Marshall Dyllon 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, ...

group formed in 2000, comprising vocalists Daniel Cahoon, Jesse Littleton, Michael Martin, Paul Martin, and Todd Michael Sansom. These five members were recruited by country music artist

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

and talent manager

Lou Pearlman Louis Jay Pearlman (June 19, 1954 – August 19, 2016) was an American record producer. He was the person behind many successful 1990s boy bands, having formed and funded the Backstreet Boys. After their massive success, he then developed NSYNC. ...

, in an attempt to bring the

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

sound to the country music scene. Excluding Kenny Rogers himself, Marshall Dyllon was the first act to be signed to Dreamcatcher Records, an independent label which Rogers owned. The group's singular album, '' Enjoy the Ride'', was released that year. It accounted for the chart singles "Live It Up" and "You". The band released a third single, "

She Ain't Gonna Cry "She Ain't Gonna Cry" is a song recorded by Canadian country music artist Joel Feeney. It was released in 1999 as the third single from his third studio album, ''Joel Feeney''. It peaked at number 15 on the '' RPM'' Country Tracks chart in August 1 ...

", in 2001 before disbanding.

Biography

, the talent manager responsible for the

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The gr ...

and

'N Sync NSYNC (, ; also stylized as *NSYNC or 'N Sync) was an American boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. Their self-titled debut album was successfully released to European ...

, teamed up with country music artist

to create the lineup of Marshall Dyllon as an attempt to bring the then-popular

sound to the country music scene. Rogers and Lou found Paul Martin, Michael Martin (Paul's younger brother), Dan Cahoon, Todd Sansom, and Jesse Littleton. Paul Martin and Jesse Littleton had previously auditioned on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television series ''

Making the Band ''Making the Band'' is an ABC/MTV reality television series that exists in separate iterations, each focusing on a specific music act. It spawned musical acts O-Town, Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang. Except for the first iteration o ...

'', where both were offered opportunities to become members of what eventually became

O-Town O-Town (also known as OTWN or OTOWN) is an American boy band formed from the first season of the reality television series ''Making the Band'' in 2000. As of 2015, the group consists of Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood, and ...

, another boy band. Eventually, the group decided on assuming the name Marshall Dyllon, an altered spelling of the character

Marshal Matt Dillon Matt Dillon is a fictional character featured on both the radio and television versions of ''Gunsmoke''. He is the U.S. Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, who works to preserve law and order in the western frontier of the 1870s. The character wa ...

from the television series ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

''. All five members alternated as lead vocalists, while Sansom co-wrote several of the songs and handled the vocal arrangements. Marshall Dyllon opened for Rogers and several other prominent country music personalities. On December 5, 2000, Marshall Dyllon released their first album, entitled '' Enjoy the Ride''. The album included songs co-written by

Phil Vassar Phillip George Vassar Jr. (born May 28, 1962) is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw ("For a Little While", ...

, who had written several country songs for other artists and was just beginning his own career as a successful country music artist. Overall, ''Enjoy the Ride'' produced two singles on the U.S. ''Billboard'' country singles charts. An additional single, "

", which was previously recorded by its co-writer

Joel Feeney Joel Richard Stephan Feeney (born November 21, 1957) is a Canadian country, pop music singer, songwriter and record producer. History Joel Feeney commenced his recording career with the pop rock band The Front. Feeney was also a producer on album ...

, was issued before Marshall Dyllon was disbanded in 2001.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

Todd Sansom official website
{{Authority control Country music groups from Texas Lou Pearlman Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Musical groups from Texas Vocal quintets