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.

Tony Mancusi Shotgun's Sound Man, The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) Tony Mancusi Shotgun's Sound Man

One of the main concerns in a band is how good it sounds with all of it's musicians, talent, songs and presentations, but what makes it sound good is not usually recognized which is a good sound man. A sound man can make you or break you.

Tony in my opinion was one of the best. He was always there for us. He stayed with us throughout our tenure as The Shotgun Band existed. Tony not only was a great sound man but was an excellent guitarist who taught guitar lessons at the Bible Book Store in North Wilkesboro NC. If something failed during a performance he new exactly what to do to fix it. He could get the mix perfect on a set of drums and kept channel sixteen open on the mixing board for effects on the different songs that we did with repeats and echo. I guess looking back in time he stayed with us because the money was there and was a good supplement to our incomes. We performed about 45 weekends out of the 52 weeks in a year.  

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Years later I got to work with Tony when I performed with Jimmy Johnson at the Ashe County Civic Center when we did a Tribute to Elvis. It was too my surprise to see Tony walk in and was doing the sound for Jimmy Johnson. 

Tony I believe came from New York and grew up in the Restaurant business where he worked along with teaching guitar. Here are some mentions of him from a local forum where someone was inquiring about a teacher for guitar lessons.

Definitely, call Tony Mancusi. He's very good with kids, patient, and a GREAT guitar player. He's your man. The phone book may say Anthony instead of Tony.

Tony Mancusi taught me to play guitar twenty years ago. Tony is very knowledgeable and most importantly, patient. A more laid back, down to earth guy would be hard to find.Tony has probably taught more guitar players in Wilkes than all the other instructors combined.

The Midnight Cowboy and The Round Up Night Clubs, The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

The Midnight Cowboy and The Round Up

Both clubs were in Wilkes County North Carolina. The Midnight Cowboy was in Roaring River NC on the Red White and Blue Road right where a big cement slab is now and a huge Propane Storage tank sits. The Round Up was several miles south of US 421 Highway down NC Hwy 115 on the top of a big hill. There was competition in the county so if a band performed at one club they weren't allowed to perform at the other. 

We started performing at The Midnight Cowboy first and had very large crowds for several years. The club was managed by The Mathis Brothers. We performed at The Midnight Cowboy until the crowds began to dwindle down and then we started performing at The Round Up. It was managed by the Curry Brothers. We always held the main spot of the first weekend of each month and we always had a very large crowd. The Round Up was a money maker for us. We got the wages we ask for, it was local, and the crowds were always large which means a lot to a Band. It is hard to perform to an empty room. This went on several years. The owner said he would pay us what we ask as long as we had the crowd. After a few years the crowds began to go down but he paid us a little less but by then we had went down to a three piece band and basically made the same amount of money. 

Here is a  couple of quotes by a few people on a local forum about Wilkes County Night Clubs.

"THE ROUNDUP , ESPECIALLY WHEN SHOTGUN BAND WAS THERE , USED TO HAVE PARK HALFWAY DOWN THE HILL AND IT WAS STANDING ROOM ONLY . THE ROUNDUP USED TO GET A BAD RAP , ALWAYS HAD A GREAT TIME AND NEVER HAD ANY TROUBLE "

Here is another quote:

I remember it and the midnight cowboy, ShotGun was the best back in the day too."

It makes you feel good to know someone enjoyed your music and what you were doing and is written about

                             Shotgun setting up at The Roundup

 25-30 years later.

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) The Middle Years

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

The Middle Years.

Midway during the life of the Shotgun Band we had a major change in members. We lost Keith Hamlin on drums and picked up Clayton Handy Jr from McGrady NC and lost Mike Beeson and we picked up  Mike Reeves on Keyboard from Wilkesboro NC. Bruce Evans and myself continued along with these two members. One thing about Junior he sang and played drums which Keith Hamlin didn't sing. It was an interesting mixture. We performed a lot of the same songs but lost a lot of the Alabama tunes which Mike Beeson did a great job on baritone vocals. 

With this band we entered the Marlboro Country Music Championships in Greensboro NC and won over a lot of bands and placed third in the competition. 

The next change of members was when Mike Reeves left us and we went down to a three piece band. This didn't stop Bruce we continued to perform. It was Clayton, myself and Bruce. I always wanted a fourth man but Bruce and Clayton wanted just three because the money was more. With three members  we were forced to perform a lot more rock tunes. It was harder on me without the fourth man where I had to overplay to fill in the holes. On the end of life of The Shotgun Band we lost Clayton and Keith Hamlin came back to play until we disbanded. 

The Shotgun Band never practiced except at the beginning the first two weeks of organization and if we learned any new material we would run over it before a show and polish it up each time we performed it. We did get together a few years later and performed at Jacks Drive In, in North Wilkesboro NC and used Charles Dockery from Dobson NC

on the drums.

Oddly enough Clayton Handy and Mike Reeves are Pastors of churches, Bruce was a Gideon before he passed away and I perform in a Gospel Group and teach Sunday School.

Tobacco Road, Ronda NC,The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

Tobacco Road Ronda NC.The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

There was a popular club in the 1980's who was owned by Lee Key who went to East Wilkes High School which was located in the middle of farm country on what is now Hoots Road north of Ronda NC. The radio ad would always say take Macedonia Church Road. Lee could book some of the best bands in the State of North Carolina and also many national acts. The radio ad would always say Centrally located between New York and Miami. 
Some bands that performed there were White Wing, Stratus, Night Watch, Sugar Creek, Nantucket and even Dr Hook and the Medicine Show. Lee also booked some locals such as Plastic Faces, Prima Donna, Desperados, Midnight Country, Dixie Dawn, Sundown and Rampage. 
Lee had outdoor concerts, Super Bowl Parties, men's speedo contest, wet t shirt contest, ladies swimsuit contest, and outdoor camping. For some it was a lot of fun, for others it was drugs and alcohol,  and for some they met the love of their life. It was a place you could go and hear good bands, good music and dance and have lots of fun. You received whatever you were seeking for. 
Some of the things that I can recall were that we performed there for a Halloween Dance in which everyone wore their costumes which ended up as a wild party. The wiring in that place wasn't heavy enough because when our amps and lights were plugged up the wiring heated up. There was not heavy enough gauge wiring to carry the amperage. We performed there because it paid good and you had a different clientele

 than the people at the country bars. Sometime after The Shotgun Band disbanded Tobacco Road continued on for a short while but eventually caught on fire and burned.

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) Places we Performed

The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County) Places we Performed:
Allen's Country, Kernersville and Greensboro NC
SRO Country, Winston Salem NC
Benton Convention Center, Winston Salem NC for NC Dump Truck Association
Grandfathers, Galax Va opened up for a well known country group called The Whites. Ricky Skagg's wife was in that group.
Sparta Jaycees Pig Pickin Event, on Una's River bottom Sparta NC
Sparta Jaycees Snowflake Dance,Trojan Village Skate Rink Sparta NC
Elkin Foothills Festival, Downtown Elkin NC 1985
Tobacco Road, Ronda NC
Sacketts, Radford Va opened for Ozark Mountain Daredevils 
Eli's, State Road NC before it was Eli's it was called Sportmans Lounge 
Midnight Cowboy, Roaring River NC
The Roundup, Wilkesboro NC
The Traffic Light, North Wilkesboro NC
Donovan's, North Wilkesboro NC
Dundee's, North Wilkesboro NC
Buckwheat's, North Wilkesboro NC
Broncos, Sparta NC
Pop's, Mt Airy NC
Country Music Palace, King NC 1985
Dundee's, North Wilkesboro NC

Antlers, Blowing Rock NC
The Red Door Lounge, Galax NC
Key Largo, Clemmons NC 1984
Willie's Tavern, Roaring River NC
Star lite Lounge, Main Street Independence Va
Grayson County High School, opened for
The Charlie Daniels Band 1989
Marlboro Country Music Championship, Greensboro NC 1986
Richard Petty's Home, at Level Cross NC
Statesville Moose Lodge, for New Years Eve Dance 
Dk's Westwood Lounge, Clemmons NC 1985
Riders Roost, Ferguson NC 1992
Charlotte Motor Speedway before the Race

This is a list of places that we performed at while the Shotgun Band was together. The places were listed just one time on the list but the Clubs and Lounges we performed at multiple times during our tenure.

Origin of the Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

Origin of The Shotgun Band (Wilkes County)

There will be several blog post on this topic because it was the longest running band that I performed in. 
We organized The Shotgun Band as a result from a split in the Whiskey River Band and the Gold Fever Band. The original members were Bruce Evans from the Gold Fever Band on guitar, Mike Beeson on multiple instruments from Bruce's old band The Nomads  which originated from Mt Airy NC from the 1960's. Mike played guitar, fiddle, keyboard , and pedal steel with Shotgun. There was myself on bass and Keith Murphy on drums both from the Whiskey River Band. I feel the reason Bruce ask me to play bass with him was when he was with Bruce Evans and Gold Fever his bass player Rick Whitley was sick or away one weekend so he ask me if I would fill in one weekend and that's where we began our friendship. Later Bruce left Gold Fever and started The Shotgun Band. 

A lot of times there were leaders in the Bands and they were called for instance Bruce Evans and Gold Fever or Max Phillips and Whiskey River and many others titled their bands in like manner. Looking back in time the band members always felt why put them out front and that the other members were just as important as its leader but from hindsight it was a good thing. You could change members without losing the bands identity, however we were just called The Shotgun Band. Another thing to note is that Max Phillips had also performed together with Bruce in the past. We changed members during the time The Shotgun Band was together but we continued with the same name. 
When we first organized and began practicing Bruce said we were already booked and that our first gig was in two weeks. I thought the time was too short because we didn't have enough songs but we somehow got through it and the good thing about Bruce was that he kept us booked continually for the next 16 years. I made a lot of money in The Shotgun Band in so much we had to file taxes every year and keep up with our expenses. We kept up with mileage, expenses, and depreciation of our equipment. 
We started performing at the small clubs and dances when we first began such as the North Wilkesboro Moose Lodge and Willies Tavern in Roaring River NC. One thing I remember was that there was a lot of drama between the couples at the Moose Lodge. We also performed in 1984 at Richard Petty the race car drivers home at Level Cross North Carolina when Jim Martin was running to be the Governor of North Carolina. Keith Murphy left the Band a little while after that and we picked up Keith Hamlin on drums whose uncle owned The Bible Book Store, a large music store in North Wilkesboro NC. Keith Hamlin worked there part time. With this current band we performed the next six years together. This will conclude this post.

             Left to Right: Keith Hall, Bruce Evans, Richard Petty, Mike Beeson and Keith Murphy

                         Left to Right: Keith Hall, Bruce Evans, Mike Beeson and Keith Murphy

Max Phillips and the Whiskey River Band

Max Phillips and the Whiskey River Band 

Around the year 1981 and 1982 some members of the Chisel Ridge Bluegrass Band felt as if places didn't want to pay Bluegrass Bands what they deserve. There was just a limited number of venues one could play. Everyone just wanted Bluegrass Bands to perform for free. Several of us joined up with Max Phillips and the Whiskey River Band. The members were Max Phillips on guitar, Keith White on guitar, myself on bass, David Sheek on drums, also Keith Murphy on drums, and Kip Snow on guitar. We also used a guy named Richard on sound and a guy named Ken on pedal steel which added a lot to the band. Max is a great Country guitarist and songwriter. We performed at a lot of different clubs and one in particular I remember was up Highway 90 north of Statesville called the Chateau Madrid. Another place we performed  at was called The Traffic Light in North Wilkesboro. It was owned by Wayne McNeil. It was kind of a fancy club with a dress code unlike the Chateau Madrid. We performed top 40 rock and country and also southern rock. After a long night of performing we frequented the Waffle House in Statesville to pacify our hungry appetites. At that time in the wee hours of the morning the only places that are open are the Waffle Houses and Coffee Houses and 24 hour restaurants like truck stops. 
                                 Left to Right: Keith Hall, Keith White, Max Phillips, David Sheek

                                    Our old Whiskey River Band T-shirts and Business Cards

Left to Right: Kip Snow, Keith White,Keith Murphy(back) Richard (front) Max Phillips, Keith Hall