Tom Gillam Band

1:00 - 5:00 PM

TOM GILLAM SINGER, SONGWRITER, SLIDE GUITAR, LEADER

“The edgier side of Americana coupled with a healthy dose of 70’s guitar rock” is how one magazine described Tom Gillam’s music and that’s not too far off the mark. In a career that spans five studio releases and one live album, Gillam has carved out a special place in popular music he can easily call his own. His brilliant songwriting, whiskey tenor voice, and stinging slide guitar have become well known, not only to his fans here in the United States but also, in recent years, to audiences in Europe as well. His brand new album “Had Enough?” opens a new chapter in this remarkable musician’s story.

Co-produced by long time friend & producer Joe Carroll and recorded after Tom relocated from Philadelphia to his new home in Austin TX, “Had Enough?” has a decidedly ‘Texas feel’ to it; due largely to the addition of some talented Austin friends. Joining the musical line up this time out are former Alejandro Escovado guitarist Alan Durham, bassist Michael “Cornbread” Traylor (Billy Joe Shaver, Bruce Robison) and drummer Vicente Rodriguez (Sisters Morales), along with guest spots by Ed Jurdi (Band of Heathens), Guy Forsyth, and singer/songwriter Penny Jo Pullus. Add this potent mix to Gillam’s regular backing band Tractor Pull, and it becomes obvious that this record is something special.

JOE CARROLL - GUITARS,MANDOLIN,MANDO GUITAR,BARITONE,LAP STEEL,ENGINEER,MIXER,PRODUCER

As a producer Joe has helped Tom get his ideas to the next level, sometimes lending a hand in the writing process. Joe play's a large part in the shaping of Gillam's sound on stage and on record.Recent projects include work with-Two Tons of Steel,Lloyd Maines,Desoto Rust,Redd Volkaert and more..

ALAN DURHAM-LEAD GUITAR/BKG. VOX
Al's "crafty" guitar work paints ethereal landscapes of sonic tones. Previously Al has worked with Alejandro Escovedo, Dumptruck, Jon Dee Graham and more. Al also heads up Durham Electronics, a boutique guitar effects company. Al is a regular in The Tom Gillam Band.

TIM MCMASTER - BASS,BKG VOX
he's studied with famed vocal coach deb chamberlin and plays in her touring band, and played with classic rock cover band shampoo. tim made his bones pulling a ten year stint with guitar slinger chris day, of tommy conwell fame. he has been touring and recording with tom and tractor pull since soon after the release of the debut album "first of all."

VICENTE RODRIGUEZ-DRUMS/BKG VOX
BIO COMING SOON....

Roger Leon – vocals, bass

Roger first started playing guitar at 13 and was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix, John Fogerty and the Beatles as well as the country greats.  Music is a family thing for Roger, whose father had a seven-piece orchestra and his brothers also played instruments.

He began playing in high school and graduated to supper clubs, lounges and dance halls in the sixties and seventies.  Roger traveled the fifty states playing country, rock and blues and loving every moment of it.  He is having a great time playing with Spare Parts, holding down the bass and providing stellar lead and harmony vocals.

Jeff Ballard – vocals, drums

Inspired by Cubby of the Mouseketeers, Jeff started playing the drums at the age of 11.  He brings the musical influences of his native Detroit – Jazz, Rock n’ Roll, Motown, Blues – as well as his Texas experience of some 26 years – Country, Swing and Big Band, allowing him to add as much confusion to Spare Parts as possible.

No slouch on the skins, Jeff is also pretty handy behind the microphone.  We showcase his vocal talents on various Motown and blues classics, and his backing vocals sometimes wander into Mr. Rodgers meets Cheech and Chong territory.

Derek Spence – vocals, guitar

Derek picked up guitar when he was 11 and put it down again two hours later.  His early influences were the Beatles, Elvis Presley and Ronnie Milsap.  Derek has been playing professionally for over 20 years and has performed with the likes of Kenny Rodgers, Diamond Rio, Bryan White and Dan Seals.

Derek has played on the Grand Ole Opry a couple of times and for two years sang at Fiesta Texas in San Antonio.  He’s performed at various venues around Fredericksburg for eight years as a solo act or with his wife Heidi.  He has always wanted to play in a country/rock/Motown/blues band, so if you know of one, please let him know.

Graham Pearson – vocals, guitar, keyboard

“When I was 13, the Beatles hit the scene and every teenage boy in England wanted to play guitar.  I was no exception”.  After playing in various high school bands, Graham persevered through university only to immigrate to West Virginia.  “I played in various bands around Charleston but I was never allowed to sing because of my English accent."

After playing in various bands in the Texas Hill Country, he is now very happy with the Spare Parts line up.  “The other guys are tolerant of my weird tastes in music and they even allow me to sing occasionally”.

Austin, besides being the Texas state capital, is home to much of the best in American roots music. Since the 1970s, ballsy blues players, renegade country pickers, and raw-voiced rockers have mixed & matched their musical styles in Austin’s thriving club scene. And that’s where Kent “Omar” Dykes holds court too. And it’s also where he’s recorded his latest Ruf album, Boogie Man, working with some of his adopted hometown’s most famous songwriters and musicians.

Omar hails from McComb, Miss., a town with the curious distinction of being home turf for both Bo Diddley and Britney Spears. It’s well established that Omar started playing guitar at seven, took to hanging out in edge-of-town juke joints at 12, joined his first band at 13 – the next youngest player being 50 – and played the sort of music where somebody bustin’ a cap at somebody else was just added percussion.

By 1976, the Howlers decided they were ready to bust a big move and relocate to Austin, where such clubs as the Soap Creek Saloon, the Broken Spoke, the Armadillo World Headquarters and Antone’s had created a haven for renegade music. “We worked out of Austin for about a year,” Omar says, “but a lot of the guys decided they weren’t cut out to play music full-time for the rest of their lives. They headed back
to Mississippi and Arkansas, and I decided to keep the name. Nobody objected.” And as Dykes says, Omar & the Howlers works better than Kent & the Howlers. Of such decisions are careers made.

Fronting a new lineup, Dykes honed a band capable of the sort of raw, rowdy, rambunctious blues that made Howlin’ Wolf and Hound Dog Taylor legends and inspired Don Van Vliet to become Captain Beefheart.

By then the Fabulous Thunderbirds were also getting started in Austin and T-Bird member Jimmie Vaughan’s kid brother, Stevie Ray, had formed Triple Threat with Lou Ann Barton, future Double Trouble-r Chris Layton and Jackie Newhouse (LeRoi Brothers). The T-Birds were the first to record, cutting their debut in 1979, but Omar wasn’t far behind with Big Leg Beat in 1980. His second, I Told You So, in 1984 made them the big men on the block – or at least along Austin’s famed Sixth Street – earning them consecutive Austin band-of-the-year awards in 1985-1986.

Quincy Harper

1:00 - 3:00 PM

After hearing his music, some would say he is an old soul, others might guess Quincy to be trying, with lyric and guitar, to fill a hole in his spirit.  Whichever the case, his music emanates from down deep, that place in a person where only truth survives.  The songs will grab you and not let you go.  So too, his voice, rumbling but never wavering, the closer you listen, the better it gets.

Albeit gently, Quincy’s music does not come at you; it engulfs you, wraps around you, and folds you inside. Listening to Quincy, YOU WILL FEEL, sometimes the comfort of a old friend, sometimes lifted up and energized, but always---always---a little more alive.

Quincy has played bars and venues all over Texas. He will soon move beyond the state line. Quincy’s music is too big for one place to hold. Nonetheless, for Quincy, as with a handful of other great songwriters, Texas will always be home - always in his blood. Like it or not, for better or worse, Quincy’s music, and sound, are born only one place in the world.

Sit in the audience for the real rush, sometimes soft, sometimes pulse pounding, always warm and welcome. You will leave Quincy’s gigs knowing you have heard something extraordinary. Or take him home with you and blister the CD at high volume. You are sharing the ride through this world with Quincy Harper. His music is the kind that comes only far too rarely. Catch up with him and you will be better off for your trouble. Guaranteed, you will have no regrets.

Paula Nelson

3:00 - 5:00 PM

When your dad is a founding father of outlaw country and a major musical legend, at some point, you realize resistance is futile: Even if you don’t seek a career in music, eventually, it’s gonna seek you.

Like the Cash and Jennings kids, Paula Nelson picked up “Papa Bear” Willie’s way with a song early on — along with her aunt Bobbie’s skill on piano, which Paula started playing at age 7. Although her dad once advised her, “Remember to watch everything I do and do the exact opposite,” she drew influences from his Highwaymen pals and contemporaries such as Kris Kristofferson’s then-wife, Rita Coolidge, whose bluesy, supple vocal style provided one of Paula’s earliest templates as she found her own voice. Texas Monthly has called that voice “torchy,” and the Los Angeles. Times praised, “There’s no missing the unforced power of Paula’s singing.”

6:00- 7:00 & 7:30 - 9:30

Back for his 5th year at the Hill Country Run, Guitarist/singer/songwriter Classie Ballou,, has been ripping it up worldwide for more than 50 years. Through career upswings, downturns, hit records and the disco-era draught, Ballou has rolled on. Most years, he performs nearly 300 shows. Almost from the beginning, he has been on top or at least in the company of those who were. It was a 17-year-old Ballou and his band that Eddie Schuler, owner of Goldband Records, chose to back Boozoo Chavis in 1954 on Chavis’ first record, “Paper In My Shoe.” The song became the first Zydeco hit, putting the genre on the national map.

From there, Ballou recorded a hit in “Hey! Pardner” for Excello in 1957 followed soon after by his biggest hit, “Confusion” for Nasco. That song rose to Number Two on the Billboard R&B chart in 1957. After the Nasco session, Ballou hit the road with star Rosco Gordon and was on one of the biggest hits of all time, Gordon’s “Just A Little Bit,” recorded for Vee-Jay at Chicago’s Universal Studios in 1959. For a time, Ballou’s own band included Huey Thiery, the singer-songwriter who later formed Cookie and the Cupcakes and recorded the swamp-pop classic “Mathilda.”

In the 1960s, Ballou moved from his native Louisiana to his current home of Waco, Texas, and from there pretty well ruled the Southwest with his unique mix of blues, R&B and Zydeco. He passed on an offer to tour with Ike and Tina Turner when that duo was at its zenith in favor of spending more time with his family.

Now, much of his family is in his band. Son Cedric plays bass. Grandson Cedryl handles the drums. Daughter CaCean plays guitar and keyboards. But the family member that draws the most attention is Cam-ron. He’s Classie’s 9-year-old grandson (CaCean’s son), who takes over for Cedryl on drums for some of the set. Classie began to teach Cam-ron rhythms at age 1 by tapping beats on his crib and having the baby repeat them. By age 3, Cam-ron was playing a miniature drum kit. The next year, he moved to a full-sized kit and has now been a part of the family band for more than 5 years. The band can play most anything and boasts a regular song list of more than 50 numbers.