![]() And I can't even begin to remember how many incredible shows Steam Heat opened at the Armadillo. They played on Tuesdays, we played Wednesdays. ![]() Paul Ray & the Cobras played more shuffles and stuff, with Stevie on guitar - he wasn't singing much then. "Steam Heat played Al Green, James Brown. ![]() Their repertoire mixed Little Feat and Gil Scott-Heron with the occasional original composition, musical sets meaty enough to land them a weekly gig at Soap Creek. Early members also included Johnson, guitarist Mike Barnes, and keyboardist Neil Pederson. Two charismatic frontmen traded vocals: the lean, bearded Bruce Spelman and the brawny, bespectacled Phil Ritcherson, who doubled as a horn player. Steam Heat was a one-of-a-kind band, a funky fusion of jazz, rock, and blues. Johnson loved Austin's music and clubs, but one thought nagged at him as he watched the endless stream of bands: "I'd go out to clubs and think, 'I'm as good as that guy!' So I brought down my drum kit." By 1974, the band he joined was headlining the same clubs he'd patronized only months before. If it rained, you might get your car stuck you'd have to leave early to get out since the last quarter mile was nothin' but dirt." ![]() "I remember going out to Soap Creek and seeing Clifton Chenier or the Meters and going, 'Oh my God! I can't believe how good this is!' That club was such a cool place. On the eve of the Chris Isaak band's first national tour since 1999, Johnson called from Irvine, Calif., to reminisce about his journey from Soap Creek to Showtime.Īustin's halcyon days as a scene were at hand when Johnson arrived. This, of course, left him little choice but to pick up his drumsticks and join in. Johnson found himself at UT in the midst of a thriving Seventies music scene in Austin. ![]() His experience with higher learning, however, was anything but typical. Although Chris Isaak sings "I'm the original American boy" during the opening of his Showtime series The Chris Isaak Show, it may well be the theme song of his band's drummer, Kenney Dale Johnson.īorn in the Panhandle town of Borger, Texas, in 1955, Johnson survived a typical, happy childhood, then went off to college. ![]()
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