Hot Apple Pie was an American country music band founded in 2002 by Brady Seals (

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...

), Keith Horne ( bass guitar), Trey Landry ( drums), and Mark "Sparky" Matejka (

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

). 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 ins ...

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 th ...

. Signed to

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 2003 ...

Nashville in 2005, Hot Apple Pie released its self-titled debut album that year. This album produced three chart singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' 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 A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current ...

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 D ...

; 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 Susan Kay Bogguss (born December 30, 1956) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She began her career in the 1980s as a solo singer. In the 1990s, six of her songs were Top 10 hits, three albums were certified gold, and one album r ...

; 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

' Nashville division. That year, they released its debut album, also entitled '' Hot Apple Pie''. It produced three singles, all of which charted on the ''

'' 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 Nashv ...

. 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 specu ...

band

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom (bass ...

. 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