My love for music started at a early age. When I was little, I was glued to the television watching Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers who were the singing cowboys. They were my idols and that's where my music Love really started. That combined with watching the Ozark jubilee on Saturday evenings had my attention. When I got to grade school, my big desire was to take guitar lessons because I wanted to be like my two big heros Gene and Roy. Unfortunately guitar lessons weren't in the cards for me at that time. When the opportunity came in grade school for free orchestra lessons that caught my attention. Even though my main desire was still the guitar, free violin lessons would be an opportunity for me to play music. My father got me a used violin and the free lessons started. The biggest challenge for me was that most of the students were also taking private lessons. Private music lessons still weren’t in the cards . Even though I didn't have very much training, I was excited when I made the All City orchestra. That was a big thing in grade school. Also in grade school the water was tested with my vocal ability. I'm not sure what grade it was, I think maybe in the fifth grade, I was selected to sing a solo during a PTA meeting. That was my first encounter with a large group of people. Junior high is where my love grew. I had a music teacher by the name of Carol Henderson who was always pushing me to be in plays and school music events. I'm glad she did. In 1963 while at Pipkin jr High, she told me that I was going to be in the sçhool talent show. Not only did she tell me I was going to be in the talent show, she told me what I was going to sing. At that time Johnny Horton was a big headliner with a hit called North to Alaska. Mrs Henderson decided that I was going to sing North to Alaska and she was going to have someone accompany me on the guitar. The biggest challenge came when we were two weeks away from the talent show and I didn't have anybody to accompany me on the guitar or even talk to anybody about accompanying me Mrs Henderson's answer to that was that I would just have to learn to play the guitar myself and that she would teach me the chords if I could get my hands on a guitar. If I couldn't, she would find one for me. My oldest brother who took a few guitar lessons had a Gibson that was gathering dust at the house. A couple of strings were missing and the others were rusted. My father loaded me in the car and took me downtown to the Ike Martin music store. I still remember that day walking in and my father asking about guitar strings. That was the first time I heard the name Black Diamond strings. It took a little effort but I learned to play North to Alaska in that short amount of time. I admit, I was a little nervous walking out on stage that day. Everything went well and the next year I was again in the talent show and again did a Johnny Horton song, however the song that I sang was Sink the Bismarck and Mr Henderson accompanied me on the piano. When I got to high school, I was pleasantly surprised that Mrs Henderson had transferred from Pipkin Junior High to Central High School. The biggest highlight of singing while I was in high school was being one of the soloists for a School program called Sing Out Express. Sing out express was actually a worldwide movement.

Each high school had their own show. From that show they formed a city-wide Sing Out. The school system combined all the schools together for one big Sing Out show that was held at Parkview High School. I had three solos. At that time in Springfield there was a Junior Chamber of Commerce who got involved with the program and sent a selected few of us to New York City for the World Sing Out festival. It was a long ride but very memorable traveling with students from all four high schools in Springfield. We actually cut an album during the show at that was held at Parkview High School that I still have today. The sing-out experience was so much fun and I became friends with so many people from other high schools. I only wish today that I could remember all of the names of the people that were involved and what they're doing today. I enjoyed singing in the choir while in high school. I was also in a few plays and a few talent shows. Our double quartet was pretty salty. We always walked away with one rating at state. My first guitar: While high School, I worked as a carryout at Consumers Market. I made enough money to buy a motorcycle that provided me with transportation to and from baseball games and high School events. Working at consumers also gave me the ability to buy a guitar. I'll never forget the first guitar. I bought it from Lyons music and wish I still had that guitar today. It was a sunburst Gibson and had a mahogany base. It would be worth a lot of money today. I remember coming home and walking in the door with my new guitar. My father who was sitting in his lounge chair set up and looked at the guitar. He was amazed at how beautiful it was. Then he asked how much I paid for it. I told him $175 and that I had worked out an installment plan with Lyons music. Very commonly he sat back in the lounge chair and said, that's great, except you don't know how to play the guitar. My reply was, guess I’ll be learning. Back then, $175 for a high school kid was a lot of money. I never had any regrets buying that guitar. I became a regular at Lyons music working with Bill and his brother Buddy. They were great people. College is where the music really started to be fun and interesting. Lots of coffee houses and Student Union festivals. When I first got to college I mainly played fraternity and sorority events. I was having the time of my life. I later teamed up with a class maite from Central High, John Precise, we started playing as a duo and called ourselves Denzel and Jonathan. We played on college night at Shakey's Pizza Parlor on Glenstone for about a year and a half. During that time we also played one night a week at Hickory Hills Country Club. At Shakey's, we made $15.00 a night with all the pizza we could eat and 3.2 beer we could drink. At Hickory Hills Country Club, we made 20.00 a night with a meal. In between Hickory Hills and Shakey's Pizza parlor, we played numerous parties and events. Basically, we would play wherever we could find a place to play and people to listen. John left SMS and went to the University of Missouri to further his education. That pretty much was the end of Denzil and Jonathan in Springfield in the early 70’s. Years later John and I started playing again and added a drummer named Jim Rice who we knew from our high school days. The new group consisted of Jim, John, myself and John's Son who played Bass. The only difference today is instead of going by Denzel and Jonathan, we go by the Denzel and Jonathan Band.

After the Denzel and Jonathan Band came to an end, I continued to play campus festivals, parties and clubs. Shakey's had closed but there was a new pizza parlor in town by the name of Tim's Pizza. They had two locations and had entertainment once a week. I also was a frequent player and made many new friends. Another memorable place in Springfield was the Crow's Nest. It was a small pub in the basement of a Sea Food Restaurant called the Captain's Table. The Crow's nest was a popular Hangout for SMS students along with Drury College students. In 1973, I volunteered to campaign for Kit Bond. One evening while playing at a fundraising dinner. I was playing background music in the corner of a large room with probably a 100 or more in attendance. Needless to say, I wasn't in the spotlight and that wasn't the intention. While playing, a gentleman made his way across the large room headed in my direction. The gentleman came over, shook my hand and thanked me for coming out to campaign for Kit Bond. That man was Ronald Reagan who really left an impression on me. Kit Bond won the election and I felt privileged to receive an invitation to the governor's Ball that I did attend. Something that I will never forget, one afternoon while getting ready to head over to the SMS campus to play at a folk festival, a friend of mine and I were jamming in the backyard of his apartment that backed up to the south side of the Kentwood Arms Hotel. Suddenly a voice on the other side of the chain link fence, looking through the ivy hollers at us. He asked if we minded if he came over and jammed with us. Our reply was certainly come on over. A short time later a gentleman came around the corner of the house with a guitar in hand. That gentleman was Paul Stookey formerly with Peter Paul and Mary. Paul was in town to play an event at the Shrine Mosque. We jammed for about an hour and then asked Paul to follow us over to the campus for the festival. When we arrived at the festival, everyone was in awe that we were walking in with Paul Stookie. Paul took the stage and played for about an hour. In 1971, I was selected as a finalist for the National Intercollegiate Music Festival regional competition to be held at Southern Illinois University. The competition consisted of six regions in the categories of Pop/Rock and Folk. I didn't win 1st place but was extremely happy that I was one of the 10 finalists where there were over 1,500 entries in my class. The experience will stay with me forever. Even though I never really got to know them on a personal note, it was a pleasure to meet and perform alongside Slim Wilson and Speedy Hayworth. Back in the early 70's, the Springfield Junior Chamber of Commerce hosted an annual television auction on KY3. It was a Charity Auction where local entertainers were invited to participate. That is where I first met them. They enjoyed being around people and I remember Slim telling one joke after another. It was obvious that the two of them really really enjoyed playing music.

One of the craziest things that happened was an off the cuff booking that came out of nowhere. Three friends of mine, Dennis McBride, Josh Gilbirth and Danny Bradley, had been getting together in my garage about once a month to jam. All three of those guys are accomplished bluegrass players and can play anything or with anybody. One evening Danny showed up with a portable Barringer recorder. We had fun with it and didn't expect anything great from our playing. Several weeks later when we got together to jam, Danny again brought the recorder. While sitting around talking, Danny mentioned that he played the recordings for some folks over in Kansas. He said they wanted to book us for what I believe was the State Skeet Shooting Championships. We only knew two or three songs that we would even think about playing in front of anyone. We knew more but the sound wouldn't impress anyone. Dennis said if we had enough time maybe we could learn some more songs and possibly do the event. Josh asked how long we have to play? Danny replied about an hour. Josh asked when the event was? Danny replied in two weeks. Dennis said "I guess that's the end of that". A short time passed with nothing being said, then Danny said calmly, they're going to pay us $1,000. For the next two weeks we practiced just about every night and came up with a pretty decent one hour set. I know we couldn't have sounded too bad because they invited us back for the next year. In 2012, the sister cities organization in Springfield asked The Denzel and Jonathan Band to go to Japan to represent the city of Springfield in the city's annual exchange program. Unfortunately the gentleman that got everything set up for us, Jim Rice, at the last minute wasn't able to make the trip. The trip was a tremendous amount of fun and full of memories that will never be forgotten. We sure missed not having Jim along. There are two people that are very dear to me and will never be forgotten. BJ Declue and John Payne played with the D&J Band for several years. In 2019 we played more bookings during the year then we had ever played before. We started out the year in 2020 with several bookings on the calendar but Covid hit and put an end to most of the bookings. During the second half of the year when things started to open up, being a band that played outdoor venues, we were booked almost every weekend. Towards the end of the year, John Payne developed Covid and Passed. Just a little over a year later, BJ had a heart attack that ended his life. I can't say enough about them, they are and always will be missed. The time that I was able to play with BJ and John for the most memorable experiences that I've ever had. I'm not sure what year it was, but one year in Springfield when Jerry Lewis was hosting the muscular dystrophy auction on TV at the shrine mosque, I was asked to perform.. Unfortunately my performance was at 2:30 in the morning when most people were asleep. That wasn't a problem with me, if I could help I would and I was there. The highlight of the event was at 2:30 in the morning when Jerry Lewis introduced me. Jerry Lewis was noted for being at the event from the time it started to the time it ended. I can definitely testify that was the truth. Well, that's just about it. The love of music has made me a m an y fri en ds a nd le ft we w ith a w orld of go od me mo ries . Thank You For Visiting My Site !