The Wild Side, June 1995

I decided it was time to dig up some of the old newsletters I used to put together for our old band, The Fender Benders. These were all cut-n-paste and mailed out to about 200 people every month. And I would personally hand write every address myself. Wow--what was I thinking?

Another High Noon Article

High Noon “What’re You Waiting For?”

Austin, TX—On a normal Monday night in Austin, folks make their way down to the Continental Club on South Congress where Roger Wallace holds court each week with his fine brand of honky tonk. But on Monday, January 14, Roger was feeling under the weather and turned to his friends to bail him out. The timing couldn’t have been better—High Noon, the rockabilly trio, has been hard at work rehearsing songs for their upcoming release and were more than willing to get in front of their hometown crowd to perform their new material.

High Noon—Shaun Young, Sean Mencher and Kevin Smith--played an hours worth of almost all new originals. Leading things off was Sean Mencher’s “The Beat.” The audience was receptive in spite of the fact that they had never heard the new songs. Songs like “What’re You Waiting For?” and “Railroad Crossing” hit their mark. Sean Mencher continues to write fantastic tunes—most notably the new shuffle “Prelude To The Blues”. Not to be outdone by Shaun Young’s fantastic “Hanging From The Old Oak Tree” and a great Texas shuffle called “Old Habits Are Hard To Break”. High Noon will be recording these songs for an upcoming release due out this spring on Finland’s Goofin’ Records.

“We’ve got about 30 new original tunes to choose from,” says Shaun Young. “Then we’re gonna get in there at Fort Horton (Studios) and record ‘em before Sean leaves right at the end of January.” As this show proved, the guys haven’t missed a beat as their chemistry is still undeniable. The record--tentatively titled “What’re You Waiting For?”--will be a follow up to the group’s 1996 release, “Stranger Things”.

High Noon will play several shows here in Texas this month and will resurface in Green Bay, Wisconsin, this July at the weeklong Oneida Rockabilly Festival. What’re you waiting for? Catch ‘em while you can!!

Bobby Horton

January, 2002

High Noon Promo Article

Another oldie...

High Noon—
Shaun Young—acoustic guitar, vocals
Sean Mencher—electric guitar, vocals
Kevin Smith—upright bass, vocals

High Noon; Happy Hour (6:30-9pm) Wednesday, January 16 & Wednesday, January 23

High Noon started out in guitarist Sean Mencher’s garage back in August of 1988. A humble beginning for the rockabilly trio that would go on to influence a slew modern bands. The guys played nonstop for the next eight years before Sean Mencher relocated to Maine to raise his family. Shaun Young (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Kevin Smith (upright bass) continued playing music in Austin with other bands. Shaun spent much of his time behind a drum kit with the Big Town Swingtet, the Horton Brothers and the Jive Bombers. Kevin kept busy with the Asylum Street Spankers, the Panhandlers and 8½ Souvenirs.

“High Noon never really broke up,” says Shaun Young. “It logistically got too tough to do. But the three of us still play together anytime we get a chance.” High Noon has played several shows in the past few years, most notably the Viva Las Vegas weekender in Las Vegas, Nevada. The guys have also been known to play “impromptu” sets during Wayne Hancock shows and even played a happy hour at the Continental Club awhile back. Their popularity was evident when High Noon played to a full house at the aforementioned happy hour with only one day’s notice. And there’s still more to come from this Texas trio.

“We’re gonna get together and learn some new material—we’ve got about 30 new original tunes to choose from. So we just need to get together and figure out which ones we wanna learn,” says Shaun. “Then we’re gonna get in there at Fort Horton (Studios) and record ‘em before Sean leaves right at the end of January.” The record—to be released on Finland’s Goofin’ Records—should be out by this May.

Old Big Sandy/Marti Brom Show Primer

This one's really old--from 2001.

Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys

w/Marti Brom

Continental Club (Austin)

Friday, November 16, 2001

The boys from Southern California return to the stage of the Continental Club promoting their latest Hightone Records release, “Night Tide”. If it’s been awhile since you’ve caught these guys in action—or you’ve never seen ‘em before—you owe it to yourself to check them out. Although the line-up has evolved over the last couple of years, they still deliver the hillbilly bop and rockabilly that has been their trademark for more than a decade.

Big Sandy just finished a month-long tour with Los Straitjackets. (Did you catch them when they showed up on Late Night with Conan O’Brien couple of weeks ago?) But now the boys are rested and back to swingin’! Longtime drummer Bobby Trimble keeps things motivatin’ right along with upright bassist Jeff West while Ashley Kingman (guitar) is enjoying the interplay with the latest member of the Fly-Rite Boys, steel guitarist Jimmy Roy. (Jimmy’s no stranger to the Continental Club stage—he was with Ray Condo’s Ricochets for several years.) This venerable touring act never fails to put on a great show when they take the stage. Don’t miss it!

Local chanteuse Marti Brom returns to perform for the hometown crowd after spending most of the summer touring Europe with the Barnshakers. She always has something up her sleeve as she proved with her latest release, “Feudin’ and Fightin’” (Goofin Records)—a collaboration with the Cornell Hurd band that featured her take on “uptown hillbilly showtunes”. Brom has a large and varied repertoire to pull from so be sure to show up early to catch her set. You won’t be disappointed.

Bobby Horton

Roger Wallace Article

Just came across this article I wrote about Roger Wallace several years ago. He no longer plays on Monday nights so don't plan a vacation around that show or something silly like that.

Lookin’ for somethin’ to do on a Monday night? Those who are “in the know” make their way down to the Continental Club where Roger Wallace has held down the Monday night residency for the past two and a half years. If you like real country (i.e. the kind played by Hank Williams, Ray Price and Lefty Frizzell) then you owe it to yourself to drop in and catch Wallace’s act.

Wallace hails from Knoxville, Tennessee, but wasn’t always a honky tonker. “I played in blues and rockabilly bands. The only country bands in Knoxville were goofy country—top-40 cover bands. The alt-country thing was startin’ to happen—the Vice Roys (which became the V-Roys) were around and R.B. Morris was around which isn’t country but that stuff was kind of startin’ to happen. That’s about as close as it got.”

But when Roger heard Hank Williams for the first time he knew he had found his calling. After relocating to Austin in ’94, Roger slowly began making the rounds. He used to sing with Jim Stringer on Sunday nights at The Draught Horse. Then he spent some time with Teri Joyce and the Tag-a-Longs (a band he still sings with on occasion) before putting together his own band. The current Monday night line up is quite an impressive ensemble—guitarist Jim Stringer, bassist Brad Fordham and Lisa Pankratz on the drums.

Roger’s first two albums (“Hillbilly Heights” and “That Kind of Lonely” both released on the Texas Round Up imprint) had critics sitting up and taking notice of Austin’s latest honky tonk sensation. As of this writing, a new record is in the planning stages. “We’re supposed to start recording at the end of the month with Derek O’Brien producing,” says Roger. “We’re recording at Arlyn (Studios)…hopefully. It’s all tentative…penciled in sorta stuff. ”

So what can we expect on the new record? “We’re planning on doing a Mel Torme song…Teri Joyce wrote one…me and Timmy (Campbell, drummer) wrote one together and I’ve got a few more originals, too. It’ll be on TMG/Lone Star—the same label as Justin Trevino and Johnny Bush.”

Roger has no immediate plans to tour so you can catch him every Monday night “until further notice” holding court on South Congress. Did I mention that there’s no cover charge and a Lone Star beer will only set you back a buck and three quarters? Well, it’s true! And don’t forget to throw a tip in the shiny bucket for the band.

Bobby Horton

February, 2002

High Noon

Diggin' Through The Archives

I have several pieces that I've written in the past that I would like to share with you. Some of these have been published--others have not.

Here's a bio I wrote for Goofin' Records when they released Shaun Young's "Wiggle Walk".

(Austin, Texas)--Shaun Young is best known for his work with the highly acclaimed rockabilly trio, High Noon. But when guitarist Sean Mencher decided to move away from Austin in 1996, Shaun was left wondering what he would do next. He didn’t have to wonder long when brothers Bobby and Billy Horton moved from Beaumont, Texas, to the capital of the lone star state. “Bobby, Billy and I have played together almost as much as I’ve played with Sean and Kevin (Smith) in High Noon,” says Shaun. “It gets to be like riding a bike with those two.”

The original band name was Shaun Young and the Texas Trio—and included the Horton Brothers along with drummer Alberto Telo. This configuration of the band played around locally until Alberto had to move back to Italy in the early part of 1997. Over the next couple of years they continued to play shows occasionally but didn’t really hit their stride until 1999. That was the year that drummer Buck Johnson, teenage piano prodigy T Jarrod Bonta, and guitarist Dave LeRoy Biller came on board. T and LeRoy play with the band whenever they’re available. (T oft times subbing for LeRoy if he can’t make it.) “I’m really the luckiest guy in the world to work with these players,” notes Shaun. “Every one is a world class musician and make my job as a singer and front man too easy. Plus they are all great people and I’m proud to count them among my closest friends.” The diversity of these musicians allows them to easily transition from traditional rockabilly to a country shuffle. And it’s this band that can be found backing Shaun on his latest recording, Wiggle Walk (Goofin’ Records).

“Making Wiggle Walk was one of the best times I’ve had in the studio,” claims Shaun. The recording took place over several laid back sessions at Fort Horton Studios. “Bobby and I got together and had basic arrangements of most of the tunes but a lot of them weren’t worked out completely. It made the session feel very creative.”

An example of that creative process can be found on “I’ve Found What I’m Looking For”. As Shaun explains, “Billy called me the day of one of the sessions starting later that same night. He says ‘man, I think we need a ballad for this album.’ I said ‘yeah, you’re right. Let me see what I can come up with.’” After hanging up the phone, Shaun wrote the song and it was recorded at the session that evening!

Shaun calls upright bassist/producer Billy Horton the “perfect sounding board for ideas because he’s so brutally honest. Basically, he’ll tell you what works or sounds good—and what doesn’t—and will suggest what would work better musically.” He adds “that’s why he is such a great producer and engineer in the studio.”

Shaun Young and his band can be found around Austin, Texas, playing at their favorite bars and honky tonks such as the Continental Club and Ginny’s Little Longhorn. They have also played at the Rockin’ 50’s Fest in Green Bay, WI, and the High Rockabilly Festival in Calafell, Spain.

Wiggle Walk is the follow up to 1996’s Red Hot Daddy (also on Goofin’ Records).

Happy Holidays

...from Mickey & Sylvia!

Thinkin' About Little Willie John

Barbara Lynn & Huey Meaux

This is a great snapshot of Barbara Lynn and Heuy Meaux getting off an airplane.

If you haven't already picked it up, go out and get the double disc they just put out titled "The Jamie Singles Collection, 1962-1965". It contains 32 top-notch tracks and includes her biggest hit, "You'll Lose a Good Thing".

Smoking Is Cool!

Remember when smoking was cool? Yeah, me neither. But I'll tell you what is cool--this tobacco ad featuring a pipe-smoking Faron Young! Hey, the proof is in the puffing.

Saturday, November 15th!

RIP Earl Palmer

The great Earl Palmer passed away at his home on Friday after struggling with an illness for quite some time. Everybody knows Earl Palmer--even if you didn't know him by name. That's him drumming on Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away". He also kicked off Little Richard's "Keep A'Knockin'" which was later lifted by Led Zeppelin. He laid the ground work for the rock 'n' roll sound--first in New Orleans and later in Los Angeles.

I had the pleasure of meeting Earl on a couple of occassions. Once at his weekly jazz gig in LA and again when Deke Dickerson hired him to play on his CD. Deke asked me to film some of the session so I got to sit right next to Earl in the studio while they were cutting the tracks. And--let me tell you--he was incredible. The rhythmic feel he had was amazing. I couldn't believe I was sitting five feet away from greatness.

You will be missed, Earl.

"Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

Here's my version of Eddie Peabody's version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". Check out his version if you get a chance because it's fantastic. He played it on the banjolene--sort of a cross between a banjo and an electric guitar.

Gig Announcements

Here are a couple of shows that we have coming up this weekend.


On Friday, September 12th, we will be backing up Miss Lauren Marie at Ginny's Little Longhorn on Burnet Rd. here in Austin. Nick Curran will also be playing guitar with us on this show.

Then Saturday night--barring that we still have power after Hurrican Ike--we'll be over at Waterloo Icehouse. Dave Biller will be pickin' with us that night. It's been awhile since Dave's played with us and we're really looking forward havin' him along.

PS--If you like either of the posters, I designed them.

***Whoops!!! Thanks to Lauren Marie for pointing out my mistake--I mispelled "brothers" and didn't even notice. Weird...***