James Otto

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Doors open: 6pm
Event begins: 7pm

Event website: thedallescivic.com

There’s a certain chemistry that happens when a great vocalist collides with a hit song. Magic just explodes from the speakers and the impact is undeniable. It’s a phenomenon James Otto knows well.

His breakthrough hit, “Just Got Started Lovin’ You,” topped the country chart and was the Most Played Country Single of the Year in 2008, according to Billboard magazine. Otto’s bluesy, muscular voice and dynamic stage presence earned him the respect of industry gatekeepers and the adoration of legions of country music fans. However, there’s more to life than chart success and constant touring.

Real country music is fed by life experience and Otto stepped away from the spotlight to focus on family and pour his life into a new season of songwriting. Now he’s returned to recording with an infectious new single, “Somewhere Tonight,” that reveals a renewed commitment to creating his own unique brand of country music. “I really wanted to grab people’s attention with something that’s completely different from what they were used to hearing from me,” Otto says. “That’s why I gravitated towards cutting it. I’ve probably written several hundred songs in the last couple years. I really wanted to find something that was fresh for me; that felt like a new take on what I do. I felt like this song was the answer.”

During his self-imposed hiatus, Otto penned hundreds of songs, but he says when he co wrote “Somewhere Tonight,” he knew there was something special, and when he began performing it in his shows, that hunch was confirmed. “I watched the reaction of the crowd. It was obvious that ‘Somewhere Tonight’ moved people instantly,” he relates. “They didn’t know the song. They weren’t told it was a new single. It was just a song I was playing and you could just see the movement when that song hit the crowd, and I thought, ‘Okay, this feels really good and it’s fun to do.’ And that’s what I want. I want to have a song that you can’t ignore, that makes your head move, that makes you want to move, and that’s exactly what it did.”

In listening to “Somewhere Tonight,” the groove is undeniable and Otto found fans embracing the message in the lyric. “We all get into ruts in life, especially with kids and all of life’s obligations,” he says. “With all the things that happen in life, sometimes you just need to break out and that’s exactly what this song is about. It’s saying, ‘I just want to go somewhere tonight. I wanna forget about all the stress and pressure at work and the busy schedules. I just want to get out, and have some fun.’”

Tickets Are Non-Refundable