My Life in Bands
Click on any link below to see related stories, pictures, audio & video.
Below are the bands with which I've played over the years.
Click on any band name to hear and see more
Recordings of living room jams with jams with sax player Tom Wishing circa 1959
Jams with friends Jim Singer (guitar) & Steinburg (drums)
I played my first paying gig in The Cavaliers on Dec. 23, 1961. Tom Wishing is 2nd from left on the front row.
The Redlighters were my first rock band. Unfortunately nobody took any pictures, but I have some reel-to-reel audio from rehearsals.
The Showmen were put together to play JEB Stuart High School's 1963 Kiwanis Kapers.
Next I played in The Tensions, which played a battle of the bands hosted by radio station WEEL's DJ Jack Alix in 1963 at Hunters Lodge west of Fairfax, VA. After the gig was over, we packed up and played an after-prom party in Great Falls that went on until almost daybreak.
Chad Graham & The Echoes cut this record in 1964 when I was a Senior at JEB Stuart high school.
The Top Hats of Harrisonburg, VA. I sat in for their organ player, Larry May (pictured below) during the summers of 1963-64 while he was on Marine Corps active duty.
I played in The Shades during my senior year of high school. I arranged to have a reporter from the Washington Star write this story about us for The Weekender magazine.
I played in The Strangers during 1964-68 while attending the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
During a summer job in Ocala, FL during the summer of 1965 I mentored the high school band The Posmen, who a year later became
the Royal Guardsmen and recorded the hit "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron."
I played in The Fallen Angels and The Superiors during the summer of 1966.
During the summer of 1967 I played with The Londoners out of Mannassas.
For a few months in 1973 I played in Beefeater.
In June 1973 I put an ad in the paper, and Dennis Swindle invited me to join him in the duo Thaxton & Reed that became a 4-piece band
Late in 1973 I joined Inner Light of Wheaton, MD and stayed with them until mid 1977.
In 1987 I recorded some of my own multi-track creations using two cssette tape recorders and a DX7 synthesizer.
After an 11-year hiatus while raising my children, I answered an ad in the paper and joined Mirage
Jamming at the Washington, DC Blues Society
I attended Blues Week at Elkins, WV during the summers of 1991-93.
I made this solo recording of Boogie Woogie in my basement
During 1993-94 tecorded & performed with folk-acoustic singer-songwriter Rob Guttenburg
Played in a blues showcase at the 1993 Washington, DC Folk Festival
The Delta Project played early country-style blues in the DC area.
Straight Up was a country-rock trio from the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains.
Moved to Nashville in 1998.
Toured the US in the spring-summer of 1999 with country rock sister act Ashley & Alexia and wrote a book about my experiences
Played a short tour with veteran country artist Leroy Van Dyke in the spring of 2000.
Worked with Nashville band Ben Byler & The Rest during 2002-04.
Played with singer-songwriter Chris Videll in 2004-05
Recorded keyboard tracks on studio recordings with veteran country-rock artist Robin Grandin
Played keyboards lead IGOR (The InterGenerational Orchestra of Rock)
Played keys in classic rock band Surface Tension
Suzanne and I at Blues Week 2012
Played with Nashville's best classic rock band Two-Bit Eddie from 2008-2014
Gordon Ellis
I've accompanied my performing songwriter friend Gordon Ellis on his original compositions since 2000 when we met at Mike Dunbar's First Take Chart Band on Tuesday nights at the old La Fiesta restaurant on Murfreesboro Rd.
Roy & The Orbits (2018 - present)
From left: Mike Stewart, David Lewis, Mark Inlow ("Roy"), Arnie Reed, David Wilson
Only The Lonely, played by Roy and The Orbits during rehearsal at Wilson's Music in Hendersonville, TN
Roy and The Orbits plays The Streets of Indian Lake on 9-28-19
jabberwackers
I'm new to this Nashville band, so that we don't yet have a formal picture with me in it, but below is a collage of the members. I made good use of my spare time during the 2020 pandemic and learned their songs. jabberwackers play a fusion of roots blues, jazz, rock, bluegrass and some stuff we don't know what to call. Most of our repertoire is original instrumental music composed by Andy Miller.
jabberwackers, clockwise from upper right: Andy Miller (guitar), Rickey Godfrey (lead guitar), Arnie Reed (keyboard), Travis Collinsworth (bassº and Mark Pavlack (drums)
