Bellamy Brothers Band Has
Central Florida Roots

by SUSAN BARBOSA
Ledger Staff Writer

AUBURNDALE  - We've had the California sound in music., English bands influenced the scene for a While. Motown and Nashville have their audiences.
Maybe now it's time for the Central Florida sound.
Observers in the recording industry say the sound of the future will be country-rock, a blend of traditional country themes and style with the energy of rock and roll.
Four Polk County musicians say that sound exists here, and they're hoping that forcast proves to be true because they've quit their Jobs and joined The Bellamy Brothers Band, a country-oriented act with an inter-national reputation that hopes to appeal to the rock and roll market.
Gerald Chambers and his cousin Carl, both 32, have played in bands since their days at Auburndale High School. The veterans of many local bands including "All Saint's Day," "Ron and The Starfires," "Purple Underground" and "The Dizzy Rambler Band" say they always hoped that some day they'd earn their living as musicians.
Now they are and their future looks bright as they wait for the "new wave" of music to sweep them away.
Playing cards with two other members of the band at Gerald's house earlier this week, the Chambers cousins admitted they once considered the possibility that the "right situation" was never going to come along for them. According to Carl, the "right situation" meant a band that played their kind of music and had enough "clout in the business so we wouldn't go out there and starve to death."
While they waited Gerald worked at an Auburndale paper plant; Carl set up his own business as a commercial artist.
Then one day last summer they got their chance to be part of a rock and roll band.
Well, a country-rock band. Actually, it's a country band that's hoping to be popular in the rock market too.
Keyboard player Jon LaFrandre says the whole thing got started last year when he partied with Dave and Howard Bellamy in their Darby (near Dade City) home.
The Bellamy Brothers hit the charts in 1976 with their number one hit "Let Your Love Flow." Dave wrote a comical tune called "Spiders and Snakes" which broke another Polk County singer, Jim Stafford, into the national scene.
LaFrandre said the brothers were putting together a new band and invited him to join. He introduced the Chambers cousins to the group and they hired on, Gerald on bass guitar and Carl on lead guitar. Danny Jones, a 26-year-old guitarist from Auburndale, and a drummer from Tampa completed the group.
In August they left for California to record. One of those songs, "Lovin' On," has climbed to number 29 on this week's record sales charts.
They've done a month of one night stands from New York City to Nashville. After the holidays they're headed for either the recording studio or the concert trail.
The new Bellamy Brothers Band will make their first appearance in Polk County tonight when they join Hot Pepper and vocalist Judy Bailey in a benefit concert for migrant children at the Nora Mayo Hall in Winter Haven.
Asked if they had always been fans of the Bellamy Brothers, Gerald admitted that the first time he listened to the brothers' first three albums was when he was considering joining the band.
"I didn't know their music before, but I like what they do. Our backgrounds are very similar; we all come from the same kind of rural families, our roots are in country music and we like to play rock and roll."
How does it feel to jump into a situation where the momentum is already building behind an established act? Do they wish they had such a promising future with a band they had put together themselves?
"Well, it is true that the ground work for this band had been laid before we came into it, but this is definitely a band situation," explained 30-year-old LaFrandre, who says he graduated from night school because he was tossed out of Winter Haven High for having long hair. "When you listen to Bellamy Brothers music, what you're hearing is a group image, Dave and Howard are open to all ideas, so we feel that we're very much a part of this group."
Jones says the toughest part of his new job is the 14 to 30 hours of sitting in the van traveling from concert to concert. He says they fill the time by holding business meetings and listening to tapes of their performances.
Tonight's performance for the hometown crowd begins at 8. Admission is $4.50. Proceeds will be used by the Agricultural Labor Program to purchase educational toys for migrant children.