Bill Claxton

Claxton Welch is a folk/rock band comprised of Bill Claxton, Paul Welch, Jared Calkins, and Ricky Turner While they do some covers of rock, blues and folk/rock, they primarily play original music composed by Bill Claxton.  Influences on his music include latin, folk/rock, americana, singer/songwriter. Bill plays both acoustic and electric rhythm guitar and harmonica.  Paul, a very accomplished guitarist, plays both acoustic and electric lead guitar. Bill is the lead vocalist and Paul provides harmony vocals. Their first album entitled Claxton Welch has 10 original songs written by Bill Claxton In 2008, Bill and Paul formed Claxton Welch and began playing Bill's original music. They can either perform electric or acoustic sets of their music. Their most notable engagement this year was the 2010 Richardson Wildflower! Festival! They have also performed a few times at Poor David's Pub in Dallas, Texas.Jared Calkins plays bass guitar in the band. Jared started playing piano at age six, moved on to drums in high school, and discovered the bass guitar in college. For the next 15 years, he would go through a slew of bands including: Rhythmfinger, Cardinal Points, Southpaw Preachers, the Logarithmix, Aural Tide, Ezra Thomas, Linus (out of College Station), Left of Eliot, Liquor Box, Don't Tell Mama, as well as various solo artists. The list of stages Jared has played is even longer, and consists of venues such as Trees, Gypsy Tea Room, Mardi Gras, QT Ballpark in Grand Prairie, Club Dada, The Door, The Aardvark, The 19th Hole in The Woodlands, The Sidecar Pub in Houston, TCU campus, 3rd Floor Cantina in Bryan, The Black Academy of Arts and Letters, the Bronco Bowl, and many others. While he is schooled in many genres, he has a style all his own.
Ricky Turner has been drumming in the Dallas-Fort Worth arena since 1967. He grew up in East Dallas and graduated from Bryan Adams High School. Savoir- Faire was his first endeavor and they played all the “happening” clubs in Dallas of that era. Ricky was also the drummer for Bedrock, the first band formed by Bill Claxton and Paul Welch. Ricky has also played with many local Dallas musicians, most notably Kenny & the Kasuals, Voodoo Lounge, a Rolling Stones cover band and The James Ferris Group. He enjoys playing all music genres. Ricky is a member of the Big D 60’s Yahoo Group which is dedicated to archiving the history of 60’s and 70’s bands from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He is an avid collector of vinyl and currently has over 10,000 lp’s , 45’s and 78’s in his eclectic collection.

Copyright 2009-2010 Claxton Welch