"The name Cave Catt Sammy? It's not a very interesting story. We had a piano player for a while. He came up with the name. There's nothing to it. Sorry," says Beau "Sammy" Sample. Just because there isn't some sort of Earth-shaking story, or at least clever little anecdote, behind the band's name doesn't mean there's nothing interesting about Cave Catt Sammy. Put together in 1997 by four high school friends who just happened to be about the only four rockabilly aficionados in San Antonio, Texas' MacArthur High School, Cave Catt Sammy found a wide audience for a variety of reasons. A number of people opted to check out the band because four teenagers were playing music that was popular more than four decades before the band members were born. Sample is almost tired of talking about the age of band members, but he realizes most musicians his age aren't playing roots rock 'n' roll. "A lot of people say, 'You guys are great for your age.' But, in the '50s, there were people like Sid King and the Five Strings and the Sparkletones. These guys were all 16/17-years-old," Sample said. "And they were great!" People who came to see Cave Catt Sammy because they thought they were going to watch a novelty act became fans because the band can flat wail. Cave Catt Sammy brings to bear a mixture of fire, drive, energy, respect, knowledge, the desire to add to the rockabilly book and plain old talent. Consequently, the band's fan base includes high school friends, hardcore rockabilly fanatics, people who love to dance to basic music and those who simply like to rock 'n' roll. In 1999, the quartet released its debut CD, "Fast Cars and Smoky Bars," on Big Bellied Records and promptly hit the road. Since graduating from high school, Cave Catt Sammy has delighted in piling in the van and working north, south, east and west, averaging about 200 dates a year. The touring has taken the group into small clubs and onto stages at extravaganzas such as Viva Las Vegas and the Rockabilly Ball. Cave Catt Sammy has been invited to England in 2001 to play their Texas roots rock at the Rockabilly Rave. "The two most important things for us are making good records and touring," Sample said. "We try to make our live shows the main thing. There are billions of bands that can go in the studio and make a good album but you have to be able to back it up live. The flipside is true also." "Fast Cars" was a sharp, rocking album that served notice Cave Catt Sammy could work and play. Still, they had to prove it. "On our first tour, everybody was surprised we were so young. They didn't know what to expect," Sample said. "There were some clubs where we'd have to hang outside the club when we weren't playing. But everybody knows us now. We're trying to stay as professional as possible. On top of that, we've been having a blast." For 2001, Cave Catt Sammy unveils a new disc, "Comin' On Strong," a rollicking collection that builds on the "Fast Cars and Smoky Bars" promise. "Comin' On Strong" features a pile of Cave Catt originals alongside a couple of covers, one from San Antonio-based rocker Sean Castillo and one from roots music legend Moon Mullican. The balance of originals and eclectic covers puts the spotlight on two facets of Cave Catt Sammy, the part that's fan and the part that's serious about not being a revival band. "You can't be your own fan," Sample says with a laugh. "Being a fan is where you get all your influences from. We've got to pay our respects to the people who got us started." And part of paying respect is making your own way. "When you're playing your own music you're playing exactly what you want to do," Sample said. "And hopefully it's not a rip-off. There are billions of songs about love but if you can create a new one that's really good you've accomplished something. To me writing is part of being in a band. It's cool to see a song happen." It's also cool, very cool, to witness the action when Cave Catt Sammy makes a song happen. And they do.