Captain Joe’s music a family thing
For Atlanta, Texasbased band Captain Joe, music’s truly all in the family.
The band brings their good-time spin on Southern rock, classic country and outlaw country to a new venue for this popular band. They’ll play Fat Jack’s Oyster and Sports Bar in Texarkana tonight. They aim to bring a crowd.
Captain Joe sprang from cousins Wade Tyson, who’s on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, and bassist Paul Tyson simply playing together with their bandmates at family gatherings.
Eventually, the band started to play shows in Atlanta, later branching out from there. Now they’ve played Texarkana’s Railfest and, for a few years running, the Mardi Gras celebration down in Shreveport, La., a fun time they simply lucked into, the band says.
Joining the Tysons is Mike Petty on lead guitar, who, Wade notes, was pretty much adopted into the family. David “Catfish” Tyson had to leave the band to attend school, and so now Michael Brosius, a local radio personality with 103.9 KPGG, stepped in to play drums. Casey Pickney is the sound man and an enthusiastic promoter for the band.
“We’re a family band. We played together over the years at Thanksgiving get-togethers, holiday get-togethers,” Wade said. They’ve even played after funerals. “We just evolved like that and been playing together for years.”
He says many bands call themselves a garage band. Not quite for Captain Joe, named for an ancestor, Capt. Josephus C. Tyson, a Miller County pioneer who fought for the Confederacy.
“We’re a barn band. We have a big barn party every year. It’s getting bigger and bigger every year. Back in the day we’d play the barn on the holidays and that was basically it. Then we decided to start doing gigs, and here we go,” Wade said.
It was three years ago this upcom-
ing New Year’s Eve, Captain Joe playing their first gig at the local country club, said Paul, who also plays in a bluegrass band, Louisiana Grass. Petty toured with Johnny Duncan.
Music’s been a vital part of family life for a long time. Paul and Wade recall playing music with family at the community center. “That’s how we were raised up,” Paul said.
This will be their first Jack’s show, though they played the Fat Jack’s in Hot Springs just a few weeks ago.
“The funny thing about it, there was a band from Hot Springs playing Fat Jack’s here the same night,” Wade said.
Band members say they all enjoy making music together. They have a passion for music and want to share it with others. “Spread the enjoyment. That’s the thing,” Paul said.
To that end, they have a good time with their fans. They’ll play long sets without a break. And Pickney vows that they’re the hardest working band in the Ark-La-Tex.
“We feed off our fans. I mean if they’re having a good time, we have a good time. It just bounces back and forth. We’re part of the party with them,” Wade said. “We just really enjoy what we’re doing.”
They don’t manage things with a playlist. Wade guides them from song to song. “He basically calls the songs out based on what he feels the crowd is doing,” Pickney said. Their demographic is the 25- to 55year-old crowd.
“One thing that I’ve got to say: If we start at 9 p.m., our first break is going to be maybe at 11 p.m,” Paul said. They’ll even dance with the crowd between sets.
They feel accountable to their fans, who might travel to come see them perform, said Wade. “Our fans are our friends.”
(Cover is $5. The show starts around 8:30 p.m. Fat Jack’s is 3324 N. State Line Ave. More info: 870-774-5225.)