Dex Horton of The Bill Lyerly Band

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I AM A PERFORMING DRUMMER WITH THE BILL LYERLY BAND (www.billlyerly.com), AS WELL AS A DRUM INSTRUCTOR WITH PROGRESSIVE MUSIC CENTER. ALTHOUGH YOU WILL FIND MANY THINGS ON THIS PAGE RELATED TO DRUMMING AND MUSIC IN GENERAL, I OFTEN TEND USE THIS SITE AS A "FUN" PAGE WHERE JOKES AND COMMENTS ARE EXCHANGED BETWEEN MYSELF AND ALL OF MY FRIENDS OUT THERE IN CYBERSPACE. CONSEQUENTLY, YOU MIGHT BE BETTER SERVED IN OBTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT ME IN THE PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY BY GOING TO: www.dexterhorton.com. HOWEVER, SINCE YOU ARE HERE...................THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO DO THINGS IN THIS WORLD - THE "RIGHT" WAY AND THE "WRONG" WAY. LOTS OF PEOPLE LIKE TO DANCE AROUND IMPORTANT TOPICS SUCH AS RACIAL PROFILING, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, FORCED BUSING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN, ETC, IN THEIR PITIFUL ATTEMPT TO BE POLITICALLY CORRECT AND TO TREAD LIGHTLY ON PEOPLE THEY ARE LIKELY TO OFFEND. YOU WILL FIND OUT VERY QUICKLY THAT I COULD GIVE A DAMN AS TO WHETHER OR NOT I AM BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT. IN FACT, I WILL USUALLY TRY VERY HARD TO GO OUT OF MY WAY TO MAKE SURE THAT I AM NOT BEING POLITICALLY CORRECT!! FURTHERMORE, I DON'T CARE - IF IN THE COURSE OF ME BEING HONEST - WHETHER OR NOT I OFFEND ANYONE OF ANY RACE, RELIGION, OR ETHNIC BACKGROUND. NOR DO I CARE IF ANYONE BECOMES ANGRY WITH ME BECAUSE OF IT. I AM NOT INTIMIDATED BY THREATS - I HAVE A VERY EFFECTIVE MEANS OF DEALING WITH THOSE TYPES OF PEOPLE. AND YES,I DO DRIVE A GAS GUZZLING VEHICLE, AND I DON'T MIND PAYING FOR THE GAS. I ALSO DO NOT RIDE A BICYCLE TO SAVE THE WORLD FROM GLOBAL WARMING. I DO NOT JOG OR RUN - NOR WILL I UNTIL I START SEEING JOGGERS THAT ARE SMILING AS I DRIVE BY THEM!(BY THE WAY,JIM FIXX IS DEAD, FAT'S DOMINO LIVES!!).FURTHERMORE, I WILL CONTINUE TO USE AS MANY SHEETS OF TOILET PAPER AS I WANT (ESPECIALLY SINCE I AM PAYING FOR THEM!), WHETHER I NEED THEM OR NOT. YOU HOLLYWOOD PSUEDO-INTELLECTUALS CAN USE 1 SHEET AT A TIME IF YOU LIKE IN YOUR PATHETIC EFFORT TO "SAVE THE TREES", JUST REMIND ME NOT TO EVER SHAKE YOUR HAND. SO, IF ANY OF THIS OFFENDS YOU, REALIZE THAT NOT ONLY DO YOU HAVE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE TO GET OVER IT, BUT QUITE SIMPLY, I DON'T CARE! FINALLY,I AM WELL-TRAVELED AND WELL-EDUCATED, AND STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT WHAT I WORK FOR AND EARN, I SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO KEEP. ALSO, I HAVE HELPED OUT MANY INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS FAMILIES IN THE PAST, BUT IT HAS BEEN MY CHOOSING AS TO WHO I OFFER MY ASSISTANCE. I DO NOT LIKE THE GOVERNMENT FORCING ME TO SUPPORT PEOPLE WHO ARE TOO LAZY TO GET OUT AND WORK FOR THEMSELVES (ie: various "social programs"), AND I HAVE NO PROBLEM SAYING THAT ANYONE CAUGHT IN THIS COUNTRY ILLEGALLY SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DEPORTED; THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR POORLY-MANAGED GOVERNMENT SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO STUPID TO REALIZE THAT YOU COULD NOT AFFORD THE CHILDREN THAT YOU PRODUCED ( if you want to "screw around", don't come to me later asking for financial help in raising YOUR kids"); THAT A WALL AROUND OUR SOUTH TEXAS BORDER WOULD INDEED WORK (IT WAS PRETTY EFFECTIVE IN GERMANY - REMEMBER?)AND, IF YOU ARE RUNNING FROM OUR BORDER POLICE, THEY SHOULD EVERY RIGHT TO SHOOT YOUR SORRY ASS FOR DOING SO. HAVE A GREAT DAY! "Alright, let me hear you holler if you ever did a quaalude!" (immediately followed by loud - and somewhat-altered - "rebel yells") "Now......let me hear you if you REMEMBER what you did AFTER THAT!" (a few honest "yells", but the db level is far less) The Bill Lyerly Band - often hailed as "the Biggest Little Band in North Carolina" then launches into their most often-requested song, "Quaaloaded Again", a true story that took place in a very famous club in Eastern North Carolina back in the early 1970's. At that point, the crowd then procedes to lose the last of whatever little grip on reality they once had. And so goes a typical night for The Bill Lyerly Band, who celebrated their 28th year as a band on March 17, 2007, with star-studded guest performers at the triangle's hotspot for national country, alt-country, and blues acts - The Hideaway Barbeque. As you may have guessed by now, my name is Dex, and I play and teach drums for a living. To that end, I am a 14 (and still breathing and counting!) year veteran of The Bill Lyerly Band, playing in excess of 110 shows per year - every year, year after year after year. It has been - and still continues to be - a "cool ride". Most notably, the band built it's reputation on innovative, energetic, and consistently excellent music night after night, along with tales of lurid encounters with - and often questionable - "aftershow" antics. Consequently, I have had the pleasure(?)of witnessing and even participating in numerous bizzare - and at times even potentailly deadly (unfortunately, but it goes with the territory) - situations that most people who work "normal" jobs cannot even begin to imagine or comprehend. So far,(or at least up to now, anyway), I have lived to tell about it. Now,for those of you who don't know, Bill Lyerly was one of the founding members of the legendary (and still performing)Super Grit Cowboy Band, many of whose members eventually left the fold and pursued musical careers on their own. Several have gone on to become nationally acclaimed songwriters (Curtis Wright, for example) writing such country hits as "Next to You Sittin' Next To Me" - C. Wright, as well as "Rock My Baby" - another C. Wright song. Both of these songs went to No. 1 on the Billboard Country Charts, and are still getting substantial airplay - and I believe Curtis still gets substantial royalty checks as a result. Don Cox was another who left and secured a handsome recording contract in Nashville, TN. Jason Smith left Super Grit and wound up with "Hayseed Dixie", toured Europe and Australia extensively, and now plays bass for us. Jason also toured with the Top-10 country artist Andy Griggs. Clyde Mattocks, who along with Bill Lyerly co-founded the Super Grit Cowboy Band, is regarded as one of the finest pedal steel players in the country, still performs and continues to run the Super Grit organization. However, perhaps the biggest "catch" was Bill Lyerly himself. Leaving Super Grit in 1979, he formed The Bill Lyerly Band on March 17, 1979. Twenty eight years, two albums with R.C.A. - one which included "My Baby's Comin' Home" which managed to reach Billboard's chart at No. 47 "with a bullet" before the politics of the star-making machinery - and another "little, unknown band from Myrtle Beach, SC" came to R.C.A. (with tons of cash to give to the corporate powers that be, can you say "payolla"?.....), five nationally released CD's, and 3 dvd's later, we are still working as hard as ever. Oh, by the way, the "little, unknown band from South Carolina" later went on to become ALABAMA, with the longest string of consecutive No.1 hit records in history! Well, to make a long story short, I teamed up with The Bill Lyerly Band in the spring of 1994. Since then, I have played drums on all five of his nationally released and internationally acclaimed CD's (The Twang Years, recently released, is a complilation of the first two albums released by R.C.A., is the only BLB CD I was not involved with),was part of all 3 DVD's covering the history of the band (as yet awaiting to be released), and over 1300 shows later, we are still "slugging it out in the trenches" night after night. Our latest CD, a compilation of some of our best blues-oriented material, was just recently mastered at none other than Abbey Road Studios in London, England (yes, the same studio where The Beatles recorded!!), and will be relased soon..............Now, when I am not on the road performing with Bill Lyerly, I can be found teaching drum lessons at our Progressive Music Center - also nationally recognized as an instituion of excellence by the music industry. If you would like to contact me, simply call our Wake Forest, NC location at "The Factory" (919) 453-1688, or, contact us at our Raleigh, NC location at (919) 787-1688. You can even take a virtual "tour" of our facilities by going to: www.myspace.com/ppdsonline. An, like I said earlier, you can also visit my other site at: www.dexterhorton.com for even more info, sound bytes, video clips, personal gear, drum tips, etc.Lastly, you will also find several things on my page that have absolutely nothing to do with either drums or music. That way, it shouldn't ever get boring! Hope you enjoy! More - nuch more -to come shortly................
..