It all began... over a beer in an alley

I worked with the Longview Downtown Development Corporation and 100 Acres of Heritage for 25 years. This volunteer group created and oversaw both Alleyfest and the Alley Musicfest. The festival evolved from the Alley Art Show, a one day art show started in 1978. In 1988, Alley Art featured a few local Musicians in the beer garden as part of festival. While listening to the entertainment, Jerry Russell, Ken Kennedy and I talked about how well the crowd responded to the music and the possibility of adding a street dance to the organization's events. This was the genesis of Rigadoon/Alley Music Festival, the one night street dance featuring three bands, which ran as an independent event for three years. In 1992, under the direction of Longview Downtown Development Corp. president, Jay Godfrey, Alleyfest began by combining AlleyArt, Hoop It Up - a 3 on 3 basketball tourney, and Rigadoon/Alley Music Fest. It was a three day festival in downtown Longview, Texas. I worked with the both musicfests from 1989 to 2002. In 2003, Alleyfest took a new direction, both deleting one music stage and booking fewer national touring artists. This decision coincided with the end of my tenure as music director. In the fourteen years of coordinating the music and serving a year as Alleyfest chairman, the group strived to never compromise the original goal set from the festival's inception ~ to bring the best bands available to the people of Longview, Texas ~ because we knew this would be the only live musical/art event many festival attendees would see each year. Here is the year by year list of the bands who played the festival from 1989 through 2002. Rigadoon ,1989 - The Bluebirds played to a hasily moved crowd in the National Guard Armory when a down pour soaked Longview. Even with a shaky start, the first event was well received and LDDC ran out of food and beverage. Rigadoon, 1990 - Gary Primich and the Midnight Creeps, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Trout Fishing in America provided a great evening of music from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Alley Music Fest, 1991 - A New name was chosen because most folks didn't understand the meaning of Rigadoon. Christine Albert, know for her Blue Bell Ice Cream jingle, Dallas Brass and Electric and Trout Fishing In America provided a great evening of musical entertainment. Alleyfest 1992: Dallas Brass and Electric, The Stratoblasters, The Carribean Connection, Warren Caesar Zydeco Band, The Old Fiddler's Contest, and The Original Dixie Chicks 1993: Brave Combo, B. B. Major, Walter Hyatt, Joe Kubek and B'nois King, The Bluebird's with former A-Train vocalist, Micki Hunneycutt, Michael Johnson and the Killer Bees , and Joe King Carracso and the Crowns. (Joe and Michael teamed up together for a last set of Raggae meets Tex-Mex that blew away the whole crowd). 1994: Anson Funderburg and the Rockets with Sam Meyer, Toni Price, Grady Gaines and the Texas Upsetters, Wayne Toups and Zydecajun, Brian Black, Webb Wilder,and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. 1995: Blues great Big Daddy Kinsey and the Kinsey Report, Chris Duarte, Doyle Bramhall, Tutu Jones, R. L. Griffin and the Holt House Review, and that kid from Shreveport, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jo-El Sonnier, Trout Fishing in America, Joe Ely, and the Back Seat Drivers. 1996: Elvin Bishop,Our first national headliner, Russell Jackson made his first appearance, Big Mike Griffin, Sue Foley, Tommy Castro, Mitch Woods and the Rocket 88s, Ronnie Dawson, Tiesco Del Ray and the Nut Rockers, The Naughty Ones, and Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones. 1997: Katie Webster and Vasti Jackson, Wet Willie vocalist, Jimmy Hall and his new band the Prisoners of Love, Russell Jackson, Mem Shannon and the Membership, Sean Costello and the Jivebombers, The Cate Brothers , Sam "Bluzman" Taylor, the Bluebirds, The Radio Kings ,and local bands Mr. Walker and Dr. Benjamin and Van Go. 1998: Eric Burdon's I Band featuring Ansley Dunbar, Long John Hunter, Sherman Robertson, Russell Jackson, Bryan Lee, The Bluebirds, Micheal Burks, Wes Jeans. Hash Brown's Band with 13 year old guitar prodigy Andrew Baxter, Jr., Sun Pie Barnes and the Zydeco Sunspots, and Hippie Gumbo. 1999: Canned Heat , Chris Thomas King and Rockin' Tabby Thomas and the Mighty House Rockers, Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones, The Excello Allstars with Earl Gaines and Roscoe Shelton, Mark May and the Agitators, The Bluebird Review with guests Wes Jeans, Mikki Honeycutt, and the Moore Town Horns, Andrew Baxter, Jr., Mason Ruffner, chicano bluesman, Randy Garibay and Cats Don't Sleep, Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs , Mr. Walker. 2000: Leon Russell, Savoy Brown featuring Kim Simmonds, Little Charlie and the Night Cats, Rick Moore and Mr. Lucky, Big Mike Griffin, Russell Jackson, Anthony Gomes, Brint Anderson, Sweet Miss Coffey and the Mississippi Burning Band, The Bluebirds and Mikki Honeycutt, The Headhunters,The Mofo Party Band. 2001: Kim Wilson and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Guitar Shorty, The Reba Russell Band, The Rockin' Highliners with Robert Tycholis, Theresa Andersson, Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns, Andrew and Morgan Baxter and Serious Business, and Voodoo Healin'. 2002: Koko Taylor and Her Blues Machine, W. C. Clark, The Silent Partners Reunion featuring Russell Jackson, Tony Coleman, and Andrew"Jr. Boy" Jones, Joe Louis Walker, Anders Osborne, The Reba Russell Band , The DeRailers, The Radio King's Brian Templeton, Joe "King " Carrasco and the Crowns, and Ponty Bone and the Squeezetones. The purpose of this blog is to revisit many of these artists via "YouTube" the latest of science's modern miracles. I hope you enjoy these posts. ~ The SR Mgt. Team

Celebrating Those Who Have Gone On

These posts keep reminding me how important it is to see these great performers before they are gone. Looking back, many of the great artists who played Alleyfest through the years have passed into that "big jam session in the sky." Here is a list of those artists and the year they played Longview:

Gary Primich (blues) ~ 1990 Rigadoon
Laura Lynch - Original Dixie Chicks -1992                                                                                          Warren Caesar (zydeco) ~ 1992
Walter Hyatt (folk) ~ 1993
Champ Hood (with Walter Hyatt)~ 1993
Michael Johnson of the Killer Bees (Raggae) ~ 1993
Sam Myers of Anson and the Rockets (blues) ~ 1994
Doyle Bramhall (Texas blues)~ 1995
Big Daddy Kinsey (blues) ~ 1995
Ronnie Dawson (rock-a-billy) ~ 1996
Freddy Pharoh(drums Sue Foley Band) ~ 1996

Katie Webster (blues) ~ 1997
Sam "Bluzman" Taylor (blues) ~ 1997
Sean Costello (blues) ~ 1997

Bryan Lee (blues) ~ 1998
Michael Burks (blues) ~ 1998
Rockin' Tabby Thomas (blues) ~ 1999
Randy Garibay (blues) ~ 1999
Earl Gaines of the Excello Allstars (soul/blues) ~ 1999
Roscoe Shelton of the Excello Allstars (soul/blues) ~ 1999

Robert Lucas of Canned Heat (60's boogie music) ~ 1999

Billy Bacon (Texmex-blues-abilly) ~ 1999

Koko Taylor ( Queen of the Blues ) ~ 2002
Leon Russell (Master of time and space) ~2000

Charlie Baty (blues) ~ 2000 

Ponty Bone (Accordianna) ~ 1996 and 2002

 

 

 

 

Dixie Chicks' Laura Lynch Founding Member Dead at 65 ... After Car Accident in Texas 

Laura Lynch, a founding member of The Dixie Chicks, has died after being involved in a car crash ... TMZ has learned.

The musician's cousin, Mick Lynch, tells us Laura passed away Friday outside of El Paso, TX just after sunset while driving from there to nearby Dell City -- which is about an hour and a half away going east. We're told she was traveling on a highway and got into a collision.

Lynch co-founded the famous music group  -- now known just as The Chicks -- alongside Robin Lynn Macy, Martie Erwin and Emily Erwin back in 1989 ... serving as the upright bassist and eventually taking on the role of lead vocalist for the band.  

TMZ.com

 

  Blues guitarist and singer Bryan Lee, known by the nickname “Braille Blues Daddy,” has died in Sarasota, Florida after battling various lung, heart and kidney issues. He was 77.

Brian Leroy Kumbalek was born on March 16, 1943 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin to working-class parents who divorced when he was seven. He lost his eyesight totally at age eight when eyes that were damaged at birth finally clouded over forever.

 

RIP: Billy Bacon, the California/Texas roots rocker ... (Aug. 2019)

Billy Bacon likes to call the kind of music he makes "Texmex-blues-abilly." With his band, the Forbidden Pigs -- or the "swingin' swine" from San Diego -- he has put out albums that shake it up with a combination of rock and Latin music. Among his recordings are Una Mas Cerveza, the group's debut put out by Triple X in 1991; the follow-up album The Other White Meat, issued by Triple X in 1992; a CD of live material titled Thirteen Years of Bad Road, in 1999; and Pork Que?, from Swine Song Records in 2000. Bacon has taken the pig -- er, bull -- by the horns and taken charge of several important aspects that have contributed to his trio's rise. In addition to acting as the Forbidden Pigs' leader and frontman, Bacon writes the songs, handles publicity, manages the group's tours, and takes care of its website. At one time, he even had to be the bouncer during a couple of shows. In later years, he took on the job of record company executive, establishing and running Swine Song Records.

Charlie Baty ( 1953 - 2020)
Northern California guitarist Charlie Baty, better known to jazz, blues and swing fans as “Little Charlie,” has died.
The news was reported by Blues Music Magazine, citing information provided by Baty’s former label boss at Chicago’s legendary Alligator Records.
“Sad news from Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records regarding Little Charlie Baty’s passing. RIP Charlie, we love you!!” reads a tweet from the magazine.
No official statement or details about his passing were available.

 

 

RIP: Ponty Bone (1939 - 2018)

Ponty Bone (October 9, 1939 – July 13, 2018) was an American accordionist who led his 1980s band, the Squeezetones, to international popularity over a twenty-year period.

Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Bone began studying accordion when he was five years old. Later, he also learned to play trumpet. Ponty attended Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Early in his career Bone was a member of the Joe Ely Band. By the mid-1980s, Ponty Bone had formed his own band, Ponty Bone & the Squeezetones. The group’s early style ranged through Russian gypsy dances, reggae-blues, Tex-Mex polkas and Cajun boogie. In 1987, the group made an appearance on the PBS music television program Austin City Limits, as part of a “Squeezebox Special” episode, with Queen Ida and Santiago Jiménez Jr. Longtime Squeezetones bassist Wash Hamilton died in early 2008.

With his band, Ponty has shared the stage with such artists as The Clash, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, King Flaco Jiménez, Linda Ronstadt and Ronnie Lane.

Bone’s album Fantasize (on the Loud House label) has been described as drawing from Tex-Mex, rock, blues, R&B, zydeco, and Caribbean music to create a whole new style.

Bone died of progressive supranuclear palsy on 13 July 2018. He was 78.

 

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Anders Osborne ~ 2002

Anders was born in 1966 in Uddevalla, Sweden, left home at age sixteen, and hitchhiked and played music throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the U.S. He settled in New Orleans in 1985 and still calls Louisiana his home.

During his first decade in New Orleans, Anders lived in the French Quarter and played regularly in local clubs. After gaining a following, Anders received an independent record deal with Rabadash Records out of New Orleans, and released "Doin’ Fine" in 1989.

Anders and his band toured the U.S. during these years and in 1995, he was signed to Okeh Records. He released "Which Way to Here", and album that dealt with spirituality and tolerance. The record became Osborne’s first commercial break with two top-five singles “Favorite Son” and “Pleasin’ You.” Both were featured in several Hollywood movies, and the latter was later recorded by Jonny Lang.

Guitar Shorty ~ 2001

Guitar Shorty,David William Kearney, was born on September 8, 1934, in Houston, Texas, but grew up mainly in Kissimmee, Florida where be began playing the guitar at an early age and began heading a band not long after. During his time in Tampa Bay, Florida, he received his nickname, Guitar Shorty, when it mysteriously showed up on the marquee of the club he was playing as 'The Walter Johnson Band featuring Guitar Shorty.'

He steadily began to garner accloades from his peers and, at the age of 16, he joined the Ray Charles Band for a year. He then recorded his first single in 1957, "You Don't Treat Me Right", under the direction of Willie Dixon when Dixon saw him playing with the Walter Johnson orchestra. Eventually, he would join Guitar Slim's band and move to New Orleans, Louisiana. While in New Orleans, Shorty also fronted his own band which played regularly at the Dew Drop Inn where he was joined by special guests such as T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner and Little Richard.

Shorty next moved to the West Coast at 19 in order to play with Sam Cooke. He played up and down the west coast and Canada until he met his future wife, Marcia, in Seattle, Washington. His new wife turned out to be the half-sister of Jimi Hendrix, who attended several of Shorty's gigs and possibly being influenced by Shorty.

The following years were both good and bad; to get by at one point even, Shorty made an appearance on Chuck Barris' Gong Show, winning first prize for performing the song "They Call Me Guitar Shorty" while balanced on his head. He and his wife eventually settled in Los Angeles, California. Appearances at major festivals like The Monterey Bay Blues Festival, The San Francisco Blues Festival, The Chicago Blues Festival,The King Biscuit Blues Festival, and Alleyfest 2001 brought him to larger and larger audiences.






Get The Long and Short(y) of it here.

The Official Alley Quiz.

Test your knowledge of the golden years of Longview's Alleyfest with "The Official Alleyfest Challenge" :

1. This Southern rocker isn't all wet, he has a full time job working as Hank Williams, Jr.'s saxophonist and harp player.

2. You'd never mistake the two, this performer signed left handed autographs for a nervous John Lee Hooker.

3. This silver haired headliner began his professional career at the age of 14 and appeared on Bobby Boris Pickett's ";Monster Mash" and The Beach Boys "California Girls".

4. Unable to join Otis Redding on tour in 1967 because she was pregnant, this Alleyfest artist was not on the plane that took Otis Redding's life.

5. This Alleyfest performer portrayed Delta bluesman Tommy Johnson in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" with George Clooney and also appeared in "Ray".

6. Orphaned at age 11, this performer was named Chicagoan of the Year in 1999 and performed at both the Clinton and Bush inauguration parties.

7. This Alleyfest performer was band leader for both Little Richard and Sam Cooke, leading the band on rock classics, "Bring It On Home" & "Twisting The Night Away" , "Long Tall Sally" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On."

8. He joined the Dell-Kings, the house band at the Sahara Hotel, and worked with legends such as Jackie Wilson, Judy Garland and Sammy Davis, Jr. -ole' baby.

9. While working in the house band at Clifford Antone's famous Austin blues club, he played with virtually all the stars in the blues world - Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Eddy Taylor, Big Walter Horton, and Buddy Guy.

10. This band's music has been featured in commercials for Tide Detergent, Target, General Motors, Miller Beer, McDonalds, Amtrak, and Smokey The Bear.

11. Belying his "good ol' country boy" persona, which Alleyfest performer was actually a 1959 National Merit Scholar in physics ~ he's a gentleman hog farmer.

12. This Alleyfest artist launched the careers of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, John McVie , Mick Fleetwood, Andy Fraser, and Mick Taylor - Eric Clapton has stated, "He has actually run an incredibly great school for musicians."

13. This six time Alleyfest performer was a member of the great B.B. King Orchestra for 7 years.

14. A great guitar player in his own right, the Alleyest performer was also Jimi Hendrix's brother-in-law.

15. This member of the Rock-a-Billy Hall of fame toured with the Lightcrust Doughboys and played drums Paul and Paula's "HEY PAULA" and Bruce Channel's" HEY BABY".

Bonus Round: This Alleyfest performer was an NFL lineman and IS a full time National Park Ranger.

Super Bonus: This ex-boxer hired a driver and picked up a band so he could come to Alleyfest.

Super trivia: These guys know how to Party! Legend around here is,after flying in from California to play Alleyfest these fun loving brothers rented a car proceeded to invest most of their money at Harrah's Casino in Shreveport.

Answers in the comments section!

Scoring: 0-4,You must have been out of town a lot the first weekend of June!
5-9,You were there, but maybe you had too much to drink!
10-14, Hey, I remember you, you were on the front row every year!
15+ Wait a minute, you're me!

Sir John Mayall ~ 2001

John Mayall, OBE, is a pioneering English blues singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical career spans over fifty years. Mayall's father was Murray Mayall, a guitarist and jazz music enthusiast. From an early age, he was drawn to the sounds of American blues players such as Leadbelly, Albert Ammons, Pinetop Smith, and Eddie Lang, and taught himself to play the piano, guitars, and harmonica. Mayall served three years of national service in Korea and, during a period of leave, he bought his first electric guitar.

John Mayall has been influential in the careers of many instrumentalists, including Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, Don "Sugarcane" Harris, Harvey Mandel, Larry Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, Hughie Flint, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Andy Fraser, Johnny Almond, Jon Mark, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, and Buddy Whittington.

In 1984, Mayall restored the name Bluesbreakers for a lineup comprising the two lead guitars of Walter Trout and Coco Montoya, bassist Bobby Haynes and drummer Joe Yuele. The mythic name did perhaps something to enhance the interest in a band which by all standards was already remarkable. A successful world tour and live recordings achieved the rest. In the early 1990s Buddy Whittington became the sole lead guitarist in a formation which included then organist Tom Canning.

Of the Order Of British Excellence Sir John said, "It's the only major award I've ever received. I've never had a hit record or a Grammy or been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame." ~ Wikipedia

Little Charlie and the Nightcats ~ 2000

Charlie Baty was attending University of California Berkeley and studying mathematics when he formed Little Charlie & the Nightcats with Rick Estrin in 1976. The band's music relies chiefy on electric urban blues of the Chicago variety, but mixed in with other compatible styles, including early rock and roll, soul, surf music, swing, jump blues, and western swing.[3] The Nightcats issued their debut album, All the Way Crazy, in 1987, including the songs "Poor Tarzan", "Suicide Blues" and "When Girls Do It". The following album Disturbing the Peace (1988), included "That's My Girl", "My Money's Green", "She's Talking" and "Nervous". The records help established them on the blues festival and club circuits, and they began touring the country extensively, playing a number of international venues. They have played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1980 and 1982, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the San Diego, California Street Scene and Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival plus the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival in 2002.

In early 2008 Baty announced he was entering "soft" retirement, no longer tours with the band. Estrin continued with the band re-billed as Rick Estrin and the Nightcats. Baty was replaced on guitar by Chris 'Kid' Andersen (born 1980), originally from Telemark, Norway. Andersen had played backing Charlie Musselwhite as well as fronting his own band.

Baty's most recent blues recording was as a guest on JW-Jones, Bluelisted (2008), an album which marked the first time in his career that he documented his harmonica playing on a recording, and the first time he and another west-coast blues musician, Junior Watson, had recorded together on the same tracks.