Hello friends, fans and groupies of the Dave & Peggy Traveling Good Time Show. Things have been pretty good for us and we have been very busy. We hit a few good shows this month and I’ll try to cover them for you.

     On a sad note, we lost several more Texas musical greats this month. Jimmy Duncan passed away last week at the age of 84. The songwriter, singer, composer, author, arranger and producer was from Houston. He composed and arranged for a number of singers and performers, also singing on records released by his own company. He joined ASCAP in 1956. His popular-song compositions include “My Special Angel”, “I Asked the Lord”, “Goodbye to Love”, “Pauline”, “Pretty Little Mama”, “Someone Else, Not Me”, “Spin the Wheel”, and “Unloved”.

     We also lost Gene Kurtz, bass player with many bands and the writer of Roy Head’s “Treat Her Right”. Here is the obituary: Musician, husband, father and grandfather, Eugene Kurtz, Jr., died peacefully from complications of advanced metastatic lung cancer on October 22, 2011, surrounded by his loving family. Gene was born in San Antonio, Texas on October 9, 1943 to Eugene Kurtz Sr. and Gladyce Babcock Kurtz.  A lifelong musician, songwriter, and bassist, he was recently inducted into the Songwriter Hall of Fame at the Texas Legacy Music Awards in San Antonio. He was also a 25-year member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Kurtz was well known for co-writing Roy Head’s 1965 hit “Treat Her Right.” The hit established one of the most recognizable bass lines of the ‘60s, and “Treat Her Right” reached No. 2 on both the Billboard pop and R&B charts in 1965. Since then, it has been covered by a long list of artists, including Otis Redding, Barbara Mandrell, George Thorogood, Robert Plant, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan. The song continues to be enjoyed and recorded around the world. Gene’s early career began as a sideman playing and recording in both San Antonio and Houston. His résumé was impressive: he worked with Booker T, Percy Sledge, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Edgar Winter. In Austin, he played with numerous local bands. For many years he performed and toured with Dale Watson, with whom he co-wrote “Way Down Texas Way”. 

     Blues legend Doyle Bramhall, Sr. also passed away this month. Doyle Bramhall, a longtime favorite son in Austin, Texas who played with Jimmie Vaughan’s first band and later, with Stevie Ray Vaughn died at age 62. Bramhall, a blues drummer who wrote many of his own songs, gave the younger Vaughan his start during the Seventies in his band the Nightcrawlers. Later, after getting clean and sober, he helped Stevie Ray do the same. “If you listen to Stevie singing, you can hear a lot of Doyle in there,” said friend and fellow musician Mike Buck. Bramhall recorded three albums under his own name, most recently 2007’s Is It News. His son, guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, has a solo career of his own and spent several years touring with Eric Clapton.

     We took a nice long and leisurely trip to west Texas this month. Leaving on a Tuesday, we headed north to Centerville and west to Waco, Gatesville, Hamilton, Rising Star, Cross Plains and spent the night in Abilene, with a great meal at Farolita, a funky little sixty-year old Mexican restaurant just east of downtown. The next day we went north to Anson, Hamlin, and Aspermont, where we had a great buffet at Hamilton’s Cafe, then north to Spur, a precious little town with lots of old homes and buildings, then to Matador and then to Quitique and a stop at Caprock Canyon, a most unique state park with red rocks, much like Nevada’s Valley of Fire park. Then it was east to Turkey, Bob Wills’ hometown, then west on Hwy. 256, through the eastern part of Palo Duro Canyon to Silverton, an area that few tourists ever visit, but easily as spectacular as the state park near Canyon. We passed exactly 2 vehicles on the 30-mile stretch of road, and they were probably local ranchers. From there we went to Tulia and north to Amarillo for the night, and some great Mexican food again at Jorge’s Tacos Garcia. The next morning we took Old Route 66 east then north to Borger, and had lunch in Pampa, one of our favorite Panhandle towns. We made a quick stop in Skellytown to take a photo of the restored original Skelly Oil filling station, then east to Miami, an oasis and hilly town with nice old buildings and homes, then north to Canadian, a gem of a town with a famous old bridge and lots of restored old homes and buildings. We headed south to Wheeler and Shamrock, where I took photos of the old gas stations along Route 66, then south to Childress, Quanah and Vernon to spend the night in Wichita Falls. We spent the evening at Kiowa Casino just north of the border. On Friday, we went south to Archer City and a stop at Larry McMurtry’s book store, then to Mineral Wells and a spin by the Baker Hotel, then south to Cleburne, Hillsboro, Coolidge, to Tehuacana, where they have a beautiful old 4-story college that’s been vacant for 40 years, then to Mesia and south to Conroe after 1507 miles. A lot of driving, but well worth it for all the great things we saw and did.

     Our first stop for music was at the Jailhouse, where the crowd was listening to the Charlie Parker Band with Charlie on guitar/vocals, Quanah Easley on bass and Terry Hammer on drums, with Scooter singing and Lee on harp. We got to visit with Lectric Ed and M.T. House, Scooter Green, and all the musicians who played. We did catch Lectric’ Ed on guitar/vocals, Jim Oehl on guitar/vocals, M.T. House on harp, Tim Hutto on drums and Ron Wiggins of Blue Flash on bass, doing the Stone’s “Dead Flowers”, Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away”, and Bob Dylan’s “Watchtower”. Up next was brothers Larry and Steve Gamez on guitar/vocals, Guy Vincent on drums and Joel Sanders on bass cranking out a great set of classic rock covers. It was good seeing all our friends and hearing so much good music.

     We attended the monthly Pro Jam at Kruzzer’s Roadhouse early this month on Sunday, November 13, and got a warm welcome from owners Vince and Dorothy. When we got there, Heated Frenzy opened the show with Mark Thompson on guitar/vocals, Steve Thompson on bass and Patrick Courtney on drums. Their first set consisted of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Three Steps”, ZZ Top’s “Tube Steak Boogie”, “Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” and “Sharp Dressed Man”, Thin Lizzy’s “Cowboy Song”, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Dani California”.

     Up next was Uncle Jimmy Wilcox on bass/vocals joining Mark and Patrick on country covers of  Marty Robbins’ “Don’t Worry About Me”, Hank Junior’s “Family Tradition”, Merle Haggards’ “Swinging Doors” and a Chuck Berry/Jerry Lee Lewis medley with “Great Balls of Fire” and “Roll Over Beethoven”. Jimmy’s great vocals always add to the variety of these Pro Jams.

     Up next was a couple from Las Vegas, Marcel Longwell on guitar/vocals and April Spain on keyboards/vocals, along with Patrick on drums and Dennis O’Docherty on guitar, doing covers of the Allman Brothers’ “One Way Out”, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Stuck In Old Lodi Again” the old blues song “Sleep In A Hollow Log” and  Rufus Thomas’ “Walkin’ The Dog”. When we finally had to leave, Dennis was singing SRV’s “Floodin’ Down In Texas”. We also saw some other friends including Diana and John Rabbitt and Mary and Ken Rhodes. It was a great afternoon of live music.

     A few weeks ago I got a call from a friend telling me about a little-known event that we promptly headed out to on a Sunday afternoon. The owner of Bareback Bar & Icehouse on Kuykendahl Road had hired Marcia Ball to celebrate his club’s second anniversary and the concert was free. We got there early for the 6 p.m. show and got great seats with many of our friends, including Kat & Marty, Shannon G, Manny Garcia, and Mitt and Laura Truax, former owners of Howling Coyote. Marcia did two great sets with her band, including “Louisiana 1927”, “Natural Ball”, “Coming Home”, “Mobile”, “Mama’s Cooking”, “Let Me Play With Your Poodle”, “La Ti Da”, “Down The Road”, “I’m Coming Down With The Blues”, “Hot Tamale Baby”, and “Kingdom Come”. It was a treat seeing her in a small venue, and especially with no cover charge. Thanks to all the folks who made this happen!

     That’s about it for this time. Stay safe and keep listening!

BLAST FROM THE PAST: I’m dedicating some space in each issue to a trip back in time and am talking about some of the great music we’ve seen since we started writing for NOB. 

     At the last Pro Jam at Kruzzers, I was talking to Diana and John Rabbitt about old clubs in Houston.  One of the clubs we talked about was Liberty Hall. I started going to Liberty Hall in the early 70’s (they opened on March 4, 1871) in a building that was originally a church and later a VFW hall. Some of the artists I saw there were Bonnie Raitt on a double bill with Little Feat, Willie Dixon and the Chicago All Stars with opening act ZZ Top, Big Mama Thornton with Lightnin’’ Hopkins, then Bruce Springsteen Band (1974), Doug Sahm with Linda Lewis, Journey, The New York Dolls, Tracy Nelson, and Freddie King with the Atlanta Rhythm Section. I also saw Waylon Jennings with the Dixie Diesels, Mother Earth, Michael  Murphy, Goose Creek Symphony with Asleep At The Wheel, and John Lee Hooker. Some artists who really made it big later started playing there, like Billy Joel, Jimmy Buffett, and Jerry Jeff Walker. I also saw Cheech and Chong there and the tickets were only $2.00 each. 

     Later I saw the Velvet Underground, Ted Nugent, Roy Buchanan, Loudon Wainwright III and in one rare U.S. appearance, Rory Gallagher, the legendary Irish blues-rock guitarist, who tore the place up with his playing.  Blues great Jimmy Reed played with Johnny Winter, and the late Zydeco king Clifton Chenier played a lot of shows there.  One of the greatest shows I remember was when Emmylou Harris and the late Graham Parsons were playing a show and Neil Young and Linda Rondstadt got up and joined them on stage. I saw the New York punk band Tuff Darts right before the venue closed with a concert by Muddy Waters in 1978. These are only a few highlights of  the acts I saw there, but it gives you a good idea of how many famous people performed in that concert hall. I have so many great memories of the shows there.

     Well, folks, that’s about it for this month. If any of you need to get in touch with me, you can call me at 936-756-9699 or e-mail me at my email address of miller22@consolidated.net or mail me CD’s to review at P.O. Box 2393, Conroe, TX 77305. See you next month!