The Sandspurs

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When Bob Staples lost his venues, Doubleshot was adrift. Mark, the front man, decided to try something new and Mike and Seebie were open to another gig. I knew Fred Chatham at jam sessions with Marvin and liked his range. I got us all together to join me in a venture I called “The Sandspurs” – mixing my originals in with some “Southern roots rock and blues.” Yep, it was purebred American mongrel music. That’s what I wanted.  See and hear for yourself in the videos and mp3s at the bottom of the page!  WAIT THERE'S MORE: This just in -- received mp3s from the Spurz farewell jam in July '06!  Jump to 'em here. 

• Tim Elliott  –  band leader, lead vocals, guitar, harp, manager, booking agent
• Mike Dye – drums, vocals
• Seebie Camp – bass, vocals
• Fred Chatham- guitar, vocals
• Brian Roberson – guitar, vocals
• Dan “Harpdog” Marson - harp

We played any dive, coffee shop or off-beat bar that wasn’t long for this earth. This included one winter weekend at a makeshift bar/single dwelling home over in S-Town (for those who know the podcast. I swear, I could place it as soon as I heard it) where I bumped into a guy in camo doin’ Special K and wanting to know if he could sit in if we did either some Hank Jr. or Eminem (he later passed out at the “bar”).  Our rehearsals and the long hours in the juke joints (and with different crowds) helped me become more comfortable as a front man, and it helped us blend, arrange and find our groove. We landed a last-minute high-profile gig at the Barking Kudu, a large club in the Lakeview area, playing after Anthony Gomes. That turned into a series of bookings there. I got a couple of nights recorded that we turned into a CD (that paid for itself at gigs and at CD Baby). 

All that got us a nice buzz, and although the CD got better reviews in Nashville than it did in the ‘ham, we landed more gigs. We played for a couple for a classic rock station in town, and we played their tent at the Talladega race one spring. Beset with the usual travails of a bar band (e.g., Seebie had to take a job drivin’ long-haul, Fred moved on), Alan Patillo stepped in to help us make our gigs and Bobby Colvert (yes, King Cov from the college band!) drove down from Nashvegas to sit in with us a few times. Brian Robertson joined us a regular member and when he left to start his own thang, Dan the Harpdog finally relented and joined us on harp (hear gigs with both of them at the links below). 

Mike and I often struggled to find that right blend of originals, the novel and innovative (e.g., we did Terry Allen’s “Gimme a Ride to Heaven, Boy” and “I Wanna Rock and Roll” by Ray Wylie Hubbard – see that Texas thing I did there?) and the “play-something-we-know” (“Gimme Three Steps,” etc.). Amy Rigby said we were the only band with the balls to play her hilarious song, “I Hate Every Bone in Your Body” (that’s one Toby Keith coulda picked up back in the day).  A favorite memory: We had a New Year's Eve Gig on 12/31/02 -- 50 years to the day Hank Williams died -- and after midnight we played and jammed on "Long White Cadillac." It was the first time we played it, and the Spur Boyz ripped into it. Meant a lot to me, y'all. 

Lawd, it was great fun and perhaps the apex of my musical career. I love those guys and I never played better. I hope the fun and the love come thru in the clips. Mike and Seebie made me sound like a decent guitarist – they were so tight as a rhythm section they ruined me to this day. Did I mention we lost a regular gig at the Oasis in Lakeview cuz the owner told me some kid named Taylor Hicks sold more beer than we did? Great memories of the Spurz, y’all. 

We could cook, so check out the mp3 downloads and the  videos below.