Dusty Creek Band

My dad gave me my 1^st Marine Band harmonica when I was around 5.  It’s as if I’ve always been able to play one.  It came more natural than English. (I still have trouble with English.) Received my 1^st guitar ($27 Airline) for Christmas 1967. Like every 10 year old I wanted to play w/o practice. Broke my back in July ’68. Bedfast for 2 months with nothing else to do but practice. My mom, a guitar player, was able to teach me for hours a day during this time.  (Best break I ever had). Spent my childhood playing with Chet Atkins albums, and developing the “Oops Practice Method”.  This is the art of making a mistake that sounded better than what I meant to do, then continuing to make the same mistake until I would made a better one. I was inducted into my 1^st real band as I entered high school.  “The Dalton Gang” was a c/w band with front man the late Danny Dalton who claimed to be related to the Carter Family; like that’s relevant to my story.  Just wanted to throw a big name out there early. Broke away from the gang after a few months, with a tremendous talent  named Kerry Anderson.  He played banjo, guitar, and harmonica.  He taught me how to cross-harp and bend notes.  We spent our high school years and several after playing electric bluegrass. I played one man band for around 15 years while raising my 1^st 4 sons. Started Cowjazz in ’94 at my house.  This is where Doug’s story and mine become the same, except I married Christy in ’98, and didn’t even take Doug on the honeymoon.  I left Cowjazz in 2002; some time after Doug.  In that span we did get to play the Buckaroo Ball outside Sante Fe along with Randy Travis, the annual “Night Under the Stars” in El Paso, and the Astrodome during the rodeo in ’01. I’m a SR Field Engineer with Upwind Solutions Inc.  7 Children: Jason, Joshua, Chris, John, Christa, Brittany, and Seth.  11 grandchildren.