Cliff Temp56le & The #956 Band

Cliff Temple, born and raised in Denton, Texas, was raised on country and Texas music. Weaned on Texas music pioneers like Rusty Weir and Ray Wiley Hubbard, both regulars on the Denton music scene, Cliff was also exposed to jazz and contemporary music from greats like the University of North Texas’ 1 O’clock Lab Band and Brave Combo. These influences, along with Cliff’s creative genius with lyric and song, have produced a new genre of Texas-style country music...Rural Roots Rock. Rural Roots Rock, a phrase coined by Cliff’s wife HJ, can be best described as...Music with a country feel & a rock beat, that always tells a story. It has been said, “when Cliff performs, you can always ‘feel the story’, like with The Eagles”.

In Cliff’s music, you will find down-to-earth intuitive stories with attractive and sensitive rhythms. As for his voice, well, it’s been compared to a head-on collision between Merle Haggard and Van Morrison, with a side-swipe of John Mellencamp & Bob Segar. Mr. Gary Holder, director of Entertainment for the Texarkana Quadrangle Festival, said of Cliff’s sound, “It’s on the cutting edge- something no one else is doing”.

Cliff has been performing in the Denton/Dallas Metroplex for almost 30 years. Since the age of 16, while playing with his first band Fair Game, Cliff has written lyric and music to reflect the many stages of his life. Songs like Alyson, Granddad’s Song, Mother’s Little Brother, Family Song, 25 Year and 50 Years & Counting were written about family members, showing the influences those people have had on his development in life & in music. Others he wrote for dear friends & memories shared, like Life, Downtown, Fireball & Old Friend of Mine. In drawing from life’s experiences and those of others, Cliff weaves a story which many in his audience can relate to and all can feel. Many fans enjoy living the life of controversy, albeit vicariously, through songs like Last Toke, Weed & Whiskey and I Don’t Need Nothing. With early influences of The Eagles, Allman Brothers, Van Morrison, Lynard Skynard and John Mellencamp, Cliff delivers heart-felt ballads and humorous parodies on life, as well as driving, rocked-out power songs, all in the same show.

Currently, Cliff’s original music has been performed and/or recorded by local North Texas bands Dusk Til Dawn and The Steve Stone Band. He wrote five of eleven songs on DTD’s debut CD “Back Home”; and collaborated with their front man, Rigo Sanchez, on two others (Every Other Weekend and Back Home) both of which have gotten good airplay in Victoria & Houston, Texas. Two other songs that Cliff wrote solo (Branded and Weed & Whiskey) have made regular rotation in Abilene, Texas.

Cliff, while with local Dallas band The Mason’s, was a mainstay with the Annual Lower Greenville St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Dallas for years. He also participated in Dallas’ Annual Crawfish Boil, opening & performing with bands such as Kerry Pierce (of Jack-o-Pierce fame) & Cross Canadian Ragweed. Cliff & The # 9 Band performed at the Annual Quadrangle Festival in Texarkana, Arkansas, where they opened for Jayson Bales & Robert Earl Keen. He has also shared the stage with Daryl Lee Rush, Brian Houser (AKA The Beerman) & Speedtrucker.

Cliff is backed up by a group of highly talented musicians he calls The # 9 Band: Chip Brown, Curtis Goff, Steve Ramirez & Paul Holder. They all have very similar- yet oddly different- musical influences and favorites; from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Metallica, from The Beatles to Mudvayne, from Lynard Skynard to Faith No More, each bringing their own individuality, raw talent, humor, energy and a strong belief in Cliff’s music, thus creating an original sound that is Rural Roots Rock!