Flat River Band's Brotherly Harmonies Soar on 'Every Dog Has Its Day': Exclusive

Flat River Band’s three-part harmonies are at the forefront of their rollicking new song “Every Dog Has Its Day,” which Billboard premieres exclusively below. The title track from their forthcoming seven-song project, out Aug. 20, “Every Dog Has Its Day” takes a common phrase and builds a foot-stomping bluegrass romp around it.

Accompanied by soaring fiddle and banjo parts, a pounding drum beat and a feel-good lyric, “Every Dog Has Its Day” adequately introduces the trio’s forthcoming project. A band of brothers who grew up performing at Branson’s Silver Dollar City and Pigeon Forge’s Dollywood, the bluegrass group features Chad, Andy and Dennijo Sitze. Chad penned the upbeat tune and says “Every Dog Has Its Day” was a joy to write.

“The inspiration came from the influence of both of our grandpas on our dad’s side and our mom’s side,” he tells Billboard. “Both were very, very encouraging growing up. I laid down my scratch vocals the day before my wife and I found out if our fourth child was going to be a boy or a girl. On the second verse, the original lyric was ‘and three young strapping lads,’ but a big reality check set in when I was laying down my final vocals because I’ve got four young strapping lads now, so we changed the lyrics to match.”

One of Dennijo’s guitar heroes, Johnny Highland, played lead guitar on the song. Additionally, Aaron McDaris, who plays with Rhonda Vincent, served as banjo player on the track. McDaris brought a little history with him to the studio when recording “Every Dog Has Its Day.”

“He brought with him his 1934 Gibson RB-3 that was owned by none other than Sonny Osborne who recorded the University of Tennessee’s theme song ‘Rocky Top’ with that same banjo in 1967!” Dennijo marvels. “So, the song itself has a little Rocky Top history on it.”

The trio recorded their upcoming album at John McClure’s Jony Mac Studios in Nashville. McClure engineered the project and encouraged the trio to sing the songs together live, something Flat River Band had never done before. In doing so, Andy says the band captured a vibe they never were able to before.

The Missouri natives had a hand in producing, writing and playing on every track featured on their forthcoming album. Listen to “Every Dog Has Its Day” below.