Julie Bailey
and the
Texas Gems

In the beginning...

The end of Blackrose was pretty devastating to me. I had been part of the band for 2 1/2 years - a period of time when my first marriage ended in divorce. My two kids were in town, but I felt so alone. The band had seen me through the roughest times. But in August or 1085, we played our last gig.
 
I had to find a new band. I hit the phone lines hard calling every musician I knew. When that didn't work, I called numbers I found in musician want-ads in the papers and also on bulletin boards in the music stores. It was pretty depressing. I didn't even want to go through all this, but I had to pay the rent.
 
One of those many calls I made, the person answering the call was female with a deep and husky voice. She introduced herself to me as Julie Bailey and said she had a band that played in a little night club out by Lackland Air Force Base called - get this - The Honkey Tonk. The money wasn't great, but her band was playing country music four nights a week and the job was steady. I got hired over the phone - and would start the next Wednesday. We'd do rehearsals during the day while I learned on the job at night.
 
The Mysterious Julie