NEWPORT — Larry Lee Cheshier of Newport may be kissing his past goodbye, but he expects his future to welcome him with open arms in 2011. With heart-touching songs like “Hillbilly Love” and “Kiss My Past,” Cheshier gained statewide recognition last year for his performance at the Arkansas State Fair, as well as a trip to Rock Hill South Carolina to compete in the Colgate Southeast Regional Country Showdown.
Cheshier, who has been singing most of his life, said he won his first competition at the age of 3.
“I love the music but didn’t learn to play the guitar until I was in college,” Cheshier said. “I taught myself some chords from a book and really didn’t start writing full time until about five years ago.”
Cheshier credits lessons he learned while growing up in Arkansas as inspiration for his creative writing style. He also comes from a musical background. While the family lived in Nashville, his dad wrote country music and had several hits in the ’70s, including “Hell Yes I Cheated,” which Cheshier now performs.
“That was an old song written by my dad back in the ’70s,” Cheshier said. “He and an old friend named Glenn Sutton wrote it, and from what I was told, it was a very popular song on the jukebox. Sonny Burgess still performs it today.”
Cheshier said he has been playing to statewide crowds the past few years and has performed at locations throughout the state. The Arkansas State Fair in Little Rock featured several acts and artists who had won local contests sponsored by radio stations. Cheshier represented radio station KOKR of Searcy. Cheshier said he is still deciding in which direction he wants to take his music.
“I really don’t know which direction to take it right now,” he said. “I’m kind of stuck and confused. Winter months are bad for us. We will start playing more when it gets warmer. … We don’t have any experience in doing this kind of thing; we are new. It would be nice if we had someone to take us under their wing, but we do the best we can.”
Cheshier was a solo act in South Carolina but has recently put together the Larry Lee Cheshier Band, which features several talented musicians from around the state. Cheshier said he learned a lot competing in the Showdown, which has featured artists like Garth Brooks, Billy Ray Cyrus, Brad Paisley and Martina McBride.
“My first gig was last December in North Little Rock on New Years Eve at Saddle Creek,” Cheshier said. “Before that, I spent a year doing open mics at Studio Joe in west Little Rock. It was about 12 of us performing. Shortly after that, I started looking for a band and went through several musicians, including some Newport boy.”
Cheshier still performs in Newport for the local crowd but is also winning over fans in central Arkansas with his original songs. He said one of his goals is to eventually not be known just as a house band but as a household name.
“This is it right now,” Cheshier said. “I’m driving a school bus, but we are trying to get to play bigger places. We would love to get a sponsor. It’s a lot of competition around here. I want to play bigger shows and get the music heard elsewhere, outside Arkansas.”