Indy Boomer 2014.pdf July 2014 | Page 6

The Wright Brothers Still Rockin’…After All These Years Photo provided by Brenda Staples Photography Late in 1974, John McDowell III had a very important decision to make: he had just been asked to play guitar and sing on a USO tour in Southeast Asia, but – partly because he didn’t feel that the music he wanted to play meshed with the style of the folks who had asked him, and partly because he decided that he would not enjoy being shot at (it was Vietnam, after all…) – he stayed in the states. Good thing, because Tom and Tim Wright asked him to jam with them, and in January, 1975, he was officially invited to join the Wright Brothers’ Overland Stage Company band. As soon as they began playing together on a regular basis, they realized (in that way that only musicians understand) that their sound and performance karma were totally in sync…and it has worked for more than 32 years. Mind you, Tim, Tom and John had all been raised in families with evangelical / musical backgrounds, and the Wright Brothers in particular were lifetime members of the Roy Rogers Riders Club, for which they had sworn to follow the creed, which – besides promising to be neat and clean, obeying your parents and never wasting food - also included protecting the weak, respecting flag and country, and regular attendance at church. And true to form, they learned harmonies around the piano at home and singing with the family at the Sulphur Creek Church in French Lick. John had been born in Marion, Indiana, and while his family moved to Texas when he was still a kid, he came back to Indiana just in time to embark on a professional career with the Wrights. So it seems that the link-up was destined. 6 –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Sign Up For Your Free Digital Version At IndyBoomer.com –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––