TEXARKANA, Texas -- Kin Faux, a sizzling name in Texas/red dirt country music, will perform on Feb. 10 at the Perot Theatre.
Although Kin Faux's "Sunny and 72" is among the top 20 fastest-growing singles ever in red dirt country radio, offering this kind of music at the Perot is a far cry from the typical lineups in the ornate setting. But that's exactly why the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council is bringing it to Texarkana, said Jennifer Unger, executive director of TRAHC.
"TRAHC really believes the arts are for everyone. Our philosophy is to really look at different genres of all art forms so if someone isn't comfortable with one art form, we've got another one," Unger said.
Unger pointed out that in March 2019, an American outlaw country music singer Cody Jinks came to the Perot.
Amy C. Warren, who serves on the TRAHC board, said she is a fan of Kin Faux and has seen many people from Texarkana when she has gone to their shows across East Texas.
"They have a huge presence in Longview and Tyler, and I thought it was about time that Texarkana tapped into that," Warren said.
The band is taking hold of the red dirt charts and was named 2022's New Band of the Year by the Texas Regional Radio Music Awards. In 2021, Kin Faux won the Band of the Year from the Texas Country Music Association Awards. In 2022, "Wild Horses," featuring Terry McBride, won Single of the Year at the TCMA.
Kin Faux's Rico Gonzalez, whose Facebook profile identifies him as a Texican American fiddle player, said the band has been to many places in nearby East Texas and is excited to headline at the Perot. He said many of the band's fans are from Texas and Oklahoma, but the band plans to start venturing into Arkansas next to hopefully grow their fan base.
Some of his red dirt fans and others might be surprised to learn Gonzalez will not feel out of place at the Perot whatsoever because of his background as a classical violinist.
At 17, Gonzalez once was the youngest member of the San Antonio Symphony, playing a violin he first learned to play as a child member of his father's and grandfather's mariachi band. No one knew how this early musical influence would direct the rest of his life.
Gonzalez traveled around the world to play with the San Antonio symphony because of his talent playing the violin, but he eventually wanted another challenge and he picked up the fiddle after moving from San Antonio to Michigan.
"I said I'm going to try this. But it was hard," Gonzalez said. "Violin has always come so easy to me, but fiddle is so different. I love the difference. With the fiddle you can put more of your heart and soul into it. With the violin, it's more rigid, everything has to be just right. I physically had to learn how to relax."
As he practiced the fiddle, he learned songs and taught himself to play a lot of Bob Wills and some songs by Jason Roberts, who he is now friends with.
"And then I placed an ad on Craigslist that said, 'Fiddle player for hire,'" he said with a laugh over the phone.
That ad led to meeting one member of the band, and eventually the group came together. The day finally came when they had to decide if they wanted to fully commit to the red dirt country music they were performing, which had to do with a huge audience in Texas. A San Antonio native, Gonzalez said the move was something he was happy about but it did not come without sacrifice.
"The move was music to my ears," Gonzalez said. "It was a big risk for us. We all had really good jobs, and leaving that was the scariest. Eight months of eating peanut butter sandwiches and SpaghettiOs to make ends meet. My wife, Heather Gonzalez, made it possible for everyone, and now four years later, here we are."
For the first three years in Texas, Gonzalez said, he and his family lived together in the old San Antonio home where he grew up. His band mates -- Bryan Phillips, sound man; Ross Barkey, bass player; and Dan Currier, drummer -- all lived together in a large house with their wives.
"We just have been blessed to have the opportunity," he said, noting he was doing the interview from his childhood bedroom. "Our biggest influences are Stoney Larue, Kevin Fowler, Randy Rogers, and a lot of these guys I am mentioning are our really good friends now. We didn't think we would be good friends with people we really admired, but they have taken us under their wing."
The band's somewhat unusual name came from a discussion they had a day before a show about what they would call themselves.
"We knew we would play Texas red dirt and so we said, why don't we call each other fake family, like fellow kin," Gonzalez said. "We thought, man, that's a great name, but we can't get it on the radio. So, we just switched it around. And it stuck."
On March 19, Kin Faux will play the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeos Garden stage. The band sold out their first Luckenbach performance on New Year's Eve 2022. They are going to be entertaining guests on the Rock the Coast Texas Country Cruise beginning April 15.
John Vutech, a professional event and music promoter, said he had the opportunity, along with Perry Steitler, to bring Giavana and the Hired Guns and Pecos and the Rooftops to Texarkana's Whiskey River and he sees parallels between those bands and Kin Faux.
"I feel Kin Faux has the same trajectory as these bands," he said. "Kin Faux is going to be the best band nobody ever saw. Pecos and the Rooftops eventually got a Grammy. The next time Kin Faux circles back through, we won't be able to afford them."
Vutech said he recommends red dirt country fans, country fans and curious music fans alike to get a ticket to see Kin Faux while it is an affordable show to attend.
"Right when I met Kin Faux, I knew they were going to be something," he said. "I've spent my life looking at entertainment and looking at the intangibles that make something good. I know in my heart of hearts this is a band that people are going to be talking about."
Doors open for the Kin Faux show at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 10, and the first act begins at 7:30 p.m. with Sarah Hobbs.
Warren said country fans who aren't familiar with Kin Faux yet should come to the show to see them and to be sure not to miss Hobbs, a native of Marshall, Texas.
Hobbs most recently won the Texas Country Music Association's Female Artist of the Year in 2022. Her last five singles in Texas/red dirt radio have been top-five hits. One of her latest singles, "Black Bayou," was nominated for Single of the Year as well as Video of the Year. Her last single, "That Way," ranked No. 16 and "Black Bayou" ranked No. 126 in the Top 200 Songs of 2022.
She has toured multiple times in Europe, from Ireland to Iceland, as well as hitting the Texas scene hard all year.
"She has got a voice, and she will be worth your trip. She is amazing, and she is just country," Warren said.
Unger said she is hoping fans will come out and support the show so TRAHC will know if they are onto something people have been looking for in area entertainment.
"In some ways this is a trial run to see if the fans of this kind of country come and see the show at the Perot, which will be better than you can get at clubs or rodeos soundwise," Unger said. "And you are going to be able to interact with performers. It's a great venue.
"I'm going to be standing up dancing, I can tell you right now. I anticipate people are going to be standing on their feet and having a good time. It will not be stuffy with people with their arms crossed sitting down."
Gonzalez said his band draws those who want to have a "hoot and hollering good time," so he expects everyone who comes out to have fun.
Only floor tickets are being sold as of now for a more intimate experience, Unger said.
Those who would like a beverage during the performance will have the options of wine, beer, soda and bottled water sold in the back of the theater.
For show tickets, go to perotheatre.org or call the box office at 903-792-4992.
Rising country music singer and Marshall, Texas, native Sarah Hobbs is shown in this undated publicity photo. Hobbs will open for Texas Red Dirt Country band Kin Faux on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, at the Perot Theatre in Texarkana, Texas. (Submitted photo)