HOUSTON — When for KING + COUNTRY takes center stage at RodeoHouston this week, a musician with Houston ties will join them. Gabe Baker is a 2014 Rice University graduate where he played football.
After he graduated, Baker worked as an environmental engineer with Harris County but his passion for music eventually pulled him in a different direction so he moved to Nashville.
Baker met for KING + COUNTRY frontman Joel Smallbone in Music City through mutual friends and his local church. Last March, Smallbone invited him to audition for a role with the band and the rest is history.
“Most everyone that I’ve met has a strong desire to help each other out, open doors to people, especially if you’re new to town,” Baker said.
Now, he's touring as a cellist and utility musician with the Christian pop group and they'll perform at the Rodeo on Thursday, Feb. 29.
“I feel a very full circle kind of feeling,” Baker said.
The native Texan, who grew up in San Antonio, said he's grateful for the opportunity to make a career out of something he's always loved doing.
“I’ve lived a very musical life. I picked up the cello in the fourth grade, and my older siblings also played stringed instruments, and we had a little trio of us kind of doing things together," Baker told Rice News in 2020. " There was a lot of music in the house together as a family but then also just in church and different things … and through the years I think my role with music just continued to grow.”
This isn't Baker's first time in the spotlight. He appeared on ABC's "s “The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart,” a music-oriented spinoff of the popular Bachelor franchise. He was also on Season 14 of "American Ninja Warrior."
If you want to see him play with KING + COUNTRY, tickets are still available at rodeohouston.com.
