Wimberley’s Volunteer Fire Ants to play again after seven-year hiatus
Submitted by Wimberley1 on
By Sue Sweat
Special to the View
Editor's Note: The band is set to play from 7 - 10 p.m. on Friday, July 25 at Ino'z.
Soon after they formed in the early ‘90s, the Wimberley Volunteer Fire Ants became local legends performing every Thursday night to a packed house at Cypress Creek Cafe.
The band played together for almost two decades.
This Friday night, they rejoin at Ino’z after a seven-year hiatus that’s sure to ”round-up” Ant fans to line up and head back to the Mound. As players of Americana Music before the genre was named, the group quickly became known locally for their strong originals as well as renditions of acoustic favorites like John Prine, Bob Dylan, B.W. Stevenson and popular bluegrass arrangements of Grateful Dead tunes.
The initial group was Arley Blankenship, Doug Floyd and Gary Boggs. Gary flew away and was replaced by the late Keith Carper, who then returned to play bass for Hal Ketchum’s Band.
A local artist and talented songwriter, Arley Blankenship, plays regularly with his band, Wooden Indian.
Doug Floyd played with the Rusty Wier Band in the late 80s and most recently in the Shake Russell Trio. That trio won the Texas Music Award’s 2010 Vocal Group of the Year.
By 1992, bassist Gerry Burns played ‘the bottom’ as the trio’s third member. Formerly with Gary P. Nunn’s band, Gerry plays with John Inmon as a duo, with the John Inmon Band and with Bret Graham as well.
Jeff Hogan, the last member to join, learned reggae-style percussion in Jamaica and is a master at drums and sound effects. He has played with bluegrass great Peter Rowan for 15 years.
For the 25th Anniversary of Woodstock’s music festival, the band held their own Moundstock at Cawley’s Restaurant, which was in its original site at the junction of Ranch Roads 12 and 32.
The colorful crowd of tie-dyed music lovers was estimated at around 500.
With music embedded deeply inside, each has continued performing and honing their musical skills. Despite their years playing apart, tunes will flow, just like riding a bike... and, for these guys, a bit easier than that.
For many, this Friday, July 25, will be a trip down Memory Lane as the Volunteer Fire Ants reunite at Ino’z Brew & Chew for the first time in over a decade.
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