This is Gator. I'm an old blues/rock guy living in Ft. Worth, Tx. After growing up in Odessa (West Texas) where Buddy Holly played gigs in the gym and where Roy Orbison practiced down the street, I spent 20 years in Austin, 20 years in the Santa Fe/Abq New Mexico area (where I played on the Indian casino circuit-12 casinos) and have been back in Texas now for 3 years.
I have two bands--the South Side Blues Kings and Ray Reed & Gator.
Sometimes, they overlap as the former backs the latter. My band-mate Ray Reed is a 74-year old Black man, son of sharecroppers, who was formerly Freddie King's bass player. Ray is a super-talented, delta-style player and I'm lucky to play with him. Our approach to blues and rock compliment each other and we do full-band electric sets as well as 2-man acoustic sets. While Austin is the music capital of Texas, FW is the blues capital in my opinion. I'm really blessed to have lived in both areas.
As a small child, I listened to the smorgasboard of music around me--blues, early country, rock and later soul when I found the 500,000 watt AM station in Mexico that played stuff like Little Richard and Muddy Waters before they were on the US radio. In Texas, you'll hear Texas Swing (Bob Wills), Tejano, Blues, Rock, Cajun, R&B. The jams are really fun and you might find a killer pedal steel player jamming with blues guys, or a blues guitarist sitting in with some Salsa band. It's all good down here.
This site really has me excited as it allows me to hear the really impressive musicians who are posting stuff. I hope to get to know you guys and find time to do some songs together. I stay pretty busy with gigs--12 over the next two months for instance-- so I don't have as much time to record as I would like.
I appreciate the kind words from you guys on my first upload. And no, I don't always sing like Elvis. I just pull that trick out when it feels appropriate for the song.
--Gator
I have two bands--the South Side Blues Kings and Ray Reed & Gator.
Sometimes, they overlap as the former backs the latter. My band-mate Ray Reed is a 74-year old Black man, son of sharecroppers, who was formerly Freddie King's bass player. Ray is a super-talented, delta-style player and I'm lucky to play with him. Our approach to blues and rock compliment each other and we do full-band electric sets as well as 2-man acoustic sets. While Austin is the music capital of Texas, FW is the blues capital in my opinion. I'm really blessed to have lived in both areas.
As a small child, I listened to the smorgasboard of music around me--blues, early country, rock and later soul when I found the 500,000 watt AM station in Mexico that played stuff like Little Richard and Muddy Waters before they were on the US radio. In Texas, you'll hear Texas Swing (Bob Wills), Tejano, Blues, Rock, Cajun, R&B. The jams are really fun and you might find a killer pedal steel player jamming with blues guys, or a blues guitarist sitting in with some Salsa band. It's all good down here.
This site really has me excited as it allows me to hear the really impressive musicians who are posting stuff. I hope to get to know you guys and find time to do some songs together. I stay pretty busy with gigs--12 over the next two months for instance-- so I don't have as much time to record as I would like.
I appreciate the kind words from you guys on my first upload. And no, I don't always sing like Elvis. I just pull that trick out when it feels appropriate for the song.
--Gator
