chord was born into my soul.
What was the first band you were in? The first band I ever played in was my father's band, The Brazos River Boys. They would get me up to play two or three songs at their gigs and would give me $5.00 while the audience got a kick out of seeing a seven- year- old boy, with a guitar as big as I was, singing Hank Williams songs. When I was about ten, I taught some of the kids in the neighborhood how to play the few chords that I knew and voila - we had a band. We would practice every week since there was always musical gear set up in my parents music room and my parents didn't mind all the noise. We all lived close together and would play for the kids in the neighborhood standing under the street light in front of our house.
perform recently at the Dallas Guitar Show Tell me a little about where you were born and raised.
I was conceived in Texas and born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. My father worked at American Airlines in the Dallas area and was trans- ferred to Tulsa when my mom was about three months pregnant. When I was about six months old we moved back to Texas and lived in Cleburne. Just before I started school we moved to Euless, located halfway between Ft. Worth and Dallas. I lived in Euless pretty much until I graduated high school.
When did you first begin playing gui- tar?
When I was five. As a small child I always wanted to sit on the couch and strum on my father's Martin guitar. One day my little fin- gers managed to line up properly and the E
So, between leaving high school in Texas, and forming Point Blank in about 1974, what were you doing lead- ing up to that? In forming Point Blank, were you involved in finding members and assembling the band, or did it just kind of fall into place?
I moved to Houston, Texas where I had land- ed a house gig at The Cellar, an all-night club that featured non-stop music from dusk ‘til dawn. The Cellar(s) were located in Ft. Worth, Dallas, Houston, and one for a short time in San Antonio. This was a period of super growth in my craft, as I was now get- ting to play with much stronger players. My father always said that if you really want to play better, work with better players, and it will help you to play up to your musical envi- ronment.
While playing there at The Cellar I was in a band called Odessa with John O'Daniel and Buzzy Gruen, the core group of players that later became Point Blank. While playing the
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