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Glen Bonham
Glen Bonham
Scena Records 271975-2
by Bonny Holder
 I never heard
of Glen Bonham when I received his new CD in the mail, and he
made me smile before I even put the disk into the player. Inside
the cover folder, he writes:
>I would like to thank all of the musicians on the album.
Scena Records, my family, and most of all, God, for a talent
that most people don't get.
Will the quality of his talent depend on what "get"
means? My experience with unknown artists making these kinds
of statements about their own talent has been dreary indeed.
In this case though, Glen Bonham is realistic about himself
and his gift. He's a terrific singer. Only one original song
is included on the album, but his choice of songs for this bluegrass
CD is top-notch, including "Fields of Home" by Larry
Cordell, "Fox On The Run" by Anthony Hazzard, and Merle's
"Today I Started Loving You Again."
Real stand-outs include Bonham's own song, "Mr. Homeless"
(co-written with Palmer J. Bonham), the story of a man so alone
he's forgotten his real name, and the touching "I Haven't
Seen Mary in Years" by Damon Black.
It's unclear to me whether or not he plays on this CD, but
in his bio, it says that he knows how to play bass and guitar.
His father, Orville, is British, and his mother, Lillie is Choctaw.
He learned to play bass from Ralph Stanley's bassist, Jack Cook.
Growing up in Atoka, Oklahoma, he sang background on nine albums
before leaving for the military in 1974.
In 1980, Bonham joined Bill Sander's band, Signal Mountain.
Other members of the band include Billy Joe Foster, who played
fiddle with Bill Monroe and Ricky Skaggs, Nashville songwriter
Joe Diffie, Craig Fletcher, and songwriter Shawn Camp.
While his musical buds did well in Nashville, Glen Bonham
stayed at home with his wife, Pam, and five kids, and, presently,
7 grandkids.
According to his bio: "Sometimes, though, when God closes
a door, He opens a window. Ever since childhood, Glen had practiced
the traditional dances of the Choctaw people and reveled in the
rich heritage of Native American peoples. At ten, he learned
from his grandfather that his Native American name was "White
Cloud," and dancing at pow-wows became an important part
of Glen's life. 'Southern Traditional' was his style of dancing,
which led to the formation of 'Glen Bonham and Southern Tradition'
in the fall of 1993."
This led to a 9-year occasional stint on "Walker: Texas
Ranger." Amazingly enough, Chuck Norris had been Glen's
former martial arts instructor in the Marines. He is the guy
in Norris' dream sequences, pow-wow dancing!
Pat Flynn plays guitar on this CD, Aubrey Haney and Glen Duncan
play fiddles, and Rob Ikes and Randy Kohrs play dobro. Terry
Eldridge holds the bass spot, and Paul Brewster and Darrin Vincent
lend their talents to background vocals.
Glen Bonham is pretty much straight-ahead bluegrass,
the high-and-lonesome kind. It's a satisfying, mature, Sunday-chicken-supper
kind of album. RED records plans national distribution for this
CD, and it's definitely worth tracking down.
Contact info-at-grassrootsmedia.com, or 615/340-9596
You can contact Bonny Holder at bonny-at-rockzilla.net
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