We got to be one of most popular bands in Texas, and by the time all the band members got out of college we were making enough money performing to not have to get jobs. I think one of the reasons we were so good, is that Don Henley was our drummer and lead singer. It don't get much better than that.

We wanted a shot at the big time. We met Kenny Rogers and The First Edition in Dallas in '68 and he offered to help us, so we all decided to move to L. A. where we recorded and released the album "Shiloh", which is now among the highest priced records in the "Rare and Hard-to-Find" catalogs. We had a regional hit, but things didn't work out. We got into a bad management deal and broke up in 1970. Later that year, Don, our bassist (my cousin Mike Bowden) and I landed a job backing Linda Ronstadt. Glenn Frey was the fourth guy in that band.

That's how the Eagles got started (I'm mentioned in the book, "Eagles, To The Limit"). I left Ronstadt in early '74 and tried to start another band. It didn't work out. Shortly after that, I was honored to replace the late Clarence White in the Byrds' Roger McGuinn's solo act. We did one album, "Roger McGuinn and Band" and toured until '76. McGuinn hooked up with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review (I'm mentioned in the book, "On The Road With Bob Dylan") and let the band go. Dan Fogelberg was looking for a guitarist and I got the job. It was a great gig for a while, but I wasn't satisfied with being a side-man.

I left Dan, went to the beach, broke my wrist on a dune buggy and took a year off for being stupid.. In '78 I started another band, "Blue Steel". We recorded an album, "No More Lonely Nights"(Infinity Rec.), and toured with the Eagles on their "Long Run" tour in 1980. In the middle of the tour, our Record company folded. We re-grouped, went to another label, cut a second album, "Nothing But Time"(Elektra Rec.), and then the band folded. I decided to move to Nashville to write songs. The "band business" was just not working out.

I hit Nashville in the fall of '82 and met a songwriter named Sandy Pinkard. He'd had several hits and wanted to write together. It didn't work out. We started having too much fun making up stupid lyrics to our own songs, as well as others, and without really trying, we found ourselves with a comedy act. It worked out. For lack of a better name, we called ourselves "Pinkard and Bowden". We recorded four Warner Bros. albums, "Writers In disguise", "PG-13", "Live, In Front Of a Bunch Of D-dkh--ds", and "Cousins, Cattle and Other Love Stories". We toured the country making people laugh for almost 16 years. We were frequent guests on all the great morning radio shows and eventually got our own late night TV commercial (the kind I really hate but secretly always wanted to have), for a compilation album called "Gettin' Stupid".

In mid '98, tiring from almost thirty years of touring, and feeling the need to tend to my widowed and aging mother, I moved the family, four-legged and all, to Linden, Texas, my hometown. I am now the preferred host, banquet speaker and entertainer for all community activities and local functions, and I won a seat on the City Council. My move into politics has not pre-empted my involvement in the entertainment business. I have three album production projects in the works and I am playing music with some of my old friends. And everybody still thinks I'm funny. This past summer (2000), I went on the road with my old friend, Don Henley. I signed on as a guitar tech, and ended up playing trombone on Hotel California. I've also been appearing as "Special Guest Star" with the Bob & Tom Band on occasion.

After touring again early in 2001 with Don Henley, I signed on to do the Eagles European tour as a guitar/bass tech. I also performed as an auxiliary guitarist on stage during "Hotel California". The tour ended late summer and I returned to my City Counseling duties at home, also helping with our annual Lion's Follies (a local variety show that was produced by my father for many years) and Wildflower Trails of Texas Festival. In the three years I've been back home, I've brought in celebrity friends to participate in the festival; Kenny Rogers in 2000, Don Henley in 2001 and Jackson Browne in '02. As 2002 kicked off, I managed to slip into the recording studio and complete a new CD before leaving for my summer job on the Eagles North American Tour which started in May and ended in early August with five Don Henley solo shows. At this writing, My new CD entitled "Big Bad Johnson" is in the process of being released.

I am at home awaiting eminent fame and fortune and scheduling some weekend performances with my band, Moon and The Starz (check my schedule link for future updates. There will soon be information regarding the new CD at www.bobandtom.com as well). It's good to be back home in Linden, TX, sleeping with my wife again, taking care of my Mom, my civic duties and rehearsing for the upcoming comedy shows. Now that I am eating a lot of Mother's cooking again, I'm not hungry very much, but I still like to get naked every chance I get. I'm at the age now where my wife prefers me in clothes, but I'm not worried. It's gonna work out.