From the beginning in 1994 until today Crossing Keys has evolved from being a pure cover band to a country rock band with mostly their own material.
Crossing Keys was formed in the spring of 1994 from the remnants of Åmål band Kelly Tire & The High Flyers. The band was initially almost identical to Kelly Tire & The High Flyers, but the guitarist, singer and songwriter, Thomas Andersson, had been replaced by Torbjörn Carlsson, guitar. Besides Torbjörn Carlsson the band consisted of Peter Nilsson (guitar and backing vocals) Tomas Odhner (acoustic guitar, harmonica and lead vocals) Stefan Schullström (bass and backing vocals) Niklas Dahlman (drums), and Lars-Olof Ottosson (keyboards). After a while Torbjörn Carlsson left the band, and was replaced by Jimmy Östlund.
Under the name Kelly Tires & The High Flyers the guys had played the west coast rock since 1988. They played mostly their own material, often written by Thomas Andersson, but Peter Nilsson and Tomas Odhner did also write some songs. The band participated in a swedish rock contest, which they also won. However they didn’t get a real breakthrough. After a while the band ceased to exist.
Shortly after Kelly Tires was closed Crossing Keys was formed, and they changed the style from the west coast rock to country rock. This meant that their old material from Kelly Tires didn’t didnt fit their new style, and they didn’t have any new material ready. So in the beginning they only played covers. They played songs by today’s major country artists like Little Texas, Vince Gill, Restless Heart Lessmann and Lee Roy Parnell. But also old country rock like The Eagles and Randy Newman.
For a couple of years the band's singer was also a member of Inger Nordström Rhinestone Band. At this time Crossing Keys was put more or less on hold. In recent years, the band has started playing together again with a few personnel changes. The only original members are Tomas Odhner (lead vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica), Peter Nilsson (backing vocals, mandolin and guitar), and Jimmy Östlund (pedal steel guitar, lead guitar). The new members are Daniel Karlsson (keyboards), Johannes Brodén (drums), and Thomas Andersson (bass and backing vocals).
In 2008 Crossing Keys won the swedish Country award as sweden’s best Pop/Rock country artist. The award was really encouraging for the band. After the award the band started to practice more regularly, and they do also visit the studio more often to record new songs for their debut album.
Crossing Keys live at Billy Bob's Saloon, Disneyland Paris 23/1-09
