They're 'All For You': Sister Hazel concert at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – These guys first realized they had made the big time while riding around in the back of a moving van.

To this day, Sister Hazel maintains the same five original band members from when they hit it big with the hit "All For You" in the 1990's. They've been churning out music ever since, and will be on stage at Dosey Doe in The Woodlands Thursday May 3.

Woodlands Online chatted with lead singer Ken Block. Here's what he had to say.

How would you describe your genre?

We've been blurring the lines for a long time. People would ask "what are you, are you a rock band, are you an alternative band, a country band, pop…?" I don't know that we fall in any of them. We just kind of listen to the songs and make Sister Hazel music. There are elements of all of them. The heart of it is rock, southern rock, but we've weaved in elements of county music, instrumentation and storytelling.

What's the story behind the name "Sister Hazel?"

Sister Hazel ran a homeless shelter in a little southern town (Gainesville, Florida.) That was my first knowledge of service work. I thought about her, what she had done, regardless of race, orientation, education, financial status … if you needed help, a place to dust off and regroup, she was there for you.

Editor's note: Sister Hazel Williams passed away in 2016 at the age of 91. Following her path of service, Ken Block founded Lyrics for Life, a nonprofit organization that funds research, support programs and an annual camp "Hazelnut Camp" for children with cancer.

How did it all begin? The band came together in 1993 but it was in 1997 that you found yourself on the international stage…?

We were a bunch of college guys that toured around the south, trying to scrape up enough bucks to get into a studio. We did probably 250 shows a year as a bunch of guys in a van, trying to turn 10 people into 20 people whenever we came into a town, and we built a really good tour base in the southeast. Then radio kind of found us.

Was there a moment when your realized 'we made it?'

The first thing was when we started coming into towns where we'd never been before and people started singing our songs back to us. We realized "okay something's going on here." We bought ourselves a 1963 Silver Eagle tour bus and it broke down in Biloxi, Mississippi. So we all got in the back of a Ryder truck, with all of our gear and a bunch of lawn chairs. The driver turned up the radio and it was Casey Kasem, going "coming in at number 39 is a little band from Gainesville, Florida with their first hit single "All For You" and we all looked at each other like "We made it!" There we are riding around in a moving van. It was one of those moments I don't think any of us will ever forget.

It's still all the original members of the band?

Yes, and that's something I'm as proud of as anything. We've made it though those moments where bands either implode or explode. We are very much like a family, very sibling-like.

When did you first get interested in music?

My dad was a piano player. Every weekend we had covered-dish suppers, guitar, banjo, fiddle, people would just sit around and play and I was mesmerized by the guitar players and the storytellers. I started learning how to play acoustic guitar. By the time I was 12 I was doing a couple gigs. Then I jumped into my first rock band in the 9th grade (Razor's Edge). We played homecoming at my high school.

Get your tickets to Sister Hazel at Dosey Doe here.