Soirée: Curtis Grimes

Soirée: Curtis Grimes

Already a chart-topping country star on the Texas circuit, Curtis Grimes swings for the fences — and embraces a bigger, broader audience — with his new EP, Bottom of the Fifth.

Curtis takes his small town roots, taking you through the heart of country music that is for the 21st century. Raised in East Texas, he grew up listening to artists like Alan Jackson, George Strait and Merle Haggard, all of whom poured the look and feel of the American South into their songs. That classic music became the soundtrack of Curtis’ childhood. As he grew older, though, his world became much wider. An impressive career as a collegiate and all-state baseball pitcher took him all around the state, and his growing success as a musician — including a stint on the first season of The Voice, where he competed on Cee Lo Green’s team — gave him the opportunity to expand his reach. After hanging up his baseball cleats for good, Curtis began writing songs that looked not only at personal experiences in the Lone Star State, but life across the entire country as well.

All roots musicians need to know their roots, of course, and Curtis certainly hasn’t forgotten his. Bottom of the Fifth, whose title track pays tribute to his baseball background, includes the Texas-influenced song “Longer,” an old-school, two-stepping tune built for dancehalls and honky tonks alike. As we round the bases on the EP, we hear “Me and Trouble,” a modern song that mixes twang with super-sized hooks. Together, these two tracks show the full range of Curtis’ music. He hasn’t forgotten his past — and with a catalog that include Number One singles like “Cowboy Kind” and “Our Side of the Fence,” both of which climbed to the top of the Texas country charts, who could blame him?

“I love Texas,” says Curtis, who kick-started his career playing bars in San Marcos and Austin, then landed a high-profile slot opening a sold-out show for Kenny Chesney. “I cut my teeth there. I played on friends’ couches and in college bars, then opened for Kenny, then played actual venues throughout the entire state, then did The Voice, then came back and played even bigger venues in Texas and other states. It’s been a steady climb, and I’m ready to take my Texas roots and continued support from my fans to dig in and reach an even broader audience.”

With one boot planted in traditional country and the other pointing toward something new and progressive, Curtis is turning Bottom of the Fifth into his biggest release to date. Game on.