Bruce Evans, Lead Singer and Guitarist , Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

Bruce Evans The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

When I met Bruce he was performing with a band called "Bruce Evans and Gold Fever". They had a real good band and were very active at the clubs. One weekend their bass player Rick Whitley had to be out and Bruce ask me to come and fill in, in which I did. Things went real well that night and not long afterward he gave me a call and said he was organizing a new band called The Shotgun Band. We got together to practice and the rest was history. 

Some things that I learned from Bruce's past was that he attended North Surry High School and played in a well known local band in the 1960's from Mt Airy North Carolina called The Nomads. They had written some original tunes which were charted on Billboard Magazine. We later rerecorded on a  45 record at Star Recording in Millers Creek the song "Fields of Peppermint". The Nomads performed a lot of the places that our band The Caboose did but I believed we were at our peak 3-5 years after The Nomads. Bruce performed all of his life up until his very end. When I met Bruce he was working for Lowe's Hardware as a lawnmower mechanic. Bruce new a lot about engines. Later in his career he left Lowe's and began investing in rental real estate, sold insurance for the National Association for the Self Employed, and was also a Gideon. He also went back to college and finished getting his college degree where he lacked only a few courses. I visited his house one day and there was his daughter sitting on the fender of her car climbed down in the engine compartment putting on a water pump and Bruce was instructing her how. He taught his girls how to be mechanics and musicians. Bruce knew how to make money. He was very ambitious. He kept us booked solid throughout the whole tenure The Shotgun Band was together. Bruce had a fantastic voice and vocal range for lead singing whether it be rock or country music. He used the same old guitar that he had from the sixties which was a 1965 Fender Mustang all throughout the years we were together. Bruce was always good with a joke. If you told him one he had five he could tell back to you. Bruce could tell you a lot of stories from back in the day The Nomads. There is a lot to say about our fearless leader but we may end here and break it down in several post.

The Caboose Show and Dance Band, Tanglewood Steeple Chase

The Caboose Show and Dance Band, Tanglewood Steeple Chase 

Back in 1972 I was in a band called The Caboose Show and Dance Band. The band members were Kim Pardue lead vocals, Kathy Fleming lead vocals, Dick Steelman keyboard, myself on bass guitar, Robbie Hall on lead guitar, and Chris Shore on drums. We performed all over the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina and southern Virginia. We used a talent agency to book us called Crissman Talent Agency owned by Roy Crissman from East Bend NC. 
Left to Right: Dick Steelman, Chris Shore, Kim Pardue (front) Robbie Hall, Keith Hall (middle) Kathy Fleming (top) Roy Crissman standing.

                   Left to Right: Keith Hall, Chris Shore, Kathy Fleming, Dick Steelman, Robbie Hall

As a young teenager the Steeple Chase was a new venue for us. Mostly wealthy people were attending the event to watch the horses jump over the hedges. We have heard of tailgate parties today but in 1972 they had tailgate parties. All of the attendees were driving station wagon vehicles and would let down the back tailgate.I have never saw such a bar on each one of those. So many bottles of various liquors to mix any kind of drink you wanted. Today they would sip on wine. They also had food and folding chairs and it was such a partying event. You have to keep in mind that we were 16 and 17 years old from Yadkin County a dry county. We grew up in a rural conservative area where nothing like this went on. After a year we ventured out and realized that parties went in all of the time while the parents were gone in the cities and small towns. We performed a while the Motown songs of that era and also did a promo photo shoot at the old Caboose at Tanglewood Park. We didn't feel like we were anything special at the time and enjoyed performing and were paid by Roy and the people must have thought we deserved the pay that we received.

Davis Arcade, Mt Airy NC, 1971-72, Surry County

It was back in 1971-72 I played in a band called The Caboose Show and Dance Band. We were all from Yadkin County which is the next county over from Surry. What a thrill it was for a young teen to play at a place that was packed with young teens. Our manager Roy Crissman of Crissman Talent Agency met us in Mt Airy with all of our band equipment and we met in the ally behind The Davis Arcade. What a neat place! We loaded all of our band equipment on a big freight elevator which was on the outside of the building and we rode up to the top floor to the back stage area. It seemed like we were in the big time and in a big city, Mt Airy to perform. We set up our equipment and performed for a packed house. In the Caboose Show and Dance Band was Robbie Hall on guitar, Chris Shore on drums, Kim Pardue lead vocals, Kathy Fleming lead vocals, Keith Hall on bass guitar, and Dick Steelman on keyboards. We had a couple of other vocalist Bobbie Jane Moxley and Diane Graham but I am not sure if they were there that night. One event that stands out in my mind was that a fight broke out between two girls fighting over a guy. It seems there was a lot of fighting going on the farther north that we went. We performed at places like Fairview Ruritan outside of Galax Va and Hillsville VFW in Hillsville Va during that time period. Maybe you can remember going there. What a neat place for kids to go. It is a shame there is not anything like that today.