Hometown News is an American country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 duo composed of singer-songwriters Ron Kingery and Scott Whitehead. Both musicians alternate as lead and background vocalists, in addition to playing guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, while Kingery also plays the mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

. Hometown News has recorded two independently-released albums, in addition to charting two singles on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

country music charts. Their highest-peaking single and only Top 40 hit, "Minivan", reached #37 in 2002.

History

Before the duo's formation, Ron Kingery worked as a studio engineer for various country music artists in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, in addition to writing children's music. Scott Whitehead, a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin and formerly a pilot for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, was also working a songwriter in Nashville, when he met Kingery at a songwriter's workshop in 1996. In addition, the duo appeared on the Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

, as well as playing gigs at several military bases.

Recording career

The duo were then signed to VFR Records in 2002, recording their album Wheels that year. The album produced two singles in its title track and "Minivan", the latter a Top 40 hit. Shortly afterward, the duo embarked on a tour of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

. VFR closed in 2002, however, and the duo was left without a record deal.

Hometown News sang "The Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...

" and "God Bless America

God Bless America

"God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. The later version has notably been recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature song ....

" at game six of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium

Busch Stadium

Busch Stadium is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals, of MLB...

 in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, marking the last time that the U.S. National Anthem was sung at that stadium.

In 2005, Hometown News signed to the independent Quarterback Records label. Their second album, Hometown News, was released in 2006, although it did not produce any chart singles.

Studio albums

Title	Album details
Wheels	Release date: June 4, 2002 Label: VFR Records Formats: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
Hometown News	Release date: September 20, 2005 Label: Quarterback Records Formats: CD, music download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
2002	"Minivan"	37	Wheels
	"Wheels"	47
2003	"First Second Chance"	—
2004	"Revitalize"	—
	"If I Could"	—	Hometown News
2005	"That's Country to Me"	—
2006	"Brand New Me"	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2004	"Revitalize"
	"If I Could"