BAND PROFILE: Highway 7
If you're looking for a raucous and fun modern country band, check out Highway 7 - they're looking for an equally raucous and fun audience.
The band plays originals and covers songs by artists such as Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Sheryl Crow and other mostly-country-not-quite-rock bands. They're big fans of traditional country with a bit of an edge.
Highway 7 is led by Canadian natives and sisters Natalie and Kelly Haime. Natalie, 24, moved to the Rio Grande Valley when she attended the University of Texas-Pan American on a golf scholarship. She and her sister spent a lot of their time dreaming of being in a band and finally made it happen.
"Back home in Canada, where we grew up ... Highway 7 connected most things and we went to high school about 30 minutes from our house. It sounds really corny, but a lot of our time was spent on the highway where we'd come up with lyrics or sing at the top of our lungs and imagine that we were touring and on our way to a gig, you know, really dorky stuff," Natalie said, laughing.
Kelly, 21, is the songwriter for the band and collaborates with rhythm guitarist Greg Garza, 22, who writes the music for her songs. The youngest members of the band include lead guitarist Miguel Treviño and drummer Jose "Joe" Martinez - both are only 20 years old.
While most members of the band are self-taught, keyboardist JC Sanchez, 25, is classically trained and also plays the fiddle.
A garage in the Valley is probably one of the hottest places in the country to have band practice, but Highway 7 manages to do it at least four times per week. All but Martinez live in Edinburg, (he hails from La Joya) so getting together often isn't too difficult and putting in the time for practice is important for all of them. In fact, the only obstacle the band has faced during practice was neighbors complaining about the noise - and even that isn't an issue anymore.
"We went around and talked to our neighbors about what we're doing with the band and they've been awesome. We shut down at 9 p.m.," Natalie explained.
Everyone in the band has different influences, from The Beatles to The Dixie Chicks to George Strait to Ray Charles and nearly everything in between.
Highway 7 is heading to a studio soon to record a full-length album, but look for them playing gigs throughout the Valley - they're excited to get up on stage and play for you.
"I love it. If this is what I could do day in and day out regardless of being up on a huge stage with lights, I would just love to have people like hearing us and do local stuff and just be able to do it all the time," Natalie said with a smile.
Check out their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/hwyseven
Amy Nichol Smith is a freelance writer for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4420.
