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Arthur was the first to start playing and singing with friends at school. He used to plug his guitar into the gramophone at home to show what he could do.  His first band was the called Road Liners, who became The Lawmen and they eventually evolved into a cabaret band called Mondays Mood which included two musicians who would go on to be members of West Virginia. They were milkman Mike Brown on lead guitar and Colin Sayers on drums.
Keith used to sing a lot at work while he was painting houses and his work mates told him he should join a band. As he was a fan of Country music he used to visit a couple of Country clubs in Liverpool with friends. One evening they saw a band called Toledo Country and it transpired that they were planning to replace their lead singer; they asked Keith if he was interested. He agreed to do an audition and then a rehearsal with them. The band’s singer, who wasn’t aware that he was going to be replaced, got wind of his imminent demise and told his band mates he was leaving with immediate effect. Having impressed the band, Keith was thrown in at the deep end and told “You’re starting on Saturday.” He only really knew a couple of Buck Owens songs but jumped at the opportunity and joined the band as lead singer.
After working with Toledo for almost three years, Keith was approached by Arthur’s Band, Mondays Mood. Their lead guitarist and singer John Riley was leaving and they were hoping Keith would like to join the band. He was initially reluctant saying that he preferred Country music and in any case Country bands were getting more work, especially midweek. Mike Brown was already a Country fan so they needed little persuasion to switch to Country music and Keith came on board.  When they started to get a few gigs, Keith handed in his notice to Toledo who folded rather than search for a new singer. The line up of the original West Virginia was Keith Thornhill (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Arthur Thornhill (bass guitar and lead vocals), Mike Brown (lead guitar and vocals), Eric Lloyd (pedal steel guitar) and Colin Sayers (drums)
They immediately started making an impact on the Country music scene getting plenty of work in clubs and festivals nationwide.  They won the Malboro Country music talent competition in the Wembley conference centre in 1978. The competition was part of impresario Mervyn Conn’s International Festival Of Country Music. West Virginia performed without a soundcheck or any rehearsal and gave the audience a magnificent version of Rodney Crowell’s Rachel which, according to Country Music People magazine, “sounded better than some of the major American names.” West Virginia picked up work touring with such legends as Marty Robbins in 1978 and Merle Haggard who both performed at the Wembley festival that year and Don Everly.
West Virginia recorded their first album, Country Dreams released on the ROX label in 1978. The album was later reissued on CD in 2010. A single, One In A Million bw Broken Lady (neither track were from the album) was released in the same year. Their next album Fresh Tracks followed in 1981, The album was produced by Kenny Johnson who also sang backing vocals. A fellow Liverpudlian, Kenny was a member of the popular Hillsiders from 1964 – 1975 before forming his own band North Wind. This was West Virginia’s last vinyl album. A single from the album My Woman, My Woman My Wife (a Marty Robbins song) was also released.
Drummer Colin Sayers left in the early 1980s and was replaced by Bobby Donegan. His time with the band was short and he left without giving notice. He was initially replaced by Scott Foster (whose usual instrument was lead guitar) but by 1986 the drummer was Alex Fitzsimmons.  In1987 he was replaced by an inspired choice of drummer Brian Nicholls. Brian gained his experience with a hillbilly band called Stonecreek and later the Stu Page Band and the Mel Hague Band.  
Eric Lloyd left the band in the early 1990s due to failing health and sadly passed away shortly after leaving. He was initially replaced by Garry Potter and then Tim Howard another very talented musician playing guitar, pedal steel, banjo, mandolin and dobro. When he left after a short time to form his own band, West Virginia carried on as a four-piece. A club tour with American singer Linda Cassady came in 1992.
A little comedy has always been an important part of the act and this has helped them build up a superb rapport with their audience wherever they perform. One particular story is typical of this fun loving band. On one occasion, they were working at Pontins at Brean Sands as the resident band in the Cattlemen’s Club. Acting as DJ was Cliff Stevens who had to rely on a walking stick to get around. Every night the lads sawed a bit off his stick so that by the weekend Cliff was beginning to think “something’s wrong here”. In the end Cliff was called up on stage and presented with a new stick amid much hilarity!
Many awards were to follow during an illustrious career. They won top band award in the Great Britain Country Music Awards broadcast on BBC Radio 2 they also appeared on television in Pebble Mill and on Scottish television.  BCMA awards initially eluded them. They were nominated for Best Group in 1993 and although they were the resident band for the awards weekend at Sand Bay they didn’t win. When asked why they didn’t get the award Keith joked “We think it’s because we’re the second best band in the world! We leave it to everyone else to fight for the first place.” It wouldn’t be long before two BCMA awards came their way.
In 1993 they went to Nashville to record the album ‘Blue Rendezvous’ which soon became album of the year. The song was written for the band by Kenny Johnson. This was the only album to get a simultaneous release in the US. The following year they got two BCMA awards the first was Best Album by a British Act – recorded anywhere for Blue Rendezvous. The second was the Best Song award for the title song. This beat top song writers Raymond Froggatt, Charlie Landsborough, who won the previous year, and Mark Knopfler.
Brian Nicholls left West Virginia after 12½ years in c2000 to play with the Phil Haley Band (a Bill Haley Tribute band).  He left because he wanted the opportunity to do something different musically and to play all over the world. He later achieved his ambition with 10 tours of Australia. His replacement was Tony Peck who had previously played with John Derek and Country Fever and, after John Derek’s retirement, Wishbone. Country Fever became Wishbone after the departure of John Derek. Tony Peck was another inspired choice. Not only was he a great drummer but also a very funny man. West Virginia has always had a great sense of fun and so ‘The Pekker’ fitted right in. The band’s lineup remained the same until they came off the road.
In the early 2000s the band did some gigs as Monday’s Mood reviving the name of Arthur’s cabaret band of the same name from the 1970. The material was all 1960s and the band really enjoyed doing those gigs.
In 2007 West Virginia became the 6th inductee and the first band to be inducted into the British Country Music Hall Of Fame.  Arthur expanded into the holiday market. The company has now created their own roster of artists operating as Cloud 9 Entertainments. By now, the writing was on the wall for clubs and bands were struggling to find work as many clubs couldn’t afford bands; this was the era of solos and duos with backing tracks. West Virginia were on the road for 38 years and  continued to perform regularly until 2013 and they do still do occasional gigs mainly at Cloud 9 events, with Kenny Guy on drums and Pete Steele on lead guitar.   Guitarist Mike Brown sadly passed away at Christmas 2019.
Keith and Arthur formed the Thornhills Duo in 2012 and they have remained extremely busy for many years always creating a great rapport with the audience with good humour and great vocals much as they did with West Virginia. They recorded their debut CD album Memories in 2012 and have released regular albums since then. There have been seven albums to date  the others are Our Tribute To A Legend (Marty Robbins) in 2014, this was a rerecording of an earlier West Virginia album, Some Memories Just Won’t Die (2015), It’s Your World Now (2018), Been Missing All You (2021), Some Middle Of The Road Stuff (2021) and So This Is Christmas (2021). Keith has also recorded a solo album You’re My World (2021)
In recent years, Keith son Dan and Arthur’s son Wayne have launched their own careers on the Country circuit. Wayne Thornhill started his career as a singer working the cabaret circuit in North West England. Although he was brought up listening to Country music he wasn’t a die-hard Country fan so when he launched his career in the mid-2010s he sung mainly chart covers but with a nod to Country
He did occasionally sing with the Thornhills and after eight years on the cabaret circuit he made the decision to switch to Country, relaunching his career on the Country club circuit as Wayne T in late 2017. He only worked in the North West so it came as a surprise when he had a CCN Newcomer Of The Year nomination in 2018. His diary for 2020 was filling nicely until covid forced the country into lock down in March that year.  Now clubs have come out of hibernation, Wayne is once again in demand and now works nationwide.
Although Dan Thornhill was brought up on Country music he also had a love of rock music joining his first band with school mates when he was 15.  In 2001 he formed a band called Someone Else playing punk rock and pop punk. The band was very successful, especially in the North West and Dan stayed with the band for 19 years until they came off the road. 
With the demise of the band, Dan knew that he definitely wanted to carry on singing. Country was always one of his early passions. During covid he was made redundant and although he was forced to take a ‘normal’ day job he was determined fulfil his long held dream to be a solo Country singer. He used his redundancy money to buy equipment and did his first gig as a Country singer the end of October 2021. Since then he too has quickly built up an enthusiastic following on the club circuit.
Dan and Wayne have started doing a few gigs with Keith and Arthur as the Thornhill Family Band. Initially they only did about five family gigs a year but they are happy to travel to clubs and festivals if they are all free at the same time and they would like to do more.  The drawback is most clubs can’t afford to pay for a band.