Backroad Anthem brings hometown sound to Pioneer Day main stage

For the young musicians of Backroad Anthem, taking the stage at this year’s Collinsville Pioneer Day will be more than just another gig.

It will be a chance to play at home.

The locally rooted band will perform at 4:15 p.m. Sept. 19 on the Holiday Chevrolet Main Stage, immediately following the opening ceremony at the annual downtown celebration.

Backroad Anthem is still relatively new. Drummer Robby Denning said the group began coming together in November after Gauge Tompkins and Timber Johnson started working on music together.

Johnson is a junior at Tioga High School, while Tompkins and Denning are Collinsville Pirates.

Tompkins is a senior. Denning graduated in 2025. 

He grew up knowing both musicians and is now in his second year at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where he is studying music education.

Denning said Tompkins and Johnson initially shared a dream of forming a band and began developing songs before bringing him into the group.

“They started working on songs together because it was a goal of theirs to start a band,” Denning said. “They worked on songs, vocals and guitars and vocal harmonies, and they needed and wanted a drummer and somebody with music theory experience. So, they called me up.”

A few jam sessions with Tompkins convinced Denning they had something worth pursuing.

“Ever since then, we’ve been doing the steps to become a proper band,” Denning said. “Working on gigging and getting covers going and writing original music. So far, it’s been going really well, and I’m very excited to see where we go next.”
For Pioneer Day, the group will also be joined by guitarist Jake Jenkis of Tishomingo, Oklahoma.

The band’s sound reflects the musical backgrounds of its members, mixing the country music familiar to North Texas audiences with a heavier rock influence.

“All three of us are very big fans of country and rock,” Denning said. “I myself am more of a rock guy than a country guy, but I have no problems listening to it or playing it.”

Denning said he and Tompkins also share an appreciation for a harder rock sound, an influence they bring into the band’s music.

That combination has helped Backroad Anthem develop a country-rock sound as they continue adding covers and working on original material.

The band has already started gaining stage experience. Denning said one of its first opportunities came through Starbright Theater and Arts in Pilot Point, which hosted Backroad Anthem’s first stage performance.

For a young band trying to establish itself in the North Texas music scene, Denning said those early opportunities are important.

“We’re picking ourselves up off the ground as a band,” he said. “Having a place where business owners are giving us a great beginning is exactly what we need, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Pioneer Day, however, presents a different kind of opportunity.

For Denning and Tompkins, it is a chance to perform in front of the community where they grew up. 

It also gives the young band an opportunity to introduce its sound to a hometown crowd during one of Collinsville’s biggest annual events.

“I think that the Collinsville locals are gonna love what we have to offer to the scene musically,” Denning said. “Being at the Collinsville Pioneer Day festival and watching Collinsville locals light up the stage — it’s got to be a heck of a feeling for a town that doesn’t have that many people in it.”

For more information about Collinsville Pioneer Day, visit www.collinsvilletxchamber.org