Letter from DG

Howdy neighbors! DG here!  Been a while since I’ve had the time to write, just non-stop running all over like mad, trying to “keep it together”! Many of you know that I’ve been down in Austin, Texas for most of the past year. For those of you who don’t know, I had gone to Austin in early ’08 to round up some troops and put together a band to tour for the benefit of my Big Soul Brother and partner, the Late Great Chris Gaffney. Most everyone knows by now, but if you hadn’t heard the sad news... Brother Gaff was diagnosed with liver cancer in Feb ’08, just two weeks after we had finished our fourth Hacienda Brothers album. Gaff became very sick very fast and sadly passed away on April 17^th, 2008. Between then and now a lot of wonderful people, friends, family, bands… neighbors! Folks from all over the country (and world) showed their support and respect for brother Gaff with letters, donations and volunteering. Amen. Thru all that I ended up being very lucky to be able to put together what has now become my new band… The Stone River Boys. I did 30,0000 miles this past year and got a chance to meet and work with a Texas-size bunch of ab-SOUL-utely great musicians, and all kinds of other super folks! And now we’ve got the new band cookin’!

“We” meaning myself and my partner in the The Stone River Boys, “Texas Mike Barfield”, or simply “Barfield”, the self-proclaimed “Tyrant of Texas Soul”. Brother Barfield is country to the core, and soul-funky to the last drop! He’s a Texas living legend. He’s a real good songwriter/singer and he’s had some great bands, The Rounders…The Holisters. And he’s made some fine records as well. I’ve known Barfield since 1982, and I know gaff knew him for many years as well. Mucho mutual respect! When Barfield heard about Brother Gaff being sick, he was ready to roll! I will tell you we were all tryin’ to really help out and we all knew it’d be tough out there. Everyone knew Gaff was sick, and everyone was pulling for him. It was tough for us to get out there and sing a lot of those songs, but Barfield has a lot of his own great songs. He’s a super showman, a pro, much like Brother Gaff, and he ab-SOUL-utely gave it all for the casue!

Don Lamkin, a longtime Bro of mine, he knew brother Gaff, and knows a lot of the Texas bands and musicians. And he’s got a place out there in Austin. When Don heard Gaff was sick, he called me up and said “What are you gonna do?” I told him I was headed for Austin and he said “You gotta get Barfield!” Then we luck out completely and got the A-Team soul-crew of guitar/pedal steel great Dave Biller, drummer Damian Llanes and legendary bassist Kevin Smith. “Boom! Done!” (As Brother Gaff would always say!) So we pulled a rehearsal at Don’s house, on “Stone River Circle”, and that’s how we got our name! It was a few months later when Barfield and I found Stone Creek following into the Colorado River near beautiful downtown Austin. We got our first real “pro” photographs taken, courtesy of Tom Zinn Photography. These promo shots and other pictures from the very start of the Stone River Boys are available at our myspace page www.stoneriverboys.com. So we did that first tour, up thru the Midwest. It was right when the final Hacienda Brothers record “Arizona Motel” was released, and Brother Barfield had a few real good songs he’d written. The band was really unique and fresh sounding and I knew we just had to make a record. So we got up to Lincoln and a friend of mine, bassist Charlie Johnson (Mezcal Brothers) called me. He had a studio for years and I was always real impressed with his recordings and his great band too! Charlie said we could come by the studio, that he had a couple open days. So right there we put together a few arrangements and Boom! Done! It really came out good. A couple of those songs are already up and available on our myspace page.

So in between all of this and that we’ve toured all over, written some more new songs, recorded three more sessions (almost finished with the debut record!) and had a heckuva ride! We’ve been so blessed with so many great musicians that have pitched in and helped out, toured and recorded with us. So may I mention and truly thank with my deepest gratitude, guitarist Chris Miller, steel guitarist Dave Biller, Dave Zerbel, Gary Brandon (with us out West!), drummers Damian Llanes, Justin “JJ” Jones, Tom Lewis, bassists Kevin “Big-K” Smith, “Hacienda Hank” Maninger and our new full-time royal rumbler Scott “Ese” Esbeck. Scott “Ese” joined us at the end of ’08 and we really are glad. “Big K” is always busy with so many great bands he plays in, Haybale, The Derailers, High Noon and Dwight Yoakam… Brother “Hacienda Hank” had to get off the road after five solid years all over the world with the H-Bros. Scotty is just about smack dab in the middle of them other two bass bros. He’s played and toured all over the world with all kinds of bands and styles, made many records, lived in Nashville and was the lowdown in sound of the Los Straight Jackets on their first three records. He’s also a real good singer and songwriter. We’ve already done a couple tours and also recorded with “Ese” really glad to have him aboard!

I must also thank all who pitched in for Gaff, by touring, planning and recording the Tribute CD, “Man of Somebody’s Dream.”  Mega mucho, songwriter/producer/singer, Dan Penn, A&R- Jeb and Kent Geib, drummer Steve Magalion, guitarist/songwriter/producer Dave Alvin, engineer/producer Stuart Sullivan, songwriter/singer Joe Ely, bassist Sarah Brown, Accordion Hoss Ponty Bone, singer/harmonica player Ted Roddy, singer/guitarist Rosie Flores, bassist Greg Gaffney, guitarist Danny Ott, drummer Dale Daniel, engineer/producer Walter Clevenger, songwriter/keyboard/producer Wyman Reese.  The Arizona guys for backing me up, Brian Fahey, Steve Grams, and Tim “Steelbone” Cook.  And our sponsors: Mike Eldred, Chris Fleming, Jim Bryant, Mark Weber, Chris Squire with Fender Musical Instruments and Tomas Von Engle with Ernie Ball Co.

Anyhow…to make a long story even longer, I’d also like to mention and thank our families, all of our friends around the world, the Gaffney’s (Gaff, you still are the Boss Hoss!), Jeb Schoonover and his new wife Dale. Jeb was the founder and manger of the Hacienda Brothers along with Gaff and I, and he’s now the manger of the Stone River Boys. I must also mention, “Uncle Rex” Medley and his wife Jolene who have put us up/picked us up, helped me work on the tour vans/cars, let us stay over so many times and rehearse there. Always dialed! Also Jolene’s awesome country cooking! And that reminds me…Mrs. Barfield, brother Mike’s “better half”, Yvonne! Now she can really cook too! And they’ve sure helped this brother out! The last year has been tough for so many of us, and I’ve been so grateful for all of the help and support! All the friends, musicians, clubs, agents, everyone! All of you that sent in donations to helfgaff.com and that made the shows. Thanks to them, thanks to all of you!!!