Here's a guy who's been around. Born the same year Elvis made it big, Wade grew up in the rural midwest, paying his dues by playing in every VFW, American Legion and smokey dance club in Kansas. Under the guidance of his older brother Craig on bass and with the support of his younger brother Bart on lead guitar (and the steady backing of red-headed drumming legend Ron Bailey) he led The Bunk House Boys for five grueling years -- playing rock to the country audiences, country to the rock audiences and one night playing "Born To Be Wild" seven times in a biker bar.
He started writing songs early, but not well. He studied the artists he liked to see how he could improve -- Lennon and McCartney, John Fogarty, The Eagles. He always sang -- whether it was Elvis songs, Sinatra, or Sam Cooke.
Today they call it "Americana" -- but he played it when it was called rock, country, r&b, folk, blues, jazz, classic rock, and a dozen other titles. Thank god they settled on one easy label. It makes it so much simpler when he is asked, "What kind of music do you play?"
And he's playing, arranging MIDI tracks, singing, and most of all -- writing songs more than ever (and better than ever). He works alone sometimes, but loves to work with others. He's done music for lyrics and he's done lyrics for music and he's done music and lyrics for music and lyrics. If you ask him which should come first, he'll probably tell you, "A damn good idea."
There's a lot of bad music out there, and there's a bunch of mediocre music out there, Wade's philosophy is, "Let's go for the good stuff."
