Saturday night
'Tough enough' moves to Saturday night

Courtesy photo HEARTLAND PERFORMS at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.The band will be the entertainment act during Saturday's performance of the

In order to reach a bigger audience, the Jasper Lions Club has moved the "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" theme to Saturday night.

On Saturday, May 12, the rodeo theme is "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" in honor of breast cancer awareness.

The event was started at the National Finals Rodeo in 2004 when one night was dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness with the same theme.

"Everybody in the house had on pink," said Scott Burton, chairman of the rodeo committee. "If a contestant won an event and was wearing pink, an extra donation was made to breast cancer awareness.

He said a pink; breast cancer survivors will raffle off 20X Beaver hair cowboy hat during the evening. Burton added that pink "Tuff Enough" bandanas and wristbands would be sold as well.

"The night is going to be special," Burton said.

To add to the draw on the evening will be up and coming band Heartland, whom has been shot in the public spotlight through their hit "I Loved Her First."

Heartland, a talented band of Alabama musicians who are rapidly becoming the most talked about new act in country music.

The catalyst for the group's current success is the poignant ballad "I Loved Her First," which is becoming one of the most added new songs at country radio. Though one hit song can serve as a launch pad, it takes talent, hard work and an arsenal of solid material to build a career

"We just all love music," says lead vocalist Jason Albert as he begins chronicling the band's early days. "The core of the band was me, Craig and Todd starting out. Then we added Mike and Keith. Chuck's not been with us that long. We've known him for a long time, but he recently joined the band and he just fits like a glove. It's been wonderful."

Collectively, Heartland encompasses a variety of musical influences including Johnny Cash, Alabama, Van Halen, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, AC/DC, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. Each member of the band grew up absorbing a rather diverse musical diet and those varied influences have helped shape the full-bodied, robust sound that defines Heartland's musical persona.

Like all young bands Heartland practiced, performed and dreamed of stardom. However in 1997, they got their first taste of that dream becoming a reality when they performed at the final June Jam, an annual concert held in Ft. Payne each year by country music legends Alabama. When they took the stage in front of more than 20,000 screaming fans, they were surprised and elated to see people holding up Heartland signs and shouting their name.

It was an especially poignant moment for Todd Anderson. "Alabama had been such a huge influence," he says. "Alabama was the first concert I went to when I was six-years-old and they were the greatest band in country music. When we were fortunate enough to play the June Jam, it really summed it up. There were no other career options after that."

Jason agrees. "We always knew we wanted to do it," he says of pursuing a music career. "We dreamed about it, but that was one of the defining moments. We've played some big shows. We've played with a lot of big people. When you actually get up there and get a taste of it, it tastes GOOD!"

Heartland became known for delivering a great live show.

"I heard somebody say 'If you take some Beach Boys and a little bit Alabama and put them in a cup and shake them up, you get the Heartland sound,'" Keith West says. "We like putting on a very lively show that might make you think back to the 80's rock days - maybe not as crazy, but we do like to move around and entertain the people."

"There's six guys in the band and we like to give everybody six different things to look at," says Jason. "Everybody has their own little thing and everybody is very good at what they do. And as opposed to having one focal point, then you have seven. There are a lot of different things going on. When we get up there, we like to really give people something for their money. It's not like they are just listening to the CD, they are getting the whole package."

Seeing that whole package earned the band an enthusiastic legion of fans. In addition to headlining their own shows, they've opened for Kenny Chesney, Gretchen Wilson, Neal McCoy, Diamond Rio and many others. After steadily building a regional following around Huntsville, Alabama, the group signed with Lofton Creek Records, a scrappy Nashville indie ven ture headed up by country music veteran Mike Borchetta. It was Dan Hollander, longtime country music program director, that brought Heartland to Borchetta's attention. "I've known Dan for 25 years," says Borchetta. "Dan's a very dear friend, but in the whole 25 years that I've known him, he's never picked up the phone and called me to say, 'Mike you have to listen to this group.'"

Needless to say, Borchetta liked what he heard and signed the band. The members of Heartland soon found themselves in the studio working with hit songwriter/producer Walt Aldridge, a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. That association led to the group's fast-rising single, "I Loved Her First," which was penned by Aldridge and Elliott Parks. "We heard it at a songwriters showcase that we were at with Walt," recalls Craig Anderson. "We heard him play it and it was a no-brainer that somebody needed to do that song."