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As a member of the award winning J.D. Hinton Band, Agabus traveled the United States and abroad sharing the stage with such diverse musical luminaries as Alabama, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, America and .38 Special. The band also made numerous national television appearances and was the cover story in an issue of the Texas based, Performance Magazine. As a result of the band's musical versatility and take no prisoner approach, they were signed to RCA Records with Barry Beckett and Larry Lee assuming production reins. Following a name and label change, the band, now The Coyote Brothers, continued to pack houses in the Eastern United States before going their separate ways in late 2003. As a songwriter, Agabus has been honored with ASCAPs Live Performance Award of Merit and has had songs recorded by Reba McEntire, Diamond Rio and Linda Davis, among others. He also penned all but one song on the two critically acclaimed records released by The Coyote Brothers. ' In May, 2006, Agabus released his first solo effort, titled It Ain't Easy Bein' Me. The Americana themed release features not only new Agabus originals, but interpretations of songs written by the masters including Townes Van Zant and John Prine. "Agabus is raw, reckless, relentless and enticing. It's the music I listen to when I don't have to." Brad Davis - The Billy Bob Thornton Band, David Lee Roth, Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart, Sam Bush Band, et al. Being hailed as the new poet laureate of Americana music doesnt seem to please Agabus much. Conversely, it doesnt seem to bother him much. Matter of fact, nothing seems to bother Agabus much. His laid back style and demeanor lets you know that music is just a part of life and, while significant, not the most important part of life. Even for the purpose of developing his own bio, Agabus is hesitant to talk about his former life as chief songwriter and rhythm guitarist for an award winning band. Nor is he eager to discuss peoples interpretations of his songs. Even for his own publicity kit, he is reluctant to note the music industry luminaries touting his praises, writing such things as: "Agabus the new face of Americana music it aint pretty but the music aint bad". Instead, he likes to talk about B.F. Skinner, Jack Kerouac, flawed thought patterns and the latest in the lives of his children, Micheal and Hannah. And, I guess thats ok. However, the following information was garnered from rambling conversation with Agabus in March, 2005 at The Villager Tavern in Hillsboro Village/Nashville, Tennessee. AH Agabus was born in rural Appalachia. He was not welcomed home by his 2 year-old sister. Agabus developed an anxiety disorder at a very early age and states: having an anxiety disorder sure makes me nervous. Growing up, Agabus dreamed of playing professional baseball. Agabus went away to Boy Scout camp one summer but got so homesick he had to come home after just one day. Agabus started taking piano lessons at a very early age and cried when he had to practice and cried even harder when he had to go for his weekly lesson. He learned to play Roll out the Barrels purty damn good. He also took up the drums, trumpet and guitar none of which he mastered or was even considered good at. He took up the guitar so he could be cool like Herbie you know, grind the axe, take Valium with massive quantities of Jack Daniels, go around scraping dead animals off the side of the road and throw them into friends cars Herbie. Just normal, teenage crap like that, he notes. Agabus doesnt like to eat no damn beets. Growing up, Agabus fell asleep while listening to WLS. Agabus was once held hostage in a real road house. He had numerous chances to leave but didnt want to miss the chili or football games. Agabus was once a bat boy for the Cleveland Indians. Agabus gets so depressed, he occasionally has to go in-patient. Favorite color is green. Once aspired to be the next Jim Morrison, Lowell George, Tom Waits, and Michael Stipe all in the same day. Never been married, yet has two kids. Go figure. Likes to write songs and poetry at that one place in the Caribbean. Ritualistically throws up in the Atlantic just off Cape Cod each June. First song ever recorded and distributed was a novelty song about game show goddess Vanna White. Vanna sent Agabus an autographed picture of herself after hearing a snippet of the song on Entertainment Tonight. Agabus sent the unsolicited photo back and sent her one of him. Agabus thinks the word sop is a very underused word and dreams of bringing it to the forefront of American vocabulary, as in, Im a fittin to sop up that gravy with my bread. Once aspired to be a bohemian artist and moved into the basement of a seedy hotel and lived the life of a drunk, broke, wanna be poet. The poet part was the only stretch. Sometimes, Agabus has visions and hears voices that tell him to break a bottle over the head of the person in front of him at Mapco. Sometimes, he just drops what he has in his hands and runs from the store. Agabus continues to have difficulty maintaining relationships. Was shocked to learn that part of the key seems to be answering the phone, returning phone calls and actually physically seeing the object of his affection on occasion. Strangely enough, Agabus says he is very sensitive and overly emotional at times. Agabus has awakened on the front lawns of people he does not know confused as to what city or state he was in. Prefers spending a week in the Trapest monastery to the nuthouse because they dont make you get out of the bed for therapy. He also finds the chanting relaxing but wishes the monks could wait until a decent hour to start. Agabus has two tattoos and he aint saying where either one is. He will say that theres a woman in the Caribbean who has a duplicate of one on the exact same location. Agabus loves his children and sits up nights wondering who killed Pancho from the song Pancho and Lefty and if there was ever a famous female hobo. Favorite sayings are, "hows that workin for y"a and "sometimes thats all ya get", which he just said. | |
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Other artists in the Agabus 'hood Tara Leigh Cobble Eric Vinson Aaron Winters | ||
Uncommon Ground Past Show Dates | ||
| 2007-07-29 (435 days) | Mojdeh | |
| Agabus | ||
| 2006-09-22 (745 days) | Agabus | |
| Dyna | ||
