Died On This Date (January 6, 2011) Gary Claxton / Heybale
themusicsover Gary Claxton
DOB Unknown – January 6, 2011
Gary Claxton was a respected Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. As part of alt-country band, Heybale he was a popular weekly draw at the city’s world-famous watering hole, The Continental Club for nearly a decade. That group also featured the great Redd Volkaert of Merle Haggard fame, and Ernie Poole Ball who played with Johnny Cash. Claxton was born in Oklahoma and eventually moved to Nashville after winning a songwriting contest. But he quickly became disillusion by the business that is country music, so he packed up and moved to Austin where his honky-tonk inspired sound fit more easily. He later met the great Tom Lewis who invited him to join Heybale. Either as part of Heybale or fronting groups made up of other local friends, he was always a crowd-pleaser thanks to his golden voice and his respect for traditional country music. Gary Claxton took his own life on January 6, 2011. He was 50 years old.
Billie Joe Spears was a popular American country singer who made her biggest mark during the 1970s. With hits like “Mr. Walker It’s All Over,” “Blanket On The Ground” and “What I’ve Got In Mind,” Spears hit the Top 10 of the country charts five times between 1969 and 1977. Her bluesy voice and slick pop-leaning production helped define the popular “countrypolitan” of the era. As country tastes changed in America during the 1980s, Spears popularity dwindled at home, but she did however, continue to sell records and perform in front of sell-out crowds in the UK, where she was dubbed “The Queen Mother Of Country Music.” In 1993, Spears survived triple bypass surgery but continued to tour and record well into the 2000s. Her most recent album was 2005’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. Billie Jo Spears died of cancer on December 14, 2011. She was 74.
Bee Spears was a Nashville bassist who is perhaps best remembered for his long tenure in Willie Nelson’s band. Born into and raised by a musical family, Spears was just 19 when he began playing, and occasionally singing, with Nelson. The year was 1968, and Spears went on to stand by Nelson’s side for more than 40 years. Even when Nelson transitioned from “Nashville” to “Outlaw,” it was Spears that remained the constant. Besides playing on such Nelson landmark albums as Stardust and Red Headed Stranger, Spears can be heard on tracks by the likes of 
Dobie Gray was an American soul (and later, country) singer and songwriter who, over a career that started in 1960, released hits like “The In Crowd” and “Drift Away,” which sold over a million copies and remains a staple on radio. Born into a family of Texas sharecroppers, Gray was exposed to gospel music at an early age thanks to an uncle who was a Baptist minister. By the early ’60s, he was living in Los Angeles where he met 
Tom Roady was a much respected drummer and percussionist who is perhaps best remembered for his recent work with Ricky Skaggs. Roady can be heard playing on Skaggs’ latest offering, A Skaggs Family Christmas, Volume 2, and was gearing up to go out on tour with Skaggs. Throughout his long career, Roady played with the likes of Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Joan Baez, Bob Seger, and Kenny Chesney. Earlier in his career, Roady was a session player at the storied Muscle Shoals studio, working for