My first blog entry (on Yahoo 360, and not shown here on blogspot) was the beginning of a chronological series on my musical interests and history. But, I'm going to jump ahead to the present and mention a reunion I attended this past weekend.
You might say that this was a "family reunion" of sorts. You see, the very first real band I ever played music with has become a part of my extended family. A couple of the members lived in my hometown of Honey Grove and the others lived within a 25 mile radius of HG. We gave this band the name, "Bois d'Arc Bottom Band (or Boys)"
It all began when Gary Moreland and I met some guys from Wolfe City and Gober at a filling station in Ladonia one evening. Gary and I had begun to play music at night on the square in Honey Grove as we met in search of something to do in "Smalltown Texas." As we learned to play and sing a small repetoire of bluegrass numbers together, we eventually went from there to the live studio room of KFYN radio in Bonham to present a weekly show called "Bluegrass American Style." Just guitar, banjo and no room for errors, we hammered out about 30 minutes of live music for a handfull of Saturdays. Then, we showed up one Saturday to discover that the disc-jockey flew the coup...with my very first guitar; a yellow, f-hole archtop, Old Craftsman acoustic. Needless to say, we didn't play anymore at KFYN. Shortly after that, we met the rest of the soon to be, Bois d'Arc Bottom Boys.
Members of the BBB shown in the attached picture were /are (from left to right): Kelly Connell (bass), Gary Manning (piano), myself (banjo only at that time), Mike Erwin (drums), David Trout (rhythm guitar), Gary Moreland (guitar), Phillip Rozell (standing, harmonica), and Bob Robinson (sitting, lead guitar). And, everyone sang...except me. I don't think I could have found that eighth harmony part to sing if I had wanted to!
The BBB performed at rodeo dances, clubs, VFWs, county fairs and opry houses over the span of about 3-4 years. Yes, it seemed like 10-15 years. There were times when we played five nights a week in Denison Texas. Needless to say, we got pretty tight...musically. I eventually started playing steel guitar, and I have to say that my playing style was greatly influenced by the band's repertoire of progressive county music (Willie & Waylon, The Marshall Tucker Band, etc).
So, to make a very long story short, these are my "musical brothers." And, in 1997, after 20 years of not playing together, we decided to have a reunion. It took place at the VFW in Bonham Texas and I think we sounded as good or better than we did 20 years before that. Several of us went on to play with other bands from 1979 to 1997 and that sharpened our pickin' skills even more. But when we got together for that first reunion, it was pure original Bois d'Arc Bottom Band, just like we had never stopped. And, the taste of that reunion has led us to do our best to repeat it every year, as long as the good Lord allow us!
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