Craig

I have been playing drums professionally since I left high school. In 1989 I went out on the road with a band my cousin Jason Tally was playing with called Reno Bound. We played all over the country often sharing the stage with Toby Keith and Canyon, (which had future members of Lone Star). After that band was over, I joined the Tennessee Hat Band. This was a great band and I was the youngest member by about 20 years. I was only 19 at the time and the rest of the guys were more like 40. It was one of the greatest times of my life 'cause the guys treated me like one of them and also because they were such an established band with a great history and lots of devoted fans that accepted me even though I was basically a kid. They had been the band for David Allan Coe in the seventies and played on many of his albums and classic songs like Longhaired Redneck, Willie,Waylon and me, and If That Ain't Country. We even played a show with David in Shreveport La. in 1991. The song Piece of Wood and Steel featured on my site was from that show. Midnight Rider was my next band formed in september 1992 with former members of Reno Bound and some new friends at the time, Tony Black that I met in college, on guitar, and Doug Langford on bass. We toured the country and opened for many country artists including Tim Mcgraw, Rick Trevino and Colin Raye. In 1994 I was growing tired of the road and was offered the drum job at Outlaws nightclub. So I began a 4 year stand at this place with a new band and really enjoyed playing for my home town crowd. The place was always packed with people that I had known all my life and also with new friends, many that remain friends to this day. We also opened for Merle Haggard and Charlie Daniels there, to name a few. But when the club closed in 1998, we took the band on the road for almost two years and when the band began having trouble keeping a guitar player in 2000 and our lack of gigs close to home, I had to call it quits with the band. In 2001, I joined a Dallas based wedding and party band called Daughter Judy, while working at mars music in Plano Texas. Also I played at Breaktime with Shawn Fussell and Orris Polk every Monday night since 1998. We became a very tight unit and we always had a great crowd. In March 2002, I transfered with Mars Music to Las Vegas. In October of that year I began a nine month stand in the American Superstars show as Frank Beard with a ZZ Top tribute called ZZtopping. On my birthday, December 30 2003, I began a year stand at the Las Vegas Hilton with Trent Carlini, one of the greatest Elvis tribute artists I have ever seen. We were there for the whole year of 2004, what a great ride. Also in 2004 I played drums on Shawn Fussell's first album, Back To Zero. Along with Orris on bass, we were reunited and I would even fly back to Texas and play gigs with the guys in Austin, where Shawn currently lives and plays shows. We also played at our old stomping groung at Breaktime and we still make an appearance there from time to time when I can make it. In February 2005, I got to play with one of my favorite guitar players from the band Night Ranger, Brad Gillis. We did a gig with Pete Marino, The Unauthorized Ozzy, at the Fiesta casino in north las vegas. What a great show, and a dream come true. Brad played with Ozzy after Randy Rhoads died in a plane crash in 1982 and is featured on the album Speak of the Devil. I hope to do more shows with Brad and Pete Marino in the future. Thanks for reading this. Craig.