, mandolin, vocals) and Larry Park (guitar, fiddle, vocals). Between 1992 and 1995, the band recorded two albums (1992's Welcome to Howdywood and 1995's Born That Way) and an extended play (1994's She'd Give Anything), all on the Curb Records label. In that same time span, Boy Howdy charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts, including the Top Ten hits "She'd Give Anything" and "They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore." After Boy Howdy disbanded in 1996, frontman Jeffrey Steele embarked on a solo career, recording several solo albums, in addition to writing more than sixty hit singles for other country acts.

History

Boy Howdy was founded in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1990. Before the band's formation, lead singer Jeffrey Steele worked as a songwriter and solo artist in California.^[1] Brothers Larry and Cary Park, sons of bluegrass music artist Ray Park, met Steele at a gig at a club; drummer Hugh Wright, also present at the gig, soon joined.^[1][2]

A year into their union, the band independently released a rendition of the Civil War standard "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," at the height of the Gulf War.^[1] This single was so well-received that it caught the attention of Curb Records, a Nashville, Tennessee record label, which signed the band in 1992. The same year, Boy Howdy released its debut album titled Welcome to Howdywood, from which two singles were issued: "Our Love Was Meant to Be" and "A Cowboy's Born with a Broken Heart".^[1] These peaked at numbers 43 and 12, respectively, on the Billboard country charts. On May 30, 1992, Wright was involved in a motorcycle accident on in Dallas, Texas, while trying to assist a driver who had crashed his pickup truck on the median of the LBJ Freeway. The accident placed Wright in a coma for five months.^[3] After coming out of the coma, Wright had to re-learn how to walk and play drums. In addition, his speech was slowed and he was no longer able to sing. He officially rejoined Boy Howdy on July 1, 1993.^[3]

Shortly after Wright's reunion with Boy Howdy, the band released the single "She'd Give Anything", which became its first Top 5 hit on the Billboard country music charts, peaking at number 4. The music video for "She'd Give Anything" was also a number 1 video on both Country Music Television and The Nashville Network.^[3] "She'd Give Anything" was included on an extended play of the same name, which containing four previously unreleased songs as well as a re-issue of "A Cowboy's Born with a Broken Heart." One of the four new songs, "They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore" was the EP's other single; it was also the band's highest-charting single, reaching number 2.^[1] Following this was a largely unsuccessful third release, Born That Way, which produced a number 23 in "True to His Word" and three other singles which all failed to enter the Top 40.

Disbanding

A year after the release of their final album, the four members announced that the band was "on hold" with no immediate plans to resume playing together, and by 1996, they had disbanded.^[4] Steele then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he began a solo career. He recorded an unreleased album for Curb, but later switched his focus to songwriting, including singles for Kevin Sharp, Diamond Rio and LeAnn Rimes. Steele charted the No. 33 "Something in the Water" in 2001 on Monument Records, and has since become primarily known as a songwriter, although he has self-released several albums as well. On September 25, 2015, Boy Howdy drummer and co-founder Hugh Wright died of natural causes.^[5]

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

References