Steve Obermiller Guitar & Vocals Ben Keebler Guitar, Harmonica & Vocals
Influences
Wow too many to list but here are a few, Willie Nelson, Waylon, The Band, The Black Crowes, Led Zeppelin, Crosby Stills, Nash & Young, Johnny Cash, The Allman Brothers, The Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Steve Miller, Tom Petty the list goes on and on. Good soulful music across all genres.
SHALLOWATER HAS CHANGED THEIR NAME TO BAREFOOT'N TEXAS...SAME BAND SAME SONGS, NEW NAME!!!!
Barefootin' Texas can trace it's beginnings back many years when three of the four played in bands together in the days of big hair and Dokken covers. But with age comes wisdom and a greater variety of musical influences that have found their way into Barefootin' Texas' songs. Literally everyone's musical loves from Classic and Hard Rock, to Southern Rock, even a touch of country, come together to form a truly unique sound that is best described as Red Dirt Rock -n- Roll.
Barefootin' Texas came into being sometime during 2001 when Ben and Steve met through common neighborhood and PTA functions. Mark, who was friends with Ben since Jr. high school, was invited over to jam at Ben's house with his new friend Steve and a fire was ignited.
At first, finding time to get together between jobs, kids, wives etc... was a bit of a challenge, but as the new band's songs and sound developed, everyone could see there would be no denying this band needed to be heard. So the boys struck out; at first to the open mic circuit and a few local parties, always thrilling the audience. They decided to take the plunge and add a drummer around the spring of 2005 and start playing around town "for real" and it was ON! The band, playing under the name "Shallowater" until recently, has taken a couple of detours along the way, but always comes back to the original idea... make music that makes them happy and others can't help but enjoy it right along with the band. With the departure of a second drummer and then a third, the boys felt they MUST find new drummer who would "get" the whole idea of "Barefootin' Good Music, Texas style". Matthew Williams has been a fixture in the texas music scene for quite some time and through a series of lucky introductions he ended up getting together with the band in the winter of '09 and immediately was right at home... in sticking with BFT tradition, the band decided during the recording of their album a Keyboard player would be absolutely essential... Mark again comes to the rescue introducing his friend Naeem Ahangarzadeh to the band, shall we just say the very second time he played with the band was at a big outdoor gig... magic
If you have not yet seen the boys in action, you are missing out. At their shows they always invite the audience to "Come in This House" and join in on the love the guys have for each other, the music, and those participating in the experience. So come on out, kick off your shoes, and enjoy the party... you'll be glad you did.
