(Photo by Jimi Giannatti)
Sonoran desert born and bred. Tucson, Arizona is my home.
HONKYTONK COUNTRYBLUES: sad songs, bad songs, death songs, love songs, get-lost songs, come-back songs, weird songs- I sing them all, on lots of acoustic solo gigs, and with my twangfastic electric band.
I like a lot of songs, so I sing covers in addition to my own stuff. I like old honkytonk and hard country (Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Hank Thompson, Ray Price, Conway Twitty), old country blues (Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton), and outlaw stuff (Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson)- so, you’ll hear a sort of mashup of these styles, with me thrown in.
I’ve played all around the USA. The high point for me was when I sat in with the great Les Paul (October, 2005), in New York City. Oh yes I did. What a nice man he was! Others with whom I’ve shared stages or for whom I’ve provided support include Junior Brown, Kinky Friedman, Joe Ely, Al Perry, Skip Heller, Robbie Fulks, Tom Walbank, Scott Biram, Jesse Dayton, Split Livers, Al Foul, Gary Stockdale, Kevin Daly, Reverend Payton’s Big Damn Band, and Calexico.
HANK TOPLESS BAND: full-service hardcore electric honkytonk countryblues featuring Loren Dircks on guitar, Dave Roads on bass, Freddy Parish on drums. Sadly for us, pedal steel man Jake Hacker has moved on to other endeavors- we wish him the best.
There have been some ass-kicking shows, including our sold-out tribute to Merle Haggard for Lonely Street Productions, and a blast opening for Junior Brown at the Rialto in Tucson, June 2016. Hire this band. We’ll split your audience up into little pieces.
New solo acoustic album “Big Black Heart” was released 2/10/17, on Lonesome Desert Records. The track “No Phoenix Blues” is featured on Zia Records’ 2017 compilation “This One Goes To Eleven!” Also, 2 songs featured on Lonesome Desert release “Tucson Country Blues Vol. 1.” Both Lonesome Desert releases are available now on iTunes. Additional releases include the 7″ vinyl “Skeletons’ Blues / Take Their Time” (CD, 2012, Y’Know Co.) and the 9-song album “It’s So December” (2011, Y’Know Co.). Also available is the 10-song album which amounted to a maiden voyage in the Topless canon, “No Phoenix Blues” by Topless Opry (CD, 2002, Y’Know Co.).
ARTIST STATEMENT: Moody, mercurial, opinionated- don’t take it personally. It’s show business. That’s why they call it show BUSINESS, not show FRIENDS. It’s not as though I’m living off your taxes. I’ll be really friendly when you meet me, and I’ll make your audience smile. Just don’t fuck with me.
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