There’s a brand-new country music trio that just formed, and it’s made up of three former reality TV talent show contestants! Craig Wayne Boyd, Adam Wakefiled and Casey James have joined forces to create Texas Hill, which just debuted their brand-new single, “Darkest Sky.”
“We all saw the benefit of bringing three different audiences together from a touring perspective, but none of us were committed to the band until we sat down and actually started making music together,” Casey told Billboard. “The first day that we really worked up a few songs to test the waters really sealed the deal for us. Hearing our voices blend together was something that got us all excited and, from that point on, we have all been 100% resolved to make it happen.”
It was Craig who found “Darkest Sky,” and immediately thought it would be a good way to introduce their sound to country music fans.
“I had been spending some time down in Muscle Shoals writing with one of my favorite writers and artists, James LeBlanc. After one of the writing sessions, James played me ‘Darkest Sky.’ I asked for a copy of it and listened to it all the way back from Muscle Shoals to Nashville,” Craig recalled. “I sent it to the boys because I felt like it was definitely a message that we could relate to in our own lives and careers —not knowing that the world would be taken by a pandemic a few months later—and it fit right into how we feel about it all.”
The trio’s name is meaningful to all three of the singers, but especially Adam.
“We needed to find something we all had in common. Casey and Craig are both from Texas,” Adam explained. “When I was a kid I lived on a road called Texas Hill Road [in New Hampshire]. My brother and I were always drawn to Southern music as kids, and after high school, he started a band called Texas Hill. I was going to join them after school instead of going to college.
“The band broke up before I graduated and I went to music school instead,” he continued. “My brother passed away before we got to start another band together, so when I brought the idea to Casey and Craig. I thought it would be a cool way for my brother to live on in a small way. Ultimately, when I told the fellas that it would make my mom happy, it was a done deal. Nothing trumps the mom card.”
Texas Hill plans on releasing a full album, even though those plans have been delayed because of COVID-19.
“The songs we’ve already recorded have a live feel to them and we don’t want to jeopardize that, so it looks like we’re going to just have to wait a little while before we can get us and the other musicians back in a room to jam,” Adam said. “We are going to start releasing what we have ready and are committed to releasing more music soon, we’re just not sure what that is gonna look like.”
Craig won Season 7 of The Voice, while Adam was the runner-up of Season 10. Casey James won Season 9 of American Idol.