Despite signing a publishing deal and moving to Nashville, Tenn., in 2006, Luke Dick hasn't broken ties with the band he left behind. Returning to the state a few times a year, the singer/songwriter occasionally rejoins Oklahoma City's Redbud Revival, reuniting the roots-rock band's original lineup.
Although only together for two proper albums " "Sweet Cavendish" and "The Great Van Edom" " the group earned a strong local following with and its distinct brand of country-tinged rock 'n' roll.
When in town, Dick contacts the rest of the band's seven-member lineup to see if they're able to play and starts scouting venues.
"We get together, and do it up again," Dick said. "We don't actually write any songs together or practice in a band or even anything like that anymore. We're just friends that keep up with each other."
He said the shows attract longtime fans and familiar faces, as well as audiences new to Redbud.
"I'll see people that I've never seen before," he said. "Last time we played, I know it was a pretty packed house, and there were a lot of people that I didn't know. Traditionally, when I come back to Oklahoma, I call the same friends that are really fans of the music and are actually excited to see a show again."
NEW LOCALE
Dick has a hard time describing the change in his songwriting process, a craft he said has developed differently since moving to Nashville. But he doesn't necessarily ascribe the changes to his new locale.
"I don't feel like I'm any different a person," he said. "But I do write lyrics a bit differently now, and it's not necessarily because I came here; it's just how it came to be."
Dick said his lyric-writing process simply evolved.
"First of all, a song stays on an easel longer," he said. "When I was writing songs in Oklahoma City, I used to write them around riffs and around melodies a bit more. And now I will think of a thematic idea that I want to do that is based on a lyrical idea.
"I feel like everything hangs together a bit more solidly as an idea. You can read a lyric I write now, just top to bottom, and it would make more sense than reading like something off the first Redbud record."
The songwriter has already made significant inroads while living in Nashville. Dick said he has already sold one tune to pop-rock performer Carmen Rasmusen, a finalist on the second season of TV's "American Idol," and is starting to field interest in other songs.
"I'm becoming known as a songwriter around here and performer," he said. "So I feel like I'm getting close to having something happen.
"I got a few things cooking in the pot," he said. "Bryan Mangieri
