Dave Beck, the leader and main vocalist, has that dark brown voice that people always associate with
country music. In the early days, when Johnnie Cash was riding high in the charts, Dave's voice was so close to
Johnnie's it drove the girls wild. He doesn't have that problem any more, perhaps the ladies have learnt to contain
themselves, but the voice has matured, and age sits lightly on his shoulders. The popularity of any band depends
largely on their choice of material for the audiences they look to attract; this department is largely down to Dave,
& it is a quality he has in "Spades". Having said that, his choice also has to have the general consensus of the rest
of the band & occasionally a song has been known to get the elbow.
Dave shares the front line with his long-time bass player, and one of country music's well known characters
John "Cabbage Hayes" Farmer. They have worked together now for 37 years, and from their repartee, this fact
soon becomes obvious. "Cabbage" has that sense of fun and self-effacement that puts a certain lightness on their
performance, and together they build a fine rapport with the audience, bouncing it off the other members of the band
from time to time. His musical roots lie in playing E flat bass tuba with Taunton Town Silver Band, & later bass guitar
when forming a dance trio with a couple of other band members. More about this later.

Step this way into the "Engine room" of the unit, & meet a fine musician rejoicing in the name of Paul
Thomas. He is the musical director and lead guitarist & also a fine vocalist in his own right, bringing a contrasting
blues voice into the band. As well as doing all the musical arrangements he has written some fine songs, quite a few
of which are featured in the bands CDs, including the title track on the Looking at the World" album. Paul has many
demands on his time, running the band Web Site; his guitar school (Aflat Music) where he teaches all styles; and then, because of
his ability to tailor his playing to all events, there are numerous recording sessions. He is also to be found frequently
at his friend's music shop, Strings & Things in Bridgwater, demonstrating various instruments of the stringed variety..

The latest member to join the band is Marty Davies on drums & sounds engineering. He took the place of long time member John Steel who retired towards the end of 2006 after 26 years of sterling service. Not an easy act to follow, but Marty took no time at all to fit right in. Although now the youngest in the band, he's no spring chicken & has been in the music business all his life. He started out as a teenager playing drums in the Taunton Town Silver
Band, over 40 years ago. Together with two others members he started his own dance trio "The Martin Davies Combo", one of whom was John Farmer, as mentioned earlier. He is also no stranger to the Country Music scene, having played
with Paul Thomas a few years later in "Country Rain". There are quite a few young drummers in the Somerset area who owe their beginnings to Marty's drum academy at "Four-ways Music", a project that he still runs very successfully.

So far there have been fifteen "Denver Spur" albums, the first two being produced in vinyl, but these now combined on one CD as "First Time Out With Cinderella". Numbers 3 & 4 came out as cassettes & the best of those have been combined on a CD not surprisingly named "On the Road and Here Today". A Trip Into the Acoustic was released early in 2000 to celebrate their 30 years in the business. Standards 'N Swing, was recorded with the "late night" listener in mind, with the help of five very good friends of theirs, among the best musicians in the business, contributing on various tracks. Unlucky 13 was given to "Cabbage" to do & is a collection of mainly humorous songs including
"Charlie & the Salesman", which he co-wrote with Paul & four songs written by old friend Fred Wedlock who duetted with Cabbage on "Oldest Swinger". Then came the long promised "Christmas Album", which was finished in time for December 2004, after narrowly missing Christmas '03. The latest CD looks at Dave's beginnings in a teenage rock 'n roll band The Volcanoes. Here the band recreate some of the songs Dave did in the 50's & 60's on an album called The Early Years.

1) First Time Out 6) Looking at the World 11) A Trip Into the Acoustic
2) Wild Side of Cinderella 7) Feels so Right 12) Standards 'N Swing
3) On the Road 8) Jubilee 13) A Portion of Cabbage
4) Here Today 9) The Road Goes on Forever 14) The Christmas Album
5) Spur of the Moment 10) The Live Album 15) The Early Years

A lot of people ask, "Where did they get that name?" It dates back to the late part of the 19th century in Texas.
The railhead from Denver finally arrived there in 1888, but for the towns that weren't lucky enough to be anywhere near it, it was no help at all. The days of the long cattle trails were coming to an end, the way to get your stock to the markets of the north was by rail. So every town wanted a spur line to the railhead, folks would say, "We gotta get us a 'Denver Spur' to survive". Country & Western clubs up & down this country of ours are saying the same thing today.

So how long is it likely to go on, for a band that is so "nearly famous"? That's easy, until the bookings begin to dry up.
But then, these are just four good mates who enjoy one another's company, and enjoy playing their kind of music, and that enjoyment comes across to their audience. It matters not how old they get, just as long as there are people out there that love their kind of country music.

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