ORANGE PARK – Sawyer Brown is a country music band formed in 1981 at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Apopka. Lead singer Mark Miller asked keyboardist Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard to play piano for a couple of songs he had written. The two left for Nashville, where they met with Florida drummer Joe Smyth, Michigan bass player Jim Scholten and original lead guitarist Bobby Randall.

They first called the band “Savanah” but renamed themselves “Sawyer Brown” after Sawyer Brown Road, the street where they rehearsed. Miller likes to say, “We thought it would be easier to get work if people thought we were one person.”

Sawyer Brown will be close to home when they perform May 1 at the Thrasher-Horne Center. Tickets are available at the box office or thcenter.org.

The band played up to five sets a night, six days a week until they auditioned for the TV show Star Search in 1983. They auditioned to get the videotape to promote the band, yet they won the $100,000 grand prize and record contract.

The band signed with Capitol Records and scored a Top 20 hit with their first single, “Leona,” in 1984. That success was quickly followed by their first #1 hit, “Step That Step”. Fans flock to the band’s concerts year after year, whether the band performs in a stadium, state fair, or casino. More than anything, the live shows sustained the band until 1989’s remake of the George Jones hit “The Race Is On,” which put them back near the top of the charts.