Marshall Crenshaw and the Bottle Rockets will perform at Wooly’s in Des Moines March 1.

The Bottle Rockets are a country rock band that originally formed in the St. Louis area. The current members are Brian Henneman, John Horton, Keith Voegele and Mark Ortmann. Brian Henneman and Mark Ortmann are the only original members.

Ortmann, drummer, took his first drum lesson around age thirteen. He was involved with bands throughout high school which all failed until he met Henneman.

“At the end of high school, Brian and I started playing together with his band and it kind of stuck. That eventually led to a record deal with The Bottle Rockets,” Ortmann said.

For their part of the set, the Bottle Rockets will play a mix of songs, including some new material.

“We’re playing a handful of new songs along with predominantly songs from the first two albums,” Ortmann said. “It’s a nice mix actually; fans seem to like that.”

The show in Des Moines will have a slightly different set up than a lot of other concerts. First, the Bottle Rockets will play their set. Then they will be supporting Crenshaw for his. The Bottle Rockets have their own vocalist, meaning that his role will change during the portion with Crenshaw.

“Luckily Keith Voegele, our bass player, is a wonderful harmony singer. He sings harmony in our band, but also for Marshall. Then, on certain songs Brian may be joining them,” Ortmann said.

The last appearance the Bottle Rockets made in Iowa was at a downtown arts festival in Iowa City a couple of summers ago.

“We’ve actually played Des Moines and Ames and Iowa City off and on throughout the years,” Ortmann said.

The Bottle Rockets’ latest studio album with all new material, “Lean Forward,” came out in 2009. Another album is in the works, but there is no set release date as of yet.

“We’re still trying to finish writing the songs. We have about half a record ready to go and have another handful of songs that we need to work on,”  Ortmann said.

Fans can expect some big things from the Bottle Rockets this year, and in the long run.

“We’re going to continue to tour, and we really enjoy playing with Marshall Crenshaw. We are doing as many shows with him as we can,” Ortmann said.

The band still has some big things left to accomplish and does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon.

“We’re always looking to build on our audience, and we haven’t had a platinum record yet,” Ortmann said.