Sights & Sounds: Local Country Band Takes the 'Road' to Homecoming

For country music fans, Dierks Bentley, Clint Black and Gretchen Wilson may earn a mention if asked to name their favorites. For metro Detroiters in the know, Annabelle Road–performing at the at 6 p.m. on Sunday–likely springs immediately to mind.

"Dearborn Homecoming is one of those big events that we all knew what it was growing up," said Amanda Bailey, the 27-year-old lead singer for the band.  "(It's) one of those stages that we always wanted to play on."

Known for their rocking country sensibility, Annabelle Road hit the big time when they were handpicked by Kenny Chesney as finalists on his "Next Big Star" series and debuted during his "Poets & Pirates" tour. 

Although they did not win the "Star" contest, their single, "Let You Bleed," quickly became a success. Other singles like "Love at First Sight" and "Things I Should Have Said," can often be heard on 99.5 WYCD thanks to listener and Facebook fan requests. 

"Michigan, especially in the metro-Detroit area, I can't think of a better place to compare it to the ideals and family values you have in (country music)," said Bailey.

The importance of friends and family are at the core of Annabelle Road, a homegrown group that can mark having opened for Bentley, Black, and Wilson in their list of achievements, alongside performing at Detroit's Downtown Hoedown. 

Formed by cousins Jeremy Temple (guitarist) and Donovan Tarjeft (drummer), they invited Bailey–who became friends with Temple in college–and bassist Larry Craft–who they worked with in a record store–into the group. They recently welcomed newcomer Jake Knickerbocker, 22, an alumni of the Saline Fiddlers, into the fold as their violinist.

Led by Bailey's strong, assured vocals, Annabelle Road will take to the stage Sunday evening with a setlist inspired by the artists that have influenced them, from Rascall Flatts and Miranda Lambert to Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Cougar Mellencamp and Bob Seger. 

During their concert at the Livonia Spree in June, what started off as a Seger cover song quickly turned into a showcase for Knickerbocker's skill. He took command of the stage, and the audience, for a one-man display of hard-edged, rapid-fire fiddling that became a powerful and exciting centerpiece to their set and showcased his talent in a fashion that would make Charlie Daniels proud.

With a self-titled debut album released last year, the group is now hard at work preparing their second album, Bailey said, and is expected to make an announcement on its release in the coming months. Their sophomore effort will allow them to check off yet another goal: writing their own original material. 

"With the first record, we had a lot of songwriters out of Nashville and all over the country," Craft said.

"There were just so many talented people and so many amazing songs that we wanted to get out there," Bailey said, "but now that we've gone that route we're really excited to test the waters with our own music."

Opening for Clint Black last summer in both Chicago and Detroit on consecutive days, the group was reminded of how high their star had risen and how much they loved performing.

"We came back after playing four days somewhere where nobody had ever heard of us and there was just a sea of thousands of people holding up these posters that said 'Detroit loves you.'  It was really, really cool," Bailey said. 

"It was one of those moments where you think, 'I want this to keep going, but if it stops right this minute, I'm happy. This is just the coolest thing ever.'"