1965 – The Mystics – Port Neches, Tx

The first non-school band I played with. We played a lot of what's now being called “Swamp Rock”. I always thought it was just Southwest Louisiana Blues.

The band members were:

Ray Little – guitar

Larry Talbot – guitar

Bill Smith – drums

Gerald Pierce – bass/vocals

Bill Watson – bass/vocals

Bill Watson and I took turns playing bass or singing since neither of us was very good at doing both at the same time yet.

1966- The New Breed – Beaumont, Tx

We played a lot of songs by the Beach Boys songs and other groups popular at the time. The other members of the band were from out of the area and were students at Lamar College in Beaumont. At the end of the Spring semester, they all went home to different places, thus dissolving the band.

The band members were:

Tom Moore – Hammond Organ/vocals

Jeff Strange – Guitar/vocals

Jack Grochmal – Drums/vocals

Gerald Pierce – Bass/vocals

Tom Moore went on to become the organ player for “The Moving Sidewalks”, a Houston-based band that also included Billy Gibbons on guitar and vocals.

I ran into Jack Grochmal in the late 80's in Nashville where he's had some success as a recording engineer/producer.

1966-67 The Basic Things – Port Arthur, Tx

We played a mixture of British Invasion and American music including lots of Soul music....Wilson Pickett, James Brown etc. The band recorded version of Wilson Pickett's “99 and a Half” with an original song, “Wish You Were Here” on the other side. We got a handful of plays locally including at least one airing of “99 and a Half” on KJET, a station that played only black music. We were quite flattered.

The band members were:

Herman Bennett – Vocals and tambourine

Tom Arrington – Guitar/vocals

Charles Jayroe – Lead Guitar/vocals

Larry Quinn – Farfisa Organ/vocals

Ronnie Cooper – Drums/vocals

Gerald Pierce – Bass/vocals

Herman and Larry are still pursuing music. You can click on their names to find more info about them.

1967 – The Chosen Few – Beaumont, Tx

This band only lasted a short while, but we did play a few gigs. We played popular British and American rock songs of the day.

The band members were:

Bill Carter – Guitar/vocals

Glen Dowell – Fender/Rhodes electric piano/vocals

Jack Fowler – Drums

Gerald Pierce – Bass/vocals

1967-68 – The Magic Ring – Houston, Tx

Houston producer/manager and former organ player for “Neal Ford and the Fanatics” Steve Ames, who managed “The Moving Sidewalks”, also managed a band called “The Magic Ring”. Tom Moore of the Sidewalks turned me on to the gig when the Ring's bass player left the group. We played a lot at the Catacombs club and opened some Houston concerts including “The Young Rascals” in the Coliseum and Jimi Hendrix in the Music Hall. The group recorded a version of “Do I Love You”, and old “Ronettes” hit which was released in Houston on the Ames Bros. “Tantara” label. It was picked up by “Music Factory Records”, a subsidiary of MGM, but got very limited airplay other than in the Houston market. The band dissolved in early 1968.

The band members were:

John Wilson – 6 and 12-string Guitar/vocals

Doug Reneau – 12 string Guitar/vocals

Jim Clinton – Drums

Stick Pierce – Bass/vocals

When I first moved to Houston I stayed for a while with Jim Clinton, the drummer. He couldn't remember my name, so he introduced me to everyone as “Stick” and the nickname followed me from there.

John Wilson went on to become part owner of a successful Dallas club called “Up Your Alley”, performing there with “Bowley and Wilson” (I think I remember that correctly).

Naked Letus – 1968-70 – Houston, Tx

We played a few gigs around Houston inclucing the “Love Street Light Circus” and others and recorded an album of original material at Robin Hood Brians' studio in Tyler, Tx that was never released. In November of 1968 we began playing at the “Cellar” club in Fort Worth. Steve Coleman, who founded the group, left in early 1969. After that the band went through a number of guitarists and drummers in the next year and a half. We played a few original songs and a lot of lighter rock of the day including material by “Buffalo Springfield”, “The Lovin' Spoonful”, “The Beatles”, “Moby Grape”, Neil Young etc. Except for a couple of 2-week breaks, Naked Letus played at the Cellar clubs in Ft. Worth, Houston (and occasionally Dallas) until October of 1970 when the group dissolved (with Mike and I being the only original members left).

The original band members were:

Steve Coleman – Guitar/vocals

Mike Hickman – Guitar/vocals

Jas Stephens – Drums

Stick Pierce – Bass Vocals

Other guitarists were Charlie Mitchell and Arvel Stricklin. Other drummers included Don Ivy, Gary Barriman, Darrell “Hatchet” Welch, Randy “Panda” Woolery, Joe Wonder, Doyle Brashears and probably 2 or 3 more that I don't recall.

During one of our breaks from the Cellar in 1969, Billy Gibbons, who I met through my association with “The Magic Ring”, asked me to join his new band, “ZZ Top”. Their organ player, Lanier Greig (formerly of “Neal Ford and the Fanatics”), had recently left the newly formed group and Billy wanted to use a bass player as the third piece. I met one evening with Billy, former “Moving Sidewalks” drummer Dan Mitchell and their manager, Bill Ham, and we ran over a few songs, including a couple or so of Billy's originals. I was (and still am) flattered that I was offered the gig, but it just wasn't what I wanted to do musically. Billy found exactly what he needed a short while later when he teamed up with Dusty and Frank (also former Cellar players). The rest is history and neither I nor ZZ Top would want it any other way.

Charlie McCormack – 1970-71 – Beaumont, Tx

After the Cellar gig ended, I went to Beaumont for a while. I went to an old highway honky-tonk just out of town called the “Hayseed”, wanting to sit in on pedal steel (never got very good at pedal steel.....never really gigged as a steel player) and ended up getting hired to play bass. The place looked pretty much as it did when my folks went dancing there when I was a kid (yeah, people took kids to honky-tonks....it was the 50s and a different world than now). No air conditioning, just window fans and screened windows three-quarters of the way around the place. The parking lot was still paved with bottle caps from 20-plus years of honky-tonkin'. I remember arriving one Friday night to play and found a box full of kittens and their mother on the bandstand. I just made sure I didn't step on any of them and the gig went just fine. Now that's country!

Charlie strummed the guitar and sang every old standard country song I ever heard and then some. His son played drums, I played bass and Dick Counts played guitar (very, very well). By his style, I'm pretty sure he played with some big swing bands in his past. None of the rest of us were anywhere near being in the ball park with him musically. His personality was as up as his playing and I feel honored to have been on the same honky-tonk bandstand as him.

Cliff Keener – 1971 – Arlington, Tx

Cliff Keener is the name Cliston Keener was using when I went to work with him at the “Pub Royal” in Arlington. He had natural charisma, knew how to work a crowd and fill the dance floor. He played guitar and sang standard country and rock songs plus some of the currently popular stuff. Jackie Lassiter played drums. We had a pretty good little trio, got paid decently and had lots of fun. Unfortunately, Cliston passed away too young, a victim of 6 Saturday nights a week for too many years.

Chuck Isles - 1973 – Beaumont/Galveston, Tx

Chuck was a piano-bar single act playing small bars in the Beaumont area. I can't remember how I met him, but I went to work playing bass with him at a small bar called “The Gusher Room” in Beaumont. Chuck was a great entertainer and a real crowd-pleaser. I got to play a lot of songs I'd never played before.....supper-clubby stuff....with nice chord changes and melodies. We played for a couple of months at the “Sea Horse” motel restaurant on the seawall where we got free rooms, great food and got paid, to boot. This was a nice change.

Steve Young – 1973-75 – Beaumont, Tx

Just across the parking lot from the Gusher Room was the Ridge Motel and the best “sit-down” gig in town, “The Petroleum Club”. Five nights a week, leave your equipment set up, good pay, what a deal! It was a laid-back supper club gig for the first couple of sets, but by the time the kitchen closed there was a nightclub/dance crowd. A local trio, “Steve, Mark and John” played there. I'd been over to hear them on breaks and would sit in occasionally. Steve (Young) came in the Gusher one night and told me John Piggot, the bass player, was leaving the group. He offered me the job and after consulting with Chuck (Isles) I accepted the offer. The name of the group changed to “Steve Young Plus” which was quite fitting. That may very well be the most professional and versatile group I ever worked with. We did all the current radio hits plus songs from the 50s and even the 40s, songs by “The Ink Spots”, “The Mills Brothers” etc., complete with nice 3-part harmony. Steve was schooled as a vocalist and pianist, but he didn't let that stop him from singing and playing his ass off. He also played great Jimmy Reed style harp and blues guitar. He even did some songs in Italian and Spanish. What a great singer, keyboard player, arranger, teacher and leader. I learned more about music and being a professional from him than anyone I ever worked with. Thanks, Steve!

Apple Creek Review – 1975 – Beaumont, Tx

The “Apple Creek Review” had been coming in to sit in at the Petroleum Club and were a really good 3-piece country band with a Female Singer. Their bass player was leaving the group and I was offered the gig. I was ready for a change and took their offer. The band consisted of Randy McClain (Randy Fultz) on guitar and vocals, Hank Barry (Hank Fults, Randy's Brother) on drums and vocals, Mary Nell Osborn, vocals and me on bass and vocals. We had a good band and played a few gigs in the Beaumont area, but in the Spring of 1975, we went to Tennessee to audition for the soon-to-open “Opryland”. The Fultz Brothers had relatives just down the road in Manchester, Tn where they were raised, so we stayed there a couple of days and did the audition. Needless to say, they weren't looking for honky-tonk bands. They wanted singers/dancers ala Disneyland or Six-Flags. Oh, Yeah, I forgot to mention that Mary Nell, our Female vocalist, was George Jones' niece. At that time, George and Tammy had just split and we heard that she got his band, so we went by his office to try to apply for the job. He did happen to come by when we were there, but he was not in a very good mood......errr or sober and it wasn't the time to be talking business and wouldn't be for a while. We didn't get the gig as George's band, but we tried. I left the group shortly afterward.

Cowboy Robt. Bob & the Cowtown Queens – 1975 - Ft. Worth, Tx

Shortly after I left the Apple Creek Review, Arvel Stricklin called me and said he needed a bass player for a gig at Panther Hall in Ft. Worth. The band was “Cowboy Robt. Bob & the Cowtown Queens” and consisted of Arvel on guitar, Cal Freeman on pedal steel (formerly of the group “Gallery” who had the hit “It's So Nice to Be With You”), Randy “Panda” Woolery on Drums and me on bass. The “Queens” part was supposed to be a couple or so backup singers, but that never happened. We changed the name to “The Stricklin-Pierce Band” since we had no Queens. Almost immediately after our first gig, Cal was hired away from us by somebody with better paying gigs. We did manage to record 10 songs together (8 original tunes), but Cal only played on one. “Hello Honey” is the song Cal played on and was a single we released on our own label. It got a little airplay here and there, but nothing to write home about. A very young James Pennybaker (who went on to become a very in-demand Nashville sideman - fiddle/banjo/guitar/pedal steel with folks like Leroy Parnell, Pam Tillis and Big and Rich) played fiddle on some of the songs. Playing banjo on some cuts was Dean Morrow, a great singer/songwriter, guitar and banjo player. We recorded our songs at “Pantego Sound” studios in Pantego, Tx (near Arlington). The studio was owned by Jerry Abbott (Father of Vinny Abbott and the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott of Pantera fame) and Charles Stewart, an ABC Records rep. We never found the right fourth player after losing Cal. The spark was gone and the band soon evaporated. Nothing became of the other songs we recorded, but over the next 30 years Jerry Abbott and I teamed up to write several songs.

The Alligator Band – 1975-82 – Ft. Worth, Tx

After the Robt. Bob experience, I started working local bar gigs with Larry and Steve Funchess in the Alligator Band. The 4^th member of the group varied between several players....mostly whoever was available. Sometimes it was Dean Morrow on Banjo, Charlie Mitchell on guitar, or some spur-of-the-moment fill-in I don't recall right now. We did a bit of traveling and played a couple of times in Telluride, Co. in 1976. The rest of the years were off-and-on, here and there local or regional bar gigs. We did record a song together called “Back to Tennessee”. I hope to have it available soon on a cd or mp3. Through this band I met and worked with several other great Ft. Worth players including Delbert McClinton and Glen Clark.

To be continued.....check back