Dizzy Rambler - 1975-1976

When Jessie and I left Ron and Matanzas in 1975, we took the name "Dizzy Rambler" which was a play on the name that my folks had used in the 1930s for their band, "The Dizzy Ramblers". We also started to move ever so slightly toward a more country sound, that was, at first, little more than just playing the southern rock stuff that was in it's hey day during that time frame.

When we first started, we were working at Ric Furnari's, "Dante's Roma" on a rotation schedule with Ron and Matanzas (See newspaper article above) . We played on Wednesday night alone and on Friday and Saturday nights rotating sets with Matanzas. We managed to sneak in a couple of original tunes on the slower nights.

On certain nights, Willie Metts would come over from Lakeland and sing with us. We would also join forces with Matanzas for a big eleven piece sound during one set on Fridays and Saturdays. The lounge version of Dizzy Rambler only lasted a few months.

When the "Roma" closed, Dizzy Rambler reformed and spent a lot of time rehearsing. A sizable number of songs I had written were now becoming a part of the song list, but unfortunately, the band was seven pieces and had to support a sound system, sound man, and roadie. It was tough getting decent paying jobs for a band that size and even fewer that would tolerate original material.

The band reformed in 1976 and was then was made up of Dannie Jones on steel guitar; Stan Chambers on guitar and vocals; Jesse Chambers on bass; Jerry Laviano on guitar; Greg Towle on piano, sax, and harmonica; Carl Chambers on vocals and guitar; Paul Nethercutt on drums; and Mel Chambers and Steve McGinnis took care of the sound and equipment. [Click Thumbnail at left for large photo of band and crew]

It was during this time period that I cut my very first original song demos at Central Sound Studio, a recording studio located in my hometown, Auburndale, Florida, where I had been working for Len Walls as a session guitarist. The band was the group listed above and the session produced four songs: 40 Miles to Macon, Right On Wrangler, Mornin' Sunshine, and Painted Eyes. I was not yet a confident singer but I did manage to sing the first two and my cousin Stan (Jesse's brother) sang the other two. Portions of the first three are included here if you would like to hear them. The southern-rock influence is very obvious and the songs are my very first attempts at songwriting. They were not intended to be commercial (didn't even know there was such a thing) but were written in order to have something original to perform live.

It was also around this time (1976), Jerry Laviano introduced us to a drummer friend of his in Zephyrhills, FL, by the name of Rodney Price. Rodney would become a good friend and comrade in the years to come.

Toward the beginning of 1977, the big band, Dizzy Rambler, had pretty much died for lack of decent paying gigs. Jesse and I had been doing more and more session work at Central Sound Studio in Auburndale and had met a young lady from Lacoochie, Florida (a wide spot in the road near Brooksville) who had a tremendous singing voice and was a real decent country songwriter. Len Walls produced and recorded a 45rpm single with her and not long thereafter we started to do occasional shows around the area. Working with Judy was giving us the opportunity to do real traditional country music, something we had always wanted to do, but had had very little or no chance to try. The band was a very loose organization at the time and we called in whoever was available for any given job. More and more, we were using Rodney Price on drums both in the studio and on the live dates when he was available.

Another event that marked 1977 and deeply affected my career, happened while we were working at a restaurant and lounge in Clermont, Florida. Jesse and I had taken a couple of weeks at the "Crest Restaurant" in Clermont with two former members of the Nation Rocking Shadows, Larry Hunt and Don Chambliss. a couple of players we hadn't seen in several years. During that stint, I met my wife, Nancy, and my life, from that day forward, would be forever changed. We dated for almost a year (it was almost an hour and a half drive) until we decided one night (at a Willie Nelson/Emmylou Harris concert) to get married.

On June 3rd, 1978, Nancy and I were married out in a pine woods just west of Auburndale. Len Walls (the owner of Central Sound and a former but still licensed preacher) performed the ceremony and then we played music for about five hours. We had about 500 in attendance, some of which we actually knew. Below is one of the invitations we sent out and you may click on it, if you're interested in some photos and audio from the wedding and concert/reception.