Banjo Boyd Music: Bois d'Arc Bottom Band

In 1973, Boyd Hudgens was painstakingly learning to play the five string banjo on Fourteenth Street in Honey Grove Texas by slowing down an album of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in order to learn every lick that Earl played on the banjo. Of course the song was “The Foggy Mountain Breakdown”. Hudgens began to reach a level of proficiency on the banjo and was noticed by Ross Whit who lived two blocks from him. Whit apparently told J.T. Bryan (guitar) and Joe Julian (Dog House Bass) of Paris about Hudgens and his banjo playing. It wasn't long before Hudgens was playing banjo with the trio at county fairs around the Fannin and Lamar County areas. Julian and Bryan were known throughout Texas as being the best accompaniment players for Texas fiddlers, and they had won multiple awards for their skills.

It was during this period that Hudgens met Dr. Stuart Anderson, head of the Mathematics Department of East Texas State University. This began a friendship between two banjo pickers that endures to this day! Anderson was instrumental in bringing a Bluegrass Festival to the campus of East Texas State University (Commerce Texas) in 1976. During that festival, Hudgens won First Place in the banjo contest, playing a tune Anderson had taught him. The duo of Hudgens and Anderson continued to travel with Julian and Bryan to Texas fiddling contests around the state.

During this era, Bill Grant of Hugo hosted what was known as the largest bluegrass festival west of the Mississippi! Hudgens and Anderson would make the trek from Texas to Salt Creek Park Oklahoma every August and spend the weekend enjoying bluegrass music, sharing their banjo skills and learning more about banjo playing during the festival. In 1979 Hudgens won First Place in the Banjo Contest at Salt Creek Park.