Growing up was a lot of fun in my family. Every function we had we had live music there. My dad's oldest brother had a band together, and so did his only sister. Some of the earliest memories I have of music in my life was from my aunt's,(still together today)and my uncle's groups playing. I also need to give some credit to my mom's brother Clae. I learned a lot from him. A lot about how to write music, and some examples on how not to live your life. I think Clae led a simple life. I also saw firsthand what drugs and alcohol could do up close and personal. Clae was the best songwriter, and cowboy poet in my opinion that has ever lived. I was honored to sing a song of his called "The Ballad of Willie McGee" at his funeral in January of 2005.
Later on my cousins Kenny, Stony, and I put together a project that never got out of the garage. Mainly because we were maybe in our very early teens, and we were using my aunts sound equipment. Most of the time not with permission either. All we knew was at the time KISS was the bomb, and that's what we were going to do...become rockstars.
Fast forward about 5 years, and I had the most terrifying experience of my life. I performed live on stage for the first time with a guy that gets all the credit for getting me out of my performing shell. Marty Sutton. Marty and I worked together at Geneva Steel in Utah for several years before the plant closed, and we went our seperate ways. (check out The Marty Sutton Band Profile in my friends) I had the joy of reuniting and jamming on stage with him in the summer of 2006 at a club in Utah this past summer about twenty years after we played on the same stage for the first time.
From there, my life plays out like a top 10 country song. I was raising a family, moved to Montana, and got divorced...in that order. My ex moved back to Utah with my three kids. I was asked to sit in with a band called "THE SODBUSTERS" numerous times, but my friend Mitch Konen that fronted the band knew I wanted to do my own thing. He introduced me to Bernard Forrest, drummer extrodinaire, and Vern Fladstol, a re-treaded old hippy that was just the bass player that the doctor ordered. "RUFF CUTT" was born. We enjoyed moderate success, but we mostly played really small, and I mean tiny podunk bars. Mostly we got the gigs because Bernard's folks owned a bar, and knew a bunch of other people just like themselves...hard up for entertainment.
I was back playing with "THE SODBUSTERS." I liked the classic country sound they had, and attributed that mostly to Ronnie Shane the pedal steel player. Musically, I learned a lot from Ronnie. We had a lot of good laughs and enjoyed some good times. He even gave me an old banjo he had in his garage. I was very sad when Mitch called me to tell me that we lost Ronnie. He died around the first part of November 2006. I will always miss him.
"THE SODBUSTERS" never play much. Mitch owns a huge farm, so that takes the focus of his time. Some of the 'busters and I broke off and formed THE MT SADDLE BAND. Due to contentions with some other members of "THE SODBUSTERS" that project never really got started.
The music that is Trent Brooks has come from all of these people I've mentioned, and countless others along the way. No doubt I've missed a number of people...all with just as big an impact on my life. If you are a musician, you'll understand. If you're not a musician, all the explaining in the world isn't going to matter. If there is one thing I want to see when I die, it's the number of people my music has touched, and influenced in one way or another. I have taught music lessons several different times, I've done hundreds of performances, and my nieces and nephews really like to gather around when I play, so I'm sure the seeds are planted. I'm really excited to see me youngest daughter grow as she continues to learn and master the guitar.
Now, the rest is history. The current project I'm involved with, "TEXAS TOAST AND JAM" was conceived and formed in the spring of 1999 but never got rolling until the spring of 2005. After a major line-up change we got serious, and we're never looking back. We've got some big ideas for 2007 and beyond.
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