Sons of the Desert Biography
From 1989, the Sons Of The Desert, named after the Laurel And Hardy film, played contemporary bluegrass music and enjoyed a good following in Waco, Texas, where the members were students at McLellan College. Drew Womack, then an opera student, joined the band in 1990 as lead singer. A member of the band at the time was bass player Doug Virden. By 1993 the band was based in Dallas, where keyboard player Scott Saunders and drummer Brian Westrum joined up. Drew Womack then brought in his older brother, Tim Womack, as guitarist.
Initially, the Sons Of The Desert's repertoire was drawn from material performed by artists such as Steve Earle, the Desert Rose Band, Restless Heart and Shenandoah. Gradually, though, in addition to putting their own spin on this material, they began including more of their own work. Mostly, this came from Drew Womack who had begun writing songs as a small child and his ability helped give the band a different and always interesting sound. Many of his songs were written with collaborators such as Steve Pippin, Pat MacDonald and Tom Douglas. The band had successful singles in the late 90s with "Whatever Comes First", "Hand Of Fate" and "Leaving October' (from 1997"s Whatever Comes First) and "Albuquerque' (from 2000"s Change). Drew Womack also wrote "She's Got It All", which became a hit for Kenny Chesney. Of particular note are the group's harmonies and this quality has led to them being brought onto record dates by other artists to provide a distinctive backing. For example, they can be heard on Ty Herndon's "It Must Be Love" and Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance", the latter bringing a 2001 ACM nomination for Single Of The Year and Vocal Event Of The Year. There was also a complementary nomination for the Sons Of The Desert as Top New Vocal Group.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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