Toyota TS030 Hybrid

The Toyota TS030 Hybrid is a Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) sports car built by Toyota Motorsport GmbH and used by the manufacturer in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 and 2013. It was Toyota's first all new prototype since the GT-One last competed in 1999, and was the first petrol-hybrid engine car to participate in the World Endurance Championship. Work on designing the car began in late 2010 when early chassis designs were presented to Toyota Motorsport. The project was stopped briefly after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, but the car's building was approved six months later. The TS030 Hybrid featured a Kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) regenerative braking device to charge a super capacitor. Its engine, a naturally aspirated petrol 3.4-litre (210 cu in) V8 power unit, was mounted at a 90-degree angle, produced 530 horsepower (400 kW; 540 PS), and was based on Toyota's Super GT project.

On 24 January 2012 the TS030 Hybrid was shown to the press for the first time at Circuit Paul Ricard and the team commenced testing at the track shortly after. Its planned debut at the 2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps was delayed while the car's chassis was rebuilt after a heavy testing crash. Two TS030 Hybrid cars were entered for Le Mans which saw the team fail to finish because of a sizeable accident by Anthony Davidson in the No. 8 vehicle, and an engine failure for the sister No. 7 entry. After the race, the company fielded a sole TS030 Hybrid for the rest of the season and attracted attention for an innovative rear wing extension. It was able to compete successfully against the two Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars, securing three victories with drivers Nicolas Lapierre and Alexander Wurz, ending the season second to their rivals in the World Manufacturers' Championship.

Further car development was undertaken to minimise the impact of the 2013 LMP1 technical regulations by focusing on engine fine-tuning for improvements in power, efficiency and reliability. Only one TS030 Hybrid was entered for the entire 2013 World Endurance Championship because Toyota had limited resources, though a second car was used in selected races. The 2012-specification chassis was used in the season's first two races with the updated 2013 chassis debuting at Spa-Francorchamps. The TS030 Hybrid cars won two of the eight rounds contested in the season with a second-place finish for the No. 8 vehicle at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Toyota again finished second behind their rivals Audi in the Manufacturers' Championship. The 2014 LMP1 regulations rendered the TS030 Hybrid obsolete, and it was superseded by the TS040 Hybrid.

## Background

Prior to the development of the TS030 Hybrid, Toyota last competed in sports car racing in 1999. That year their cars, called GT-Ones, qualified on pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. All three cars ran quickly for most of the race although two retired from tyre issues, while the remaining GT-One finished in second place behind race winners BMW. The company chose to withdraw from sports car racing at the end of the year to concentrate their efforts on establishing their Formula One team. After the Hybrid GT500 Toyota Supra HV-R won the Tokachi 24 Hours outright in 2007, Toyota sought a larger and more international audience for acknowledgement of the company's work in hybrid racing technology. Engineers set themselves the objective of developing a purpose-built car to return to international endurance racing, and garner worldwide interest by competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

## Design and development

Work on designing the car began in late 2010 when early designs of its chassis were presented to Toyota Motorsport. The project was halted briefly after the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011 although the building of the car was approved six months later. The carbon fibre monocoque was constructed at Toyota Motorsport's headquarters in Cologne which built 84% of the chassis, and performed aerodynamic development of the design in its wind tunnel. Designers were influenced by findings from outdated Dome chassis and impressions from current Audi and Peugeot monocoques. The suspension setup consisted of an independent double wishbone system with pushrod actuated dampers, and was designed to accommodate wide tyres. Its engine, a naturally aspirated petrol 3.4-litre (210 cu in) V8 power unit, was mounted at a 90-degree angle, and produced 530 horsepower (400 kW; 540 PS). Toyota engineers elected to base the engine on their Super GT project instead of constructing a new one. The six-speed sequential gearbox unit was transverse-mounted to the engine and the brakes were constructed from carbon materials.

The TS030 Hybrid featured a Kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) regenerative braking device produced by Toyota Racing Development (the Le Mans organisers, Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), use the alternate name ERS) to charge a super capacitor. The extra power is directed to the rear wheels, giving an automatic horsepower increase of 300 bhp (220 kW; 300 PS). Its motor generator unit acts as a generator under braking; this allows it to harvest direct energy from the drive shaft which slows the car and converts energy into electricity that is stored in the super capacitor, which was supplied by Nisshinbo and mounted in the car's passenger compartment. The result allows for faster lap times when the driver exits track turns and saves fuel by reducing engine usage leaving a corner. Toyota chose Aisin AW to build the front electric motor while Denso were selected to build the rear power unit. Under the 2012 Le Mans rules they were allowed to use the system at any speed, unlike Audi who had elected to send power to the front, with a restriction to a minimum speed of 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph). Michelin was the team's tyre supplier.

### Livery, launch and testing

The car was liveried in white, with blue stripes running down the sides of the cockpit and on top of each of its sidepods. Several sponsor stickers were on a number of areas of the car. The vehicle's race number was placed in a red square on the middle of the top section of its front left fender and the far-right of both fenders. The livery incorporated the colour scheme of Toyota's hybrid production cars and returned to the livery used by the Japanese manufacturer between 1985 and 1993. Toyota publicly announced its return to sports car racing in October 2011. Three months later the first car undertook a three-day, private test session at Circuit Paul Ricard. Toyota planned to test their TS030s for 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) during the 2012 pre-season period. The company entered into a partnership with the French-based Oreca racing team for the provision of operational support.

On 24 January the TS030 was shown to the press for the first time during its test session at Paul Ricard. After its three-day roll-out at Paul Ricard, the TS030 Hybrid covered more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) with tyre evaluation, testing the hybrid system over long distances, and aerodynamic and mechanical set-up optimising undertaken in their test session. The team returned to the track in mid-February and performed a 30-hour endurance stint, after evaluating multiple performance developments. After a heavy accident at Paul Ricard during a second endurance test on 4 April that damaged the chassis beyond repair, Toyota cancelled seven days of running at EuroSpeedway Lausitz and Ciudad del Motor de Aragón. Following the car's rebuilding, Toyota scheduled a functionality test at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours one month later.

### Preparation

The initial schedule for the TS030s consisted of participation in the May pre-qualifying and testing session at Le Mans in preparation for the race in June. It was scheduled to make its début in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, but its heavy accident at Paul Ricard, forced the team was forced to delay the TS030's debut race appearance until the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June because of the time needed to produce a new monocoque. The ACO and world motorsport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), persuaded Toyota to expand their presence in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) by extending the deadline for entries following Peugeot's withdrawal from sports car racing, but Toyota elected not to enter the 12 Hours of Sebring because of time constraints.

In early 2012, Toyota named seven drivers to the team. Sébastien Buemi, the third driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team, had no prior experience of endurance motor racing. Former Williams Formula One and Formula Nippon driver Kazuki Nakajima also came from an open wheel racing background. Anthony Davidson was added to the team for his previous experience with sports cars, while Nicolas Lapierre transferred from Team Oreca's Le Mans squad. Alexander Wurz also had extensive experience of sports car racing having twice won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Stéphane Sarrazin was employed by Toyota in May 2012 to replace Hiroaki Ishiura who withdrew following the completion of the car's first testing session due to back discomfort. Super GT competitor Andrea Caldarelli served as the team's junior driver.

## Racing history

### 2012

The TS030 Hybrid made its race debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with two cars entered. It was the first petrol-hybrid car to compete in the WEC. Despite electrical problems in practice and qualifying, the No. 8 car qualified third with the No. 7 entry securing fifth. On the 82nd lap, Davidson collided with the No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perazzini at Mulsanne corner, somersaulted into the air and crashed heavily into a tyre barrier. Davidson got out of his car unassisted, but was transported to a local hospital, complaining of back pain. A medical inspection found he had cracked two vertebrae (T11 & T12) from the accident. The No. 7 TS030 Hybrid, which had briefly led the race before the accident, had previously suffered from car damage that required lengthy repairs to it, and retired ten and a half hours into the event after an engine failure. After Le Mans, Toyota fielded one car for the remainder of the season, and installed innovative rear wing extensions to their cars which garnered controversy in the series, but were declared legal. The championship resumed two months later at Silverstone, where the No. 7 Toyota qualified in third position, seven-tenths of a second behind the pole-sitting No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fässler, Benoît Tréluyer and André Lotterer. In the race, the car was able to compete with the lead Audi car, with the two vehicles trading the lead throughout, but lost their race-long duel and took second place, finishing ahead of Allan McNish's and Tom Kristensen's third-placed No. 2 Audi.

Nakajima missed the next two events because of Super GT commitments. At the following round of the season, the 6 Hours of São Paulo, Wurz took the TS030 Hybrid's first pole position on his first timed lap which he improved on minutes later; he was nearly eight-tenths of a second faster than Audi's No. 2 car driven by Lucas di Grassi. Wurz and Lapierre maintained the No. 7's pole position advantage throughout most of the race, only ceding it to Audi during the pit stop cycles, to secure its first victory in the WEC. Lapierre qualified the No. 7 TS030 in third place for the 6 Hours of Bahrain behind the two rival Audi cars. Wurz started the car and used slower traffic to move into the lead 13 minutes into the race. Wurz and later Lapierre cemented their advantage at the front of the field over the next two hours until both illuminated number panels failed, forcing an unscheduled seven-minute pit stop for replacement car parts. Lapierre and later Wurz recovered to third place before Laiperre made contact with Jonny Kane in the No. 21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a, damaging the No. 7 TS030 Hybrid's suspension. This caused him to abandon the car at the side of the track.

For the 6 Hours of Fuji, Nakajima returned to partner Wurz and Lapierre. He was nominated by Toyota to drive the No. 7 car in qualifying and took pole position with an early effort that removed Tréluyer in the No. 1 Audi from the top of the time sheets. In the race, the vehicle kept its startline advantage and pulled away from the field. The No. 2 Audi of Lotterer, Tréluyer and Fässler traded the lead with the Toyota multiple times before it was penalised for colliding with a slower car. Hence, the No. 7 Toyota maintained the lead for the rest of the race to secure its second victory of the season. Nakajima was unable to attend the 6 Hours of Shanghai because his Super GT commitments took priority over WEC, leaving Wurz and Laiperre to drive the car as a two-person entry. Wurz put the No. 7 TS030 Hybrid on pole position despite losing time on his fastest lap, and was one-tenth of a second quicker than McNish's No. 2 Audi. In the race, the car was unhindered throughout as it consistently ran under a second faster than both Audi cars, and only ceded the lead to their rivals in the pit stop cycle, clinching its third victory of the season with a large lead over Audi's No. 2 car. Competing with the TS030 Hybrid, the Toyota team scored 96 points and were second to Audi in the 2012 World Manufacturers' Championship.

### 2013

Toyota opted to develop the car to minimise the impact of the 2013 Technical Regulations which increased the minimum weight of manufacturer Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) vehicles by 15 kilograms (33 lb) by focusing on fine-tuning the engine for power improvement, efficiency and reliability. They also manufactured new chassis tubs consisting of a narrower front nose because there was no longer a need to have an option to operate the hybrid system on the front wheels. The company had limited resources, so they elected to run one TS030 Hybrid for the entire WEC season with a second vehicle participating in selected rounds including the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first race of the season, the 6 Hours of Silverstone, saw Toyota bring two 2012-specification cars in place of the updated 2013 chassis. Nakajima was absent from Silverstone because of a Super Formula commitment. Despite a timing system malfunction preventing lap times from being published for more than an hour, the No. 7 and No. 8 Toyota cars qualified in first and second places, separated by nearly two seconds. However, the event was at best uneventful, with neither car being able to match either Audi's pace, finishing third and fourth overall having struggled in the first few hours of the race with tyre management.

The second round of the season, the 2013 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, saw Toyota debut the new 2013 specification car with one older chassis entered. After a close qualifying session, the updated No. 7 car ran near the front of the race for the first three hours, before retiring due to overheating brakes as a result of a malfunctioning energy recovery system. With the rear brake assembly designed to be assisted with certain amounts of mechanical retardation provided by the hybrid recovery system by design, it did not provide the deceleration when malfunctioning, thus overloading the conventional rear brakes. The No. 8 sister car remained in fourth for the rest of the event, closing what was a mixed outcome for the team. Post race, technical director Pascal Vasselon explained that "his team's analysis from Spa showed that the current Balance of Performance significantly favoured Audi's turbo-diesel engine over its own normally-aspirated petrol engine," calling for the ACO and FIA for a more favourable balance of performance to be applied before Le Mans. As agreed at the season's start, the FIA and the ACO reviewed the technical regulations at the end of May 2013 to adjust the performance between petrol and diesel LMP1 cars for the rest of the 2013 championship. From Le Mans onward, petrol-engine cars had an additional 3 litres (0.66 imp gal; 0.79 US gal) of fuel capacity.

At Le Mans, the No. 8 Toyota qualified fourth, three-tenths ahead of the sister TS030 Hybrid in fifth, but off the pace of both Audi cars. The race started on a damp and slippery track with the two TS030 cars driving faster than they had done in qualifying, moving up the field and separating the first five runners. As the track dried, Toyota dropped back from the quicker Audi cars, but had better fuel mileage. This recurring pattern continued into the night when the No. 7 and 8 Toyota vehicles took over second and third places after two of Audi's entrants ran into problems. Rain fell overnight and Toyota's tyre strategy enabled their cars to narrow Audi's lead to below two minutes. The positions remained constant until heavy rain fell on the track in the final hour, and Lapierre in the No. 8 Toyota aquaplaned into the barriers, requiring swift and extensive car repairs, and finished fourth overall. The No. 8 Toyota of Buemi gained on Kristensen's No. 2 Audi in the closing stages, but was too far behind to effect any positional change and came second. Starting from the 6 Hours of São Paulo, Davidson, Buemi and Sarrazin took part in the next two races while Wurz and Lapierre focused on developing Toyota's 2014 car and Nakajima concentrated on a joint Super Formula and Super GT programme.

Buemi and Davidson were chosen to qualify the car and took third with a two-lap average lap time that was two-tenths slower than the pole-sitting No. 1 Audi. More than half an hour into the race, Sarrazin drove around the outside of the slower No. 32 Lotus T128 of Dominik Kraihamer to lap him, but Kraihamer lost control of his car's rear and went into Sarrazin's left-hand side. Both drivers made high speed contact with the turn three tyre barrier. The damage to the No. 8 Toyota's steering was great enough to force it to retire. At the inaugural 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas held three weeks later, Sarrazin and Buemi qualified the car in third position, 1.3 seconds off the lead No. 2 Audi car's pace, and Sarrazin could not improve following Jan Charouz's No. 32 Lotus T128 hitting his rear-end, sending the TS030 Hybrid spinning at the first turn. In a warm weather affected race, Buemi moved into second immediately after a fifteen-minute safety car period and challenged the No. 1 Audi for the lead before the pit stop cycle. Toyota achieved a strong performance through better tyre management, enabling the No. 8 car to finish second. Going into the team's home event, the 6 Hours of Fuji, Toyota announced that two TS030 Hybrid cars would take part in the race.

Both Toyota cars lined up in second and third places on the grid with Buemi and Davidson driving the No. 8 car and Nakajima and Lapierre in the sister No. 7 vehicle. The race was shortened because of heavy rain and poor visibility. The No. 8 Toyota secured the victory when the No. 1 Audi made unscheduled pit stops for debris removal, with the other Toyota finishing one lap behind in 27th as it had to make a fuel pit stop at the race's start, but attempted to leave pit lane five seconds later than allowed and fell to the back of the field. Following their victory, Toyota changed a decision to run a sole car at Shanghai and included a second; reports suggested Toyota wished to increase their prospects of winning a race on outright speed. It was also confirmed that Nakajima would skip the round to contest the Super Formula Championship. Lapierre and Wurz qualified the No. 7 car on pole position with the No. 8 entry of Sarrazin and Buemi separating the two Audi cars in third. The No. 7 Toyota led the race heading into the final hour, but Wurz ceded it when he went off the racing line while moving past slower traffic because of worn tyres. It was overtaken by the No. 1 Audi and Wurz could only manage second place in the No. 7 car. Toyota's No. 8 car retired from the lead in the fifth hour because a right-front suspension bolt sheared.

For the season-closing round in Bahrain, Toyota confirmed to the press that two cars would be fielded with the provision that neither car finished in Shanghai with major problems, although the No. 8 Toyota's suspension failure did not affect their decision. It was also announced that Nakajima would return to drive the No. 7 car with Lapierre and Wurz. Both cars qualified on the front row of the grid with Wurz and Nakajima's No. 7 vehicle taking pole position by three-tenths of a second from the No. 8 Toyota of Sarrazin and Davidson. Although it picked up a vibration in the race's closing minutes, the No. 8 Toyota was unchallenged throughout, taking the victory with a one-minute and ten-second advantage over Audi's No. 1 car. It shared the lead with sister car No. 7 until it was driven to the side of the track when its engine failed before the second hour's end. Competing with the TS030 for the second consecutive year, the Toyota team accumulated 142.5 points and finished in second place in the World Manufacturers' Championship, 64.5 points behind rivals Audi. The new LMP1 regulations for 2014 made the TS030 Hybrid obsolete. The car was retired, and replaced by the TS040 Hybrid.

## Results summary

Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in italics indicate fastest lap.

## See also

- TMG EV P001

Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) sports car

Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles


Diamond Rio

Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was founded by Matt Davenport, Danny Gregg, and Ty Herndon, the last of whom became a solo artist in the mid-1990s. After undergoing several membership changes in its initial years, the band consisted of the same six members from 1989 to 2022: Marty Roe (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Johnson (mandolin, guitar, fiddle, tenor vocals), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, banjo), Brian Prout (drums), Dan Truman (keyboards), and Dana Williams (bass guitar, baritone vocals). After Prout and Johnson both departed in 2022, they were replaced by Micah Schweinsberg and Carson McKee respectively.

After assuming the name Diamond Rio, the band was signed to Arista Nashville and debuted in 1991 with the single "Meet in the Middle", which made them the first band ever to send a debut single to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The band charted 32 more singles between then and 2006, including four more that reached No. 1: "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" (1997), "One More Day" (2001), "Beautiful Mess" (2002), and "I Believe" (2003).

Diamond Rio has recorded nine studio albums, four Greatest Hits compilations, and an album of Christmas music. Three of the band's albums have achieved RIAA platinum certification in the United States. In addition, Diamond Rio has received four Group of the Year awards from the Country Music Association, two Top Vocal Group awards from the Academy of Country Music, and one Grammy Award. The band is known for its vocal harmonies, varied instrumentation, and near-exclusive use of only its own band members on recordings instead of session musicians. Their sound was originally defined by mainstream country, bluegrass, and rock influences, but later albums drew more influence from Christian country music and country pop.

## Beginnings

In 1982, Matt Davenport and Danny Gregg founded a band at Opryland USA, a former country music-based amusement park in Nashville, Tennessee. The band was first named the Grizzly River Boys, after a new river rafting ride at the park, but quickly changed names to the Tennessee River Boys due to its members disliking the original name. Originally intended to promote the park through a one-time television special, the band proved popular enough that it became one of many regular performers there. Davenport, Gregg, and Ty Herndon alternated as lead vocalists, with Davenport also playing bass guitar and Gregg on rhythm guitar; completing the lineup were Larry Beard (lead guitar, fiddle, banjo), Mel Deal (steel guitar), Al DeLeonibus (piano), and Ed Mummert (drums). The group "swapped lead voices, told jokes, and balanced old-school country concert shtick with a contemporary sound". Herndon left the group in 1983 to compete on the talent show Star Search, and became a solo artist for Epic Records between 1995 and the early 2000s. Herndon was temporarily replaced by Anthony Crawford and then Virgil True before his role was taken over by Marty Roe, who had originally toured nationally with the Christian band Windsong, and worked in the park by doing impersonations of Larry Gatlin. Following Herndon's departure, DeLonibus and Mummert quit as well, with Dan Truman (who had previously played in Brigham Young University's Young Ambassadors) and Jimmy "J. J." Whiteside taking their places. Beard quit shortly afterward and ultimately became a session musician, and former Mel McDaniel sideman Jimmy Olander took his place. The band, through the assistance of Bill Anderson's drummer Len "Snuffy" Miller, submitted demos to various Nashville record labels with no success.

By 1985, the Tennessee River Boys had quit working at Opryland. According to Roe, while the band enjoyed playing at the park, they also felt that their status as a theme park attraction discredited them as "real musicians" to those in the Nashville community. For the next few years, they played at small venues, such as high school auditoriums, and usually worked no more than four concerts a month. They also competed on Star Search, but were eliminated in the first round. Frustrated by the sporadic touring schedules, Whiteside quit the group and was replaced by Brian Prout, who previously performed in Hot Walker Band and Heartbreak Mountain. Around 1986, Deal and Gregg both left the group, the latter due to health complications from a serious illness he had developed as a teenager. They initially chose to operate as a quintet, with Davenport as the sole lead vocalist and Roe and Prout singing harmony; when this arrangement proved unsuccessful, they found mandolinist Gene Johnson, a former member of the bluegrass group Eddie Adcock's IInd Generation, which Olander was a fan of as a child. Johnson debuted at a concert in Clewiston, Florida, in May 1987. Also at this point, the band members supplemented their incomes with outside jobs: Johnson continued to work in carpentry, Olander and Roe mowed lawns, and Prout drove tour buses.

In 1988, the band caught the attention of Keith Stegall, a singer-songwriter who would later become known primarily for his work as Alan Jackson's record producer. Stegall produced demos for the Tennessee River Boys, but noted that Davenport could not record the lead vocal and bass parts at the same time, as they would be difficult to separate in the control room. As a result, Stegall had Roe sing a "scratch" vocal track live with the other musicians, which would then be replaced by Davenport's voice in post-production. Upon hearing Roe sing the "scratch" track, Stegall successfully convinced the other members that Roe should be the lead vocalist instead. Due to his discomfort outside the lead role and his wife's dissatisfaction with his career, Davenport quit in late 1988, becoming the last founding member to leave. The group quickly had to find a replacement, as they were scheduled to appear on the talk show Nashville Now on January 23, 1989. Alan LeBeouf, who had just left Baillie & the Boys, expressed interest in replacing Davenport but ultimately declined due to other commitments. They finally chose Dana Williams, a nephew of the bluegrass group Osborne Brothers and former sideman for Jimmy C. Newman, who had been a fan of the Tennessee River Boys since Herndon was a member.

### 1990: Signing with Arista Nashville

Williams officially joined before the Nashville Now appearance, but the band still did not have a record deal at this point. They continued to record demos in Prout's garage with assistance from Monty Powell, who had previously hired Roe and Olander for recording jingles, but wanted to produce commercial music. Powell was a friend of audio engineer Mike Clute, who would later become one of the band's producers, and songwriters Tim DuBois and Van Stephenson. DuBois was talking with record executive Clive Davis about creating a country music branch of Arista Records called Arista Nashville; Stephenson would later sign to the label in 1993 as a member of Blackhawk. Initially, DuBois was hesitant about signing the Tennessee River Boys, as he felt that there were too many popular bands in country music, and he was about to sign both Asleep at the Wheel and Exile. He expressed interest in signing Roe as a solo artist, but at Powell's insistence, he agreed to see the band open for George Jones at a May 1989 concert, and officially signed them to Arista Nashville in 1990. The band members also decided to choose a new name, as they thought that Tennessee River Boys sounded more suitable for a bluegrass or gospel group than a country one. Among the names they had chosen were Kilroy and T-Town Mavericks, the latter of which was rejected by Arista executives. Prout suggested Diamond Rio, after the truck manufacturing company Diamond Reo Trucks. The name had been previously rejected by another country band, Shenandoah, whose lead singer Marty Raybon (also a former member of Heartbreak Mountain) gave Prout permission to use the name even though Shenandoah "conducted business" under that name.

Shortly after the band received its record deal, the band underwent a series of misfortunes when Olander, Johnson, and Williams came down with health problems. On August 9, 1990, Johnson was injured in a carpentry accident in Arkansas a day before his 41st birthday, severely cutting his left thumb. Robert Bolin substituted for Johnson during the band's tour in Brazil with Kevin Welch and Jann Browne. On September 6, four weeks after Johnson's accident, Williams was water skiing with his family in Cookeville, Tennessee, as his boat came forward at high speed when his wife was picking him up. The propeller slashed Williams' legs, and he was rushed to a hospital for his injuries. Brian Helgos and Paul Gregg (Danny Gregg's brother, and a member of Restless Heart) substituted for Williams. Meanwhile, Olander discovered that he had a lemon-sized tumor that was pressing against his esophagus. The tumor was never successfully diagnosed, although it ultimately vanished.

## Musical career

### 1991–1992: Diamond Rio

After Olander, Williams, and Johnson had recovered, the six musicians set to work on their debut album. In doing so, Johnson soon discovered that the injuries to his hands had altered his dexterity on the mandolin, and threatened to walk away after Powell offhandedly remarked that he would have Roe dub in his own tenor harmonies instead of having Johnson sing them. The band also had commitments to finish as the Tennessee River Boys, to the point that they occasionally had to promote themselves under both names in the same day.

Arista Nashville released Diamond Rio's debut single, "Meet in the Middle", on February 6, 1991. As the lead single to their self-titled debut album, "Meet in the Middle" went on to spend two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, making Diamond Rio the first country music group ever to send its debut single to the top of that chart. Following its release, the band performed its first official concert as Diamond Rio on May 4, 1991. They shared the bill with Wild Rose, whose membership included Prout's then-wife, Nancy Given Prout. Released three weeks later with DuBois and Powell as producers, Diamond Rio was met with positive critical reception from critics such as Allmusic, Chicago Tribune, and Entertainment Weekly, which praised the band's vocal harmonies, instrumentation, and song choices.

Four more singles were released from Diamond Rio, all reaching top 10 on the Billboard country singles charts: "Mirror, Mirror", "Mama Don't Forget to Pray for Me", "Norma Jean Riley" (which was previously the B-side of "Mama Don't Forget to Pray for Me"), and "Nowhere Bound", the latter two of which were co-written by Powell. Roe and Prout had found both "Mama Don't Forget to Pray for Me" and "Mirror, Mirror" by attending shows at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, a popular spot for performances by aspiring songwriters. Truman and an employee of Arista had found "Norma Jean Riley", which was originally titled "Pretty Little Lady" until DuBois remarked that the lady in the song should have a name: "It could be 'Norma Jean Riley', anything!" Johnson spoke positively about "Mama Don't Forget to Pray for Me", which was written and originally recorded by Larry Cordle, and the impact that it had on fans. He recalled a letter sent to him by a female fan who had run away from home and chose to return after hearing that song, and said that "We already didn't wanna do the drinkin' songs and stuff ... if you're gonna touch someone, touch them with something that's positive."

Diamond Rio was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping one million copies in the United States. In addition, the band won the Academy of Country Music's Top Vocal Group for 1992, an award they would receive again in 1993, 1994, and 1997. They were also nominated for Top New Vocal Duet or Group by the same association in 1992. A cut from the album, the instrumental "Poultry Promenade", gave the band its first Grammy Award nomination.

### 1992–1995: Close to the Edge and Love a Little Stronger

Close to the Edge, the group's second album, was released in 1992. Certified gold by the RIAA for U.S. shipments of 500,000 copies, the album produced the Top 5 country hits "In a Week or Two" and "Oh Me, Oh My, Sweet Baby", the latter of which was originally recorded by George Strait on his 1989 album Beyond the Blue Neon. The next singles, "This Romeo Ain't Got Julie Yet" and "Sawmill Road", both failed to reach top 10. Roe considered Close to the Edge a weaker album than their debut because the band only had one month to pick the songs for it; in a 1994 interview with New Country magazine, he stated: "There aren't ten great songs out there for everybody, certainly not that you could find in a 30-day period of time." Olander was also critical of the novelty factor of "This Romeo Ain't Got Julie Yet", which he co-wrote, saying that it was "by far not my favorite Diamond Rio recording – but that's at the time when I'm thinkin', 'Oh, this is easy, let's write this. It's kinda cute.'" Brian Mansfield of Allmusic was also critical of the song, but described the rest of the album with favor, saying that its "strongest material emphasizes the virtues of God, family and honest living – traditional stuff, no doubt influenced by the members' bluegrass background", while Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune thought that "In a Week or Two" and "Sawmill Road", "which is about the diverse trails some rural schoolmates follow in adulthood", were the strongest tracks.

In 1994, the band released its third album, Love a Little Stronger. The album was recorded on a more relaxed schedule than the previous album; as a result, they did not have a single on the charts for three months after "Sawmill Road" fell off the charts. For this album, Clute joined DuBois and Powell as co-producer, a role that he has held on all of the band's subsequent releases. The title track (co-written by Billy Crittenden, later a member of the vocal group 4 Runner), reached a peak of No. 2 on the Billboard country singles charts, and No. 1 on the country singles chart published by Radio & Records. It was followed by the No. 9 hit "Night Is Fallin' in My Heart", originally recorded by J. P. Pennington in 1991. Next were the Top 20 hits "Bubba Hyde" and "Finish What We Started". Because the band had taken a longer period of time to choose songs for Love a Little Stronger, they considered it a superior album to its predecessor; Mansfield shared a similar opinion in his review of the album, stating that "Spurred by the relatively lackluster performance of Close to the Edge ... Diamond Rio explored the musical possibilities of its talents rather than digging for easy commercial success." Bob Cannon of New Country was more mixed, saying that "the production on Love a Little Stronger is so sparkling clean it could've been recorded in an operating room." This album also earned the band its second platinum certification.

### 1996–1999: IV, Greatest Hits, and Unbelievable

IV, Diamond Rio's fourth album, was released in 1996. It was the "first country release recorded entirely on a digital console"; specifically, a Fairlight console which recorded the album directly to a hard drive. Produced by DuBois, Clute, and the band itself, it was also their first album not to have Powell as a co-producer. According to DuBois, Powell left this role on good terms, as he "saw a need to go in a certain direction, and the guys saw a need to go in a different direction." Roe thought that the album benefited from a new label policy that allowed label personnel to respond more quickly to pitches from songwriters. He recalled to Billboard that the label's head of artists and repertoire (A&R) recommended the lead single "Walkin' Away" while co-writer Craig Wiseman (who co-wrote "Bubba Hyde") was still recording its demo, and the band was able to record the song in the same day that the demo was completed. "Walkin' Away" peaked at No. 2 on the country charts in early 1996. Three more singles were released from the album: the top 10 hits "That's What I Get for Lovin' You" and "Holdin'" (also written by Wiseman), with the top 20 "It's All in Your Head", co-written by Van Stephenson, in between. The music video for "It's All in Your Head" featured Martin Sheen and Ramon Estevez, the former playing the part of a snake handling preacher.

A year after IV, Diamond Rio released its first Greatest Hits package, which included eleven of the singles from their first four albums, plus the album cut "She Misses Him on Sunday the Most" from IV and two new songs: "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" and "Imagine That". "How Your Love Makes Me Feel" became the band's second No 1 on Hot Country Songs, as well as their longest-lasting at three weeks, making it the biggest chart hit for any country group that year. "Imagine That", co-written by Bryan White, reached Top 5 by early 1998. Greatest Hits became the band's third platinum album.

Diamond Rio was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in April 1998, becoming the first band in fourteen years to be inducted. Later in the year, the band released its fifth studio album, Unbelievable. Contributing songwriters to the album included Paul Williams, former NRBQ member Al Anderson, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and Huey Lewis. The lead single was the ballad "You're Gone", which reached top 5 on the country charts. After it was the title track, which peaked at No. 2 on the country charts and became the band's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached No. 36. The third and final single was "I Know How the River Feels", originally recorded on Herndon's 1996 album Living in a Moment and later released as a single by McAlyster in 2000. Diamond Rio's rendition peaked at 33 on the country charts, their lowest chart peak at the time.

In 1998, Prout began dating Mary Bono, the widow of singer and politician Sonny Bono. The two became engaged but later ended their relationship in 2001. On December 28 of the same year, Prout married singer-songwriter Stephanie Bentley, best known for co-writing Faith Hill's 1999 single "Breathe".

### 2000–2002: One More Day

Diamond Rio released its twenty-third official chart single, "Stuff", in May 2000. The song was originally intended to be the title track to their sixth studio album, which would have been released on August 22 of the same year, but according to Truman, "Certain radio stations, for some reason, didn't want to play 'Stuff'." As a result, "Stuff" was withdrawn after peaking at number 36 on the country charts, and the album was delayed until February 2001. Following this song's failure, the band released "One More Day" later in 2000. The song was written by Steven Dale Jones and Bobby Tomberlin, the same two writers who wrote "She Misses Him on Sunday the Most". "One More Day" went on to spend two non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the country charts, with the album, by this point re-titled One More Day, having its release date moved up to February 6, 2001. The song also peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, in addition to reaching top 10 on the Adult Contemporary charts (the band's first appearance on that chart). Regarding the song's popularity among fans who have used the song to cope with personal losses, Prout said, "Actually, 'One More Day' was recorded as a love song. Then one of Oklahoma State's basketball team's plane went down, then in early 2001 we lost Dale [Earnhardt] in Daytona, and then of course, 9/11 came after that. And every event of that year, the song took on a different meaning to different people ... We hear quite often in e-mails and people talking to us in shows. If you're asking how it makes us feel? Pretty darn special ... to know that you had that impact on someone's life and helped in a tough time of healing and hope."

The third and fourth singles from One More Day were less successful: "Sweet Summer" made Top 20, while "That's Just That" failed to make Top 40. The album featured a guest vocal from Chely Wright on "I'm Trying", making for the band's first ever duet with another artist on one of their own albums. It also included a cover of "Hearts Against the Wind", originally recorded by J. D. Souther and Linda Ronstadt for the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. Chris Neal of Country Weekly thought that the album showed a greater musical variety than its predecessors, specifically noting the "spoken-word verses" of "Here I Go Fallin'", the "Hearts Against the Wind" cover, and the Wright duet as standout tracks. Rick Cohoon of Allmusic cited the album's singles and the Wright duet as the album's best tracks, adding that "If any flaw can be found here it would be the band's choice not to experiment with new sound, but then again, why tamper with a good thing?"

Starting in 2001, the other members had noticed that Roe was having difficulty maintaining proper pitch in concert. Although they did not want to confront him about it for fear of "bruis[ing] his ego", they eventually convinced Roe of his problems by listening to concert recordings together. Roe also consulted unsuccessfully with vocal coaches and throat doctors at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The band attempted to cover up Roe's problems by removing certain songs from concert set lists, lowering the key on others, having Truman sometimes take the lead vocal, and using pitch correction software, but even these did not fully correct the issues. Finally, they consulted vocal coach Diane Sheets, a friend of Johnson's son-in-law. She determined that Roe was over-compensating for a small degree of hearing loss typical of musicians who have performed live for long periods of time, thus tightening muscles in his throat and diaphragm and causing him to lose pitch. Although Roe was initially "cynical" toward Sheets's coaching, she was ultimately successful in restoring his voice.

### 2002–2007: Completely, Can't You Tell, and Greatest Hits II

In 2002, Diamond Rio released its seventh studio album, Completely. The band originally conceived it as a double album, featuring traditional country on one disc and more pop-oriented country on the other, but according to Prout, this concept did not fully materialize because "country music has blinders on as far as what's acceptable – and what isn't", although Olander and Williams noted that the idea allowed them "more leeway in choosing songs". In addition to earning a gold certification, it produced two consecutive No. 1 singles in "Beautiful Mess" and "I Believe", the latter being the band's last single to top Hot Country Songs. Third single "Wrinkles" made Top 20, while the last single, "We All Fall Down" (also written by Steven Dale Jones), failed to reach top 40. Two of the album's tracks were previously recorded by other artists: "Make Sure You've Got It All", written by Bill Anderson and Steve Wariner, was originally recorded on Collin Raye's 1998 album The Walls Came Down, and "If You'd Like Some Lovin'" by its co-writer, David Ball, on his 1996 album Starlite Lounge.

Rick Cohoon of Allmusic praised the album for its musical variety, saying, "With artists as well anchored in the business as Diamond Rio, the musical quality is a given. The real challenge is outdoing yourself and coming up with fresh concepts. The selections on this album seem to be the fruition of that search for musical renewal". He cited "Beautiful Mess" and "I Believe" as standout tracks. Ray Waddell of Billboard also thought that the singles were among the best tracks on the album, while highlighting the instrumental track "Rural Philharmonic" (which Olander had originally intended to record for a solo album) as an example of the band's strong musicianship. Chrissie Dickinson of the Chicago Tribune was less favorable, commending the "masterful musicianship" and Roe's "light vocal timbre", while criticizing the song selections as "mostly a paint-by-numbers trip around the musical block, from the predictable power balladry of 'I Believe' to the saccharine sentiments of 'We All Fall Down.'"

A seventh album, tentatively titled Can't You Tell, was recorded in 2003, but it was cancelled after its first two singles – the title track and "One Believer" – both failed to make Top 40 upon their releases in late 2004 and early 2005 respectively. Diamond Rio's second Greatest Hits package, Greatest Hits II, was released in 2006. Like their first Greatest Hits album, this compilation included several new songs as well as the band's greatest hits; one of these new songs, "God Only Cries", was released as a single, peaking at No. 30. Shortly after the album's release, Diamond Rio parted ways with Arista Nashville.

### 2007–present: New record label, The Reason, and I Made It

On August 31, 2007, Diamond Rio signed with Word Records, a Christian music label based in Nashville. Their first album for Word was a Christmas album entitled A Diamond Rio Christmas: The Star Still Shines, which they recorded in Olander's basement studio. Roe said in an interview with CMT that "we just didn't try to copy anybody else. We tried to make up our own arrangements." The group released its first contemporary Christian album, The Reason, on September 22, 2009. It earned the band three Dove Award nominations: Song of the Year for "God Is There", Country Song of the Year for the title track, and Country Album of the Year.

In 2014, Olander told The Arizona Republic that the group was no longer signed to Word Records and planned to release new material independently. "I will say that I was proud of the material, but maybe it's not the best version of Diamond Rio," Olander told the publication. "We were kind of in a no-man's land. We didn't fit in with country radio and we didn't fit with Christian radio. It was something that wasn't fully realized." The band began releasing records independently, starting with a live album in 2014 and following in 2015 with the studio album I Made It.

Prout and Johnson both retired from the band in 2022. Micah Schweinsberg filled in on drums, and Carson McKee on harmony vocals, mandolin, and fiddle, for a series of concerts in 2022. Said tour, focused on songs from their 2007 Christmas album, was the band's first since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Schweinsberg and McKee both became official members of the band in mid-2023, making McKee the band's first female member. The first single following their addition to the lineup, an instrumental called "The Kick", was released soon after.

### Outside contributions

Diamond Rio has been featured on several projects featuring multiple country artists, including three tribute albums released between 1993 and 1994. The first was a cover of the Eagles' 1975 hit "Lyin' Eyes" for Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, an album released in late 1993 via Giant Records which featured various country musicians covering that band's songs. Diamond Rio had originally wanted to record the song for Love a Little Stronger, but DuBois rejected the idea because he felt that they were not yet well-established enough to record a cover song on one of their own albums. The second was Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album, to which they contributed a cover of Keith Whitley's 1986 hit "Ten Feet Away", and the third was a cover of Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues" for a tribute album entitled Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard. This rendition, which featured guest appearances from Lee Roy Parnell and Steve Wariner (both of whom were also signed to Arista Nashville at the time), was credited to "Jed Zeppelin". The song peaked at No. 48 on the Billboard country charts from unsolicited airplay, and was made into a music video. In 1996, the band covered "Beauty and the Beast" for the multi-artist compilation The Best of Country Sing the Best of Disney and contributed the original song "Christmas Spirit" (which Powell and Roe co-wrote) to Star of Wonder: Country Christmas Collection, a Christmas album featuring various artists on Arista Nashville's roster. A year later, Diamond Rio contributed a recording of the gospel standard "Walkin' in Jerusalem" to a compilation entitled Peace in the Valley: A Country Music Journey Through Gospel Music. Diamond Rio and Collin Raye also sang backing vocals on Kenny Rogers' 2000 single "He Will, She Knows". In 2002, the band was featured on country parodist Cledus T. Judd's "Man of Constant Borrow", a parody of "Man of Constant Sorrow" on his album Cledus Envy. Jerrod Niemann's late-2017 album This Ride features Diamond Rio on the song "I Ain't All There".

Some of the individual members have also contributed to songs by other artists. Roe sang duet vocals with then-labelmate Pam Tillis on "Love Is Only Human", a cut from her 1992 album Homeward Looking Angel. Olander was featured along with bluegrass musicians Carl Jackson and Mark O'Connor on the track "Hap Towne Breakdowne" from Steve Wariner's 1996 instrumental album No More Mr. Nice Guy. He also co-wrote Kenny Chesney's 2001 single "I Lost It", Marshall Dyllon's 2001 single "You", and the track "The Night Before (Life Goes On)" from Carrie Underwood's 2005 debut album Some Hearts. Truman co-wrote Shane Minor's 1999 single "Ordinary Love"; Minor would later co-write the band's hit "Beautiful Mess". In 2003, Truman and songwriter Jason Deere co-founded the Nashville Tribute Band, which has recorded three albums for missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Truman is a member. Roe, Johnson, and Williams sang backing vocals on Josh Turner's 2006 single "Me and God" (from the album Your Man), which also featured a guest vocal from bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley.

## Musical stylings

In the country music industry particularly, record producers hire mostly session musicians to record tracks for an album for both solo artists and bands, as opposed to rock bands who record their own instrumental and vocal tracks on their albums. Diamond Rio has been one of few self-contained country bands to have followed the practice of each member playing their own instruments and singing their own vocals on all their albums themselves, without any additional input from outside musicians. The sole exception has been the inclusion of string sections on some of their later work, starting with "I Know How the River Feels" and continuing through certain tracks on One More Day and Completely. According to Prout, other labels had rejected the band prior to their signing with Arista Nashville due to the band members' insistence that they play all their own instruments.

Their early music blended neotraditionalist country with occasional traces of country rock, primarily in the song's prominent rhythm sections. A bluegrass influence has also been shown, primarily in the three-part harmonies among Roe (lead), Williams (baritone), and Johnson (tenor). Bluegrass influences are also shown in the band's prominent use of the mandolin, as well as in the instrumentals featured on many of their earlier albums. The band's later material has tended towards pop-oriented ballads, such as "I Believe" and "One More Day" – songs which received critical acclaim for their often religious-themed messages, but were considered departures from the more traditional material of their first four albums.

Another trademark of Diamond Rio's sound is the custom-built B-Bender guitar played by Olander. He refers to this instrument as the "Taxicaster" because of its yellow body and black-and-white checkered pickguard, which give it the coloration of a taxicab.

## Awards

Diamond Rio received the Academy of Country Music's award for Top Vocal Group in 1991 and 1992. In 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1997, they also received the Country Music Association's award for Vocal Group of the Year (an award for which they received fifteen total nominations, more than any other country music group). In addition, Diamond Rio has received thirteen Grammy Award nominations. In 2010 they received three nominations for the GMA Dove Awards, and on April 22 won the award for Country Album of the Year. In 2011, they received their first Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album category for The Reason.

## Personnel

### Members

Current members

- Dan Truman – (born August 29, 1956; piano, keyboards) (1983–present)
- Marty Roe – (born December 28, 1960; lead vocals, rhythm guitar) (1984–present)
- Jimmy Olander – (born August 26, 1961; lead guitar, banjo) (1985–present)
- Dana Williams – (born May 22, 1961; bass guitar, baritone vocals) (1989–present)
- Carson McKee – mandolin, fiddle, tenor vocals (2022–present)
- Micah Schweinsberg– drums (2022–present)

Former members

- Larry Beard – lead guitar, fiddle, banjo (1982–1985)
- Al DeLeonibus – piano (1982–1983)
- Matt Davenport – bass guitar, lead vocals (1982–1988)
- Danny Gregg – rhythm guitar, lead vocals (1982–1986)
- Ty Herndon – vocals (1982–1983)
- Ed Mummert – drums (1982–1983)
- Jimmy "J. J." Whiteside – drums (1983–1985)
- Anthony Crawford – vocals (1983)
- Virgil True – vocals (1984)
- Brian Prout - drums (1985–2022)
- Gene Johnson – mandolin, fiddle, tenor vocals (1987–2022)

## Discography

- Diamond Rio (1991)
- Close to the Edge (1992)
- Love a Little Stronger (1994)
- IV (1996)
- Unbelievable (1998)
- One More Day (2001)
- Completely (2002)
- A Diamond Rio Christmas: The Star Still Shines (2007)
- The Reason (2009)
- I Made It (2015)

American country and Christian music band

Musical groups from Nashville, Tennessee