Bones was a stalwart in the Bowling Green music community who ran multiple clubs and toured with many bands. His father was a professional trumpet player in the 1940s, and his mom played the piano. Bones was drawn to music after seeing Charlie McCoy and the Escorts at the county fair.
At age 14, Bones took his drum teacher’s gig at The Spot. Playing with much older musicians, he learned quickly. Bones became a multi-instrumentalist at this time, and this strengthened his craft as a drummer. Playing in the House Rockers with Robert Phillips, Bones was the only white guy in the band. While in high school, he was playing three nights a week, making $50 a night between the Sunset Inn and the Main Office Lounge. He was earning more than his teachers at school. Bones stayed in high school an extra two years to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam war, all the while gigging at clubs, making a decent living, learning a lot from other musicians, and stealing jokes.
When he graduated in 1969, Bones started a band called the Odd Squad and started touring around the Midwest. The Odd Squad picked up a singer and continued their tour around the Midwest from June ‘68 to March ‘69. They were on their way to play Woodstock when Bones’s mom called him to tell him he had been drafted for the war.
After basic training, Bones went to Fort Lee, where he took every opportunity he could to play music. His captain was the entertainment and morale director for the post and recruited Bones to put a band together. Bones flew from Oakland, CA to Vietnam and was assigned tower guard duty. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Bones went to the USO and landed a gig as a musician, putting together shows for the troops in combat stations. He had to chopper into bases, play, and chopper out before nightfall. After two years in the service, Bones was discharged and came back to Bowling Green.
From there, he built his career around two major bands: The Tennessee Pulleybone and The Dixie Line Band. Tennessee Pulleybone signed with RCA Records, the only Country Rock band signed with them. The band toured with the likes of Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings.
After the breakup of Tennessee Pulleybone, Bones recruited Tommy Johnson as a multi-genre singer-songwriter in a new band that was to become the Dixie Line Band. Bones also ran and operated two clubs, Camelot Picking Parlor and Yankee Doodle’s.
Bones died in May 2023.