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Gregg Watts Biography:

Gregg was born December 27, 1951 in  Memorial Hospital in downtown Houston, Texas…the hospital has been long-gone…but he's still here in Houston.  ("Yep…I’ve been in the Bayou City all my life…so this isn’t a “bio”…it’s a 'bayou'”).

For reasons that have been long forgotten, Gregg landed his first singing gig when he was in the 5th grade. . . he got the lead part of Happy Hopagog in a school Operetta. . . "Man On The Moon". . ("yeah...R.E.M. later wrote a song about me...NOT!").

The next year...("I made it to the 6th grade!")...he landed the part of a Mexican singer of some sort. He had to learn how to play 3 or 4 chords on a guitar for the part..."I wish I still had that old Silvertone!"  That was his 1st taste of a guitar.  Gregg wanted to progress from those 3 or 4 chords, so he'd buy Glen Campbell music books…("hey…he wasn’t that bad back then!")…and learned the chords to all the songs that HIS generation are familiar with!  Sure, sports were a big part of his life, and so was choir…in school and church.

Gregg was raised listening to the bands of the day…"yep…I was raised in the 50’s and 60’s…cool shit!"  The Stones, Beatles, Animals, Beach Boys, and some other groups "got plenty of “play time” on my turn-table! I blame my brother, Jim, for me becoming a Stones freak! (thanks, bro!)"   He was also enjoying good Country artists at that time…Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Charlie Pride, Porter Waggoner…to name a few.  He was so impressed with Buck Owen’s lead guitarist and backup vocalist…Buck Trent…that he wanted to emulate his singing style when backing up others.  When the Allman Brothers and The Outlaws came on the scene, Southern Rock etched it’s style into his subconscious and forever…"blew me away!"

When Gregg puts on the headphones now-a-days, he'll either be listening to Keith Richards laying down his trademark style of play with the Stones, or The Grateful Dead.  Gregg started dabbling in writing some songs at this point…country in nature. "My grandparents introduced me to Jesse Rogers."

For the unfamiliar: In the past, country music fans have frequently asked if Jesse Rogers is related to "The Mississippi Blue Yodeler" Jimmie Rodgers. In fact, Jesse was a genuine cousin to Jimmie. After 1937 he began spelling his last name differently by dropping the "d". He was a fan of Jimmie and recorded in his style, but he never imitated Jimmie's voice. Jesse only reached the Billboard charts once in his lifetime (1949), but his music was really fantastic. He is a superb yodeler and excellent singer. He did only Hillbilly and Cowboy songs from the 1930s to 1950s. The material in this CD comes from Bluebird, Victor and Sonora masters with often fine steel guitar accompaniment. It's an album of great historical meaning by a highly underrated artist who passed away in 1970.

ntry music fans have frequ            ently asked if Jesse Rogers is related to "The Mississippi Blue

He also had a T.V. Show called “Ranger Joe”.  While he was failing in health, he recorded 3 of Gregg's songs and sent them to Nashville …"never heard anything again."  Jesse gave him the shirt and jacket he wore on his T.V. show ("in black & white, of course!"), and in the Grand Ole Opry.

"I was contacted by some “long-haired” friends <grin> of mine who wanted to start a rock band!"  "They asked me to sing!  We had 'Waverly' from 1971-72…I think. I miss them, and would love to share a cerveza with them!"

Time passed…Gregg married Georgia (a South Texas girl) …had 2 wonderful kids (Jenni & Jay)…(and as of now, has 2 granddaughters that keep him in stitches…Signe & Helena!)

Gregg started singing again in the church choir, and then started a youth choir, and called it “The Un-Choir” They would sing contemporary pieces, and numbers that he wrote specifically for them.

One day, Gregg was doing an opening act…so to speak…for some dear friends that were hosting large March-of-Dimes Galas at the Wyndam Hotel in Houston.  At one of these Galas, Chubby Checker was the headliner, etc., but more importantly, the Choir Director at his church, and Darden Bourne were in the crowd.

"I ended up doing a tenor solo at our Christmas Cantata at church…and Darden…and Dan Carlson (we met at this church in Kingwood, TX), asked me to come to Dan’s house to see if I wanted to sing with their duo…The DarDans."  "They blew me away! I felt honored to be asked…(and still do!)…to join with them!"

"This has been a blast working with them, and having Phil and Blair join the ruckus…and spreading our wings!" The DarDans have been more than gracious in allowing (and humoring) Gregg in doing material that he wanted to write.  "They don’t know this…(and don’t tell them)…but THEY are my main inspiration for writing! The energy we generate in each other’s company is infectious."

To sum it all up…

“I ain’t through yet!”

Gig’em Aggies!

FAVORITE QUOTE:

George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart, "Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars.  O.J.  Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and haul her ass off to jail."