Moved to Tulsa in the 1950s, playing with local bands including Johnnie Lee Wills's group, before being hired to The Texas Playboys in 1958, then fronting a lineup of the band after Wills retired in 1965, and again 1986 when he & Tommy Allsup bought the rights to the name from Betty Wills. He was also a member of the long-running The Original Texas Playboys Under The Direction Of Leon McAuliffe.

Born in Billings, Missouri, October 2, 1927; died May 14, 2019, in Fort Worth, Texas, aged 91.