Austin has been very good to me, y'all. My main gig these days is with singer/actor/director Jesse Dayton, and I've not only been happy to tour the U.S. and Eurpoe with his band, I also got to appear as a zombie in his new film, Zombex.  When not touring, I perform weekly with JD in Austin, fueling the dancefloor on Thursdays at the world-famous Broken Spoke Dancehall. When in town on Fridays, I co-host the Honky Tonk Happy Hour at Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon (the home of Chickensh!t B!ngo) with country crooner Dane Sterling and chicken-picker Matt Brooks (of Two Hoots and a Holler). I've been lucky enough to play or sit in with great musicians like Jason Allen, Billy F'ing Dee, George Devore, Doug Moreland, Ricky Davis, Clay Harrel, Wink Keziah, Nick Andrews, and many others.

In 2009 & 2010, I had a blast touring with the Texas Torch, Dean Seltzer. Dean's album, Lady Luck (Smith Entertainment) featured guest performances by Shelli Coe (daughter of David Allan Coe). The album was produced by CJ Errickson (U2, The Replacements). 

After first moving to Austin, I produced and played bass with the Wicked Brew Band, opening for acts like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Keven Fowler, and Miranda Lambert. I recorded and produced tracks for Wicked Brew's April 2008 release, Down South, on Smith Entertainment, which included several of my original songs. The first single, "I'm Alright" climbed into the Top 20 on the Texas charts!

I'm currently writing songs for two new albums -- one of holiday songs and another of country duets to be recorded with his lovely bride, vocalist AJ Belknap.

I lead a great 1950s & '60s band called the Sun Barons. We perform great singles from the Sun and Chess record labels, as well as other great songs of the period. Guest musicians include guitarists Grady Pinkerton, Nick Andrews, and Kenny Metcalf, and drummers include Bob Maas, Mark Woodruff, and Matt Danko. We sometimes feature pianist "Sweet" Basil McJagger, too. If you like early Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly, and Howling Wolf, you need to check out the Sun Barons!

From time to time, I also perform with some amazingly soulful Austin musicians as the Hog Branch Groove Band. We play a mix of soul, funk, r&b, and jam band dance music. Besides causing dance floor trauma in local clubs, the band is a great choice for weddings, parties, corporate events, and festivals. Click here for booking info.

Last August, I flew to Portland, Maine, to record tracks for the new Picnic album, Got No Lunch, Just Whiskey Punch, due out on the Hog Branch Records label in Spring 2012. In one amazing weekend, the band tracked 15 songs -- I played eight tunes on electric and seven on upright. Musicians included the bandleaders, brothers Rich Valdmanis (vocals, guitar, banjo) and Warren Valdmanis (mandolin, guitar, banjo, keys, vocals), the incredible Rubin Nizri on drums and persussion, and Grammy-winning South African musician Vusi Mahlasela on guitar and vocals.

In 2004, I produced Picnic's first album, Stop What You're Doing, in NYC. It will be re-released on Hog Branch Records next summer!

I was fortunate to spent a decade anchoring several bands in NYC's
downtown music scene in the 90s. As both a bass player and producer,
I was able to work in a wide range of booty-moving styles.

Playing, recording, and producing credits incude:

• propelling NYC’s alt-country phenoms Leroy Justice and Hot Water
  (now known as the Apple Brothers) on Sire Records
• churning out grooves for the funk-metal-rap bands Bruised and Nuclear Boy
• wrecking stages with blue-collar rockers Darin Ellsworth Vervain and Todd Mangan of Mangan
• generating low-end moxie for the acoustic-rock and ambient bands Picnic, Elizabeth Gone (with Vincent James of Machine Love at machinelove.com), and Life With the Lions (with the mighty Mike Fazio of Gods of Electricity and orchestramaxfieldparrish at faithstrange records) and backing numerous other performers, including country artists The Tenkiller Twins, songwriters Stephen Clair and Tinkerbel Tompsin, songwriter/film composer Jeremy Parise (Kiss the Bride, How to Eat Watermelon...), rockabilly madman Mike Mok, swing-crooner Jen Jones (of The Camaros), and alt-punk-chanteuse Julianne Richards (of Snatch and solo on Geffen)
• I was also the bass player onstage in the off-Broadway production of the rock opera The Asthma Conspiracy and the record-setting Fringe Festival Selection Slut! in New York City.

Before leaving the family farm for the big city,
I learned bass by following my momma’s mighty left hand
as it pumped out boogie-tinged gospel on the upright Baldwin
at Shiloh Baptist Church in Hog Branch, Louisiana.

By high school, I was anchoring the popular "Kasino,"
a Skynyrd-inspired rock band playing honky-tonks
and festivals throughout the South.