Almost from Day One, the only son of a family with deep Texas roots was making music on a farm near Dallas. Between chores and school, the handsome young boy called King (named after his father and grandfather, despite his mother’s protests) broke his teeth on the sounds of Dwight Yoakum, Dire Straits and Delbert McClinton. His father, a longtime Dallas blues player, made an impression on King with a beat-up Yamaha guitar that would eventually lead to the two forming his first band. Selected from a Wise County Pee Wee Football team that King played on and his father coached, four boys combined their talents and thirst for music to form King Cone & The Wise Guys. King and company landed their first paying gig when they were 13 and won their school’s sixth grade talent show with the fastest version ever played of Alan Jackson’s 1991 hit “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.” The Wise Guys soon became something of a novelty, and if there were a festival or party to be had in the Wise County area, the band was sure to be the entertainment. In the late 1990s, the group performed as far away as Caracas, Venezuela, and developed an annual show that raised tens of thousands of dollars for the local heritage museum. During high school, King and the band continued to be successful, performing on local TV news-entertainment morning shows, opening for Alabama and Willie Nelson, and recording their first CD, THAT’S IT. College was a different story for Cone. He played less while attending the University of Texas in Austin to focus on what being a college student really entails. Besides frequenting Sixth Street bars to work on an economics degree, Cone was a fraternity president, a foreman of the Texas Cowboys service organization and editor of the UT Law School yearbook. Since graduation in December 2004, Cone has turned his full focus and attention toward breaking through in the regional music scene. His time has been spent forming a new band, writing songs, recording two EPs and putting in the necessary time to develop his latest CD, GALLERY. He has played more than 200 dates during the past year, including benefits on behalf of his mother and his high school wrestling coach, both cancer survivors, and has earned media coverage across Texas. With special causes near and dear to his heart, Cone often volunteers his time and guitar to play for benefits. He developed material, performed and produced a four-song CD for the Making Memories Foundation’s Brides Against Breast Cancer program. He has also performed for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas and played several benefits to help other Texas artists recoup the cost of stolen equipment. Now, at 24, Cone’s in high-gear, doubling his hard work and Texas-born drive to succeed. He’s seen to every detail surrounding the release of GALLERY as well as the advance touring he’s been doing. He’s always striving for success in the biz, both as a maker and merchant of meaningful music.