A Brief Bio of
Billy's Music Career
An award winning drummer, Billy "Hot
Pocket" Barner* a.k.a. "The Pocket" has performed internationally,
nationally and regionally. His musical genre spans all styles from
Rock, Blues, Motown, Soul, Funk, Afro/Cuban and New Orleans Second Line to
Jazz and Country. Billy has played in some of the most prestigeous
bands to emerge from the Pacific Northwest including The Mark
Whitman Band, BIG, The Crossroads Band, The Blues Orbiters, Nicole
Fournier & her 3lb. Universe, Junkyard Jane, Blues Alliance, Jumbo
Groove with Ron Gardner, The Sultans, The Centrix, The Toffs, 7th &
Pacific, Capt. Flyswat & The Cat's Pajama Band, The Porcelain
Tabernacle, The Collection, Hometown Blues Band, Peacable Lane, Jonah's
Whale, Oasis, Rapture, Johnny & the Marks, The Fabulous
Cyclones, Jerry Miller & Co., Color Blue, Terry Lee
Hardesty and The Eagle River Band, Tanglefoot, Loose Reins, Intruder, The
Robin Barrett Band, The BBC Project, The Great Pretenders, The
Billy Shew Band, In The House, The Cee Cee James Band, Roger Enders
and Road To Ruin, The Tim Enders Band, Son Jack, Jr., The Tommy Wall Band,
John Scooch Cugno and The Delta 88 Revival, The Galaxies, Blues
Redemption and many many others. Consequently, Billy
has met, performed with and/or opened for many nationally &
internationally known performers including: RB Greaves,
George Benson, Pablo Cruise, Spencer Davis Group, Eric Burden and
the Animals, Maria Muldaur, Arthur Lee and Love, Charlie Musslewhite,
Tinsley Ellis, Hubert Sumlin, TOTO, Three Dog Night, Iron Butterfly, REO
Speedwagon, Paul Revere and the Raiders, BTO, Rick Derringer, The
Drifters, The Coasters, The Cascades, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Jr.,
among others.
* Billy was dubbed with the nicname Billy "Hot Pocket"
Barner by the late Ron Gardner when Billy , Ron and Dudley Hill
founded the legendary Jumbo Groove in the 1980's. Billy changed
the nicname from "Hot Pocket" to "The Pocket" on the advice of a
copyright attourney who was attending one of Billy's performances and
after receiving the Summy Award inscribed with the words "always in the pocket".
In 2002 Billy received the Atlas Cole memorial Summy
Award for Drummer of the Year from the Tacoma Music Foundation. (See
details and other awards and nominations on the Awards
page).
In 1972, while in Homtown Blues Band, Billy toured the
midwestern U.S. and the deep south " Chittlin' Circuit"
with ATCO recording artist RB Greaves. RB had five gold records at the
time and his single, "Take a Letter Maria", from this album was #2 on
the Billboard charts and still receives plenty of air play today.
When the tour ended, Hometown blues band moved to Los Angeles during the
recording and release of RB's second album and played all around Southern
California (booked by RB's management team). Hometown was the opening act
for Arthur Lee and Love at Cisco's in Huntington beach, played Rick's
Rancho in Santa Maria, Under The Ice House and attended some
wild and crazy Hollywood parties meeting quite a few of RB's celebrity
friends among them were; Comedians Freeman King and Murray Langston ( aka
The Unknown Comic) of the Sonny and Cher Show and comedian George
Wallace.
Hometown
Blues Band 1968-1972
L
to R Curt Southworth, Billy Barner, Thom DeRosa,
Doug Skoog, Bud Brown and BJ Krett
RB
Greaves Album on ATCO Records
Billy toured
with RB as his drummer
Hometown
Blues Band on tour with RB Greaves. Poolside in Ft Worth Texas
1972
L-R Standing: Bud Brown (trumpet, flute & flugal
horn), Thom DeRosa (bass guitar, vocals), Curt Southworth (tenor sax, alto
sax and flute), and BJ Krett (lead guitar) just out of the frame on
the right holding a beer,
L-R Seated: Doug Skoog (Hammond B3. electric
and accoustic piano, vocals), Terry Gunter (Bass sax -not baritone-
vocals), Bill Barner (drums, vocals)
The La Bastile Gig in Houston Texas
These are the Houston
Texas "Bayou City Banner" newspaper ads for Liza Minelli's "La Bastile"
night club, where we appeared with RB Greaves. The walls in the green
room were a who's who of the entertainment world. Signitures of
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Otis
Redding, Richard Prior, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Jonathan Winters,
Tom Jones, Judy Garland and literally hundreds more graced the walls
and ceiling of the room. The Buddy Rich Band and the Worlds Greatest
Jazz Band were ending their appearances the weekend we arrived and
Yusef Lateef trio came in following us. Houston was great! When we
arrived at our hotel (The Continental Houston), we were greeted by a
represntative of "The Incrowd Club". His sole responsibility was to make
sure we received the red carpet treatment while in Houston. On our nights
off he had a limo waiting for us in front of the hotel and took us to all
the hot night spots in Houston - Carte Blanche. Of the many Cities we
played on that tour Houston was far and away my favorite.
Read more about Hometown Blues Band and more stuff
about Billy Barner on the Archives
page.
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