Cherokee – The Little River Band brings their “Happy Anniversary Tour” celebrating their 50-year legacy and in support of their 2024 album Window to the World to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Happy anniversary, baby
Keyboardist and vocalist Chris Marion said the band will definitely be performing all their legendary hits from the 1970s and ‘80s.
“We’re here for the privilege to perform all the songs the fans know and love,” he said. “It’s my privilege to get to sing with the band after having been a fan for decades.”
This year marks Marion’s 21st with the band, which he details as “one-third of my life so far.”
While the lineup is no longer Australian or original, the band still includes longtime lead vocalist Wayne Nelson, who first joined the band in 1980.
Marion describes the band’s origins as fellows who came to America from “The Land of Oz” and wanted to stay and tour more in this continent than their homeland.
“They kept coming to tour America and it’s so vast, they decided to stay here and integrate their sound in California after deciding that was easier than the 20-something hour flight back and forth [to Australia],” he said.
That integration brought them fame with a broader audience and a base for global touring which also saw their hit “Reminiscing” receive a “5 Million-Air Award” for 5 million plays on U.S. radio from BMI, the first Australian single to win that title.
Cool change
Marion said, “It’s the first time attending one of our shows for the majority of our fans these days.”
“Whether their parents, or even grandparents, may have been fans or saw the band in some of the original lineup days, younger audiences are attending because they’ve grown up with our music.”
Marion grew up in a sense with LRB’s sounds as well. As a music major at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, he found there were only two ways to major at the private liberal arts school.
“It was either music for ministry or music education, and I didn’t really fit into either of those tracks because I was more interested in the performance aspect of music,” he said. “Having grown up singing in my family’s gospel group, I picked up piano to accompany them. So, I eventually graduated with a degree in psychology.”
That initial early exposure to gospel music as well as the college experience formed Marion’s aesthetic for both performance and musicianship which has brought him four Gospel Music Association Dove Award nominations and wins for both his writing and producing in the gospel music industry.
“My transition from gospel to secular music still provides a way to minister with the gifts God’s given me. It’s a part of my identity. My obligation and responsibility is to provide something positive and help transport people from their problems and the world for a while to provide peace and harmony through this music. It’s an awesome privilege.”
And, that music study also led Marion to form friendships with many who moved into working in the Nashville, Tenn., music industry, which then led to his invitation to join LRB.
“All my friends played pranks on each other regularly, and we’d call each other and say ‘This is so-and-so big name musician and I was wondering if you’d like to sit in on a session with us,” he said.
“So one day I get a call from Wayne Nelson and he says, ‘This is Wayne Nelson and one of your friends gave me your number and I was wondering if you’d like to audition for Little River Band.’ Of course, I just laughed and hung up. Then he called back and said ‘Please, don’t hang up on me. We still laugh about my ‘audition.’ ”
That audition, Marion says was showing up full bore to a gig in Pennsylvania. He’d learned the songs in just a few days, showed up and told Nelson, “This is my audition. And we played and everything fit and the rest is history, because that’s the day I joined the band.”
Reminiscing
While the band has seen more than 30 members throughout their 50-year career, Marion said the lineup these days can still put together those high-harmony sounds which are true to the original songs, though “we’ve now got a really Nashville-injected sound.”
“Bruce Wallace is our newest member,” Marion said. “He went to pursue a publishing deal when first asked to join and then toured with Wynonna. But when we asked this last time in 2022, just after everyone started touring after COVID, he was in.”
During those down times of COVID, Marion and his wife, Stephanie Calvert, began performing as a duo named The B-Listers, with a limited touring schedule due to her involvement with Mickey Thomas’ Starship and his commitments to LRB.
“Too, Colin Whinnery joined us after touring with names like Montgomery-Gentry, so he has a solid background in both the Nashville scene and sound and Ryan Ricks toured with Loretta Lynn, but we still know how to make those smooth and rhythm-driven tunes LRB is known for,” he said.
“We’re here to provide good memories for the fans and perform those hits that make up the soundtracks of their lives. We all love spending time performing and meeting fans, who we’re really there for, whether it’s the first or fortieth time.”
The band enjoys a solid online presence with more than 40,000 fans in the official fan club and a newfound popularity from the recent documentary Yacht Rock. This classification took over from what used to be termed adult-oriented rock by radio stations during the 1970s.
Marion said, “Yeah, we fall into that category, that smooth sound from the mid-to-late 1970s. It’s still good music, and we’re proud to be included with people like Michael McDonald and Christopher Cross. It’s one more privilege we get to hold ranks with these celebrated and talented artists.
“We’re known for our high harmonies, which originally everyone would liken to bands like The Beach Boys or even The Beatles. But we’re also known for our stacked vocals, our rhythms. Our legacy is still strong because the music holds up over time.”
Marion said fans should expect all the original hits from “The Other Guy” to “The Night Owls,” with some new tunes from that 2024 album.
“It’s all new material and after this tour, which runs through early 2026, we plan on making more new music,” he said. “We’ll play a few of the new tunes, but definitely we’ll give the fans what they want.”
Marion’s favorite to perform, even after these 20-plus years is, of course, “Reminiscing.” Which makes for a happy anniversary, indeed, baby.
Details: Visit caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee/shows and reallittleriverband.com.