Member Since: 1/4/2006
Band Website: thegulfcoastplayboys.com
Band Members:
BRUCE LAMB
Guitarist Bruce Lamb has led his own band, The Circuit Breakers, when he lived in his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He played alongside bluesman Silas Hogan for a few years and also in several Cajun and Zydeco bands. Growing up with a fiddle-playing father, he learned to play acoustic guitar with a family friend, Lum York (bassist with Hank Williams' Driftin' Cowboys). At 10 years old, he played drums with the bluegrass legends Jim and Jesse Mc Reynolds. He was invited by the duo to perform on a series of Louisiana radio broadcasts as they were trying to sound like the popular Louvin Brothers at the time! As a young boy, Bruce remembers sitting on the lap of Patsy Cline. He remembers her wearing a classic chiffon dress, yet, he was more fascinated by Grandpa Jones who was also backstage at the time. Bruce plays with a sense of authority...that comes from his lifelong committment to his musical craft. He's probably THE most versatile guitar player I've ever played with...blues, rock&roll, country, Cajun, Zydeco, Gospel, Surf, Bluegrass, conjunto...he can cover it all and even make his electric guitar sound like a bajo sexto! You can see/hear him on the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center compilation DVD of the 2001 Tejano-Conjunto Festival en San Antonio when he sat in with Conjunto Los Pinkys!
GRADY PINKERTON, JR
Grady Pinkerton, Jr. plays bass but also is an excellent guitarist AND singer. He plays with Excello Records swamp blues legend Lazy Lester on Texas-Louisana dates. Grady's positive attitude is infectious and always plays with a smile. He's a "no nonsense" player and plays with perfect taste. As Lazy Lester put's it...Grady "stands up there WITH me and not AGAINST me!"
RALPH WHITE
Ralph White's fiddle playing captures the feeling of a bygone era of Cajun music yet still sounds original and fresh. His playing is raw, earthy and has a magnetism that is a key ingredient to our sound. I will never forget the time when we were playing out in the country at Club 21 and an old man came up to me and told me how he used to be a fishin' buddy of Harry Choates, the 30's Cajun fiddle legend. He thought Ralph had the feel and vibe of a Harry Choates and was spellbound by his playing. Ralph's style seems to cut through to the people. Watching him play night after night, with his eyes closed and seeing how the people go wild for his enthusism and pure soulful playing has been a major highlight for me over the years. Ralph spent many years playing with a band called the BAD LIVERS and also plays mbira, fretless gourd banjo, sings and records his own solo projects. Visit his website www.ralphewhite.com
STEVE TOUNSAND
Steve Tounsand didn't know exactly what he was getting into when he answered my ad in the classifieds "concertina player looking for honky polka musicians". He's a great drummer with a very good polka feel and he picked up the Li'l Wally sound like a fish to water. After original drummer Bobby Fuentes stepped down after 7 years, Steve was soon "drafted" into the Playboys where he covers all musical styles with incredible skill. He has a cool, 1950's aquamarine Leedy drum kit, too.
ROB JEWETT
upright and electric bass
"I was raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan, began playing guitar in Church at age 14, and during high school was the guitarist in the Jazz band. At 17, I picked up the electric bass and soon was gigging in bars playing Blues and Jazz. One day an Artic cold front with the wind chill of -30 hit Michigan. Soon afterwards, I moved to Austin, bought an upright bass and started gigging. Within a year, I quit my day job, and my life was forever changed. I've performed with the Asylum Street Spankers, toured with Country musician Wayne "the Train" Hancock, toured the US and Europe with Alligator recording artist, and Texas Blues legend, Long John Hunter and peformed on the Grand Ole Opry with Country musician Dale Watson. I also do studio work and teach guitar and bass lessons out of home in East Austin."
BRADLEY JAYE WILLIAMS
Born in 1961, I've been playing music (and drawing pictures) nearly my entire life and I'm happy to tell you that this band is as good as it gets for me. I grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where I started my musical journey in the 5th grade on trumpet in Mrs. Schumate's concert band. My brother, Jon, rented me a trumpet from the local music store. My dad later bought it for me...and I always enjoyed playing it on the front porch for the neighbors. That's when I first discovered the joy of playing music and how it affected people. I loved Louis Armstrong and Hank Williams. My dad was a jukebox operator and I would listen to those 45's and his 78's on the Victrola for hours and hours on end. From an early age, I learned to appreciate all styles of music. I was always into ART, too. I'd spend many hours(and days) drawing and painting and I pursued this passion in every classroom from kindergarten thru college.
I spent some time away from making music and drawing...searching for a way to make a living...most of those years I spent working in the commercial fishing industry where I worked on tuna/swordfish/halibut longliners and salmon trollers on Georges Bank and Southeast Alaska. I also worked in the Japanese wholesale fish business on Pier 45 in San Francisco and in a salmon smoking operation on the San Francisco Bay. Today, I still make smoked salmon for a local non-profit group here in South Austin.
I played mandolin and accordion in a San Francisco folk-rock group called the Movie Stars (who later went on to form a country band called Red Meat) and also with other folk musicians, Dan Warrick, Karen Leigh, Steven Strauss, Eric and Suzy Thompson in the late eighties. I've spent many hours playing on the streets of the Bay Area...playing for tips at the train station, handing out business cards and meeting and playing with interesting people. It was a blast to play with saxman Ralph Carney(B-52's, Tom Waits Band) for about a year with the original Los Pinkys band. I've recorded with Laurie Lewis, Tom Waits, The Derailers, Chris Gaffney, Asleep at the Wheel and many others along the way.
Conjunto Los Pinkys Website
In the early nineties, I moved to Texas to play conjunto music with my reformed group, Conjunto Los Pinkys. We recorded 2 CDs with Rounder Records and had a ..1 hit on the worlds' best Tejano radio station KEDA 1540AM. I am pleased to have produced a CD with Rounder for my all-time musical hero Eddie "Lalo" Torres of San Antonio.
Conjunto musicians in Texas, I've found to be the friendliest and down-to-earth people on the planet. It's been a thrill to meet and play with some of the players who've had a BIG impact on the music...Flaco Jimenez, Mingo Saldivar, Los Pavos Reales, Ruben Naranjo, Doug Sahm.
I've enjoyed playing the many festivals, church bazaars(jamaicas), beer joints, weddings, anniversaries and quincieneras and the camaraderie of my musical friend and accordionist Isidro Samilpa...a 50 year veteran of Austin's Chicano music scene. Together...we have taken the conjunto sound out of the beer joints of East Austin and onto the national concert stage and back again while helping promote conjunto music worlwide. We recently received a letter of gratitude from our congressman in Washington D.C...Lloyd Doggett...for our service to our community. What a feeling!
Bradley Jaye Williams
January 2006
Influences: Joe Bonsall, Aldus Roger, The Sundown Playboys, Los Dos Gilbertos, Lazy Lester, Eddie Zima, Flaco Jimenez, Li'l Wally, Eddie "Lalo" Torres, Fidel Perez, The Dynatones w/Scrubby and many more
Sounds Like: Louisiana Cajun Music, Zydeco, Tejano, Tex-Mex, Musica Chicana, Blues, Country, cumbia, Polka and more!
Record Label: NONE
Type of Label: None