New Year’s Eve @ Smitty’s

Dustin Perkins Band

Story and pix by Mary Jane Farmer

Smitty’s Bar & Grill, the happenin’ newest hot spot in Denison, was alive New Year’s Eve, overflowing with revelers there for the good time celeebration and for the two bands on stage.

Opening was Chase Sanford & Swamp Rat Jackson, the new 4-piece band, Chase, Jason (Fuzzy) Smith on bass, Jeff Brown on lead guitar, and Kenneth Funderburk on drums. They were joined by a genuine, hand-carved, one-piece alligator, which was in charge of keeping the incense burning.

Chase Sanford

Chase and the guys have been working together for a while, but this was their first gig in Swamp Rat Jackson’s final configuration.New friends Jeff and Kenneth were the last two to step on board, and they brought with them a professionalism, a charisma, and talent that totally compliment those shown by old friends Fuzzy and Chase. A great mix of originals with classic covers.

Dustin Perkins Band showed off a newcomer, well, new to the stage, but not the group. Chris (Jett)  Romain, who has handled the band’s logistics for about two years, has also hit the stage on keyboards. Having that second boss instrument in the band added depth. Colton Gllbreath is on lead guitar and back up (sometimes lead) vocals; Nathan Brown hit the drums, this time, from the stage extension, which was an enclosed tent leading out the back door; Michael Waitt keeps it all rockin’ together with his bass beats.

Dustin and the guys had a completely new set list, too, for their return to the building where he began his music career about 8 years ago, when Smitty’s was then T-Bones. The set moved, flowed, from one song to the next.

Both bands have new CDs out, and New Year’s Eve served well as their CD Release Party times. I’ll tell you more about the CD projects later, but for now, just trust me… both need to be in any Texas music lover’s library!

Dustin Perkins Band pix

Chase Sanford & Swamp Rat Jackson pix

Category: *- Features, Other venues