Brownwood resident Bill Price is one of the members of the band of 19 musicians, who started playing together in 1998.
“It’s like something you’ve never heard,” Price said. “It’s very, very melodious, very pleasing. It covers so many things – the Ray Price era, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Bush, it covers all these eras. Sometimes it’s just a small group, but on stage we’ll have 20 people. When we do small groups we’ll have the steel, the fiddle, the drums, the bass, and vocals and they’ll do things you’ll find in any Texas honky tonk or bar on a Saturday night. The next number might be Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ but with the steel and fiddle, and with a country flare to it.”
The Oct. 8 event will fuse Texas Swing with a Big Band sound, as Price further explained.
“It has a bit of a Vegas flare to it, a bit of a Saturday night in a Texas honky tonk flare to it, and you might feel like Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra is there with you, or Patty Page and Rosemary Clooney,” Price said. “It’s a very versatile sound.”
Along with Price, who plays trombone and steel guitar, the band consists of Tommy Hooker on vocals, Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member Steve Palousek on Pedal Steel, and fiddler extraordinaire Steve Story, all backed up by 15 additional pieces that present the striking sound of trumpets, trombones and saxophones, a driving rhythm section, and the haunting sound of the fiddle and steel guitar.
Hooker has a genuine and unmistakable voice that allowed him to ear the Academy of Western Artists western swing song of the year, “Texas In My Soul” from the album of the same name. In 2016, Hooker won the Pure Country album of the year award for “It Should Be Easier Now.” In 2013, Hooker performed at the esteemed International Country Music Festival in Calthness, Scotland. On Sunday evenings, Hooker performs at Stagecoach Ballroom in Fort Worth and also performs with his son Jake and he also appears on TruCounty TV show.
Palousek, who was a Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame inductee in 2013, has received numerous awards through his career including Steel Association Rising Star of the Year, and Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame Honorable Mention at age 25. Palousek is also an accomplished recording engineer and producer who was voted Best Studio Engineer and Best Instrumentalist by the Music Association of Central Texas, receiving the Groovy Award for each category.
Story is a multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist vocalist and fiddle player who has performed on the Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Awards, Red Steagall’s Somewhere West of Wall Street, RFD-TV, TNN’s Nashville Now, Music City Tonight, TNN’s New Country, and the National Finals Rodeo with Red Steagall. Story has also toured with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Ricky Van Shelton, Steve Wariner, and the late Leon Rausch, Ray Price and Tom. T Hall. He is also Director of Strings and Jazz Band at Fort Worth Christian Schools, and produces and performs with Steve Story Music.
Price, who worked with the Department of Public Safety and Border Patrol before retiring and moving to Brownwood, has performed with Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, Curtis Potter, Tommy Hooker, Leon Rausch, Bobby Flores, Jody Nix, Landon Dodd, Justin Trevino, Frank Mantooth, Johnny Gimble, Tommy Allsup, Bob Boatright, and Bobby Shew.
Price has also performed numerous times at the Cameron University Country Jazz Fusion shows in Lawton, Oklahoma, with the Wichita Jazz Orchestra and in musicals such as “Always Patsy Cline.”
“I’m a brass player, I play trombone, and I’m also a steel guitar player,” Price said. “I like the fiddle, but I can’t play it. When I heard the Emmons and the Swing Shift series, that sound just touches your soul, and here we are.”