Living a teenage dream
Local teens are poised to follow the Blue Dirt Road to future stardom
Like many kids their age, Ty DeBoer, Jessica and Travis Moore, and Elaena and Natalie Schiltz spend evenings hanging out in their parents’ basement.
Unlike many kids their age, however, in between laughs they are taking care of business with weekly band rehearsals.
The teenagers – all 13 years old, apart from 15-year-old Jessica – have found unusually early success with their cover band, Blue Dirt Road.
Their journey began in May, when Jessica, a violinist and pianist, and vocalists Elaena and Natalie decided to combine their skills for a talent show at Blue Earth Area Middle School. They asked Travis, Jessica’s brother, to join them on guitar.
“We liked how it sounded,” Elaena explains.
Rather than call it quits following the talent show, the teens decided to see where music making could take them.
With their eye on the Bacontown Throwdown competition which would be sponsored by the Fairmont Opera House in the fall, the Moore and Schiltz kids – backed by mom Lora Moore on drums – decided to buckle down and rehearse over the summer.
Thus, Blue Dirt Road was born.
It was Lora who came up with the name ‘Blue Dirt Road,’ inspired by the long dirt road which leads to the Moore family’s home on the outskirts of Blue Earth.
“These are definitely dirt road kind of kids,” Lora says, referencing the band members’ rural roots. “It really fit.”
Though this was their first experience playing in a cover band, the teens all brought years of experience with both solo and ensemble musicianship to the table.
Travis started playing guitar when he was seven, and he also plays bass, saxophone, piano, drums and the clarinet. He is a band and orchestra member at Blue Earth Area Schools.
Jessica plays violin and piano in Blue Dirt Road, but she also plays saxophone and ukulele. She, too, plays in band and orchestra at school.
Twins Elaena and Natalie, meanwhile, have been singing together since they were toddlers. The girls play clarinet and trombone in band, and Elaena picked up the guitar when she was 10.
Ty, who joined Blue Dirt Road as a bassist in December, also plays viola in an orchestra ensemble at Fairmont Jr/Sr High School.
“These are extremely busy kids,” Lora observes. “The amount of dedication they have for everything they do is remarkable.”
That dedication soon paid off with Blue Dirt Road’s rapid growth.
In June, the teens were ready to test out their sound, and entered a float in Blue Earth’s Giant Days Parade. Later, they booked a gig at the Faribault County Fair in late July.
They developed a solid repertoire of rock and pop anthems, curating a mix of popular crowd-pleasers like the Guns N’ Roses hit ‘Sweet Child of Mine,’ and newer numbers like Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story.’
Blue Dirt Road’s first paid gig was the much-anticipated Bacontown Throwdown, which rolled around in September.
The young musicians made quite an impression at the competition, wowing the crowd with their skills. Their long hours of practice were rewarded with a second-place finish, as well as the People’s Choice Award.
Rather than rest on their laurels, Blue Dirt Road’s young members asked, ‘What’s next?’
Ty joined their ranks in December, and Blue Dirt Road promptly booked its next few gigs with the help of Dan Moore – Travis and Jessica’s father – as manager.
“He has lots of relationships with people,” Natalie says.
Blue Dirt Road started 2023 off with a bang at the Fairmont Opera House.
In March, the band opened for the Dallas String Quartet, a well-known American classical crossover ensemble, in front of a large and very enthusiastic crowd of admirers.
Blue Dirt Road prefaced the concert with a three-week ‘boot camp’ with Makie (Greimann) Bloomer, a local veteran of the music industry who helped the teens establish choreography for their upcoming show.
“She brought out a lot in three weeks,” Dan says.
The teens returned to the Opera House stage a few weeks later to play for a private birthday party, and Dan has booked the band solid throughout the coming months.
Blue Dirt Road will perform three pre-game shows for the Mankato Moondogs this summer. They will also appear at Fairmont’s Heritage Days on June 9, the Giant Days Block Party on July 8, the Faribault County Fair on July 28 and the Freeborn County Fair on Aug. 2.
The band has big plans for their future repertoire, too. Their practice space in the Moores’ basement – complete with a full sound system and a customized Blue Dirt Road banner – also sports a large white board chock-full of songs the teens plan to learn for summer gigs.
In tribute to their Minnesota roots, the band has Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ in the works. They also debuted Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ and Miley Cyrus’s ‘Flowers’ at their last gig.
For now, Blue Dirt Road is focusing on covers, but they aspire to write and perform original songs, too. Travis shares he has written some original music, although the band has yet to put lyrics to it.
The group will put in hours of practice over the summer, gathering several times a week to prepare for upcoming performances.
However, though they work hard on their music, having fun still remains the kids’ top priority.
“We get to have the best time together,” Jessica says.
Elaena agrees, adding, “We get to do what we all love, and do it together.”
As Lora summarizes, “It is always friends first, band second.”
The band may be second, but it still seems likely to shoot for the stars, and reach them.
Follow Blue Dirt Road’s journey on Facebook @BlueDirtRoad, and on YouTube @BlueDirtRoadCoverBand.