The Tale of the Cornell Hurd Band<\/p>\n
The beginnings of this band go back to 1968, when\u00a0Cornell Hurd<\/a>\u00a0(vocals, guitar) and\u00a0Frank Roeber<\/a>\u00a0(vocals, bass), refugees from high school\u00a0rock and surf bands<\/a>put together\u00a0The Milpitas Submarine Band, a \u201chillbilly\u201d band formed to entertain students at Homestead High School in the town of Cupertino, California. Cornell and Frank were joined by\u00a0Russell E. Bowen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0John Shudlick, vocalists who played guitar and percussion, respectively, though (like the whole band) not respectfully.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was the Jugband that changed my life. I can still hear the applause\u201d. – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n This act only performed in public once, and its limited repertoire contained (as we recall) only a handful of songs:\u00a0Blues in The Bottle,\u00a0What Goes On,\u00a0Walk On By,\u00a0I Couldn\u2019t Spell Yuuck\u00a0and\u00a0Lodi\u00a0.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Ragg Brothers<\/a><\/p>\n As the young men went off to college, TMSB dissolved, reappearing a year and a half later as\u00a0The Ragg Brothers.\u00a0This acoustic swing band was formed to entertain students, this time college students, at the various institutions (UC Santa Barbara, De Anza College, San Francisco State) that the young men attended. Cornell and Frank were now joined by Cornell\u2019s brother,\u00a0Drew Hurd\u00a0(harmonica),\u00a0Joel Crawford<\/a>\u00a0(lead vocals) and\u00a0Kim Muscatel\u00a0(lead guitar). They played primarily coffee house gigs and made a couple of \u201clive\u201d recordings. To date, only one of these has been located.<\/p>\n By this time, the band had begun writing original material, and several of the songs from this period survived long enough to be recorded by the Cornell Hurd Band. They played covers of\u00a0\u00a0Spade Cooley\u2019s\u00a0Crazy \u2018Cause I Love You, Hank Thompson\u2019s\u00a0A Six Pak To Go, Lalo Guererro\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0(Do You Believe In) Reincarnation?\u00a0and Billy Ward\u2019s\u00a0Sixty Minute Man,\u00a0among others.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The El Rancho Cowboys<\/a><\/p>\n In 1971 Cornell and Frank relocated to Berkeley, California and formed\u00a0The El Rancho Cowboys,\u00a0a fully electric Country and Western band. They were named after El Rancho beer, which sold for $0.79 a six pack.<\/p>\n At this time Berkeley was home to\u00a0Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, an absolutely fearless collection of musicians who labored under the Country Music banner, but basically played American roots music of the highest caliber. The LPA were at the time, and remain to this day, the most easily identifiable influence on The Cornell Hurd Band. During the El Ranchos\u2019 stay in Berkeley, they also encountered\u00a0Asleep At The Wheel, recently relocated from Paw Paw, West Virginia to neighboring Oakland, California. Although they didn\u2019t know it at the time, the path the CHB would take from the mid-eighties until now was laid out in the wildly creative scene that took place in Berkeley in the early seventies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The El Rancho Cowboys. (l to r) Frank Roeber, Gary Dulleck, Kim Winn, Lyle Pratt, Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n The El Rancho Cowboys lasted approximately a year and a half and included Cornell, Frank,\u00a0Kim Winn\u00a0(drums and vocals),\u00a0Lyle Pratt\u00a0(lead guitar) and\u00a0Gary Dulleck\u00a0(piano) as its core members. Along the way, they were joined at times by\u00a0Greg Canote\u00a0(fiddle),\u00a0Gus Garelick\u00a0(fiddle),\u00a0Barry Goold\u00a0(steel guitar),Lynn Smith\u00a0(vocals, guitar) and the legendary\u00a0West Virginia Creeper\u00a0(steel).\u00a0Joel Crawford\u00a0would also join the band on occasion, in a cutting-edge performance as lounge singer Jerry Campbell.<\/p>\n The El Rancho Cowboys performed in honky-tonks, back yards, military bases, beer joints, political rallies, talent shows, hootenannies and nightclubs. For a brief period, they were the Sunday\/Monday house band at Lyle Shannon\u2019s Country Palace in Santa Clara, California.\u00a0\u00a0They opened shows for Asleep At The Wheel and Commander Cody. The repertoire was straight-up country from their favorite artists \u2013 Ernest Tubb, Bob Wills, Ray Price, Johnny Paycheck, Hank Thompson, Roger Miller and\u00a0Johnny Bush<\/a>. Many, if not most, of those songs are still performed by the current\u00a0CHB.<\/p>\n In the fall of 1972 Cornell, Frank, Lyle and Gary jumped in Frank\u2019s Volkswagen and drove to Nashville to attend the annual Country Music Disc Jockey\u2019s Convention.<\/p>\n The band folded in early 1973. Cornell got a job working in an electronics factory.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Original Mondo Hotpants Orchestra<\/a><\/p>\n After briefly living in Amarillo, Texas, Cornell returned to the Bay Area with a vision. He had seen real Texas dance hall bands.\u00a0\u00a0He also had developed an interest in \u201820s music and wanted to create a 3-set club band complete with costume changes centered around those two types of music.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve forgotten what the third band was, probably a \u201850s act, or a jump band, but that \u201820s act became\u00a0The Original Mondo Hotpants Orchestra\u201d – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n The OMHO once again had Frank Roeber on bass with Joel Crawford rejoining on vocals. From various sources, Cornell assembled\u00a0Mitch Montrose\u00a0(drums),\u00a0Don Bangle\u00a0(trumpet),\u00a0Jim Pollock\u00a0(sax) and\u00a0John Madden\u00a0(piano).<\/p>\n While this band had a very brief history, it was the first of Cornell and Frank\u2019s bands to make a commercial recording. In the spring of 1975 the OMHO went into Dave Porter\u2019s first Music Annex Studio (a converted garage) and had Dave produce their first EP for $125. The four original songs were\u00a0\u00a0Here Come The Clones,I\u2019ve Had It Up To Here With The Blues,\u00a0On The Brink\u00a0and\u00a0Flying Away With The Breeze.\u00a0\u00a0500 copies were pressed, and a handful exist today. The tracks exist in CD format on\u00a0Cornell Hurd and His Mondo Hotpants Orchestra<\/a>. Shortly after the record was manufactured, band manager Kevin McCaffrey dropped off a copy at San Francisco\u2019s KSFO.\u00a0Jim Lang\u00a0(of The Dating Game) was a popular afternoon DJ there, and one magic afternoon, he gave the band its first airplay when he spunFlying Away With The Breeze.<\/p>\n The OMHO performed live a handful of times. Once in a Santa Cruz club. Twice at SF State. Once in a live radio broadcast from KKUP, in Cupertino, CA. Recordings exist of the live radio show.<\/p>\n The band\u2019s song list included originals by Cornell and Joel plus renditions of the Hank Thompson\/Mills Brothers standard\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll Be Around,\u00a0\u00a0Ray Price\u2019s\u00a0Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women\u00a0and Nancy Sinatra\u2019s\u00a0You Only Live Twice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cornell Hurd and his Mondo Hotpants Orchestra<\/a><\/p>\n By the fall of that year, another plot was afoot. That would be Cornell\u2019s attempt at cashing in on America\u2019s upcoming Bicentennial craze. Rehearsing a larger version of this band, Cornell and Frank went into San Francisco\u2019s Different Fur Studio with\u00a0\u00a0producer Vince Sanchez and came out with\u00a0\u00a0Village of The Durned and Other Shorts<\/a>, released under the name\u00a0Cornell Hurd and his Mondo Hotpants Orchestra.\u00a0This EP contained their \u201csingle\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The Bicentennial Boogie,\u00a0plusPsychotic Love, The Thrill of It All\u00a0and the title cut,\u00a0(I\u2019m Living In )The Village of The Durned.<\/p>\n Tom Mix, a drive-time DJ at San Jose\u2019s rock powerhouse KSJO, pushed\u00a0The Bicentennial Boogie\u00a0into the station\u2019s rotation, and the nationally syndicated\u00a0Dr. Demento\u00a0featured it repeatedly, breaking it into his top ten. This was the spring of\u00a0\u00a01976. Flushed with success, Cornell quit his day job.<\/p>\n The recording personnel in this phase of\u00a0\u00a0the MHO were former Hotpants band mates Roeber, Montrose, Bangle and Crawford, plus ex-El Rancho Cowboys Pratt, Dulleck and Winn. The sax section of\u00a0Larry Stokes\u00a0(baritone) and\u00a0Jack Sanford\u00a0(tenor) rounded out the session. The performing version featured all the above, minus Don Bangle, with\u00a0Les Margolin\u00a0replacing Mitch Montrose on drums.<\/p>\n Their show consisted of original material, almost exclusively. One notable exception was an amazing \u201chillbilly\u201d arrangement of the Barbara Streisand hit\/movie theme re-named\u00a0The Way We Was.\u00a0\u00a0Their gigs were primarily club dates, with the occasional college show and \u201crock concert\u201d thrown in.<\/p>\n They went back to the studio and recorded\u00a0Texas Behemoth\/Platinum Blondes,\u00a0their first 45-rpm record.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n front row (l to r) Cornell, Frank, Dave Clemes, Pat Hennessy, Drew Hurd\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 back row (l to r) Paul Skelton, Ricky “Tex” Yamashiro<\/p>\n Despite the success this unit enjoyed, it was the shortest-lived of all Cornell\u2019s bands. By the late summer of ’76, Cornell found himself putting together a new version of\u00a0\u00a0the Mondo Hotpants Orchestra. The new version was centered around Cornell, Frank and Joel Crawford. Cornell\u2019s brother Drew signed up to play guitar and harmonica.\u00a0Patrick Hennessy, a powerhouse 19 year-old drummer from South San Jose was hired. To flesh out the band, Cornell hired the nucleus of a local rock act,\u00a0Divine Wind.\u00a0Ricky \u201cTex\u201d Yamashiro\u00a0(alto sax),\u00a0Bryan \u201cThe Mighty Squid\u201d Yoshida\u00a0(keyboards), and yes,\u00a0Paul Skelton\u00a0(guitar) joined the band in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n They rehearsed, they recorded, they went on the road. Pianist\u00a0Dave Clemes\u00a0joined them mid-journey on their first road trip: a seven-week swing through the Midwest and Texas in March and April of 1976.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stunk at times. Crawford left the band with a recurring illness. I was forced to be a real front man for the first time in my \u2018career\u2019. But fear of failure in front of a strange crowd can do wonderful things. By the time we came off that first road trip, we were worlds better. We\u2019d gained real fans, been given great reviews and gotten rid of the things that didn\u2019t work. And we\u2019d been to Texas.\u201d – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n Their association with Asleep at The Wheel had led them to The Armadillo World Headquarters on the corner of Barton Springs and South First Street, in South Austin, Texas. Today Cornell and Paul play every Thursday at\u00a0Jovita\u2019s<\/a>, a few blocks away down that same South First Street.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew shortly after I \u2018got off the bus\u2019 that I would live here some day\u201d. – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This became\u00a0The Cornell Hurd Band\u00a0in the summer of 1977.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Late Seventies and Early Eighties<\/a><\/p>\n The Mondo Hotpants Orchestra that stumbled into \u201cThe Armadillo\u201d to open for the Bellamy Brothers in April of 1977 would basically last until early 1982. \u201cMondo Hotpants\u201d became a liability (no one would take them seriously) and was dropped. Ricky \u201cTex\u201d Yamashiro would leave eventually. During starvation times, it was decided to keep only one keyboardist, and Brian Yoshida left. The lead guitarist\u2019s job, which was to be a largely ongoing problem, was filled in succession by Skelton,George Mueller,\u00a0Bill Hayes, Skelton again,\u00a0Andy Mitchell,\u00a0Gene Maciel,\u00a0Neil Farris\u00a0(who held down the job the longest consecutively),\u00a0Chris Cahill,Kevin \u201cPooter\u201d Price, and yes, Skelton once again.\u00a0\u00a0During several stretches, the band employed twin lead guitarists. Cornell, Frank, Drew, Patrick and Dave remained in the band until it disbanded (no pun intended…ah yes it was) in 1982.<\/p>\n During that time, they toured extensively through the Midwest and South, and the Pacific Coast up into Canada. They spent two weeks in Alaska that they\u2019d like to forget. They liked Des Moines, Iowa and Austin, Texas best.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frank Roeber, KSJO’s Tom Mix, Cornell, KSJO’s\u00a0Tawn Mastrey<\/a>, Pat Hennessy, Dave Clemes<\/p>\n They recorded another 45rpm record\u00a0Under My Thumb\/Is there A Lover In The House?\u00a0\u00a0in 1977.\u00a0\u00a0This was followed by a third EP record\u00a0Another\u00a0Rock and Roll Stageplank\u00a0\u00a0in 1978. The latter recording featured two live tracks recorded in Austin, at The Armadillo World Headquarters in April of 1978. Both recordings were produced by Vince Sanchez who was associated with the band until late 1978.<\/p>\n Somewhere in there they met and recorded with\u00a0Howard Kalish<\/a>, who has played on almost all the\u00a0CHB CDs<\/a>\u00a0in the last 10 years.<\/p>\n This version of the band played every kind of gig there is. They did have two notable \u201cresidencies\u201d which linger even after all these years. They played regularly at The Palms Caf\u00e9 in San Francisco, a series of gigs that lead to sterling reviews in both the San Francisco Chronicle and The San Francisco Examiner. Then, after a disastrous road trip in the winter of \u201978, they began an association with The Smokey Mountain Saloon in Campbell, California. This relationship lasted throughout the life of this version of the Cornell Hurd Band. Four two years they played every Wednesday night there, contributing mightily to the lack of Thursday productivity in Silicon Valley electronics plants.<\/p>\n They also performed on a number of \u201cFat Fry\u201d programs, live radio broadcasts sponsored by seminal Americana station KFAT, from Gilroy, California. Their show at The Alpen Glow, in Hayward, was part of a series of live broadcasts put on by San Francisco\u2019s KSAN. It is unknown whether recordings of these broadcasts still exist.<\/p>\n They opened for Carl Perkins, Eddie Money,\u00a0Chuck Berry\u00a0(whom they also backed up), Robert Gordon, Ray Campi, The Bellamy Brothers, Elvin Bishop, Rocky Burnette, The Alpha Band, Asleep at the Wheel, Peter Noone and others.\u00a0Stevie Ray Vaughan\u00a0and Robert Cray opened for the Cornell Hurd Band.<\/p>\n In 1979, with a new\u00a0manager<\/a>, John \u201cThe Mayor\u201d Bellizzi, the band continued touring, and improved upon the level of the bookings. The also began work on\u00a0Doing That Unholy Roll<\/a>, their first LP, a record which went on to win the Bay Area Music Award (the Bammies) for the best independent record of\u00a0\u00a01980.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hurd with emcee Darrell Enriquez at the Bay Area Music Awards, March 1981.<\/p>\n Doing That Unholy Roll\u00a0led off with the band\u2019s rendition of\u00a0\u00a0Justine,\u00a0a Don & Dewey song from the \u201850s which (along with\u00a0The Texas Behemoth) had become a show stopper on their live dates. It also included\u00a0Saturday Night in San Jose, a heroic salute to Cornell\u2019s home town.\u00a0Psychotic Love\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0A Six Pack To Go, dating back to the Ragg Brothers\u2019 days were given the definitive treatment by Cornell\u2019s brother Drew, who had developed into an amazing stage personality with a following of his own. But perhaps the signature song on the LP was\u00a0Heavy Breathin\u2019\u00a0an ode to phone sex before it was called that. As proud as he is of this record, Cornell believes that it did not capture the band\u2019s \u201cfeel\u201d at it\u2019s peak.\u00a0Saturday Night in San Jose, a CD extended version of\u00a0\u00a0DTUR,\u00a0was released in 2002.<\/p>\n The live show centered around the original songs but also included renditions of Spencer Davis\u2019\u00a0Keep on Runnin\u2019,\u00a0\u00a0Roy Orbison\u2019s\u00a0\u00a0Pretty Woman,\u00a0\u00a0Ray Sharpe\u2019sLinda Lu, Rock Bottom\u00a0from Gene Thomas, Carl Perkins\u2019\u00a0Boppin\u2019 The Blues,\u00a0Rick Nelson\u2019s\u00a0Stood Up,\u00a0Johnny Burnette\u2019s\u00a0If You Want It Enough,\u00a0\u00a0Jerry Lee Lewis\u2019The End of The Road, There Ain\u2019t Nobody Here But Us Chickens\u00a0(Louis Jordan),\u00a0I\u2019m Walkin\u00a0(Fats Domino) and\u00a0Theme From \u201cThe Flintstones\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Drew sang most of those. Other big cover numbers included Billy Lee Riley\u2019s\u00a0Flying Saucers Rock and Roll,\u00a0Gene Summers\u2019\u00a0School of Rock and Roll I\u00a0and\u00a0Sunglasses After Dark(Dwight Pullen).\u00a0A Buddy Holly Medley was in the show, as were two Johnny Rivers tunes,\u00a0Secret Agent Man\u00a0and\u00a0Mountain of Love.\u00a0\u00a0Dead Armadillo\u00a0and\u00a0Under My Thumb\u00a0from the Lost Gonzo Band and Rolling Stones were show staples. At one point the band could suck up practically half a set with something called\u00a0The Boogie Apocalypse, a number which featured verses or quotes from the following:\u00a0Move It On Over\u00a0(Hank Williams),\u00a0Smokey Mountain Boogie\u00a0(Tennessee Ernie Ford),\u00a0A Walk In The Black Forest\u00a0(Horst Jankowski),\u00a0Paper Doll\u00a0(Mills Brothers),\u00a0Whole Lotta Shakin\u2019\u00a0\u00a0(Jerry Lee, again), and\u00a0Nyquil Blues\u00a0(from Alvin Crow, written by future CHB member\u00a0Herb\u00a0Steiner). Drew sang\u00a0\u00a0Sugar Shack.\u00a0\u00a0Neil sang\u00a0Stagger Lee.\u00a0At Christmas time, they tore it up with a punk-rock\u00a0White Xmas.It was a fun band.<\/p>\n By the time it was over, Cornell and Frank had each married women with small children. Drew and Pat had married their long-time girlfriends. Everyone had slowed down. With Paul Skelton back onstage, this phase of the story came to a close in early 1982 with a show in Niles, California.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Mid-Eighties<\/a><\/p>\n After a one year hiatus, Cornell reformed the band. Frank had moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Paul Skelton had moved to New York City. With\u00a0Randy Widen\u00a0on bass (he had also engineered\u00a0Doing That Unholy Roll,\u00a0and is responsible for a large part of the existing El Rancho Cowboys recordings), he rebuilt and ran a part-time version of his act for almost two years. Drew rejoined. Pat Hennessy referred his friend\u00a0Gary Rudolph\u00a0to play drums.\u00a0\u00a0Sid Morris, an expert blues piano player, signed up and gave the band an incredible boost.\u00a0\u00a0On guitar, Cornell and Randy recruited\u00a0Joey \u201cWheels\u201d Oullette, a longtime associate. Neil Farris came back to play again, and on at least one gig, there were three lead players as Paul Skelton sat in.<\/p>\n It was a rootsy show, much more than anything since the El Rancho Cowboys. Along with\u00a0Texas Behemoth, Justine, Heavy Breathin\u2019, Saturday Night In San Jose, the show featured a load of new material.\u00a0\u00a0Sid sang\u00a0Dead Presidents\u00a0(Little Walter) and\u00a0The Mess Around\u00a0(Ray Charles). Drew did\u00a0Lonely Teardrops\u00a0(Jackie Wilson) and\u00a0The Cheater\u00a0(Bob Kuban). Cornell sang\u00a0\u00a0Let It Rock\u00a0(Chuck Berry),\u00a0Nervous Breakdown\u00a0(Eddie Cochran) and\u00a0Sometimes\u00a0by Gene Thomas. Sid killed \u2018em with\u00a0Last Date.<\/p>\n Cornell\u2019s personal problems including a dismal marriage contributed to the band\u2019s demise, as well as to many songs he would write in the future. The last gig was on New Year\u2019s Eve 1985.<\/p>\n Joey \u201cWheels\u201d Oullette succumbed to the disease that had crippled him, and passed away\u00a0less than a year later.<\/p>\n This band did go back into the studio, and cut a half-dozen tracks in San Jose.\u00a0Love Like A \u201955 Ford, Seven Nights To Rock, Spandex Pants, I Can\u2019t Help Being Cooland\u00a0Texas Blues\u00a0were recorded at this time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Florida<\/p>\n Cornell\u2019s rapidly (almost epically) deteriorating personal situation resulted in a job offer and relocation to St. Petersburg, Florida on December 14, 1986. Two days later, he met a young woman named\u00a0\u00a0Debra Davidson<\/a>, a graphic artist and pianist. And there you have it. Just like a Judy Garland\/Mickey Rooney movie. Cornell now had a piano player, and bassist Frank Roeber was a mere 250 miles away in Jacksonville. “Let\u2019s start a band. If we can\u2019t do that, let\u2019s at least make a record.”<\/p>\n \u201cI called Paul Skelton. He lowered his voice and whispered \u2018Cornell Hurd is BACK in your life\u2019. We cracked up, it was all too weird.\u201d – Frank Roeber<\/p>\n Cut to July, 1987. Paul has introduced Cornell to legendary producer Lou Whitney, from Springfield, Missouri. Cornell has driven to Missouri with Debra, Frank and Frank\u2019s wife Ann. Paul Skelton has flown in from New York. Gary Rudolph and Randy Widen get off the plane from California. They\u2019re back in business.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (l to r) Roeber, Skelton, Cornell, Deb, Widen, Rudolph<\/p>\n The result is Cornell\u2019s comeback record\u00a0Fever in The South<\/a>.\u00a0As the whole world turned to CDs, Cornell pressed up 1000 vinyl copies (it is available in CD format now). Without a working act, effectively out of the business for years, the prospects were ludicrous. But it put them all back together in show biz.<\/p>\n Another album was recorded in Springfield in 1988-89.\u00a0\u00a0It is as yet unreleased. The band was too busy moving to Texas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Road to Austin<\/p>\n \u201cIt kind of\u00a0\u00a0came to me while driving one day. Texas was truly the place I\u2019d always wanted to go, and at my age, if I was going to give it one more shot, I wanted to play exactly the kind of music I loved most.\u00a0\u00a0All my country music heroes were from Texas. Bob Wills, Ernst Tubb, Ray Price, Johnny Bush, Willie Nelson. It was where Asleep at the Wheel still lived and worked. People liked traditional music there\u2026But what really clinched it was Debbie\u2019s attitude. She wanted to come to Texas.\u00a0\u00a0I came home from work one day and she was ready to get a Ryder truck. She pushed to do it. It might not have happened here without her. \u201d – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n Cornell and Debra were married in September of 1988. A little over a year later they moved to Austin, Texas.\u00a0\u00a0Frank and Ann Roeber joined them that November. Paul and his wife, Anne, moved to Austin six months later. Randy Widen lived there briefly, but during his short stay introduced Cornell to the Texicalli Grille and its owner\u00a0Danny Roy Young.<\/p>\n By November of 1990, they had a working band again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Texas, our home<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Doug Sahm\u00a0sits in. (l to r) Young, Sahm, Skelton, Hurd<\/p>\n \u201cSince moving to Austin, we\u2019ve released seven CDs. The band is now ten pieces, sometimes eleven.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ve had in excess of 140 different tracks released on both our label and other independent label anthologies.\u201d – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n Ralph Power\u00a0was the first Texas drummer. Then it was\u00a0Terry Kirkendall, then Ralph again, then\u00a0Karen \u201cThe Venus of The Traps\u201d Biller. Bobby \u201cScrap Iron\u201d Snell\u00a0joined on as steel guitarist in 1994. He appeared on both\u00a0Cool and Unusual Punishment\u00a0\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0Texas Fruit Shack<\/a>\u00a0(1997). After Frank Roeber moved from Austin,\u00a0Mark Pollard\u00a0(late \u201997 to summer\u201999) and\u00a0Marty Mitchell\u00a0(4months, end of \u201999) were our full-time bassists. Mark is the primary bassist on\u00a0At Large\u00a0(1999). Marty appears on\u00a0A Stagecoach Named Desire<\/a>.<\/p>\n On albums and on stage the nature of the band (enormous and talented) has allowed for many fine musicians to sit in over the years. These include Johnny Bush,Marti Brom<\/a>, Lucky Oceans, Wayne “The Train” Hancock, The Texana Dames, Conni Hancock, Chris O’Connell, Tommy Morrell, Floyd Domino, Mitzi Henry,\u00a0Bill Kirchen<\/a>, and the late Doug Sahm.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Cornell Hurd Band<\/a><\/p>\n …how it was in 2003<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (l to r) Skelton, Trevino, Power, White, Young, Gordon, Nicolas (top), Hurd, Steiner, Kirkendall<\/p>\n guitar<\/a><\/p>\n Paul Skelton<\/a>\u00a0has been here every step of the way. A phenomenally supportive and unselfish musician and man. My all-time favorite guitarist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n drums<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n rubboard<\/p>\n Danny Roy Young<\/a>\u00a0started sitting in with us in 1993. We think. He appeared as a guest star on our second Texas CD,\u00a0Live! at The Broken Spoke<\/a>.\u00a0Danny owns The Texicalli Grille, and is a former rock and roll drummer from Kingsville, Texas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n piano<\/a>\/vocals<\/p>\n \u201cDebra Hurd<\/a>\u00a0appears on all our records. She has also recorded with Justin Trevino, Johnny Bush, Dickie Overbey and Herb Steiner. She is the mother of our two children, Vance and Casey, and without her exactly none of this would have happened.\u201d – Cornell Hurd<\/p>\n Cody Nicolas<\/a>\u00a0began his years with us as a substitute piano player while Deb and I\u00a0\u00a0were having our two children. He became a full-time member in\u00a01995. He first appears on\u00a0Cool and Unusual Punishment<\/a>, released in 1995. \u201cThe Sheriff\u201d grew up in Texas and has a degree from Texas A&M.\u00a0\u00a0Cody played with the CHB for 10 years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n rhythm<\/a>\u00a0guitar\/vocals<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blackie White<\/a>\u00a0also started out by sitting in. He\u2019s been a full-time member since 1997. Blackie made his recording debut with us as a rhythm guitarist onTexas Fruit Shack.\u00a0Blackie is also known to the real world as artist Guy Juke.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n steel guitar<\/a><\/p>\n Herb Steiner first appeared on\u00a0Texas Fruit Shack.\u00a0\u00a0Herb also plays steel guitar with Johnny Bush. He\u2019s originally from Hollywood, California.\u00a0\u00a0Herb has not played with us since 2003.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n fiddle<\/a><\/p>\n Vanessa Gordon<\/a>,\u00a0like several of the others, began her years with us by simply sitting in with the band.\u00a0 She first appears on\u00a0Texas Fruit Shack.\u00a0Vanessa hails from Capetown, South Africa.\u00a0Miss Vanessa still works with the band when she has time away from teaching and being a mom.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n bass<\/a>\/vocals<\/p>\n Justin Trevino<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0has been our bassist since late 1999, although he\u2019d played gigs with us as a substitute and sat in many times before he got the job. He, too first shows up on\u00a0Texas Fruit Shack,\u00a0singing harmony with guest star Johnny Bush. He has gone on to also be our engineer and at times, producer. He has his own career as a solo artist, and sings on our records, too. An amazing man. He and his wife Sissy live in Martindale, Texas with Fluffy, their cat.\u00a0Justin’s solo career has taken off! He guest stars with us on occasion, and still appears on our records, as a musician and songwriter.<\/p>\n Frank Roeber has appeared on bass on ALMOST ALL of our records and will continue to if humanly possible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n baritone sax\/horns<\/a><\/p>\n