By Larry Tucker
Wood County, and especially the Alba-Golden area, has turned out some outstanding musicians and performers from Blind Leon Payne in the late 1940s and 1950s to current day megastar Kacey Musgraves.
Three of the hardest working musicians in East Texas—known as the “Alba Three”—all happen to be from the Alba area. Each is an award winner in his genre of music. And all of them played in the Alba-Golden marching band during their high school days.
They are modern day troubadours making a living following their dreams and doing what they love and feel born to do.
Let’s take a look at Gary Patrick, Eric George and Rafael Espinoza.
Gary Patrick Scores Big at Awards
Alba’s Gary Patrick returned home from the Josie Awards where he was named Male Vocalist of the Year and Artist of the Year in the Americana category. The Josie Awards have been given out for 10 years. The purpose of the awards is to recognize and honor the exceptional talent and contributions of those who shape the independent music industry globally.
“The Josie Awards is the largest celebration of independent artists worldwide. I was nominated in two categories, and I was able to bring back two awards, Male Vocalist of the Year and Male Artist of the Year in the Folk/Americana category,” Patrick explained. “It was really an honor just to be nominated. I could not ask for more than my name being called twice, and to get to sit in the circle at the Grand Ole Opry was simply once in a lifetime. It was surreal. I have seen all my favorite artists on that stage. It was such a sweetness and appreciation for all the friends and family who have supported me through my whole career.”
Patrick was able to perform at the CMA (Country Music Association) Hall of Fame in front of an 800-seat sold-out venue the night before the awards show.
Patrick is in his early 50s and has been hard at work in the music business for more than three decades since graduating from Alba-Golden High School in 1989. His performances are known for the excitement Patrick brings to the stage. All the hard work culminated recently when he walked away with the pair of Josie Awards in Nashville, as previously mentioned.
One of four siblings, Patrick’s mother gave him the love of classics, church hymns, and the heart to lift up with a song. And his father had a gift of storytelling through artists such as Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Patrick’s siblings turned him on to the music and talents of Boston, Dire Straits, Dan Fogelberg, Toto, and the Eagles. But it was a particular song that really entranced him: “Play Me” by Neil Diamond.
By the age of eight, Patrick took over his brother’s guitar and there was no turning back. After graduating from high school where he was in the Panther band and a star catcher on the school’s baseball team, Patrick headed to Southern California, where he studied music and songwriting under Tom Russell. He tried his hand at aeronautical engineering but realized his heart and soul belonged to music.
At 21 years old, Patrick was playing in bars up and down the Orange County coastline. In 1995, he had the opportunity to play with Wilson Phillips, daughters of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, on a few TV appearances and radio station tours across the country. He recorded his first album, “Fish Fry,” during this time.
Patrick said that a “music career is hard at best, and it takes continuous constant refining.” One opportunity led to another, and Patrick found himself in Las Vegas for a little more than seven years. He always surrounded himself with the best musicians he could find. Those years were priceless in the continued growth of Patrick’s career. And those years enabled Patrick the opportunity to grow and work with other professionals in a stressful environment.
Near the end of his time in Vegas, he met and became close friends with fellow songwriter, Ken Orsaw, who became his mentor and friend. Patrick made the move to Nashville, Tennessee, where he immersed himself in songwriting and recording publishing demos.
Patrick is now back home in Wood County. Through his relationship with producer Chad Mauldin in East Texas, Patrick was able to record a large number of guitar tracks for the number one song in the country for American Idol star, Fritz Hager.
Eric George, the Blues Man
Eric George was born to sing the blues. His heroes are artists like John Lee Hooker, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Buddy Guy. George grew up in Alba and graduated from Alba-Golden School in 1995, where he was a drummer in the band and star infielder on the baseball team. He got his first taste of music playing in a family band at the ripe old age of 10.
George remembered when he first performed alone with just a guitar. “The first time I performed alone was in the talent contest in Quitman at the Old Settlers Reunion.” George won that contest. “Not much longer after that, I was able to go to play some blues jams in Dallas. I can remember playing in an Irish pub in Deep Ellum, and Alice in Chains were playing across the street at a club called Trees,” George offered. “I got introduced to Dallas blues man Hash Brown, and from there it became an adventure. I was able to go pay my respects to Stevie Ray Vaughan at Laurel Land Cemetery in Oak Cliff.”
George joined the Navy and became a surgical assistant, eventually landing in the Chicago area. “I started going to a blues jam at Buddy Guy’s club in Chicago. The first time I went down and signed up, my name did not get called. Same thing the second time. But that third and fourth time you keep showing your face and keep being nice.
It was so great to be there with all these great players,” George noted. “In six months, I went from being the last name called to getting on stage early. That led to me getting a Tuesday night by myself. I then got to open up for Buddy (Guy) a lot. I would work from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., take a nap, and then go play deep into the night. Of course I was in my 20s then.”
George was able to play music while in the Navy by doing shows for the armed forces and even did a music tour in Iraq for the soldiers. He also spent time playing with rocker Buddy Miles and held residency at Buddy Guy’s “Legends” blues club in Chicago.
At one time, George was working for a doctor who encouraged him to go to college. He received a degree from Belmont University in Nashville. Belmont is known for being a music and music business institution. “If you got an opportunity to go on the road, Belmont would work with you. It was the right opportunity for me at the time,” George added.
George is currently working on a project with another Alba man, Colby Arnett and his brother, Dalton. “We are working on some of the best music I have ever done, and he lives just a mile down the road in Alba.”
George believes in Texas blues. “I like to listen to Doyle Bramhall, his son Doyle Bramhall II, and Erykah Badu, who is from Dallas.”
George moved his family to Tyler for a short time before coming home to Alba in 2016.
Rafael Espinoza: Award Winner, Performer, and Teacher
The youngest of the “Alba Three,” Rafael Espinoza is a blues and rockabilly artist and music school educator. He too was a member of the Alba-Golden marching band with his time there in the mid-2000s.
Currently, Espinoza and his wife, Emmylou, perform at events and teach at the Espinoza Music Academy in Mineola. The academy continues to educate young musicians in the path of legendary Mineola music school instructor, the late John DeFoore.
Espinoza graduated “Magna Cum Laude” from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied with top professionals in the music industry and performed at some of Boston’s finest venues. He received a bachelor’s degree in professional music and opened for Willie Nelson during Berklee’s commencement concert.
Espinoza and the Rockabilly Railroad have recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee in the same studio where Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis all recorded their early hits.
When asked how he got started, Espinoza replied, “When you grow up in a small town, there isn’t much else to do other than eat good food and play the guitar. I grew up around music, went to church all the time with my family, and learned how to play music there,” Espinosa said. “I went to the Open Door Church in Alba. My great grandfather, who was a Bohannon, started over there. And I grew up in the church playing with Ralph Swoape and his kids.”
Espinoza learned from his grandfather on his mother’s side of the family. “My grandpa was super into all the oldies, like Chuck Berry and Howlin’ Wolf. He had a 1957 Chevy, and we would drive around at car shows as he played Elvis and Chuck Berry.”
“At 10 years old, I used my birthday money and went down to the local pawn shop here and bought my first guitar,” said Espinoza. I still have that guitar, and it’s hanging up in my house. All of that stuff molded me into what I am today.”
Espinoza’s first public show was at Tyler Junior College while he was attending classes there. “It was around 2010, and it was the first time I got to play for more than an hour,” Espinoza added.
Espinoza loves blues and rockabilly music. “The blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and rockabilly go hand in hand, and you can’t have one without the other,” he noted. “My mother, Darla Espinoza, is the music force in the house. She plays the piano.”
Espinoza also is a fan of the drums. “Drums is a very close second to the guitar for me. I love the guitar, and I really love drums. There for a while, they were battling each other out. I did end up playing drums in the Alaba-Golden marching band. When I was in high school, I was looking for other outlets to play the guitar. My last year, I won a state first chair in guitar in UIL competition, and I got to go play at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in downtown San Antonio.”
When Espinoza attended Tyler Junior College, “representatives from TJC were at the concert in San Antonio and offered me a full ride. They offered a guitar curriculum, and that’s why I went there and could play guitar all day,” Espinoza noted. “The curriculum was very classical. That came in handy cleaning up a blues man’s technique.”
After TJC, Espinoza decided to “try out this amazing top contemporary music school in the world known as Berklee College of Music. I heard about Berklee from one of my favorite guitar players, John Mayer. I love his music when he does the blues trio. He went to school at Berklee, so I decided to go there. I was just turning 20 years old at the time.”
Near the end of his time at Berklee, Espinoza took a class on how to teach music. “I had never really thought about teaching, I just wanted to play. I’m glad I took the course, because now I am teaching every day,” Espinoza revealed. “Performing is still my favorite thing to do, but now I love instructing as well.”
Espinoza does “theme” shows featuring music from his Sun Records days. “I like to do the Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Jerry Lee Lewis stuff. Now I see in my students that I have become their musical outlet,” Espinosa expressed. The Espinoza Music Academy is located at 1049 North Pacific Street in the Old Tyme Corner Village Shopping Center and is now 10 years old. For information or to set up an appointment call 903-316-3252.