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Classic rock lovers will get an ear full on Saturday night.

Anybody hanging out at rock clubs in the 1970s and 1980s remembers SAVVY, Head East, Point Blank, US Lords, and other bands that made Cowtown such a hopping party town back then.

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Ricky Lynn Gregg
Ricky Lynn Gregg

Musicians from those early bands are reuniting at 8 p.m. Saturday at Blackhorse Saloon for a righteous reunion of raucous good rawk.

An all-star band fronted by singer, songwriter, guitarist Ricky Lynn Gregg (SAVVY, Head East) and featuring guitar wizard Rusty Burns (Point Blank) has been rehearsing this past week and is ready to blow some minds and eardrums.

Rusty Burns
Rusty Burns

“We’re going to have ourselves a thundering rock orchestra,” Gregg said during a break in rehearsals in Longview. “We’re going to play all the songs that molded us as players and meant something to the people.”

In addition to Gregg and Burns, the Fort Worth All-Star Rock Orchestra features Richard “RJ” Jones (Savvy), Donnie Pendleton (US Lords), Greg Schmidt (Head East), and Mark Stahl (Cherokee Thunder), as well as Gregg’s regular band members Karri Morgan and Les Thomas.

Originally, Gregg planned the concert as a SAVVY reunion, but two of the musicians backed out prior to rehearsals, Gregg said.

Rather than cancel the show, Gregg expanded the reunion and created a local version of a super group – and few guitarists in town can touch Burns when it comes to tasty but in-your-face rock ‘n’ roll axedom. He’s a lefty who plays a Strat strung upside down and makes his instrument talk, walk, and wail.

“Even though it wasn’t SAVVY it was shaping up to be a heck of lot of fun,” Gregg said.

Stahl and Burns both played in Gregg’s band Cherokee Thunder after he left SAVVY and their glam-rock persona in the 1980s and transformed himself into a country rocker in the 1990s.

“A lot of people love Rusty and Mark and haven’t seen them on stage with me since 1995,” Gregg said. “It was a no-brainer to reach out to these people. Nobody cared about making money, everybody just wanted to get together and have fun.”

Here’s one of Gregg’s honkytonk rock hits:


And here’s Burns playing with Point Blank last year. His guitar work begins at :47 seconds into the clip.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Donnie Pendleton Lead guitar and vocals.
    Currently performing with the Alan Fox Band
    out of Longview, Texas. Born in Fort Worth Texas.
    Donnie started playing guitar at
    an early age, he taught his Mother how to play
    bass so that he could have someone to jam with.
    Donnie brings to the band his great vocals and his
    power rock guitar. He has been a member of many
    headlining acts including, “The Cauze”, “Black Horse”,
    “Four Play”, “Rafferty Rules”, and “The U.S. Lords”.
    Donnie’s unique style adds to the sound of the Alan Fox
    Band to make TAFB one of the hottest twin guitar lead
    sounds out there today!
    The Alan Fox Band, originally formed in 2000 by
    frontman Alan Fox, has built up their reputation
    and their repertoire to become one of the most
    noteworthy blues/arena rock bands in East Texas.
    On the strength of a highly active tour schedule
    and their most recent album, 2008’s full length
    JuJu Ear Rub (available on Apple iTunes
    with over 3000 downloads and counting),
    TAFB have been steadily building their profile.
    The dual guitar onslaught provided
    by Alan Fox and Donnie Pendleton drives their
    distinctive Texas blues sound, while drummer
    Moe Eldridge and bassist Greg Cagle sit in the
    pocket, propelling the tunes along. The band’s
    reverence for their heroes – Thin Lizzy,
    the Allman Brothers, and Ted Nugent – is obvious
    from their skill at incorporating those classic
    sounds into their own unique sound.
    The Alan Fox Band are a dedicated, talented
    group of musicians playing out as often as they
    can, building their fan base one show at a time.
    Written by Jon Ozaksut of zZounds.com Feb. 17, 2010

    for more info about this hard hitting band featuring
    Donnie Pendleton, goto: http://www.AlanFoxBand.com

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