LoCash

It was April of 2008, and the LoCash Cowboys were doing what they do bestrocking a packed house. They were at Nashville's Wildhorse Saloon, where the two of themPreston Brust and Chris Lucashad met a few years earlier. The amped-up crowd was living, screaming proof that they had put the time since then to good use. They had been criss-crossing the country, honing their craft on stages large and small, developing one of the most dynamic live shows in any genre of music. Along the way, they had sold more than 60,000 copies of their homemade CD, earned endorsements from the likes of Budweiser, shared bills with artists including Charlie Daniels and ZZ Top, performed at halftime of NBA and U.S. Olympic team basketball games, and earned television appearances ranging from Tanya Tucker's reality show "Tuckerville" to "Pageant School: Becoming Miss America," writing the theme songs for both.

They had also attracted their share of support from those in the industry who recognized just how much of the total package they hadgreat vocals, world-class dance moves, a unique look and charisma to burn, as well as a wealth of experience and a work ethic that impressed everyone who dealt with them.

On that warm spring night, the final piece of the puzzle would fall into place. Jeffrey Steele, one of Nashville's biggest names in songwriting ("The Cowboy In Me," "What Hurts The Most," "My Town") and producing (Montgomery Gentry, Keith Anderson) was working his way through the crowd.

"Everybody's screaming and he can barely get to the stage," says Preston. "He was almost crowd-surfing his way to the front. He grabbed hold of me in the middle of a song and yelled, 'I get it! I want to work with you!' It was a monumental moment."

Steele, like so many others before and since, had caught the LoCash vision, and he signed on as songwriting partner and producer. After building and gathering strength for years, earning a growing legion of fans inside and outside the industry, the LoCash Cowboys saw their momentum become a perfect storm.

"We had a few great songs already," adds Preston, "but writing 40 songs with Jeffrey amounted to honing the vision, defining who and what we are. We knew the whole time that this wasn't just going to be 11 or 12 songs on a record. We knew it would be the debut of what the world will know as LoCash."

That debut, called This Is How We Do It, is a fitting introduction to a compellingly charismatic duo, a well-rounded CD that captures all the excitement of their stage performance while displaying a softer, more philosophical side as well. The project's first single, "You Got Me," is the best of both worlds. Penned by Chris and Preston, it is, quite simply, a love song that rocks.