1979-1981

The Cold Turkey Band was one of the best bands I ever played in. Hired as a guitar player in 1979 after the Travelers Four dis-banded, I was only there a week when the drummer quit the band. And you guessed it, I became the drummer. The band had only four members: Trice Perry on lead and rhythm guitar and vocals; Jim ‘Bimbo’ Step on bass guitar and vocals; Larry Bailey on drums and vocals; and Ted Hurley on lead guitar, fiddle, and anything with strings on it. We worked five and six nights a week around the Reynoldsburg, Ohio area for about a year and a half. A lot jobs we played then was backing up a local singer in that area named Shirley Howell. Shirley wasn’t the best singer, but I have to say she was one of the best entertainers I have ever met.

Then in late 1980 the band took a diferent turn and started playing around the Ohio State University campus area. (all the diferent night clubs around the school) This is when we hired a steel guitar player named Pat Flemming, and a sound man. The band really took off from there, and I was having the time of my life. We even did an acoustic set where I would come out from behind the drums and play guitar. It was pretty cool. We played stuff like Black Water by the Doobie Bros, and Lonely People by America, and songs like that. But after a while, the band just kind of slowed down. Then in 1981, the band split up.

The Cold Turkey Band was a lot of fun for me, and I will always have great memories of working with those guys.