The Rifters Coming to Nocona Nights on Saturday

For the past 16 years, I have been a fan of so called Texas music which encompasses a great variety of styles and genres with the recurring theme being that the music is performed by the the same people who wrote it and who, for the most part, have Texas roots. That's why I follow folks like Larry Joe Taylor, Tommy Alverson, Max Stalling and Roger Creager, just to name a few. I also include in the group those performers that live outside of Texas, but grew up here such as Michael Hearne and those who came to Texas from somewhere else and have made Texas their home such as Jerry Jeff Walker and the band, Reckless Kelly.

Having traveled to music festivals in Red River and Taos, NM on numerous occasions since 2003, I have also developed an appreciation of the music coming out of Northern New Mexico and Colorado from performers such as Jimmy Stadler, Two Dollar Horse, Chuck Pyle and The Rifters ,who this Saturday night, will be performing their Southwestern Americana style of music for a sold-out crowd at Daddy Sam's in Nocona. The group, comprised of Don Richmond, Rod Taylor and Jim Bradley, have, over the years, developed a large dedicated following in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Their trip to Nocona this week is one of only a few dates they will play outside of NM and CO, but was put in doubt a month ago when Jim Bradley fell 2 1/2 stories off a roof he was working on and airlifted to a hospital in Albuquerque with three fractured vertebrae and four broken ribs. Fortunately, he has recovered enough from his injuries that he is able to make the trip and perform. It should be a great night of food and music for those fortunate to be there and maybe they'll do some after-show picking out at the Veranda Inn like they did back in February with Joe Pat Hennen and Marvin Wilson when they played at Joe Pat's Winter Campfire which was also held in Nocona.