I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana
on July 2nd, 1958. That's only about 20 miles from Texas, so I
think I can claim it! I was first exposed to the blues at a vegetable
stand near Texarkana when I was around 3 years old. The old black man
who owned the place was named Money Means, and he claimed to be Leadbelly's
cousin. He probably was. Anyway, I can still remember the first time I
heard him play slide. Mom said I was intrigued.
Like everyone else who was conscious at the time, the Beatles absolutely
blew me away (I was 5 when I saw them on the Sullivan show). I wanted
a guitar from then on. The next "event" occurred when my baby-sitter
took me to see the Monkees for my 9th birthday in 1967. The opening act
was the Jimi Hendrix experience.......
My parent finally gave me a guitar and lessons about a year later. I took
my first guitar lesson on September 17th, 1968--a day which I celebrate
yearly.
We moved to Houston in December of 1969. I played in
garage and party bands until I was 15, and joined the "established"
band at Fondren Jr. High. After personnel and name changes, Samurai was
born. These were some gifted kids I was playing with (I was the only one
who didn't attend the high
school for the performing arts!). Anyway, we played dances, and then the
Houston club circuit. We met and did shows with the likes of Eric Johnson,
Roy Buchanan, Foghat, etc.
The band broke up in early 1976. I just practiced, jammed with friends,
and really got into martial arts. I played with a couple of other smalltime
bands, and graduated high school. While a college freshman at U of H,
I met Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins. He took me under his wing, and
really taught me the blues! I got to sit in with him a couple of times
at Whisky river. Then I got tired of Houston and went up to Stephen F.
Austin State U to study Communications and Jazz......
I ended up turning my music major into a minor, and jammed around town. It was a really cool night at the Crossroads (a really cool club where everybody played), when I met a young Austin guitarslinger who called himself "Little Stevie" Vaughan. We had mutual friends, and became jammin' buddies whenever he came to town. Anyway, I learned how to play Jazz, and graduated in 1982. Oh, yeah....... Me and some friends formed a little band up there called "The Zealots" that got pretty big time around here for a while. I think that's when I met Paul.
Blues You Can Use!
Links to other
band members
I also started a band with my brother called "Facedown" that did pretty well.
I guess that brings us to the late 90's when I met these
crazy Terraplane cats. As I said before, I had known Paul for some time,
and I'd known Bill for a little while. My first gig with these guys was
at the Last Concert Cafe (I think I was subbing for Rodney that night).
We had a lot of fun, and I think they asked me to join about a year or
so later. I played an active part in the "Beggin' For Mercy"
CD, and I've really enjoyed every minute of playing with these guys!
Life has been pretty good so far....
Link to
Band Page
