Pushwater — The Grand Family Band

by Billy Keith Bucher

Courtesy photo

While standing up by the bar at the back of Moore’s Store in Ben Wheeler, Texas, I watched as Pushwater set up their equipment. Now, the mics were ready and it was time for a sound check; but instead of playing a song, the band began to sing into the mics in beautiful 4-part harmony. It was really breathtaking.

They continued to sing this way for several songs. No instruments, it was just the pure sound of vocal harmony. It was as if the band were traveling down the highway and singing among themselves in the truck.

One thing that might cause this to happen is that Pushwater is a band first and a family second. Or is it the other way around?

The band has been together for six years now. “Of course,” said Jesse,  “by being family, we had played together for a whole lot longer. Our official first show was July 4, 2010. We’d come from Jewitt, Texas, near Palestine. We are always on the road these days, but we keep it in Texas. Jewitt is a pretty quiet town, just three liqour stores and a church. We play there once a year and it a big deal for the town folk since everyone knows everyone else.

“We grew up there a decade apart more or less,” Jesse continued. “Dad, the bass player, is Jerry L. Duke and grew up there in the 70s. I’m Jesse Duke and I do a lot of the vocals and acoustic guitar. I grew up there in the 90s along with my cousin John Sunkes.” Rounding out the band is Eddie Duke, also in the family, on lead guitar and vocals.

“We don’t leave Texas for shows. It is just all over Texas for now and that is all right with us. That’s a lot of territory to cover as it is. Why — up near Tyler, we play the Half Moon Villa Saloon and Charlie’s Back Yard Bar B Que. Oh, and at the Alamo. In Longview, we play at Leon’s Steakhouse. We’ve also been pretty busy in Austin, lately, and you really make can make some money there if you stay around the outskirts of town. We also play Houston and Southeast Texas for a living. It seems as if we are always playing and we’re booked up several months in advance.

“We have two CDs out now and you can catch a couple of our videos on YouTube. We’re even getting into the Hill Country these days. I really enjoy that!,” Jerry continued.

When asked about the band’s name, they laughed. “That’s really funny, Jesse said. “Everyone asks us that. It’s an old slang word from the 20s or 30s for gasoline!”

Courtesy photo

Lucky for this writer they had mentioned Lucky and Jinelle Boyd. The Boyds are some really nice people who headed up the Texas Music Association for a number of years. Pushwater had been one of their favorite award bands. “What a nice bunch of guy,” said Jinelle Gibson Boyd. “Lucky and I had met them before one of our Texas Music Awards Shows from several years back, but I remember that year that the public was relentless when it came to posting nominations for Pushwater. That definitely caught our eyes. Once we DID meet them personally, it was easy to see why they had such a supportive fan base.”  Jinelle paused and then laughed. “They remind me of a pretty girl who truly doesn’t know that she is pretty – which makes her even more attractive. That’s Pushwater when it comes to their talent. I think that Pushwater just LOVES performing, and they have so much fun doing it, that it shows! But on top of that, they really have true talent and because they are digging it, they really haven’t gotten the big egos that usually accompany such a talent.”

One of the best things about Pushwater is that they can shuffle things up once in a while and make it work. They will work at Moore’s Store every month or so as a band and then they will go into The Forge as a duo. The band is great in either venue and come out really sounding great. And with their strong vocal work, they can perform a song like The Band’s “the Weight” with some very interesting twists and turns and it tumbles into a beautiful song with those strong 4-part harmonies making the final sounds so much more brilliant.”

Follow Pushwater on their Website — PushwaterBand.com

More about Billy Keith Bucher:   When I was growing up I wanted to be the world’s greatest jazz drummer. I came from Iowa to Texas to fulfill that dream at the University of North Texas. The only thing to delude that dream was that during my senior year I found rock music, or perhaps, it found me. Due to some circumstances, I ended up going to San Francisco where I became emerged in the scene, not really knowing that there was a scene going on. It was a great time when Janis Joplin and the Holding Company were playing at a little bar for a cover of fifty cents. And Jefferson Airplane lived upstairs from us and would come down to jam with us all the time along with Skip Spence of Moby Grape fame.

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