I started with the Bois d’ Arc Bottom Boys in 1976. I couldn’t play guitar but I had been singing all my life, and I still get nervous and sweaty before crowds. Bob asked me to come and sing with the “Boys” one day. Bob and I lived a couple of hundreds yards apart on FM 68 in Gober. I used to love to go over to Bob’s and listen to him play along with Pure Prairie League on the song Amy. Shortly after starting singing with the band, I taught myself how to play with my Dad’s Fender F-35 acoustic. My son-in-law Shane plays it now. I still have and use the very first guitar strap I began with in the band. It is a narrow Fender strap that will put a hurtin’ on you after a couple of hours of picking. I know there’s better straps out there but what the heck. I now play a Takamine EF 335-MC acoustic/electric through a Fender Acoustasonic amp and I love them both. I also play a Martin D-28 at home. I love to play with the “Boys” and they continue to challenge me to this day with new songs they play occassionally. We will always have a special relationship with each other that a lot of people never get to experience.
I have the priviledge of playing with some very talented people.
The secret to my personal success at playing with the band has been to always turn my amp down when playing so people can’t hear me when I screw up on chords, etc. I just have a natural tendency to do that.
I love you guys!!
DT