\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Droptines<\/a> were used to playing simple dive bars and rock rooms. Their worldview changed this\u00a0summer when they went on an amphitheater tour with Whiskey Myers<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tBy the time the Texas roots-rock band\u2019s opening run for Whiskey Myers ended with a sold-out show in Nashville earlier this summer, the five-piece \u2014\u00a0named after a deer\u2019s antler that, through genetics or injury, grows downward \u2014\u00a0nearly had whiplash over how far they had come.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt feels like an acid trip,\u201d Conner Arthur, the band\u2019s singer, tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cThere will be a lot to unpack after it\u2019s all done. I need to start journaling, because I feel like I\u2019ve forgotten a lot already.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe Droptines are Arthur, bassist Dillon Sampson, drummer Johnny Sheets, pedal steel player Tony Rincon, and guitarist Donny Parkinson. Collectively, they are a group of veteran musicians from the Texas Hill Country, heavy on Texas and Red Dirt, with a wildly prolific catalog they are hell-bent on sharing at every concert.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf you look at our setlist, there\u2019s a shitload of songs on there,\u201d Arthur says. \u201cWe\u2019re not dragging out a song that should be three minutes and making it nine minutes, relying on every lick our guitar player has. We punch in, and we punch out. We\u2019re trying to sell the songs.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA native of Concan, Texas, Arthur grew up \u201cat the foot of the state\u201d at House Pasture Co., a major venue in the Texas music scene, run by Arthur\u2019s parents. He started taking music seriously as a teenager, leaving home at 18 and busking around the country for the better part of a year. He formed the Droptines in 2019 and released an EP, but the pandemic shelved any real growth until 2021.<\/p>\n \n\tThe first few years of the band were \u201cfilled with dumb shit\u201d as Arthur recalls now. The band took nearly any gig it was offered, even when travel costs outweighed the pay. Their approach, he says, was grassroots, aiming to win over fans one-by-one. The first place he recalls it taking hold was in Lubbock, Texas. The band celebrated the release of a single, \u201cBill of Sale,\u201d at the Blue Light \u2014\u00a0a music room on Buddy Holly Ave. \u2014\u00a0in 2023, and were greeted with a full house.<\/p>\n