HISTORY / COMMENTARY: Hot Rocket was a four piece rhythm and blues, Led Zeppelin type band. In fact, we went to see Zeppelin in Mobile together in 1973 and came back from that concert thinking we were Led Zeppelin. We proceeded to learn about half of their music and had a good time doing it. Bill Andersen had the ability to keep it simple on drums that most drummers either won't do or they can't because they're limited by technique so they try to overdo themselves. I had a Wurlitzer Electronic Piano that we hooked up to a Leslie (B3 organ speaker system) and it sounded amazingly like a fat rhythm guitar. I consider Donnie to be a very tasteful, solid, guitar sound-heaven kind of player and along with Louis, who is always, every time on beat and in tune and huge sounding, this band was powerful.

We played New Orleans and most of the same places the Hawg Band played and I remember once when we were playing for a fraternity on a river boat. CORRECTION: It was a high school senior party and it was on the riverboat "Mark Twain". As it turns out Rickey Parsons, a.k.a. 'Jabbo Stokes', and Jimbo Jones were also there. I don't have any tapes of the Original Hot Rocket with Jim and Jabbo - I wish I did. Rickey saw this story and called me with corrections and details I had lost around 1982 when there was a hard drive crash in my brain. It was on the Mississippi River in New Orleans and we set up and it was time to play. We started the first song, which was a Van Morrison tune called "Working", and the riverboat started moving at the same time and for some reason we felt like part of the movement of the river or like the boat started moving in concert with the music. We looked at each other and just took off cooking.