Melissa Adams
It's not an exaggeration to say Melissa exploded into the Houston folk scene when she came out of somewhere a few years ago. It's a fact that she kind of explodes into wherever she shows up. (I hope she understands this is a compliment.) When she was working on her first CD, Firefly, late in '99, she asked Jimmy and Victor to play on some of the tunes, which I thought was cool 'cause it resulted in Loky playing with her at her CD release party. That was so much fun that for much of 2000 we played several gigs together and I talked her into helping out with vocals on one of the tunes in Life is Good, "Kelly's Doing Fine". Check out her website, www.melissaadams.com to see where she's playing now, and if you have any dough left after you buy all our records, buy one of hers.

Victor Agis
I met Victor at a drum circle that used to be held at a club called Instant Karma, every Monday night. I was looking for an extra drummer for a special gig Loky was doing. Victor's playing was cool. He held everything steady when some of the freaks were losing it, and had chops to hang with the best of the folks there. He came out to practice with us, and we did the gig. After, he mentioned that he also knew how to play the bass and started coming to gigs and practices. His bass lines helped Loky find its groove. All the bass lines on both Here in Paradise and Life is Good are his. He also played congas and bongos on many of the tunes. He and Loky parted ways late in 2000, but he’s still playing, and working on his own solo CD, Let it Ride.

Buddy Allen
I heard Buddy Allen sitting in on fiddle at a jam night somewhere in Houston and immediately decided I wanted to have him play on Life is Good. He was modest about his chops because he hadn’t been playing fiddle long at the time, but the musical sensibility he’d gained in his over 20 years of guitar playing showed. Hearing my songs colored by his sweet tone & downright tasteful fiddle lines was one of the made me think I might actually be able to make a record I’d like. Plus, he taught me the chords to "Satin Doll" while we were practicing for the studio.

Andy Bradley
Everybody in Houston knows Andy is the best recording engineer in town. While recording the first two REALFOLK CDs, I found his experience, judgement, & taste to be absolutely reliable. It turns out he and I arrived on the planet within about 10 days of one another, so it’s obvious we showed up to work together on these records, and hopefully many more.

Dana Harrington
I met Dana when he and Jimmy were jamming together sometime after the demise of Eardrum. Loky began with practices in Dana's Garage way out west in Katy, Texas. Dana's an ex-Air Force helicopter mechanic and good man to have around when the PA's blown an hour before the gig. His harmony singing and unique style on the djembe is an important part of Loky's sound. He also plays with Jimmy in Puck Finn when Loky is laying low.

Jeff Hoofard
Jeff is another guy it seems I’ve known forever. He’s a fixture at the Kerrville Folk Fest campfires, with his extraordinarily tasteful percussion playing. He’s played and recorded with some of the finest songwriters in Texas, guys like Bill Ward and Ken Gaines. He played drums with the Strange Attractors and was another obvious choice when I looked for percussion help during the recording of both Here in Paradise and Life is Good.

Kat Jones
A few years back I had the bright idea of trying to record quick, "presentable", solo demos of some of the songs I’d written. A mutual acquaintance put me in touch with Kat, and I started going over to her demo studio about once a month or so for a period of several months. We managed to get decent takes of over 80 songs and more importantly, got a very nice friendship going. She plays flute, saxophone, and keyboards in Flowers & Machines, a band with a couple CDs out on ToneZone records. She’s working on a solo CD, and, with a partner, has a company that does dance remixes for several labels, and has been showcased at SXSW in Austn the last three years. Her flute and harmony singing are the coolest things on some of the cuts on Life is Good, especially "Close My Eyes", which also benefited from her advice while we were doing the final mixes.

Kenefick
This is a project I got started in out of friendship and curiosity. I met Marty Wells at my day job; he was my boss. He had come out to a couple of Loky gigs and had nice things to say, even though it wasn't the style of music he usually went in for. He's passionate about Alternative Country music; Roger Creager, Pat Green, Restless Kelly, David Allen Manders, Radney Foster, Rodney Crowell, etc. He got interested in performing, and the two of us spent some time working up a couple tunes to perform at an open mike. His good buddy Quintin Watts caught the act and joined up. Glenn Byrd, a friend of theirs, signed up to play the Telecaster lead parts. Marty & Quintin wrote some excellent songs. I recruited Steve Shirk from Loky to play bass and Keith Quinones, an old friend of mine, to play drums. (Keith and I had been talking about working together on a project for almost ten years.) In the short time this band has been playing together, we've done some great gigs at Blanco's, the Firehouse, and the Hideaway in Houston. Marty's talking about getting a CD together. More info (including pictures) can be seen at Kenefick's site: http://www.shyfoxx.com/kenefick/

Bob Kerswill
Bob found me after a piece I’d written about Pops was published in a Houston paper. He got together with us soon after and played harmonica in the best band that Pops and I ever had. When I decided to record the one song I’d co-written with Pops, I knew there was only one blues harp player in town who’d know what I was aiming for. Bob is still playing harp in Houston.

Jimmy Mac
I've known Jimmy since I started playing music. He was usually at the same open mikes I was, only he was playing lead with the cool band guys while I was strumming solo and doing my own tunes before I knew how to play or sing. Lots of folks in Houston will remember him from the band Eardrum, a world-music band started by Jimmy, Gordon Greenleaf and Ed Gorman. Eardrum's Halloween shows at the old Boatyard are legendary. Besides playing in Loky, Jimmy can be heard with the Celtic band, Puck Finn.

Beth Mefford
A thousand years ago I had a small band called Blue Sky, with a guy named Gerald Edward. He ran into Beth at the Kerrville Folk Festival and talked her into coming out to one of our gigs. She sat in on congas, adding much-needed groove, visual interest, and female vocals to the band. After that band had melted back into the ether, I talked her into joining me in another short-lived act called David Fahl and the Strange Attractors. In its short life it was notable for a few things, one of which was her then-boyfriend, famed Houston acoustic guitarist/singer/songwriter Doug Clark Steiger playing electric lead guitar on rock’n’roll songs. When I started planning Life is Good, I knew I wanted to get some some female vocals in to lighten up the mix, and she was the obvious choice. Nowadays she’s a jazz singer, gigging at some of the nicer places in Houston.

Julia Olivares
Once upon a time there was a bar in Houston called the Boatyard, that had live music seven nights a week. Sunday was the night of the Gypsy jam, a party hosted by Greg Harbar, the world’s greatest accordion-playing scholar of jazz and ethnic East European music. Very occasionally, I’d get to sit in. Often, Julia Olivares, a fine jazz pianist and sometime member of Greg’s band the Gypsies, would play. One time we played at the same time and when I sang "Girls in Their Summer Dresses" I heard wonderful sounds coming out of the piano. She was gracious enough to say something nice about the song, and when I ran into her at another jam many years later while I was recording this, the choice was obvious. Thank you, Julia.

Pops Overstreet
The following is an article I wrote about one of my musical mentors, Pops Overstreet. It was published in the Houston Chronicle's Sunday Texas section in 1993, and in a Swedish blues magazine during the next year. I've put it up on the site because the longer the time passes since I worked with Pops, the more frequently I find myself thinking of things he said or catch echoes of his music in my own. The last time I saw Pops was in 1998, one Saturday I went to pick him up to come to the recording studio to sing on the version of "Casey & the Fireman" for the Life is Good CD. He wasn't feeling well enough to come along that day and the next time I went by the place he'd been living I was told he'd been moved to a nursing home and no one could tell me where. If there's anyone out there who knows where he is, I'd appreciate your letting me know. Also, if you have any pictures of him that we could use to accompany this text, I'd be grateful if you could send them along. See full article here.

Pat & Rosie
Leach Pat and Rosie have been running a radio show on Houston's Pacifica station, KPFT FM90.1 for more years than I can figure in my head. At first they had a graveyard shift very early Wednesday nights, now they're on midnight to five Sunday night/Monday morning (central time). The show has been one of the very few to feature the work of Houston musicians.Pat & Rosie play cuts from CDs by local artists and usually feature one or more live acts every Sunday night. They've been letting me play there since before Loky. In fact, Loky was invented while Jimmy, Dana, & I were hanging out waiting to play on their show. Houston is a town with a lot of musicians, but no music scene. The venues are scattered, the audience is scarce and there is little attention paid to local musicians unless they die or win Grammies. We're all grateful for the job these two have been doing. Their show, like everything on KPFT, is web-cast at www.kpft.org

Steve Shirk
Steve's brother Brian was the bassist in Eardrum, a long time friend of Jimmy, and one of Loky's staunchest fans while Victor was still with us. He came out to help us fill the gap for a couple gigs when Victor left, and is still on the bus. He's added a new dimension with his singing and songwriting. He's also taking care of the bass player duties in Kenefick, and the Southernaires, a gospel quartet his dad sings in.