Live & Loud Entertainment Magazine December 2014

and the SouTheRN ComfoRT BAnd

Allen Ray

Volume 1 / Issue 4 December 2014

Plus The Delzhaus Report:Legends of Texas Hill Country Music

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©2014 Live & Loud Entertainment.A JARco Publishing, LLC Production.

All Rights Reserved.

The Delzhaus Report:Gary Delz

Delzhaus Entertainment

Viva La So/Co!

So/Co Band Photos Courtesy of:Briley Mitchell

Dust Devil Diver PhotographyLlano, Texas

Not pictured: Sam Bradley (Drummer)

Allen Ray Wallace began playing guitar at the young age of just five years old. By age ten, he had already played on several stages. At 17 years old, Allen Ray played in his uncle’s band, The Southern Comfort Band. When Allen Ray reached 25 years old he put together his own project called the Lone Star Road Show Review. After a few years, the band took on the name and role as Allen Ray and the Southern Comfort Band. At that time, the group (which had been strictly traditional country) began playing Texas Country, Rock, and Blues, in addition to the classic Tradi-tional Country. Much of Allen Ray’s musical influences are greats like legendary Stevie Ray Vaughn, Charlie Daniels, Merle Haggard, and Alaman Brothers.

Today’s Allen Ray & the Southern Comfort Band is comprised of Allen Ray on lead guitar and vocals. Herb Black on bass guitar and vocals, John Needham (drums), Sammy Bradley (drums), and Justin Wallace (sound tech & gui-

tar). Each member brings their unique flavor to the group and gives a renewed life to the music they bring to their shows which is certain to please any audience.

Herb Black started playing guitar at age 15 in home state Pennsylvania and soon transitioned to bass guitar at 16. In 1995, Herb moved to Houston, Texas not knowing that move would lead to his meeting a guy named Allen Ray in 2012. From the first song played together they seemed as though they had been playing on the same stage for years. Herb plays with style influenced by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jen-nings, and Willie Nelson to name a few.

Newcomer, John Hedham is not new to the drums by any means. John is a very accomplished drummer bringing an edgy style to Southern Comfort. His abilities keep the band solid and makes him a great addition to the group.

Need a band for your event or live music venue?Book Allen Ray & Southern Comfort!

Call 325.248.7203Send email to [email protected] | Find Them on Facebook: Facebook.com/allenrayandsoutherncomfort

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Sammy Bradley, drummer, brings magic to the stage and the show when he is playing.

“He is the world’s best! We love you Sammy!” -Allen Ray

Justin Wallace handles the sound, but also finds his way on stage to bend a string or two with his proud dad.

“We couldn’t do a show without you. Love you son!”- Allen Ray

When asked about the future, Allen Ray assures us they will continue to grow, and play bigger and better, “finding larger venues with bigger crowds.” As their motto states, “Live Life Musically”.

Dec. 20th - Ryder’s Holiday Luau & Pig Roast 4pm till 1am (SoCo Band onstage from 6pm till midnight) Granite Shoals

Allen RaYAnd the

Band

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To define a Hill Country based Texas Music Legend, (where our magazine primarily covers)....you would have to get a really, really big... I’m talkin’ a TEXAS sized shovel and dig deep, deep into the Texas soil and go way, way back....

this stuff didn’t just start happening the past 10, 15, 20 years. Before there were CD’s, MP3’s, streaming internet audio and video, Cassettes, 8 Track tapes....waaaayyyyy before all the modern day technology, there was vinyl, yes, records. They came in all sizes, 45’s, EP’s, 78’s, and very few of the legendary artists who were there in the git-go ever made more than maybe 10-20 dollars a show if even that. There were no million dollar tour buses, no lear jets, no television or very little of it, radio was on one dial, AM and most old stations signed off at Midnight. Yes, when you speak of real music legends, we aren’t talking about what you are watching on CMT folks.

If you were given a pop quiz and asked if you could identify these artists, how would you score ?Tommy Duncan, Hugh and Karl Farr, Darrell Staedtler, Dave Kirby, Sonny Throckmorton.....how many did you answer correctly and who were they ? But if you were asked if you knew who Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys, Sons of The Pioneers, and what Texas songwriters penned more number one country hits than any other.....how did you do this round ? Born December 6, 1903 in Llano, Thomas Hubert “Hugh” Farr was a vocalist and fiddle player extraordinaire who was

a member of the original Sons of The Pioneers band that included the one and only Roy Rogers ! His brother Karl also became a member of the band as well and lived out in Rochelle. And speaking of Llano, you have to know that it’s home to Darrell Staedtler. Back in the mid 60’s way before anyone had ever heard of George Strait and all the huge hits Dar-rell wrote for him, Staedtler worked for The Wilburn Brothers and in 1965, they recorded his song “It’s Another World” which went all the way up the Billboard Country Chart to #3, appeared on The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and a sec-ond song “I Can’t Keep Away From You” reached the Billboard #9 slot, ALL before Darrell finished college ! Staedtler’s “Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy” came next recorded by fellow Texan Lefty Frizzel. Then of course, there was this Strait guy the Llano native penned numerous chart toppers for, including the #1 hit “A Fire I Can’t Put Out”.

Two great Llano music legends, photo on left is of fiddler Hugh Farr (standing to Roy Rogers’ right), and songwriter Darrell Staedtler

Hillsboro native Tommy Duncan of course, along with Leon Rausch, were the vocalists for Bob Wills, The King of Western Swing, and “Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone” with Dave Kirby of Brady ? And then dig a little deeper and you will find Sonny Throckmorton, who has called Brownwood home since 1975, he penned Johnny Duncan’s first #1 hit, “Thinking of a Rendezvous” for a start, add to that a cast of just over 1000 songs he’s written in his career recorded

The Delzhaus Report:

The Legends of Texas Hill Country Music Paved the Way for Artists of TodayBy Gary Delz, Delzhaus Entertainment Agency

by Nashville artists, including John Conlee, Dave & Sugar, Merle Haggard, The Oak Ridge Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mel McDaniel, George Strait and Doug Stone, from 1976 thru 1980 there were only three weeks when one of his songs was not on the charts!!!

Dave Kirby of Brady Brownwood’s great Sonny Throckmorton

Delzhaus Entertainment Agency is owned by Gary Delz , a retired 30 year Texas Music drummer, songwriter and recording

artist who lives on his farm near Marble Falls. He writes indepen-dent music columns to better educate music fans on our area his-tory and artists. His company that was founded in 1995 special-izes in promoting everything from area festivals to fundraiser golf and softball tournaments. For more information on Gary Delz the artist see www.powertrio.com . There are also Facebook pages for both Gary personally and Delzhaus Entertainment Agency. The

Agency can be reached by email at [email protected]

SUPPORT

Wow. This Texas Hill Country Music Legends stuff is gettin’ pretty serious now eh ?These are the people who gave Texas Music an original big

boost, and Live & Loud Entertainment Magazine recognizes them even more as Hill Country Music Legends. And this is just a very few of a long list ! No matter where you are across the Hills and points beyond, get out and hear some good live music near you soon, see a live band, play a CD jukebox, or just simply listen to the radio or internet streaming music. Chances are, you will hear the works of these artists quite frequently.

Legendary Tommy Duncan of Hillsboro

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