By Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Horseshoe Road, an Oklahoma City-based band, has taken the Oklahoma Centennial spirit across the international dateline to Japan and Thailand. The trio's journey was filmed in high-definition, and a documentary about the three-week trip will debut statewide this year on OETA. Band members hope to distribute the documentary nationally to PBS and internationally to public broadcasting affiliates in Japan and Thailand.
The one-hour program will include scenes from the band's concerts and the international debut of the centennial anthem, "Oklahoma Rising.”
"Horseshoe Road's international tour and documentary have taken Oklahoma's centennial beyond state and national borders, and demonstrated that Oklahoma produces quality entertainers,” said Blake Wade, executive director of the Oklahoma Centennial Commission.
The tour and documentary are official centennial projects.
"These three young men are great ambassadors for our state,” Wade said, referring to bassist Brad Benge of Sallisaw, violinist Kyle Dillingham of Enid and guitarist Dustin Jones of Yukon.
"This experience has definitely helped to bridge cultural differences. During our tour, we shared so much with the people of Japan and Thailand,” Jones said. "With this documentary, we can bring the sights and sounds of these two countries back home for everyone to see and share.”
‘Spirit of music'
Dillingham previously performed on international stages, appearing in more than 25 countries. He's twice performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn.
"Much like Oklahoma's statehood, these projects were once-in-a-lifetime events,” Dillingham said.
Dillingham described Horseshoe Road's music style as heartland acoustic.
"It's more than a genre. It's a spirit of music,” he said. "It's a mixture of style, but Oklahoma is conglomerate of many cultures and people. We feel it's very representative of the state. It's not just country. It's not just bluegrass. It encompasses a much wider and a much more global feel.”
Band's formation
The idea was born in 2005 for Horseshoe Road to participate in a cultural outreach project when the band performed in Oklahoma for Ryozo Kato, Japanese ambassador to the United States, and Kasit Piromya, then-Thailand's ambassador to the United States. The band worked with Kato and Piromya to schedule the tour.
"The documentary is not a tourism piece. It's an entertaining piece. It's an informative piece about this band that is from Oklahoma taking their music to their countries and finding out what the response is,” Dillingham said.
More than 60 hours of documentary footage was shot by Oklahoma filmmakers Alan Novey, James Payne and Jeremy Long.
To view the complete article and the documentary trailer, please log on to http://www.newsok.com/article/3088800/.