McGonigel's Mucky Duck

Jack Saunders-Tweed EQ
May 14

Jack Saunders has been part of the Texas music scene since his arrival in the Lone Star State during the late 1970s. Born in Southern California and raised in a military family, Jack lived in a number of different states-from Rhode Island to Alaska. While taking a break from the frozen north, he ventured to Dallas, where he was impressed by Texas music.

Following school he moved to Austin, eventually winding up in Houston, where there was a thriving music scene in the Montrose area. In Houston, Jack met many singer-songwriters playing in local clubs-from John Vandiver and Danny Everitt, to Shake Russell and Michael Marcoulier - and he performed with these and other songwriters on guitar and bass. Jack subsequently joined the art rock group, Taxi Dancer, and formed his own band.

In 1982, Shake Russell, who had just split with his longtime partner, Dana Cooper, offered Jack a position playing bass and guitar in his band. The band, which changed personnel many times, lasted 7 years and produced several records. In 1990, Shake and Jack released their first CD as a duo. From 1990-1996, they released 4 CDs as a duo, and one with Dana Cooper as a trio. These years provided Jack experience as a recording artist and singer-songwriter, and were formative in teaching him the recording studio techniques he would need as an engineer and producer. In 1996, Jack and Shake parted ways, and Jack released two CDs while traveling and fronting his own band.

Since then, Jack has been very busy as a producer and engineer in his Houston recording studio, White Cat. Most recently, he has been dividing his time between producing artists in the studio and playing his own shows, along with backing up his singer-songwriter friends-Ray Hubbard, Susan Gibson, Greg Trooper, Randy Weeks, and Hayes Carll, to name a few. Jack continues to have fun with a variety of different projects, including his own. "Living for the Sunshine."

Tweed EQ
"Itching for a hearty slice of old-school funk merged with vintage soul, rock and blues? Pick up Harmonisizer, the nine-track CD by Dallas' Tweed EQ, and scan right to "Stop!" Think Taj Mahal meets Smokey Robinson, as the band's vocalist and the tune's songwriter Paisley Ascott says. Winston Mingus' drums and percussion work drive the song, while Goose Trimmson's slap-happy bass and plenty of scratchy electric guitar from Sputnik Jones and Ascott make you move.

The vibe of Tweed EQ pulls from the '70s, whether the group is experimenting with R&B, rock or blues. In fact, just one listen to Harmonisizer and Isaac Hayes, War, Led Zeppelin, Van Morrison and Jeff Beck all immediately come to mind. Other standouts on the disc include "The Hawk," "The Drought" and "Soul Soothin'." -- Mario Tarradell, Senior music critic, The Dallas Morning News