Grand Prairie is a London-based country rock back who have been performing together for more than 30 years. Regulars on the function circuit, they have played a number of times at Goodwood House in Sussex, Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane, the Red Bull party post the British Grand Prix, Twickenham Rugby Stadium, the Kennington Oval and many other venues.
Grand Prairie are regulars in the US and have performed on several occasions in Monterey, California, San Diego, Phoenix, New Orleans, and many times on the East Coast in most of the New England states. They have been regular performers at a festival in Alton, New Hampshire – a couple of hours drive north west of Boston – where they have supported artists including Willie Nelson, Clint Black, Aerosmith, Alabama, Diana Ross and Trace Adkins.
The band also play a regular number of London pub gigs.
Grand Prairie is driven largely by Jenny Ormonde and Rob Wilson. Both Jenny, originally from Tipperary, Ireland and Rob, originally from Auckland, New Zealand arrived in London in the 1970s. They met soon after and have worked together ever since. They released a 12-track album of covers, Midnight Special in 2004.
Some nine years passed, until the release of Grand Prairie’s first album of largely self-penned material. This Ain’t Reno contains a collection of songs penned by Rob Wilson and producer Steve Elson including A Little Bit of Nice Boy, This Is What I Get For Loving You and Get Me On The Plane.
Jenny, who shares the vocals on the album with Rob, also plays accordion, harmonica and flute while Rob plays bass along with a bit of guitar and piano. They are joined on the record by Howard Tibble on drums, Pete Terry on Piano, Andy McDonald on Sax and Steve Elson on ukulele and banjo.
Steve has produced a number of successful records going back to In Zaire and onwards. Steve and Rob have worked together on and off since the early 70s and formed the original Strolling Bones” tribute band in 1983. Steve subsequently formed and still fronts the Counterfeit Stones.
Grand Prairie were named UK Country Group of the Year at the 2015 UK Country Music Awards.
In October 2025, Grand Prairie released new music for the first time in more than a decade.
Norway Maine refers to the little town Norway in the US state of Maine, which the band has visited several times. It is home of the radio station WOXO on which Grand Prairie have appeared as guests.
The song was recorded at British Grove Studios in Chiswick, London, which is owned by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
