Billy Spears Band page 8

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	We all got a little crazy from time to time...

Junior's Departure

In the Spring of 1978, we were in Lawrence, and our next road gig was in Dillon, Colorado. J.B., as I recall, had not come back to Lawrence with us, wanting to spend some time at home in New Mexico.

I had two 1956 Chevies and was in the midst of making one of them roadworthy by swapping engines. My first had a 265-cubic-inch V-8 with a bad automatic transmission, and my second had a 6-cylinder engine which was a-knockin' and a-smokin'. So, I took the V-8 out of the first and put it in the second. I didn't get done with the job until early in the morning of the day we were to play in Colorado.

The rest of the band took the schoolbus, and I drove my car. Miraculously, and with a few stops on the way to adjust the points, I made it to the gig on time.

But Junior didn't make it. That was how we found he had quit the band. We heard that he rejoined Dusty Drapes and the Dusters, an offer he couldn't refuse, I suppose.

Lisa Spears and Carol Spears, above.

Lisa, at the age of 15 or 16, was taken with the pedal steel guitar and started learning to play it. With two steel players in proximity, she picked up a lot very quickly and soon became a good player. When Junior left the band, Carol rejoined and brought Lisa, who sat in for a few tunes on each gig. It was becoming more of a family band, as Billy's nephew Clint Spears, from Oklahoma, also came along on trips. Clint was learning the drums and would play with Billy at times over the next few years.

Lisa died in March of 2021, at the age of 60, in Lawrence. Here is a video of Lisa playing steel guitar with Porter Waggoner's band in the early 1980s, on Ralph Emery's TV show.

Bud Gives his Notice

Shortly after Junior's departure, Bud indicated that he was ready to quit as well. I remember trying to change his mind, but what he said made a lot of sense. Our goal for three years had been to try "make it," not necessarily to the big time but to the point where we had some measure of professional security, i.e., having a commercially-viable recording and being able to command better pay and better venues.

It seemed fairly obvious that we weren't going to get there. We had no real business plan. Billy was a great musician, and in a setting of Nashville or Austin or Los Angeles he may have had a better shot. The band was good and tight and had learned a lot, but we were still barely living from week to week.

Buddy agreed to stay on through our last booked gig, which was the Telluride Music Festival in late June 1978. He had developed a close relationship with his girlfriend, Nancy Lambert, whom he met in Kalamazoo, and I think he was ready to settle down.

Once we all adjusted to the idea of disbanding, things were fine.

The Red River Festival
In June, we played the Red River Festival in Red River, New Mexico. A highlight of that gig was getting to jam in the band trailer with Jethro Burns. Mr. Burns is best as the Jethro of "Homer and Jethro," but he was an excellent and innovative mandolinist who was THE top session guy in Nashville for many years, recording with the likes of Chet Atkins and everybody else who needed a mandolin.

The Billy Spears Band, 1975-1978 - page 8