JAMES ANDERSON

My first real experience in the music business came when I was a junior in high school. During the summer break I was asked to do a gig with Jimmy Reed. The gig went so well it lead to other gigs with Reed that summer. The following year when I finally got out of school, I ended up going on the road with Reed for two years. The one thing I remember most while playing with Jimmy was...He soaked his harmonica's in a glass of beer on stage. When a song changed key he'd reach over and pull a harp from the beer. Man, when he went to blow the harp beer ran all down in the mic. I had a brand new Electo Voice 664 he used one night...the beer totally ruined it. I still have it as a reminder of the days I worked with him. When the tour was over I came back to Texas and worked with various bands for awhile.In 1965 a new record company (Abnak Music Enterprises) came into being. The first bands they signed were the "Five Americans"and "Bobby Patterson & The Mustangs". In 1966 Abnak started putting together a new band called "Jon & Robin & The In Crowd". The members in this band consisted of Jerry Williams (guitar) who later on wrote major hits for Eric Clapton...Dave Mason...B.B. King...Bonnie Raitt and Delbert McClinton. Bobby Rambo (guitar) went on to work with B.W. Stevenson...Linda Ronstadt and recorded eight albums with Jerry Jeff Walker. Rex Ludwick (drums) went on to work with Willie Nelson and played the role of "Tex" in the movie "Honeysuckle Rose" and several other movies. Jim Glaves was the first keyboard player (B3) with the In Crowd...After a few years Jim decided to leave the band...His replacement was Lenny Lee who later on after our move to L.A. would form the band "Sweat Hog". When "Sweat Hog" broke up Lenny became the keyboard player and lead vocalist for the super group "Tower of Power"....and last but not least, I played bass. We had numerous singles to hit the charts with Jon & Robin. The more notable ones being "Do It Again A Little Bit Slower"..."Drums"..."I Want Some More"..."Save Me,Save Me"..."You Got Style" and "Dr. Jon The Medicine Man". The In Crowd released two singles. The first one was "Bright Lights"...ok song but no banana. The next single was "Hangin' From Your Lovin' Tree"...It went straight up to the Top 20 on the national charts and stayed there for seven weeks.In 1970 I moved to LA...During those wonderful years spent in the land of fruits and nuts, I toured with "The Dick Clark Caravan Of Stars" for a second time...Made two appearances on "The Midnight Special"..."Don Kirschner's Rock Concert"..."American Bandstand"..."The Tonight Show" and the "Fillmore West". The series of tours with the Caravan Of Stars were a blast. I hung out with The Who...Peter Noone...Neil Diamond...Paul Revere & The Raiders...Blues Magoos...Box Tops...Gary Puckett & The Union Gap...Steppin'Wolf...Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart...Tommy James & The Shondells...The Monkees...Sir Douglas Quintet...1910 Fruit Gum Co...Brooklyn Bridge...Lemon Pipers...Aretha Franklin...Sam & Dave and The McCoys w/ Rick Derringer. Needless to say it was a constant party of sex/drugs and rock & roll...but what a time we had.When I finally crashed and burned from living that life style,I came back to Texas once again and pretty much hung up my career in music until I could get my life back on track and sober up from the years of abuse. I didn't touched my axe again for 8yrs. When 85 rolled around I was really getting the bug to play again. I pulled out a bass...put on new strings...tweaked the neck and started pickin'. Damn, my fingers bled for a solid week. However,It was worth the pain just to play again. A few weeks later I get a call from an old buddy asking if I'd be interested in playing in a new southern rock band he was putting together. I said hell yeah, I'll do it. We started playing on weekends at the biggest dumps and dives in Dallas...But hey, I got my chops back and made some decent money at the same time.Within a few months I was back doing session work at various studios around town doing commercials and jingles for television and radio. By the time 89 hit, I was working with most of the top guns in Texas...Nitzinger...Bugs Henderson...Rocky Athas...Pat Hornsby...Jimmy Wallace...Junior Clark...Matt Tapp...Johnny Harra (The best Elvis Impersonator ever) and Robert Ealey. Some where along the way, I hooked up with a super cover band called "The Stratoblasters" with Big John O'Daniels from "Point Blank" doing vocals. I never did like playing in cover bands but the Blasters were and are, a great group of guys and musicians. It's always been a pleasure to step on stage with these guys.In 1990 I was asked to come down to a Sunday nite jam and play with Jack Morgan and Ty Grimes. I knew Jack from his days with Rod Stewart and the work he did with Krackerjack w / Bruce Bowland...Tommy Shannon and Uncle John Turner. I was really lookin' forward to playing with these guys because Jack was just a friggin' monster guitar player and Ty was as solid as it get's on drums...Ty had spent many years in LA working with Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon band...Tim Weisberg and Captain Beefheart...He was like me...Lookin' for a kickass band to put together and try it one more time.When the time came for us to hit the stage, Jack looked at me and said,Just watch my hands...You'll know what to do. The minute we started off the first song we knew it was something special...Four days later we were in the studio laying down tracks for a cd. Within a month PR guys from several labels were ringing our phones off the wall wanting to sign us...We did a showcase and got a huge deal...But it was not meant to be...I won't go there. We did shows (packed and standing room only) with Edgar Winters at the Agora Ballroom...We opened for the Arc Angels in December of that same year. CBS Epic offered us another major deal right after the show...Again,it was not meant to be...I won't go there either. The band split up in 94...Got back together for a short time in 97. Then in 2000, Ty called to see if I still wanted to slam Jack's ass against the wall...I said all is forgivin'...It's a new day...Let's do something. We got together in my studio and played for three solid days. I wound up investing in more studio gear to begin work on a new cd. We started revamping old songs we'd written and wrote at least a hundred more. Jack and I would get together one on one and come up with the most off the wall riffs in open D tunings dropped a half step down...A lot of the stuff we came up with was for our own amusement but some of it made it to the cd. The band was back on track blowing the doors off every venue we played. Record labels were showing interest in us once more...But in October of 2004 it all came tumbling down for the last time...I said that's it Jack...I love ya like a brother but the bands history. Ty had already quit earlier in the year and moved off to St.Louis...'Rattlin' Bones' went down in flames. I hung up the old bass again...Jack went off and did his thing...Sorry to say, he did it too long...Jack passed away at the age of 51 in April 2006...He is sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.In the fall of 2005, I get a call from an old friend asking me to drop by his studio to lay down a few bass tracks on a country project he had going. I said COUNTRY...That ain't my friggin' bag. Hell, I went anyway to see what it was all about. When I get there...there's this beautiful young lady in the studio by the name of B'Ann Grant...Man she looked like someone straight from the CMA Music Awards...All I could say was WOW!...More later.