Ronnie Dawson

These photos are from the Continental Club in 1996--right before we moved to town.

(Left to right: Kevin Smith, Sean Mencher, Me, Lisa Pankratz, Billy Horton, Ronnie Dawson. Kneeling: Shaun Young)

(Ronnie Dawson and Kevin Smith)

"North To Dallas" Live In Vegas

The Big Bopper Movie

I went to a Big Bopper benefit concert in Beaumont back in 1989. (Oddly enough, it was the first time I got to see the Fabulous Thunderbirds in person.) They unveiled the bust of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and local hero the Big Bopper. Buddy Holly's widow was there and so was the Big Bopper's son, Jay Perry Richardson. At that time, he announced that they were finally going to make a movie about his dad's life. I remember thinking how great that was and wondering how I could actually get in the movie.

A few years went by and I moved up to Austin and never really heard anything else about the movie. Well, until a few days ago. They are trying to get this thing out by February 3, 2009--the 50th anniversary of the infamous plane crash that killed these three musicians. The title of the film is "The Day The Music Died". You can check out the website by clicking here. The website says that production started back in December but the truth of the matter is that the main investor backed out due to personal reasons and the project is on hold.

Let's hope that this movie "gets it right". Was I the only person who was annoyed that Gary Busey was playing a late 60's Strat in "The Buddy Holly Story"? How do you mess that up? And they even had a scene where Buddy punches Nashville record producer Owen Bradley. That scene didn't sit well with Sonny Curtis. The Austin Chronicle did a cover story on Curtis a few years ago. You can read it for yourself over at the Austin Chronicle website. (Can you believe that Curtis actually made the COVER that month?!?)

I understand that they're trying to make a Hollywood movie and not a documentary. But I just think they need to tell the story accurately. The Big Bopper's son is involved in this project so there is hope. The one disturbing line on the movie's website says "As the Bopper was really an early rapper, we hope to have one of today's popular rappers cover 'Chantilly Lace' to appeal to the younger audience." Let's hope that doesn't happen!

Oh, just in case you missed it--they exhumed the Big Bopper's body in Beaumont last year at the request of his son. He had them perform an autopsy to put to rest the rumors that the Big Bopper had survived the crash for a short time since his body was found quite a distance from the others in the plane. And there has always been a rumor that someone may have been shot since Buddy Holly reportedly carried a gun on the plane. No bullet wounds were found on the Big Bopper.

They moved his grave site to the corner of the cemetery there in Beaumont and have plans to erect a statue in his honor.

Lefty Frizzell

Corsicana, Texas--not exactly a "vacation destination" when visiting the Lone Star state. But I decided to stop off in this small town to check out the statue of Lefty Frizzell.

I had spent Christmas in Dallas that year and took the back roads between Big D and Beaumont.


Unfortunately, the museum was closed due to the holiday so I didn't get to poke around in there. So I just took a couple of pics of the Lefty Frizzell statue and went on my way.

California Tour, 1998

This one's for Dave Stuckey! We hit the road in 1998 to do a little west coast tour with the Hot Club of Cowtown. This pic was taken outside of Tio Leo's in San Diego after the show.

(Back row, l to r: Me, Dave Stuckey, Lisa Pankratz, Big Sandy, Southpaw Johnny, Wayne Hancock, Carl Sonny Leyland, T Jarrod Bonta, Billy Horton, Jeremy "JW" Wakefield. Kneeling, l to r: Elana James, Whit Smith, Derek Peterson.)

A few days later we made our way up to San Francisco where we played at Cafe du Nord. Here's what we sounded like on July 3, 1998.

Hee Haw Steel Guitar

I know this one's going to irk some people. I got this Fender steel guitar from a guy in Alabama a few years ago. He told me that he got it from a lady who was a cast member of Hee Haw. This steel guitar was used on the show. I guess her husband wanted to learn to play steel so she got it for him. As you can see, it was painted red and blue "sunburst". It looks like they just took a couple of cans of spray paint and did it themselves--hillbilly style! I hope there weren't any close ups 'cause it was a pretty poor, Earl Scheib-type paint job. Actually, it was more like a Johnny Bench, Krylon paint job.

Here's the irk'er--I went ahead and stripped it down and had it painted a nice blonde color. Is that bad? Well, at least I still have the before pictures.

Does anyone know who actually played this steel? I heard that it could've been Maurice Anderson or Curly Chalker.

Curtis Gordon

I got to see Curtis Gordon at Viva Las Vegas in 1999. But--even cooler than that--I had a chance to sit down and have a chat with him in his hotel room. We were staying at the Orleans that year and I noticed him checking in. I said, "check it out--it's Curtis Gordon!"

So I called the front desk and they connected me to his room. He told us he was going to take a nap but we could stop by for a visit after that. I went up to his room with my brother Billy, piano player T Jarrod Bonta, and Pete Hakonen of Goofin' Records.

Curtis was full of Southern hospitality and--for the next hour or so--regaled us with stories about his career. He told us about his close relationship with Ernest Tubb and about recording in Houston with Herb Remington. Afterwards, he signed a few things for us and we thanked him for the chat.

He was a true gentleman and told us that if we ever made it to Georgia we should give him a call. Oh, and we were instructed to "bring something to eat and we'll cook it up"!

Me & Chuck

Well, I didn't actually meet Chuck Berry. I was on tour with Deke Dickerson in 1999 and we had a show in St. Louis. We were having dinner before the show when--all of the sudden--Chuck Berry strolls by on his way out of the restaurant. We all followed him outside to see if we could meet him. I rushed back to the van to grab my camera while Deke was getting Chuck's signature on a five dollar bill--which Chuck jokingly tried to pocket! When I came back, Deke told me "Chuck says we can take all the pictures we want but he's not going to pose with us!" So we went ahead and took a few quick snapshots and I didn't shake his hand or anything. Heck, I didn't even acknowledge him! We just took our pics and left him on the curb while he waited for them to bring his car around.