The Cones Sisters

In the beginning...

I first heard the Cones Sisters when I visited the Cornerstone Church sometime around 1986. I had heard about Pastor John Hagee and had come to hear him preach. But the special music of the day was performed by three good looking girls singing great harmony. A great asset to the church service.

My first encounter with the girls happened when I was working with Al Sturchio's band, I believe in 1988. He had booked the girls to do a couple of shows with the band - one out at Sea World. He needed someone to rewrite some charts for his instrumentation. I was also the keyboard player for the shows. The girls were nice, and we did talk some. But they didn't seem to notice me much. That was okay because they had a bit of celebrity status going for them. Everybody wanted to talk to them.
In late December of 1989, I was approached by the Cones Sisters to join their band. I remember that I was pleasantly surprised they had thought of me. I had mostly been free-lancing for several years and was looking for anything to pay the rent. But the sisters were talking about a house gig.
They had auditioned for a house gig at the Horned Toad Lounge at the Holiday Inn Airport. They had walked into the manager's office without an appointment and auditioned for him - a capella. No backup tape, no backup band, no accompaniment. And they floored him. They were hired on the spot to start in January. All they needed was a band.
And the band that we put together was truly a great one:
  • Billy Staggs - guitar / vocals
  • Jerry Field - bass / vocals
  • Dan Dreeben - drums
  • Mike Workman - keyboards / vocals
We played six nights a week at the Horned Toad Lounge from January - September of 2006. This many good musicians playing together for this long? Yeah, we were awesome!
We left the Horned Toad Lounge for the Oak Hills Lounge. However, we had three singers and four musicians. It's hard to keep a band this big working as steady as we had been working. By the end of the year, the club gigs were too sparse to keep the band together.
But we might all still get together some time or other. Billy, Jerry, and I will likely play Night In Old San Antonio (NIOSA) with the Cones Sisters this year. We're looking forward to it.