Members of the Blue Dirt Road band are pictured at left. Left to right are Travis Moore, Wes Meyer, Elaena Schiltz, Lora Moore, Natalie Schiltz and Jessica Moore.

It is hard to believe, but Blue Dirt Road, the six-member band based out of Blue Earth, is now into its third year of delighting fans with their crowd-pleasing performances.

Founded in May of 2022 when the youngest member of the band, Travis Moore, was only 12 years old, Blue Dirt Road is ready to hit the road this summer on what they are calling the Color Town Tour.

The other five members of the band are Jessica Moore (sister to Travis), Lora Moore (mother to Jessica and Travis), twins Elaena and Natalie Schiltz and Wes Meyer.

The Color Town Tour was the brainchild of manager/sound technician/father of Jessica and Travis, Dan Moore.

“The kids are all minors so they are not allowed to play in bars,” Dan says. “I was thinking about how Blue Earth has a color in its name and I decided to find out what other towns in Minnesota had a color in their names. I thought it would be fun to tour and perform in some of those towns.”

Turns out, there are many towns with a color in their name.

“I started cold-calling different cities. That wasn’t fun,” Moore declares. “But, once I told people about the band they got excited and wanted to be a part of the tour.”

The tour will kick off at 9 a.m. on June 21, in Blue Earth with a performance at the Giant Welcome Center parking lot.

“We are scheduled to play at Town Square Park in Redwood Falls at 1 p.m., at Brownton in the City Park Band Shelter at 4 p.m. and wrap up our day in Green Isle at the Veterans Memorial Park at 7 p.m.,” Dan comments. “The next day, June 22, will see the band perform at Gerbig Park in Brownsdale at 2 p.m. before moving on to our final performance at Wayside Park, in Rose Creek, at 5 p.m.”

Meanwhile, Blue Dirt Road has been putting in many hours of practice to prepare for their tour and their other scheduled performances for the summer.

“We practice about six hours per week,” Jessica notes. “Although Travis and Wes (the guitar players) practice even more.”

Wes was not an original member of the group.

“Our instrumentation is definitely tighter than it was,” Lora offers. “I credit Wes with working hard to make that happen.”

Which is kind of funny considering the way Wes and Travis started out.

“Seriously, the first time Travis and I played together at 10 Talents I think I only played two notes,” Wes says, laughing. “And I only got one of those right.”

“But, I knew that he was our guy,” Lora responds.

Each member of the group brings something different to the table, both in their different kinds of talent and also in their appreciation of different forms of music.

“I have always been more a fan of classic rock,” Jessica shares. “But, Wes likes other styles of rock and Elaena knows a lot of older music so we all get exposure to music we may not normally listen to.”

In getting ready for 2024, the band has almost completely altered the set of songs they sang last year.

“We redid the whole set, but we did keep two or three crowd favorites,” Natalie comments. “It is mostly new stuff.”

And, Lora adds, she lets the kids make the decisions on what to sing.

“They are at the front of the stage doing all of the talking and singing,” Lora says. “I let them drive the train – I just help them stay on the track.”

According to Jessica, there will be more variety in the songs they sing this year.

In addition, all of the members of the band feel they have improved leaps and bounds from a year ago.

“They have a level of fearlessness now, both in their performing and in their vocals,” Lora explains.

Jessica expresses what she sees as being better this year.

“Our showmanship is better,” she notes. “We are very comfortable interacting with the crowd. We thought we were good last year but I believe people will see a big difference this year.”

Lora credits a trip the band took to Nashville, Tennessee, for much of the band’s improvement.

“I saw a big change – it was like someone flipped a switch when we were in Nashville,” Lora recalls. “They saw some acts down there and then they got a chance to take the stage themselves and knew they could do it.”

They may be comfortable on stage now, but members of the group shared memories of some instances which left them a little nervous or shook up.

“We were playing a show in Albert Lea and a person in the audience passed out and had to be taken away in an ambulance,” Jessica comments. “It was extremely hot that day. Then, there was the time we opened for the Dallas String Quartet and only had eight minutes to do our sound check, that was hard on our nerves.”

Elaena says performing in front of their hometown crowd used to make her nervous.

“I was shaking after we played in Nashville,” Wes remembers. “I have never been so filled with adrenaline.”

While Elaena and Natalie take the lead vocals on the majority of the songs, Wes and Travis take over as the leads on one of the group’s songs and provide backup vocals on many others.

Lora is the drummer, although she mentions everybody in the band, except Wes, can play the drums.

Jessica plays violin, piano and the ukulele in the band and has recently added the mandolin to the list of instruments she plays. She also plays saxophone in the Blue Earth Area band and is a member of the BEA orchestra.

Travis plays guitar for the band but can also play piano, saxophone and the clarinet. He also belongs to the BEA band and orchestra.

Besides being the lead vocalists for Blue Dirt Road, twins Elaena and Natalie play the clarinet and trombone in BEA’s band. Elaena also plays guitar.

Wes, who recently graduated from Genesis Classical Academy, plays guitar and along with Travis, has written over 40 original songs, one of which is part of the group’s 2024 set list.

“I wrote the lyrics,” Wes says. “Travis wrote the guitar parts.”

The group, who used to practice in the basement of the Moore’s house, now practice at the Twin Oaks Sales and Events building.

“Dan Duden has been so kind to let us use his building,” Dan shares. “It really helps to have a dedicated place to practice.”

Dan and Lora are also quick to acknowledge the support of the parents of the band’s members.

“None of this would be possible without the effort of the parents,” Dan says. “They help get the kids to the shows and also help in many other ways.”

In addition to being involved in school music groups, Jessica, Elaena and Natalie are also members of different BEA sports teams.

So, how do they find time to be in a band?

“You make time for the things you want to do,” Jessica answers.

Lora adds, “I have seen them come to practice tired, dragging, sick and injured. But, by the time they get to playing, none of them want to leave.”

Different members offer their thoughts on what they want the band to accomplish.

“I think it would be fun to have an original song on the radio,” Natalie comments.

“I would like to have a venue where we can play for our own fans,” Wes suggests.

“I would like to have some albums out, a following of fans and continue to be a band,” Travis says.

In addition to their performance in Blue Earth on June 21, Blue Dirt Road will also perform in Blue Earth for Giant Days on Saturday, July 13, at 2 p.m.

People can follow the band on their website – bluedirtroad.com