I'm not sure if Thelma and Frieda were sisters, or mother and daughter, but both were pretty long in the tooth when they owned rival clubs along the honky tonk strip in the Hemphill area of the south side of Ft. Worth. Thelma ran Little Joe's with her husband Earl. Frieda worked at Little Joe's until she and her husband Joe bought the Go Go Factory, a smaller, but much nicer club a few blocks north on Hemphill. The Go Go Factory had another thing going for it, as far as RJ and I were concerned... it was also a topless club!

A bargaining war broke out between the two sisters over which club would get Don and his band. It was April of 1976 and we had just changed our name from Don Hudson and the Royal Kings - to Don Hudson and the Desperados. RJ and I had been constant companions for the entire year since I'd come onto the scene, and we shared visions of greatness to come in the music business. We knew, and respected that this was Don's band, and we had NEVER conspired to break up his 'crew' - it just happened one night.

Don Hudson and Desperados on stage at Little Joe's '1976.

We convinced Don that the move to the Go-Go Factory would be a good one for the band. We gave notice at Little Joe's, but Thelma got hot-headed and fired us, so we moved all our equipment to the Go Go Factory, which was still being remodeled at the time. (RJ, Doug, Jim, and I actually built the club's stage.)

Opening night at the Go Go Factory went fine. But the following night, April 30, 1976, was one of the strangest nights in my entire music career. We had a full house and the crowd was having a great time. Then on our first break, Don told the rest of the group that I would only be playing one night a week with the band from then on. RJ and Jim pulled me aside and gave me the news just before we went back on stage for the 2nd set. I was in shock. I didn't know what I'd done wrong, or why Don was doing this to me. It was completely out of character for him and none of us had ever seen him act this way before.

On the second break I confronted Don about what I'd heard. He went into a whole thing about how I had done his family wrong, taken advantage of him, and how I was bad for the band. Everyone in the band knew this was unfounded; I'd even done free clown birthday parties for all of Don's kids. Don had been drinking and became verbally abusive to me. RJ and I had a quick summit meeting in the dressing room to discuss the situation. We decided that it was time for us to branch out and start our own band. We called Jim Wise (our keyboard player) into the room and asked him if he would stick with us. He said he was "In"!

Jim Wise - keyboard player and long time friend.

Don was banging his kick drum, our cue to return to stage for the next set. I was relieved to know I wouldn't simply be out on my ear. During the third break we pulled Jerry Coker aside and told him we were going to continue on without Don, and that we wanted him to come with us. His moustache turned up on both sides of his mouth as he broke into a huge Cheshire cat grin; he was with us, too!

Jerry Coker was our lead guitar player. I only
 saw him without a hat once in four years!

Jerry also responded by nominating Don's replacement -- Carlton Tanner! Carl had worked with Jerry in a Ft. Worth band called Journey a few years earlier. He had jammed with us many times and knew most of our song list. If interested and available, he would be the perfect solution to our problem - at least for the time being, anyway.

Don left that night without giving us a chance to tell him the news. The following day Carlton said he'd be happy to join our group! RJ and I returned to the Go Go Factory  to discuss band business. While we were there, Doug Wadsworth showed up and loaded Don's drums into the back of his truck. Don was quitting the band, and Doug was Don's new guitar player. Don already had a new crew of Royal Kings, and his gig back at Little Joe's. RJ and I were now running our own band, had a regular house gig, a good group of players, and were sharing a dressing room with topless dancers!

Carlton Tanner, our new drummer...

As it turned out,  the move to the Go Go Factory had not been a good idea for Don anyway. He was VERY married to his childhood sweetheart, Sandra Kay, and she wasn't too happy about Don playing at a club where girls danced topless during the week.  The night of the confrontation, Don had mixed his heart medication with alcohol, causing  him to act on the reckless side. All the stress of the band pressuring him to move to the Go Go, along with my gradual transition to fronting the band, had just been too much for him. I think he had subconsciously created the conflict with me in hopes we would do exactly what we did; let him go. At the end of the day, some of us got what we wanted, and some of us got what we needed. Nobody went away from the new deal a loser.

The Desperados in 1976-77;  RJ, Jim Wise, Jerry Coker, 
Carlton Tanner, and me (Steve Jones).

I never harbored bad feelings towards Don. To him, the music business was a hobby; he'd already spent most of his life chasing the elusive dream of getting a record deal and it never happened. It wasn't going to happen for him, and he knew it. As long as he didn't stray too far from the confines of Hemphill, he could continue to be a carp in the proverbial pond, run his own show, and work whenever he felt like it. RJ and I, on the other hand, had just shown up to the "PARTY". We knew that anything was possible for us - not because we were any more talented than the next guy, but because we had something Don had let slip through his fingers; we still had our YOUTH!

A Desperados biz card. *Note: Managing the Desperados was
the world's easiest job. Every few months we would trade out
on who would 'play' manager. It was my turn when this card was made.

NOTE:  When Don left the band and we became the Desperados, I began keeping journals of anything having to do with the band, or the music scene around town, as well as events in my personal life.  My notes fill two huge ledgers, with printing so small it almost takes a magnifying glass to read it. The rest of the story becomes rich with details from these writings.

NEXT: Big Wayne & the Broken Spoke Club