Twenty-four hours before Diamond Rio finds out if it's won a Grammy Award, the band will be performing at the Wagon Wheel Theatre in Warsaw.
Diamond Rio has been nominated for a Grammy Award 13 previous times, and came up empty every time.
The band's 14th nomination this year is for Best Southern, Country Or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for their first full-length Christian Music release titled "The Reason", featuring the hit single "God Is There".
Diamond Rio was previously awarded the Dove Award for Country Album Of The Year and nominated for two more categories, including Song Of The Year for "God Is There" in 2010.
The Grammys this year are Sunday, but Diamond Rio won't be there since they're playing at the Wagon Wheel the night before.
"We'll have our fingers crossed the whole time we're playing in Warsaw," said member Gene Johnson in a telephone interview Feb. 3.
The first year Diamond Rio was nominated, Johnson said, they attended the awards show.
"It was interesting and neat, but I didn't feel any particular need to go back," Johnson said, though it was nice to be nominated.
Diamond Rio started forming in 1984, but continued to change until spring 1989 when the last of the six-member band joined.
"We're kind of a brotherhood," said Gene Johnson. "A lot of it is luck of the draw that we would get six personalities that would make it work. We're all of the same mindset that we're in it for the long haul."
The award-winning country band performs at the Wagon Wheel Theatre Saturday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $43 front row, $38 second row and $33 all other rows, according to the Wagon Wheel website.
Johnson plays the mandolin with Diamond Rio. He is joined in the band by Jimmy Olander, Brian Prout, Marty Roe, Dan Truman and Dana Williams.
"We are a country band," said Johnson. "We did a completely Christian album, but I don't think we'll ever get away from country."
The Christian album was released at the end of 2009.
"We are making plans for a new album," Johnson said, but it's still in the talking phases. The band hasn't gone into the recording studio yet.
To put an album together with six guys, Johnson said, they have "lots of meetings." They all sit down together and the process is very democratic.
"Here and there we may split on a song, 3-3, 5-1, but it's rare," Johnson said. "You might win some, lose some, but for the most part, we generally agree."
When the band goes into the studio to record, all members are there. "It's a joint process," he said. "Our goal is to make good music."
For a show, it's all about the fans.
"Shows are pretty much what we feel the audience demands," Johnson said. "... We do as many of the hits as we can in a show. We try to do some of the songs off the new album. We will do what the audience expects, but we also try to throw in some surprises."
During most of the show, Johnson plays the mandolin and sings the high tenor parts. He's played the mandolin all his life. He has played other string instruments in the past, specifically the fiddle.
"It's what I prefer to play," he said of the mandolin. "If you don't play the fiddle all the time, it'll get away from you. You have to be on top of it."
Diamond Rio set goals when they first started out, Johnson said. Fortunately, they've met most of them early on.
One of the band's goals was to have a hit album. When they debuted in 1991 with the hit "Meet in the Middle," Diamond Rio became the first group in the history of country music to have a debut single reach No. 1. They continued to place 32 more singles on the Billboard chart, including "How Your Love Makes Me Feel," "Norma Jean Riley," "Beautiful Mess" and "Love a Little Stronger."
Johnson said another early goal for the band was to win some awards. The band has earned three platinum albums and won the Country Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year award four times as well as netting two Academy of Country Music Awards in the top Vocal Group of the Year category.
Now it just needs that Grammy.Since Diamond Rio formed, Johnson said, the music industry has changed.
"It's definitely not the same as it always was," he said.
The record companies are definitely going through some big changes, he said, and in a hurry. He sees a lot of people in the industry changing how they do business.
"In this point of our career, we don't care so much about labels. Our next album, we'll probably record it before we shop it out. That's what we did with our Christmas album. It seems to be a good way to do it," Johnson said. "It's changed a lot. But right now, the labels are really searching. It's a new world out there."
The Christmas album, "A Diamond Rio Christmas: The Star Still Shines," was a 2007 holiday album with Word Records.
When Diamond Rio isn't touring or making albums, the band acts as a national spokesperson for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
"It's still our biggest push," Johnson said.
Team Rio competes in the Music City Marathon to help raise money for BBBS. Guitarist Olander, who Johnson described as the "healthiest" member of the band, is the team captain. Team Rio has several hundred members, and last year collected several hundred thousand dollars for BBBS.
