Hot Apple Pie was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

band founded in 2002 by

Brady Seals Brady Seals (born March 29, 1969) is an American country music artist. He is the cousin of Jim Seals (of Seals & Crofts) and Dan Seals, Johnny Duncan, the nephew of Troy Seals. Seals made his debut in 1988 as co-lead vocalist and keyboardist ...

( lead vocals), Keith Horne (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

), Trey Landry ( drums), and Mark "Sparky" Matejka (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

). Matjeka was replaced in 2006 by Kevin Ray. Seals was initially co-lead vocalist and

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...

in the band Little Texas until 1994. Between then and 2002, he recorded three studio albums, including two for

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

. Signed to DreamWorks Records Nashville in 2005, Hot Apple Pie released its self-titled debut album that year. This album produced three chart singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including the No. 26-peaking "Hillbillies."

History

Brady Seals was a

and co-lead vocalist (alongside

Tim Rushlow Timothy Ray Rushlow (born October 6, 1966) is an American recording artist. Between 1991 and 1997, Rushlow was lead vocalist of country music group Little Texas, which recorded four albums and a Greatest Hits package, in addition to charting ...

) in the country band Little Texas until late 1994, when he left in pursuit of a solo career. Between then and the early 2000s, Seals recorded three albums, and charted six singles on the country charts. After deciding that his solo career was not proving successful, Seals opted to form a second band. Guitarist Mark "Sparky" Matejka and drummer Trey Landry, both of whom had backed Seals during his solo career, were recruited, with bass guitarist Keith Horne completing the lineup. These three musicians all had experience prior to the band's foundation. Matejka had played for Sons of the Desert and

Charlie Daniels Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The De ...

; Landry, for

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

and Suzy Bogguss; and Horne, for

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

First album

In 2005, Hot Apple Pie signed to DreamWorks Records' Nashville division. That year, they released its debut album, also entitled '' Hot Apple Pie''. It produced three singles, all of which charted on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts: "Hillbillies", "We're Makin' Up" and "Easy Does It." Due to the dissolution of DreamWorks Records in late 2005, these latter two singles were issued on

MCA Nashville Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nash ...

. The band exited this label in 2006, the same year that Matejka left to join the

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar specula ...

band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Kevin Ray took Matjeka's place in 2006. Seals released another solo album in mid-2009.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos

References

{{Authority control American country music groups DreamWorks Records artists Musical quartets Musical groups disestablished in 2008