HYBRID SOUTH...

I started playing guitar and singing at 5 with Dad and all of his friends. They played primarily bluegrass and old school country. I joined my first working band at 16 and sang with them for 2 years at school dances and private parties. We were also a finalist in the State Battle of the Bands in 1973 and played Dorton Arena. After a few years off, I started playing solo acoustic stuff at various places where I met the guitar player for Tarnished Gold, a working top 40 country band. After a year playing extensively with them I joined a Rock band called CRS and played all over with them for 2 1/2 years. I started my own rock and blues band called 751 in 1992 and played the area for 12 years. I also did a brief stint with Bustergroove, a local variety band. My main influences are Paul Rogers, Robert Plant, and Hank Williams Junior.

I grew up in Charlottesville VA and started banging on pots and pans around the age of 5. My father played drums for different Big Bands and Dance bands. The fever bit hard around 6 and was given my first kit. From there I did the whole band thing all the way through School. In High School I was playing around with different bands as well as playing in a Jazz band. From there I went to Atlanta Georgia and started filling in for other bands in need of a part time drummer. I soon joined a family Gospel Band where I was introduced to something a little different than traditional church hymns. In 1995 I moved to Indiana where I took a little time off from the music scene. In 1999 I moved to North Carolina and settled down in the Clayton Area. The Church we ended up attending had a praise band and the fever started nibbling at me again. I played for the Capital City Christian Church Praise Band for about 4 years. I hooked up with Leather and Lace out of Wilson, NC in Dec of 2004. I was with them for about 6 months before the band took an extended break. During that time I assisted a GenX startup Church called the Connection and played for their band. Still looking for something a little edgier, I wound up with Hybrid South.

I grew up in Durham and was introduced to music at a young age. My father was a bass player and my mother a singer in a variety show known as the “Piedmont Variety Show”. At age 12 I started playing in garage bands and at age 14 formed a band called “Two Hits and a Miss”. At age 15 in the early 70’s I started playing with my father’s band the “Piedmont Travelers”, this was a country band that backed up and played with various Nashville acts such as George Jones, Tom T. Hall, Faron Young, Kitty Wells and others. Our band backed up Bobby G. Rice at Dorton Arena when he had his number one hit “You Lay So Easy On My Mind”. After a couple of years of country, I started playing with a rock band called “Reunion” then a top 40 band called “Spectrum”. After this I decided to go back playing with my father and at this time the band reformed and changed their name to “Southbound”. I played with “Southbound” for about 7 years and as members changed so did our music we evolved into a top 40/beach band called “Crossfire”. At this time I was also playing with a top 40/funk band called “Us”. In 1984 after playing with the same band players for several years most of “Crossfire” joined the “Castaway’s” of Durham. I played with the “Castaways” about 6 years, during this time I married and started a family and wanting to play less helped form a band called “Easy Street”. I took a couple of years off filling in with various bands as they needed me and did a short stint with a band out of Pittsboro called “Main Street”. Then again in 1997 I got in on a band forming called “The Fabulous Hot Dog Daddy-Os” I played with them until 2000 then joined the rock/beach band “Stur Krazy” after a few years with them I joined the beach band “Bigtime Party Band” which I was playing with upon joining “Hybrid South”.

At age 13 Todd began playing classical and flamenco guitar. After a few years playing alone in his bedroom and occasionally for his mommy, some friends of his talked him into filling in on bass for a local show of theirs. It was then that he decided to play bass in bands. Now, with over 20 years of stage experience in just about all style of music, he has played in small clubs all the way up to large arenas with various groups throughout his career. While he has played many styles, he has always enjoyed rock music and is right at home with Hybrid South.