HENRY SMITH - LEAD SINGER
HENRY HAS REGULARLY APPEARED ON TELEVISION PERFORMING LIVE IN THE STUDIO AS WELL AS SHOWING VIDEOS OF HIS PERFORMANCES ON STAGE. SEVEN OUT OF ELEVEN CD’S SO FAR HAVE HIT THE RADIO CHARTS WITH TRACKS ‘MUM AND DAD’, ‘HELLO DJ’, ‘WELCOME TO MY WORLD’ ‘THERE GOES’, ‘I HOPE SHE FALLS’, AND ‘ENOUGH TEQUILA’. THESE TRACKS HAVE BEEN HITS IN THE UK, AND VARIOUS OTHER COUNTRIES INCLUDING HOLLAND, FRANCE, DENMARK, GERMANY AND AUSTRALIA. THE TRACKS ‘MUM AND DAD’ , ‘HELLO DJ’ AND ‘WELCOME TO MY WORLD’ REACHED NUMBER ONE IN THE BRITISH HOTDISC CHART AND ‘ENOUGH TEQUILA’ AND ‘I HOPE SHE FALLS’ REACHED NUMBER TWO.
‘FOOLING MYSELF’ IS A DUET WITH NASHVILLE’S OWN BILLY YATES AND HAS REACHED NUMBER THREE IN THE INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT CHART. ORIGINALLY FROM READING, ENGLAND, HENRY HAS SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE IN THE PORTSMOUTH AREA. HIS LOVE OF COUNTRY MUSIC STARTED AT A YOUNG AGE WITH STAGE PERFORMANCES FROM 5 YEARS OLD. A WELL TOURED COUNTRY ARTIST, HE HAS HAD NUMEROUS APPEARANCES AND SHARED THE STAGE WITH ARTISTS SUCH AS MARK CHESNUTT, BILLY YATES, BILLY JO SPEARS, HEATHER MILES, JONI HARMS, EVE SELLIS, JON RANDELL AND DANNI LEE. HIS INFLUENCES INCLUDE ALAN JACKSON, RANDY TRAVIS, GEORGE JONES AND GARTH BROOKS. HENRY IS RENOWNED FOR HIS DEDICATION AND LIVELY STAGE PERFORMANCES. DESCRIBED BY MANY MUSIC CRITICS AS THE UK’S NUMBER ONE COUNTRY ARTIST HENRY HAS FILMED AND PRESENTED HIS OWN TV SHOW THAT WAS FILMED WITH A LIVE AUDIENCE AND WAS AIRED ON SKY TV. HENRY WORKED HARD ALONGSIDE CREW MEMBERS DURING EACH FILMING, HE CONTROLLED THE SOUND AND LIGHTING FOR THE ARTISTS AND BANDS, HE HELPED WITH THE CAMERAS AND ALSO MIXED THE TV SHOW TO BE AIRED ON SKY.
GREG PADMORE -DRUMS
GREG STARTED PERFORMING WHEN HE WAS JUST 6 YEARS OLD, HE WAS FOLLOWING IN HIS FATHERS FOOTSTEPS, MUSIC HAS BEEN A BIG INSPIRATION AND PASSION TO HIS FAMILY. GREG’S BEEN AROUND MUSIC HIS WHOLE LIFE AND IT’S IN HIS BLOOD. WHEN GREG WAS 16 HE JOINED THE CHALKE VALLEY BAND, HE WAS THE YOUNGEST IN THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND TO DO THIS. HE LATER WENT ON IN CAREER TO JOIN HANK DALTON & COUNTRY GOLD. WHO LATER CHANGED TO HANK DALTON & THE DALTON BOYS. THIS IS WHERE GREG WAS INTRODUCED TO HENRY SMITH. WHEN HANK RETIRED HENRY TOOK OVER THE BAND AND THEY BECAME HENRY SMITH & THE DALTON BOYS. HE STAYED WITH THE BAND FOR 12 AMAZING YEARS , WHERE HE TOURED WITH HENRY ALL OVER THE UK, EUROPE AND USA CREATING A MASSIVE FOLLOWING.
AFTER 12 YEARS WITH THE BAND GREG DECIDED TO COME OFF THE ROAD AND BE A PART TIME DRUMMER FOR HENRY WHEN NEIL WAS UNABLE TO MAKE A GIG.
GREG HAS A HUGE PASSION FOR MUSIC AND HE COULDN’T KEEP THE MUSIC FROM BEATING INSIDE OF HIM. WHEN HENRY FELL SICK AND WAS UNABLE TO TALK OR SING GREG WATCHED HIM OVER COME THE ILLNESS THAT TOOK NEARLY 6 YEARS FROM HENRY. HE WATCHED HENRY’S CONFIDENCE GROW AS HE DEFINED ALL THE DOCTORS DIAGNOSIS. HE WAS TOLD HE WOULD NEVER TALK AGAIN. BUT HENRY WAS HAVING NONE OF THIS, AND WAS DETERMINED TO PROVE THEM WRONG.
THIS SPARKED A FLAME INSIDE OF GREG AND HE MADE THE DECISION TO COME BACK TO THE BAND FULL TIME. MUSIC IS INSIDE OF GREG’S BONES JUST AS MUCH AS HENRY’S WATCHING THEM PERFORM TOGETHER IS CERTAINLY A GIG YOU WANT TO MAKE IT ALONG TOO.
HARLEY DAVE -BASS GUITAR
Harley Dave has often been seen playing guitar for various bands, but his first love is playing bass – preferably to real country music.
Years ago, he formed “Too Country” with Gareth Rowan, a country/honkytonk outfit that played venues here, the USA and Europe, including opening for several US artists, and recording an album in Austin, Texas.
Since Gareth emigrated, HD has played in several bands on the CMC/Festival scene, including Texas Nightlife, Doggone Country Band, Gone Country, Shot To Pieces, Johnny Cash Revisited and The Hayley Oliver Band, and also played for visiting US artists including Tommy Cash (Johnny’s bother) and Joni Harms.
Most recently, HD has been playing in The Honkytonk Strangers with Mark and Greg, and instantly “clicked” with the guys, as they felt the same way about real country music as he did. You got to do it right!
It got even better when Henry was a guest singer at one of the band’s shows one night, and so HD was really delighted to be invited to join Henry and the band, and be offered the chance to be playing real country music, the way it should be, with like minded folks.
DAVE HAYWARD -STEEL GUITAR
MARK JACOBS -LEAD GUITAR
MARKS LOVE FOR MUSIC STARTED AT A YOUNG AGE HE STARTED LEARNING GUITAR AT THE AGE OF 14, THEN AT AGE OF 16 HE STARTED HIS JOURNEY ON THE BRITISH COUNTRY MUSIC CIRCUIT. HE JOINED SOUTHAMPTON BASED LOCAL LEGEND HANK DALTON AND WAS PERFORMING WITH HIM UNTIL HANK MADE THE DECISION TO COME OFF THE ROAD. THIS IS WHEN MARK MET HENRY, WHO STEPPED IN ALONG SIDE MARK AND THEY FORMED THE BAND "THE DALTON BOYS". THEY STARTED TO PERFORM ALL OVER THE UK AND BECAME A VERY POPULAR COUNTRY BAND THAT ARE VERY WELL KNOWN ON THE COUNTRY SCENE TODAY "HENRY SMITH'S COUNTRY DREAMS".
OVER THE YEARS MARK HAS PLAYED WITH MANY POPULAR COUNTRY BANDS INCLUDING : RICK MCKAY BAND , KALIBRE & HIS OWN BAND THE PERFECT STRANGERS . MOST RECENTLY MARK WOULD HAVE BEEN SEEN PLAYING GUITAR WITH RIDGEWAY COUNTRY. MARK WILL ALSO STEP IN TO HELP OUT OTHER ACTS WHEN HE CAN AS WELL AS FRONTING HIS OWN BAND "THE HONKYTONK STRANGERS". HE IS VERY EXCITED TO BE REUNITED WITH HENRY AND WILL BE PLAYING LEAD GUITAR AND VOCALS WITH HIM AND THE BAND. MARK AND HENRY HAVE BEEN WORKING TOGETHER ON THE STAGE AND COUNTRY SCENE FOR OVER 30 YEARS. WITH 30 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP, HE IS LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH HENRY AND THE BAND BRINGING JOY TO THE COUNTRY SCENE THROUGHOUT THE UK AND EUROPE.
