About Me
The Song:
The song you are hearing is by a wonderful artist named Cornell Kinderknecht and this is from his CD "Returning Home." I had the pleasure of laying down eight tracks in it with 12 different percussion instruments. It was like being back in the North Texas Percussion Ensemble with Ron Fink conducting only I was the only drummers. Wow. What power. (Smile!!!)
MUSIC:
In Rod Kennedy's book "Music From The Heart" about the history of the Kerrville Folk Festival, he writes, "Supported by Billy Bucher's tasteful drumming, the music of Ewing Street Times filled the hall and propelled people out of their seats at the end of what seemed to be too short a set."
As a drummer, percussionist and pianist, Billy Bucher grew up in Atlantic, Iowa, before the lure of jazz pulled him to Denton, Texas. He has performed in a wide variety of music from jazz while in the Lab Band program at the University of North Texas from where he holds a degree, to rock and blues bands in Austin, Dallas, San Francisco, and Vermont. After moving to Austin, he branched into progressive country with Ewing Street Times which featured John Vandiver, Shake Russell and Michael Mashkes. They did much road work including appearances from Colorado and the East Coast to doing a Willie Nelson picnic and several appearances at the Kerrville Folk Festival.
After moving to Dallas he has appeared in numerous rhythm and blues and folk and rock bands.
As a percussionist during and since college, Bucher has performed classical mallet instruments including timpani, marimba and xylophone with the North Texas, Richardson, and Dallas Symphonies. Billy was once called upon to perform a piece where the only instruments given him were a broken cymbal, a glass jar of nuts and bolts and an electric sensor which diluted every object with which it came in contact.
One of Bucher's fondest memories is a four night jazz and blues festival jam with David Amram, Peter Jacobson and Peter Serkin in Marlboro, Vermont, where Serkin's father Rudolf was a resident pianist performer with cellist Pablo Casals.
Currently, Billy appears on three separate yet strangely interrelated Texas music CD projects. Two are newly released, including the intriguing CD by Shelly Niebuhr called "Believe" and Cornell Kinderknecht sensational CD "Returning Home." The third is the recent first CD release of the very popular Shake Russell and Dana Cooper' early venture, "Songs on the Radio."
Says Bucher, "I can honestly say that I love all types of music and we can find good and knowledge in all musical forms. With almost any given group, today's drummer is propelled into a number of styles. Yet, at the same time, many musical forms are very similar. Usually, a good country player, for instance, can also become a strong blues player due to the nature of the rhythms. I prefer to teach in such a way that a percussionist is exposed to as many styles and instruments as possible so that as he progresses he can be creative in a number of musical avenues."
Professionally, Bucher teaches private drums, percussion, and piano lessons in East Dallas and surrounding small towns. He is also currently doing many appearances with another Texas music favorite group, Ann Armstrong and Steve Hughes with the talented and hard driving bassist, Hugh Vestal.
Writing:
He is also working on his second novel and his stories and articles have appeared in literary magazine such as "The Pawn Review" and "The Gar" to music articles for "Texas Jazz" and the "Dallas Observer". He once published a short story in the Dallas Morning News "Guide" section. To anyones memory this may be the one and only short story to have appeared in the Dallas Morning News. Or perhaps not.
Photography:
He is currently following a new passion in photography, some of which will appear on this picture albums.
1st Show: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at the Bath House Cultural Center, Oct. 13-Nov 10th, 2007. "High Road to Taos." Collage of 29 photos on a New Mexico map. Curated by Enrique Fernandez Cervantes.
2nd Show: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) at the Ice House Cultural Center, Nov 3.-Nov 17th, 2007. "Fallen Too Soon." Photo with mosaic frame by Betty Bucher. Curated by Jose Vargas.
3rd Show: 'TIL WE MEET AGAIN. Curated by Enrique Fernandez Cervantes. A twist on the traditional “farewell†and “homecoming†evokes a multitude of emotions in this exhibition of postcard-size mixed media art. I have two works: "Plodding Home to Rancho Romance: and "Shoot Out at the O.K. Kitchen." Betty Bucher has an exhibit named "Ultimate Abandonment." See "My Art and My Friends Art" in Photo Albums. Thanks.
El Corazon. Curated by Jose Vargas. Betty Bucher has a piece called "The Abandoned Child" which is getting a lot of positive response. We have many good friends in the show. We are very blessed. Photos in the Photo Albums already being added.
Verse and Reverse. Beginning the Saturday, March 15th at the Bath House. Curated by Enrique Fernandez Cervantes. I will have four short stories featured in this show.
Additional Information:
Two additional places where you may find information on Billy Bucher and music clips as well is at www.mytexasmusic.com/billybucher and at http://www.bloggard.com/hobnob The latter is a blog site about people who attended the University of North Texas (North Texas State) in the 60s and early 70s and hung out around the cafe called the Hob Nob. Many of the articles there, though, drift into the present time and guest artists often appear. travel layout powered by HOT FreeLayouts.com / MyHotComments
