I cut my teeth on KISS (the ALIVE record), I used to play that thing every morning before school and as soon as I came home, that record still ROCKS!! Then of course there's Aeorsmith, (ROCKS is probably one of my top five records of all time along with Toys in the Attic and they're first record is still one of the best recordings ever because it was so raw). Ted Nugent is the best just plain down and dirty in your face rockers I've ever seen. And no one can forget THIN LIZZY (Live and Dangerous) I wore that record out! Gary Moore is incredible! Yes I know he didn't play on that record, but he was a member of the band for awhile. His feel for music and his attack of the guitar is probably my biggest influence. And everyone who has ever wanted to play in the late 70's was influenced by EDWARD VAN HALEN!! When I first heard Van Halen 1, I almost quit trying to play. I couldn't believe how he was playing, I'd never heard anything like that at that time. Then came Randy Rhodes, I swear to you I used to sleep with a picture of his white Jacson V and his poka dotted V by my bed. That guy was in a different world than anyone else at that time. I saw his very last show in Knoxville Tn, in 82'. The next morning he was killed, I couldn't believe it. That little guy played with so much fury and aggression, it was an incredible show. You notice that my influences where more the BANDS, not so much the individual players. Don't get me wrong Ace Frehley, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Ted, Scott Gorham, Gary Moore, Eddie and Randy were truly HUGE influences of mine. But it was the music as a whole that these great bands and players created that truly left it's mark on my life as a musician.
I've been playing for almost 35 years and I've been blessed to have toured all over this great country of ours playing many styles of music. The music your hearing right now is some of the original music that was co-wrote by myself and Andy Grant, it can also be found at memphisjamesbrothers here on myspace. I remember the first time I ever really played in front of a big crowd was at my high school talent show when I was 16. I played the show oddly enough with some guys who had recently graduated the year before. The school gave them permission to take part in it because of who they had played with the year before. They had played with the one guy that was truly the biggest influence in my life as far as playing the guitar. His name was Steve Jones, and he was a very gifted and talented individual. This guy could play anything and was completely self taught. I remember the first electric guitar I got, I took it over to his house to show it to him. His brother was one of my best friends back then, so I got to hear Steve and his band practice a lot. I used to think, "man I've got to learn how to play a guitar like that guy". I would wake up everyday an hour earlier than I needed to so I could practice before I went to school. I practiced all the rest of the day after school, and at least 8 hours a day on the weekends. To say I was "dedicated" or "determined" would be putting it very mildly. There was and is, just something about playing the guitar, that "stick of wood with strings" that is beyond words. It has the ability to bring out something inside that I've never known or felt before. Tragedy struck the summer of 1979 when Steve died in a car accident the summer after he had graduated. To my amazement the guys he had played in a band with, who I was a fan of and looked up to musically, who had ironically played in the school talent show the previous year (and WON) asked "me" to join they're band. So when I played in the talent show that day, Steve's brother let me use Steve's guitar and amp. So there I was, standing where the guy I most idolized at the time had stood the year before, playing his guitar through his amp, with his former band. That's a memory that God willing, will be with me forever. As "corny" as this may sound, I knew back then at that very moment that I was meant to play the guitar, and at that very moment I dedicated my life to trying to live the dream that Steve was never able to live. I have no regrets because I've met some of the greatest players and friends I could ever ask for. Because of that decision, I met my late wife Nancy (we started dating in 1996 and we were married in 1999) who was truly the best blessing God has ever given me. She used to come see me play with Mama Terra in 88' and 89' with a mutual friend of ours. We never dated then, but it was God's will that we would eventually be together. God called her to Heaven in 2002, she'll always be the love of my life and live in my heart forever. Now, back to the story at hand, after graduating High School, I worked in a music store owned by to two brothers (one played guitar and the other played drums) who played with Janie Frickie (who for those who don't remember, was a HUGE country star back in the late 70's and ealry 80's and even won female entertainer of the year once). They had toured with the band Alabama for about 5 years. They even played for Ronald Reagan at camp David once. I learned a lot about music and the guitar in general while I was there. I continued to play with Dorado (the name of the band I played the talent show with) and then started playing with a different group of guys, but we kept the name of the band. We played around the surrounding area (East Tennessee) for about a year. Then got with a band called "Bruzer" and pardon the pun, that was a "bruzzing" experience (sorry, I couldn't resist). After that short stint I thought it was time to venture out to California to find fame and fortune. I sure wasn't going to find it there in the small town called Morristown, Tn. So at the tender age of 22, I loaded up the car and started out. Landed in Little Rock first and played with a band called "Sweat" for awhile. They were a top 40 pop band and I had just come from a Metal band, so you can imagine how long that lasted. I have to say though, those guys were really good players, it's just that the music wasn't my cup of tea, but it was an interesting experience. Then drove cross country to Las Vegas. When I lived in Las Vegas in 84' I played at the Four Queens, and got to see Ronnie Montrose in a club, that was AWESOME! I made it to California in 85' shortly after that and got a job as the assistant manager at a pet store in the same mall that was used in the film "Back to the Future". Didn't find fame and fortune out there, but I did meet a great bass player along the way who was from...... Memphis. I was involved with his sister at the time, who I had met in Hot Springs while playing with Sweat. She later came out to Las Vegas to be with me and to try to find her own fame and fortune. We finally made it to California, and her brother ended up living with us out there in Cali for about a year. Well, things didn't work out for me there and I left California and drove back cross country in a car with no reverse (no kidding) and landed back in east Tennessee. I formed a metal band called "Arch Angel" and we toured around the south for about three years on what we in the band called "The Dead Broke Torture Tour". I really paid some serious dues in my time with that band, but so did the other guys and it was more than worth it. We played everywhere from Florida to West Virginia and just about every state in the southern region of the country. Then in January of 1988 I finally made my way here to Memphis to play with "Mama Terra" because Philip (the bass player I had met in California, who I actually met in Las Vegas for the first time because he had stopped to visit his sister on HIS way to California,.... confusing I know) had called after he his self had come back to Memphis years earlier and asked if I wanted the gig. Our first show was at a place called "Nightmoves", and we were the "Detonaters" then. Tesla shows up after playing in concert with Def Leppard and sits in and plays three Montrose songs, man they were GOOD! After that we later won the Battle of the Bands just 2 months after I got here and went on to play regularly here in Memphis for about 3 years. During that time we did some demo's for Geffen records, and played some pretty big shows. We even had Joe Walsh's road manager as our manager for a while. I started giving guitar lessons on the side at a local music store here in Memphis that was called "Strings and Things" and landed the job as the "music advisor" for a television series that was filmed here in 1990 called "Elvis the early years". It starred Michael St. Gerard as "Elvis" and Jesse Dabson as "Scotty Moore" and Blake Gibbons as "Bill Black". Priscilla Presley was the executive producer and it aired on ABC, and my name appears on the ending credits. My job was to show the actors how to look like they were really playing. I even "hand doubled" for Jesse Dabson (who played the role of Scotty Moore, Elvis's original guitar player). I was so blessed, honored and proud to be apart of that project. After the show wrapped, Blake Gibbons (who played the role of Bill Black, Elvis's first bass player) hired myself and the drummer and bass player from Mama Terra to go into Sun Studios and record three of his original songs. That was an awesome experience that I will never forget. Even though Mama Terra was on a roll there for a while, I guess it just wasn't in the cards for us to hit it big, and looking back, it was probably for the better. Started another band called "Mad Hatter" shortly after that and continued to play around here in Memphis. I got an invitation to move to Nebraska (of all God forsaken places) in 1991 to play with a band called "False Witness". We traveled EVERYWHERE!, I mean from Minot North Dakota to Amarillo Tx, and all states in between for almost 3 years. Then I came to my sense's (it's just too damn cold there in that part of the country for me) and came back to Memphis. Since then I've played in such bands as Trash Radio, Soul Circus, Bone China, Thump, Upsetting the Mothers, The Gecko Brothers, The Sun Kings, Cherry Bomb, G.I. Joe Mama, The Circus Bears, Captain Jack, Truth Tribe, Roxanne Lemmon, Social Remedy and with a very talented young singer named Dani McCulloch. In all of that time I had opened up for such acts as Joe Walsh, Cheap Trick, the Romantics, Quiet Riot, Brittany Fox, Foghat, Head East, Black Oak Arkansas, The Rock City Angels, Slammin' Gladys, Bang Tango, Charlie McClain, Freddy Hart, Chely Wright, Emerson Drive, Cross Canadian Rag Weed, Buddy Guy, Patti LaBelle, and of course Memphis's own Lord Tracy. I've jammed on stage with Great White and was honored and blessed to have jammed on stage with the late GREAT John Entwistle once at Alfreds on Beale street. I was also blessed to have jammed with the late great and Memphis's own, Rick Harvey at Blues Hall on Beale street. If you never got the opportunity to see him play back in the day, you really missed a GREAT guitar player. Recently, I played the guitar on the title track of the newly released comedy movie called "Rock Stars of Comedy", and if you go to rockstarsofcomedy.com you can hear it as well as download (for free) a sampled portion of my solo for a ringtone. Again my name is listed on the ending credits of that movie. It's a GREAT COMEDY SHOW!!, filled with some of the hottest comedians there are today. You've got to check it out! I now not only play with a southern rock band called Sons of the South, but I recently started playing with a rising star in country music named "RT Scott". My life is being blessed in ways that I used to only dream of, and to play with such a great group of musicians who I am lucky to have as very good friends is beyond words. To think, everything that I've ever experienced so far in my life, is because of that one moment back in 1980 playing at my school's talent show. I've been so blessed in my life, and even though I've had my share of hard times along the way, I wouldn't trade one second of it for anything in the world. Always believe in your dreams, because if you give them a chance to take life, you'll be amazed at what can happen. Sometimes, even the dreams of others can become your own. And never take for granted the people God puts in your life, they're there for a reason. Stay tuned, because this is going to be a great year filled with great blessings :) Thanks for taking the time to read my little story of my musical life thus far. God bless
Hello! Thanks for the add. Have a great week and all the best in 2010 year!
See our video on youtube and join to our friends. http://www.youtube.com/user/ILLIDIANCE Our EP"Synthetic Breed" is now available at cd baby - from new year it will be available at itunes, napster, amazon. so about cd -baby:
Send this to everyone you know who likes you. If you're inside their heart, they'll send it back to you. Let's see how many hearts you receive... You're in my heart as a valued friend! I sure hope you send this back to me bigg huggs
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