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I guess it all started in the mid-fifties in south western British Columbia. I
was a body man apprenticeship in Langley, BC, which is just a stone throw away from Blaine
Washington. Bill's Tavern in Blaine is where Loretta Lynn was performing on a regular basdis. We
used to go down there on Saturday nights and watch her and the band. About that time, I
started playing bass in a band called "Hank the Hobo Band", we were a very
popular band on the Canadian Legion circuit. The shows were made up of one hour comedy, and one
hour of music. We played Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at different clubs each night. There
were probably ten bands in Vancouver, BC that did these shows.
In 1964, three of us in "Hank's' band left and formed a band called "The
Showbuds". We were committed to try and make a living playing music. Our first full time
gig was a thirteen week stint at the "White Horse Inn', in the Yukon. I remembered
it was packed every night. The name of the lounge we played was called "The Rainbow
Room", and it was a pretty wild place in 1964. When that gig was finished, we returned to
Vancouver, as there were not taverns to work, as there are now. Finding work was always a real
adventure. Playing for anyone that would listen to us, we finally got some gigs in a few prettty
shady night clubs and lounges. One such place at Maine and Hastings Street, in Vancouver, was
called "The Kubla Kahn", an after hours, closed door, run club, it never got
cooking till midnight, and went till four in the morning. We did three - forty minute shows
nightly.
It didn't take long to learn about Vancouver night life. We were also the only
country music band to ever play the world famous "Cave Supper Club" in Vancouver.
The Showbuds were the supporting act for the "Brook Benton Show".
In 1967 we became the house band at "The Lamplighter Supper
Club" in Burnaby, BC, which was run by Jim Howe, a well known music
promoter on the westcoast. Jim later became our personal manager. It was during this engagement
that we id many short tours and backed many of the folks in our club such as "Bobby Bare,
Stonewall Jackson, Tommy Collins, Faron Young, Bob Lumon, George Hamilton", just to name a
few. Also at the time we were opening in Vancouver's "Queen Elizabeth
Theatre" for top country acts like 'Buck Ownes and the Buckaroos". During
one of the shows, Buck heard me sing an original song called "If I Knew". He liked
it and put it on his album called "It Takes People Like You To Make People Like
Me".
That led to an extended writing contract for "Blue Book Music".
Shortly after that, Buck set a recording session at Capital Recording Studios in Los Angeles,
California, unfortunately the project got bogged down in financial matters with one of the backers
who died, but I did manage to get my cut of "If I Knew" released on a local basis.
The house band at "The Lamplighter Supper Club" came to an end
and so I hit the road again with a band. This time we played places like "The Five
Spot" in Fargo, North Dakota, "Frontier Club" in Grand Forks, North
Dakota, "Riley B's" in Victorville, California, and a string of clubs from there
back to Vancouver, BC.
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