Tommy Lawson
Independent Drummer
Bio
(Song Mustang Sally performed by The Marty Ledden Band. Marty Ledden: Lead guitar and Vocals, Dave Hunt : Base, Kerry McBryde: Keyboards, Tommy Lawson : Drums)
I started playing drums professionally in 1965 at the
young age of 13. Back then I lived in the small town of Fairborn Ohio, near
Dayton. My first band was called Little Willie and the Knights, made up of Mike
Mays on (Rhythm), Danny Williams on (Bass), and Roy Lovely (Lead) and me on the
drums. We were a local group who later changed our name to The Difference and
worked with Steve Payne on lead. While working in The Difference I was hanging
around a lot of older guys. So I went from music 101 to playing with season
musicians in a short period of time. This was a great time and a great learning
experience but I was still very young compared to most of the guys I was
playing with and needed to be around guys my own age. My friend Mike Crass was
getting pretty good on the guitar and we knew of a guy named Keith Howard who
was very good as a lead player. We started jamming in Mike’s garage and started
to get a decent song list together. We had just a three piece group at that
time and we started looking for a base player. Mike had a good friend named
Jeff Brown that wanted to join the group. The only problem was Jeff did not
know how to play bass. This was a little problem and I was against it at first,
but Mike said he would work with him. Jeff was a great guy and we all liked him
so we gave him a month. He not only picked up the song list and was
playing it but he was playing all the songs as good as the records, it was
unbelievable. He also was singing backup. Jeff over the years turned out to be
one of the best base players around. Later on he played with Bill Caudill Band
The band kicked off, so we needed a name. We
played under two names The Age Of Reason and Paper Sun. We settled on
Paper Sun. Now we were playing all of the school dances and Halls, anyplace
kids our age could play. We started getting a following of sorts. Mike’s mom
made sure we looked good all the time and made sure we acted right when we were
on stage or out just representing the band. Two of our good friends Chuck
Westfall and Dave Fisher were always there to help us with setup and sound.
Chuck later started singing and sang up to his passing in 1995. We will miss
our dear friend. Mike and Keith are still getting together and playing. Mike
owns and runs Alley Art and Frame in Springboro, Ohio. Keith is retired and
living in Fairborn, Ohio. Jeff is in New Carlisle, Ohio semi-retired from
music.
My best friend, Sonny
Songer, was a drummer with a well known local group called The Things. They had
Sonny (Drums) Marvin Songer (Rhythum)
Mike Lazzara (Lead) and Lee Davis (Bass). Hanging with Sonny exposed me to all
levels of music; to this day, he is the reason I love to play drums. Later,
Sonny and Lee joined up with a guitar player named Bill Caudill, and The Bill
Caudill Band was started. This was one of the best three man groups I had ever
heard, and getting to sit in with them when Sonny could not make it gave me a
chance to learn and grow as a drummer. Bill had been involved with a well known
group in the area called BC and The Cavemen. It consisted of Bill Caudill
(Lead), Sid Helmer (Rhythm), Don Mullins (Bass), and Kerry Freeman (Drums).
Most bands playing at that time were setting their standards by the Cavemen,
they were phenomenal.
Another great band in the area at the time was The Demons.
They were a rival band of The Things and both where continuously positioning
themselves as one of best bands in the area. The band consisted of Gary Moon
(Guitar) Gary McAnally (Bass) Mitch McAnally (keyboards) Kelly Spencer (Lead) Brian
Edwards (Drums). Gary the front man for The Demons was having problems
replacing their drummer Brian after he had died in a tragic car wreck. I was
always excited when Gary would call me up to sit in when needed. Later they recruited
a local boy named Dave West to play drums. Scott Moon, Gary’s brother, and I
played in a pretty good little band called The TOAD, (The Original American
Dream). This group included Mike Walters on guitar, Marty Romie on bass and
Scott Moon on guitar and me on drums. Scott and I also played with our school
buds Sammy Davis on keyboards, and Tim Hart on bass off and on through high
school. Gary and Scott are still in the music industry, now living in
California. Gary has stared with Knight Ranger and toured with Three Dog Night.
Scott makes custom guitars in Pebble Beach, Ca.
While playing with The Difference and sitting in
with other local groups, I was blessed to play on the same local stages in
Dayton that groups like the McCoy’s, Tommy James, and the Shandells had
showcased on. Later, The Difference changed direction, and we began playing a
country sound which could be compared to the country you heard in the late 80’s
and early 90’s. In 1972 the group got an offer to travel to the Nashville area
under the management of Buck Owens’s manager. Owen’s people heard us play at
the Sorghum Festival in Ashland, Kentucky. At that time I made a decision to
leave the band and join the Air Force to continue my education. I continued to
play during my stay in the Air Force and played with many good musicians while
on tour in the Southeast, Asia, and Japan.
From 1975 until 1999 I played very
little, but I did get to sit in with some union musicians while I was stationed
in Las Vegas. That helped me keep in touch with the music. In a casual
conversation in 1999 with my good friend Jerry Jackson, he mentioned a bunch of
guys jamming at a local American Legion and they invited me out. I got the itch
again, went out, bought a new kit, and the rest is history.
I started playing with different
people in the Macon, Georgia area playing country and rock. I got a call from a
group call Spirit Quest and played with them for a while. They were the last
band to record in the old Capricorn Studio, now named Phoenix Studios,
before they closed. We played at the Cherry Blossom Street Party on the main
stage in downtown Macon. I played with the Aaron Taylor Band and I sat in with
Cat Fish Willie. I also had a great time playing with my good friends Mike
Robinson, George Miles, and Mike Brennan in a group called Plan-B.
I am now playing with Ray Knighton,
Wanelle Collins and The Phoenix Band doing local events. I also perform with
the Marty Ledden Band and anytime my good friend Jerry Jackson asks, I am also
there to play with him and his son.