The Horton Brothers Hillbilly Bop Austin, Texas; 1996 - In 1996, at the urging of High Noon's Shaun Young, two brothers from Beaumont, Texas moved to Austin to test the musical waters. Billy and Bobby Horton had been playing along the Gulf Coast and in East Texas since their early teens as Big Roy's Jumpin' Cadillacs (R&B) and the Fender Benders (rockabilly) and immediately made their presence known in Austin. Billy plucked bass for the Asylum Street Spankers and Wayne Hancock, Bobby backed up Susanna Van Tassel and trumpeted for Shaun Young's Big Town Swingtet, while both served as the rhythm section for Young's Texas Trio. However, their biggest impact was through their own band the Horton Brothers, with Shaun Young on drums and Derek Peterson (ex-Kid Pharaoh) on rhythm guitar. Their debut, Hey! It's Bobby and Billy..., with hot guitar licks, twangy harmonies, swingy, hillbilly bop beat, and hayseed humor clearly shows traditional (Merle Travis, Joe Maphis, Louvins, Delmores, Maddox Brothers and Rose) and contemporary (High Noon, Big Sandy, Dave & Deke) influences. Billy and Bobby share singing and songwriting duties and with help from locals Lisa Pankratz and Chris Miller plus Alberto Telo (Texas Trio) and Tjarko Jeen (Ronnie Dawson) fashioned a nice debut. In its wake, the Horton Brothers had a busy 1997 with appearances at the Big K Barndance in Denver, Austin's Rockabilly Romp, and a West Coast tour (with Dave Stuckey on drums). In early 1998, their EP Jack in the Box Boogie was released on Deke Dickerson's Ecco-Fonic label and later in the year, they followed it up with another solid hillbilly boogie recording, Roll Back the Rug ...lt's the Horton Brothers, on Jason Shields' new Texas Jamboree Records. Helping out were guns-for-hire guitarist Dave Biller and steel guitarist Jeremy Wakefield (Biller & Wakefield), as well as fiddler Elena Fremerman (Hot Club of Cowtown). The latter - which in 1998 became the hottest new Western swing-style band - welcomed Billy Horton as their new bass player, but he and Bobby continued on as the Horton Brothers. The group moved further up the hillbilly bop ladder with performances at the Denver Rock 'n' Rhythm-Billy Weekend and the granddaddy of 'em all, England's Hemsby Festival. 2000 has seen the release of a new Horton Brothers record, Heave Ho, on Texas Jamboree. see: Asylum Street Spankers; High Noon; Hot Club of Cowtown --David Goodman, author of Modern Twang: An Alternative Country Music Guide and Directory