About Me
I am married with 2 stepmen and 2 grandsons. My wife Sherry and I met at one of my gigs in 1998. We got married a little over a year later. Sherry is my Rock and my Corner-Stone. She has blessed me with her family plus two sons Jeremy and Chris. Jeremy is the father of our two grandsons, Blake and Tristan. Although I have no kids of my own they fill that void in my life. I thank my lucky stars for my blessings everyday. They have made me a better man!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I've been playing the drums professionally for over twenty years. But I have been playing instruments my whole life. I started naturally on pots and pans w/wooden spoons. Then my dad taught me the guitar. My mother would take me to the local college to watch their orchestra and touring acts. I fell in love with the cello so I switched over to it. I played it for about three years. I switched over to the drums because I loved them more. I have played in many concert halls and marched on many football fields across the south with the school orchestra and band. I have played at the Grand Old Opry and at the White House for President Reagan.**** When I started playing in bands around this time I had a crazy huge Rogers kit. Two 24' kicks, 4 racks and 2 floors. And we had those crazy silly names. My first musical jam band Ronnie Barton and I started was Savin. Then it goes on with these, Last Daze, Disrali Gears and Mad Hatter. Then in '90 I moved to Austin with two of my school friends. I was a founding member of Down-n-Dirty with Glen McKenzie, Shelby Pace and Dicky Dell(we met him there). We did very well for about three years and won "Best Unsigned Band" on ZROCK out of San Antonio. But the preasure of fame broke us up. When I finaly came back home to Kilgore around '95 I played with everybody I could, Exit 579 Blues Band, Standing Flat, Days on End, Climax Blues Band, THD, Electric Gypsy, Country Underground. Then when I met and be-friended Michael DeArmond in '96 we later joined forces and started Gypsy with Glen McKenzie and Mark Watson in '98. After we broke up about a year later Michael called me up needing a drummer. He was living in Shreveport now. This was a blessing because now I have a lot of great friends there now. During my time with Michael we started a Southern Rock group Unity 2. These guys had harmonies that were out of this world. Another group we started was The Acoustix. Two college professors and three hippies. Now that was a gas let me tell ya. I was with The DeArmond Band for 8 years. I did one CD with him called "Made In America" and did many great shows and gigs throughout my tenure with Michael to list here. I can't say enough good things about Michael, I love him and I miss his music. During my time with DeArmond I joined Lady Chazz and The Tramps in 2001. Beside asking Sherry to marry me this was the best decision I'd made. With out a doubt and hands down I was blessed when they asked me to join. In 2004 I did a small stint on the road with Shy Blakeman before he was on Nashville Star. He is from my hometown and blowin it up with the Muzik Mafia down in Florida. Last but not least, I've worked with a couple of brothers over the years, Jimi-Don and Jessie Garrison. They call themselves Double Eleven. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Please check out my band ~Lady Chazz and The Tramps~ by clicking on the button below. Rich, Chazz, Mickey and Jimmy fulfill every musical emotion I have. And the big bonus for me is, I love them all dearly and they are my best friends. We do R&B, Motown, Blues, Rock, Counrty, Adult Contempary, Disco and Dance music. We are a "Veriety Show Band" along with crowd participation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Currently I am playing a Pearl EXR set w/a Gun Metal Sparkle wrap, a 20x16 kick, 10x8 tom and a 15x14 floor tom. Paiste cymbals, Aquiarian heads, Vater Fusion sticks w/nylon tips, DW 5000 Double pedal, DW 5000 Hihat stand and a Roc-n-Soc throne and Humes&Burge cases. I am not endorsed by these companys but I endorse these products on a personal basis. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My company "Dravens Drums" is a new adventure for me and I am really excited about it. Let me explain the name. I took my birth year and according to the American Indian calender I am a Crow. With the Asian calender I am a Wood Dragon. Without going into more details about my beliefs (sorry) this is why I gave it this name. I am avalable for drum lessons and live gigs or studio work, with regard to my current schedule. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Below is a video of me w/ The DeArmond Band. This is one of our originals called "Good Luv'n Gone Bad", it is on the CD that I did with Michael called; *"Made in America". It was released October 3rd 2005. I did all the drum trax except one. Track #3 "Time" was done by Rich Brazell. (*an updated CD with me doing "Time" will be re-released in'09, details soon*). All the percussion on the CD as well as on track #3 was done by me. In the middle of 2005 DeArmond submitted track #1 "Let Yourself Go" to www.Garageband.com. By September '05 we recieved an award for "Best Beat" in the Alternative Music catagory for that song. That was a real proud moment for me. All of the long roadtrips to the studios and years of recording, working our butts off - paid off with that simple award.***Below in the video, on Bass is Eric Craig, on the guitar is Leighton LaBorde. We were playing a benefit at Harlequin Alley in Shreveport,LA. The woman that walks across the screen is Robin Black of VOPC. The daughter of legendary blues artist and "Louisiana Hall of Fame" resident, Jerry Beach. That is him getting out of the red mercury behind us.
