Big in Iowa

Many country-rock music lovers know ‘Big in Iowa’ was an outgrowth of a chance encounter between musicians, Bob Burns and Ken Glidewell in an Ohio bar. In case you wonder how a band formed in Ohio got Iowa in it’s name, the answer appears to lie a couple generations before the 1990s.

Bob Burns was the nephew of Rick Burns who had a group called Do’s & Don’ts which mainly played gigs in Iowa. Legend has it Rick Burns once turned down an offer from Jerry Lee Lewis and in the process told him the ‘Do’s & Don’t were big in Iowa’. Ironically in 1995 with the addition of Dusty Bryant on keyboard, Jimmy O’Keefe on drums and guitarist, Rick House, Big in Iowa formed in 1995.

The release of their album Twisted, in 1998 featuring Bob Burns singing ‘Is This Love?’ gained international fame via Blue Rose Records. Following Europe’s Wolfstock Festival, life called the them different directions. Bob Burns began working for Transportation Safety Administration in DC., while Rick House continued on the Cincinnatic music scene with his own band. Not too long after the release of ‘GeezilPete’ on CD, a motorcycle accident resulted in Ken Glidewell’s death.The information party rocks on: Perry first to RSVP for Iowa GOP’s largest annual fundraiser