Jay Boy Adams
Encyclopedia
James Wallace Adams, known as Jay Boy Adams (born c. 1949), is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Lubbock
and San Antonio
, Texas
, known particularly for his talent for storytelling in his songs.
but reared in Colorado City
, the seat of Mitchell County south of Snyder
in West Texas
, where his father was the local Chevrolet
dealer. Upon graduation in 1967 from Colorado City High School
, he entered the University of North Texas
at Denton
, then North Texas University, which is known for its arts and music curricula. There he met Don Henley
, later with the singing group The Eagles. Adams went to Dallas
, to hear the guitarist Bugs Henderson, who played an impact on Adams's musical development.
With hopes of a musical career of his own, Adams left UNT after two years to join the band "Hayseed", then performing in Houston
. From 1969 to 1970, he played at clubs in Midland
. He had also attended Howard College
, a community college
in Big Spring
, Texas, with the goal of improving his grade-point average so that he could re-enter a university. Meanwhile, he lost his draft deferment during the Vietnam War
.
In March 1972, a friend secured Adams a spot with the ZZ Top
band in Lubbock. That summer he gained entry to Texas Tech University
in Lubbock to study music and English. The ZZ Top club manager, Bill Ham
, soon invited Adams to play for the band at the Municipal Auditorium in Dallas. By 1976, Adams had signed with Atlantic Records
, which in 1977 released his first music. By 1980, the contract was nonrenewed. Adams is known for his ability for storytelling in song, a mixture of blues, rock and roll
, country
, and folk music. In those years, Adams often spent more than half of the year in concert tours. He performed not only with ZZ Top, but the Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band
, Joe Cocker
, and Bonnie Raitt
. In the Cocker band for a time was a saxophone player, Bobby Keys
, originally from Slaton
in Lubbock County, who began touring with many bands as a young teenager. Keys and Adams had not previously met but toured together for a time with Cocker.
, George Strait
, and Bruce Springsteen
and even the Dallas Cowboys
. He did for a time make a few annual musical appearances in Lubbock, and in 1986 played at the Cattle Baron’s Ball there with Reba McEntire
. He moved his family to a ranch in the Texas Hill Country
and his business to the town of Comfort
in Kendall County
, part of the San Antonio
Metropolitan Statistical Area. One evening Adams and his wife, Mary F. Adams, attended a show in San Antonio to hear the musician Lee Roy Parnell
, who invited Adams to join him on stage. Thereafter, Adams's desire to perform in public was renewed and became irresistible.
In 1999, Adams joined George Strait's national tour. He toured Europe with the Tejano
group, the Texas Tornados
. He became the co-manager of the popular singer Pat Green
, whom Adams met when Green came looking for touring accommodations. By 2007, Adams released the album "The Shoe Box", which reached No. 5 on the Americana chart. The album offers ten new Adams selections and three from the late 1970s. "The Shoe Box" produced three top 10 single songs the Texas Music Chart, where it was posted for some two years. Singer Stephen Stills
, an avid listener of "The Shoe Box," declared Adams "a great musician and a storyteller in the true Texas tradition" and invited him to join Stills' national tour.
In 2005, Adams was featured on Bob Phillips
's Texas Country Reporter
syndicated
television anthology
series, with an explanation for his return to professional music.
In May of 2008, he was let go from his long time weekly residency concert at The Waring General Store.
On March 12, 2011, Adams performed in concert at the landmark Texas Theater in Sweetwater
in Nolan County, near his hometown of Colorado City. It was the first concert in some seventy years at that facility, which had originally been designed for musical programs but converted to films after its opening.
Adams is an artist through Wounded Bird Records
. He has also recently joined forces other musical veterans in the rock group, Brothers of the Southland. Though his touring coach business is based in Kendall County (San Antonio), Adams kept Lubbock as his musical home. "Lubbock is the capital of West Texas. There has been so much talent come out of there, and really . . . none of it has been very commercial. Buddy Holly
wasn't commercial when he [first] came out of there." Among those to whom Adams was referring was Don Allison
, an area musician associated with various genres of music and a long-time producer at the Cactus Theater
in Lubbock, where Adams has also frequently performed.
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
and San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, known particularly for his talent for storytelling in his songs.
Early years
Adams was born in Fort WorthFort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
but reared in Colorado City
Colorado City, Texas
Colorado City is a city in and the county seat of Mitchell County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,281 at the 2000 census....
, the seat of Mitchell County south of Snyder
Snyder, Texas
Snyder is a city in and the county seat of Scurry County, Texas, United States. The population was 10,653 at the 2010 census. It is located on Deep Creek, a minor tributary of the Colorado River of Texas. Snyder is approximately 150 km southeast of Lubbock.Located in Snyder is the Scurry County...
in West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
, where his father was the local Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
dealer. Upon graduation in 1967 from Colorado City High School
Colorado Independent School District
Colorado Independent School District is a public school district based in Colorado City, Texas .Located in Mitchell County, a very small portion of the district extends into Scurry County....
, he entered the University of North Texas
University of North Texas
The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
at Denton
Denton, Texas
The city of Denton is the county seat of Denton County, Texas in the United States. Its population was 119,454 according to the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the eleventh largest city in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex...
, then North Texas University, which is known for its arts and music curricula. There he met Don Henley
Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
, later with the singing group The Eagles. Adams went to Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, to hear the guitarist Bugs Henderson, who played an impact on Adams's musical development.
With hopes of a musical career of his own, Adams left UNT after two years to join the band "Hayseed", then performing in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. From 1969 to 1970, he played at clubs in Midland
Midland, Texas
Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...
. He had also attended Howard College
Howard College
Howard College is a community college with its main campus in Big Spring, Texas and branch campuses in San Angelo and Lamesa....
, a community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
in Big Spring
Big Spring, Texas
Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 25,233 at the 2000 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, Abilene to the east, Lubbock to the north, and San Angelo...
, Texas, with the goal of improving his grade-point average so that he could re-enter a university. Meanwhile, he lost his draft deferment during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
In March 1972, a friend secured Adams a spot with the ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
band in Lubbock. That summer he gained entry to Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in Lubbock to study music and English. The ZZ Top club manager, Bill Ham
Bill Ham
Bill Ham was the manager, producer, and image-maker of ZZ Top, from its inception in late 1969 until September 2006.-Career:...
, soon invited Adams to play for the band at the Municipal Auditorium in Dallas. By 1976, Adams had signed with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, which in 1977 released his first music. By 1980, the contract was nonrenewed. Adams is known for his ability for storytelling in song, a mixture of blues, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, and folk music. In those years, Adams often spent more than half of the year in concert tours. He performed not only with ZZ Top, but the Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band
Marshall Tucker Band
The Marshall Tucker Band is an American Southern rock band originally from Spartanburg, South Carolina. The band's blend of rock, rhythm and blues, jazz, country, and gospel helped establish the Southern rock genre in the early 1970s...
, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, and Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
. In the Cocker band for a time was a saxophone player, Bobby Keys
Bobby Keys
Bobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
, originally from Slaton
Slaton, Texas
Slaton is a city in Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,109 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lubbock Metropolitan Statistical Area.Slaton is named for Lubbock rancher and banker O.L. Slaton, Sr...
in Lubbock County, who began touring with many bands as a young teenager. Keys and Adams had not previously met but toured together for a time with Cocker.
Later career
By 1982, faced with mounting family obligations, Adams left the music business and avoided music clubs and concerts for most of the following fifteen years. Instead, he operated and still maintains the company, Roadhouse Transportation, which leases touring coaches to such celebrity singers as Celine DionCeline Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
, George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
, and Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
and even the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
. He did for a time make a few annual musical appearances in Lubbock, and in 1986 played at the Cattle Baron’s Ball there with Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
. He moved his family to a ranch in the Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...
and his business to the town of Comfort
Comfort, Texas
Comfort is a census-designated place in Kendall County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,363 at the 2010 census. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
in Kendall County
Kendall County, Texas
Kendall County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2008 census, its population was 32,886. Its seat is Boerne....
, part of the San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
Metropolitan Statistical Area. One evening Adams and his wife, Mary F. Adams, attended a show in San Antonio to hear the musician Lee Roy Parnell
Lee Roy Parnell
Lee Roy Parnell is an American country music artist. Active since 1990, he has recorded eight studio albums, and has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...
, who invited Adams to join him on stage. Thereafter, Adams's desire to perform in public was renewed and became irresistible.
In 1999, Adams joined George Strait's national tour. He toured Europe with the Tejano
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
group, the Texas Tornados
Texas Tornados
Texas Tornados is a Tejano band. Its music is a fusion of rock, country and various Mexican styles.-History:The initial combination of musicians of the Texas Tornados happened almost by chance at a concert performance of a mutual acquaintance...
. He became the co-manager of the popular singer Pat Green
Pat Green
Patrick Craven "Pat" Green is an American Texas Country artist. Active since 1995, he has recorded a total of ten studio albums, including several independent works, three for Republic Records and two for BNA...
, whom Adams met when Green came looking for touring accommodations. By 2007, Adams released the album "The Shoe Box", which reached No. 5 on the Americana chart. The album offers ten new Adams selections and three from the late 1970s. "The Shoe Box" produced three top 10 single songs the Texas Music Chart, where it was posted for some two years. Singer Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
, an avid listener of "The Shoe Box," declared Adams "a great musician and a storyteller in the true Texas tradition" and invited him to join Stills' national tour.
In 2005, Adams was featured on Bob Phillips
Bob Phillips
Robert Leon Phillips, known as Bob Phillips , is an American television journalist best known for his long-running program Texas Country Reporter...
's Texas Country Reporter
Texas Country Reporter
Texas Country Reporter is a weekly syndicated television program hosted and produced by Bob Phillips. It airs in all 22 Texas media markets, generally on weekends, and reruns are broadcast nationally on the satellite/cable channel RFD-TV...
syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
television anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
series, with an explanation for his return to professional music.
In May of 2008, he was let go from his long time weekly residency concert at The Waring General Store.
On March 12, 2011, Adams performed in concert at the landmark Texas Theater in Sweetwater
Sweetwater, Texas
Sweetwater is the county seat of Nolan County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,415 at the 2000 census.-History:Sweetwater received a U.S. post office in 1879. The Texas and Pacific Railway started service in 1881, with the first train arriving on March 12 of that year, beginning...
in Nolan County, near his hometown of Colorado City. It was the first concert in some seventy years at that facility, which had originally been designed for musical programs but converted to films after its opening.
Adams is an artist through Wounded Bird Records
Wounded Bird Records
Wounded Bird Records is a CD only, re-issue record label, that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from both popular and lesser known artists, including Deborah Harry, Chic, David Blue, Marilyn Martin, Gordon Haskell, Jon Anderson, Adrian Belew, Ellen...
. He has also recently joined forces other musical veterans in the rock group, Brothers of the Southland. Though his touring coach business is based in Kendall County (San Antonio), Adams kept Lubbock as his musical home. "Lubbock is the capital of West Texas. There has been so much talent come out of there, and really . . . none of it has been very commercial. Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
wasn't commercial when he [first] came out of there." Among those to whom Adams was referring was Don Allison
Don Allison
Don McKinzie Allison, known as Donnie Allison was a musician and vocalist from Lubbock, Texas. He sang on Music Television and performed at the Cactus Theater in Lubbock in such productions as Jesus Christ Superstar and Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, the saga of the Lubbock rock and roll legend...
, an area musician associated with various genres of music and a long-time producer at the Cactus Theater
Cactus Theater
The Cactus Theater is a theater located in Lubbock, Texas, US. It hosts live music productions, musicals, and theatrical plays.-History:In 1938, Lubbock businessmen Joe H. Bryant, M. A. Sanders, and Glenn Woody, built Lubbock’s first suburban neighborhood movie theater. The Art Deco style theater...
in Lubbock, where Adams has also frequently performed.
Albums
- Jay Boy Adams (1977) USBillboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
#210 - Fork In The RoadFork in the roadA fork in the road is a metaphor, based on a literal expression, for a deciding moment in life or history when a major choice of options is required...
(1978) - The Shoe Box (2007)