California Sun

Here's the original by Joe Jones out of New Orleans.

RIP Les Paul

A true innovator and excellent musician passed away at the age of 94.

Here's a great clip of Les with Waylon Jennings.

Old Bio

Shaun Young and his Texas Trio

This was a quick sketch illustration drawn by Heather Telo.

That's me, Shaun Young, Alberto Telo, and Billy Horton.

Bellfuries Tour Poster

This is a poster I created. I remember we were having a hard time explaining our music to people. So someone came up with "America's Roots Pop Trio".

The Wild Side, October 1996

As far as I can tell, this was the final edition but it was never copied or sent out. This is the original mock up.

The Wild Side, May 1996

The shrinking budget mentioned below means that I was broke. I resorted to making a "pocket-size edition".

The Wild Side, April 1996

As you can tell, we were having a very difficult time finding a drummer back then.

The Wild Side, March 1996

Just to carry on my thought from a previous entry...

Maybe ZZ Top shot a video at the Urban Art Bar. Does that sound right? How about for "Double Back Again"? Or is that song in "Back To The Future 3"? Maybe it wasn't that one. Maybe it was in a Robert Rodriguez film. I'm not sure...

The Wild Side, February 1996

The Wild Side, January 1996

I actually painted a pair of work shoes to create my own two-tones. Hey, you do what you gotta do at that age. They would crack from walkin' so the upkeep was a bit of a pain but I thought they looked cool at the time.

I remember the Urban Art Bar was a cool place. Wasn't their some movie that featured a scene in that place and ZZ Top was playing? Or did they play a private party there? I have no idea what I'm talkin' about.

I think that barcode is from our first cassette but it could just as well be from a can of beans.

The Wild Side, December 1995

At the time, some people said the question mark over our old drummer's face was a bit harsh. What do you think?

Also, I remember that gig at the Roadhouse sucked! They kept telling us to turn down, turn down. We were so quiet by the end that it was ridiculous. Maybe if Patrick Swayze had been working that night he could've straightened things out.

The Wild Side, October 1995

The Wild Side, August 1995

I wish I could get some of those Rock'N'Roll Side Burns.

The Wild Side, July 1995

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).