Austin, Texas – Debra Peters & The Love Saints
For over 30 years, Honky-Tonk Tuesdays at The Broken Spoke was our musical home. Tuesday nights we filled the front cafe before the back hall dance floor would fill up with two-steppers, smiles, and the sound of my honky-tonk piano and a big Excelsior accordion leading the Love Saints. These are some of my favorite memories from the legendary country music cafe and dancehall in Austin, Texas USA. (1991–2021)
Steve Wheless, Wayne “the Train” Hancock, John X Reed (Guitar) Debra Peters, Don Bacoch (Bass) Scott Walls (Pedal Steel Gtr) and TJ McFarland (Drums) This photo was taken a few weeks after I first walked into the Broken Spoke when Wayne and Don were playing a duo. They invited me to sit in on my accordion and it wasn’t long before Wayne and I were wrote a few songs together and we played a couple of band gigs at the Spoke before Wayne left to go on tour with his rockabilly band. Wayne “the Train” still tours across the USA today. He had a voice that resembled Hank Williams. Scott Walls played some great pedal steel solos on Twisted Love CD
Love Saints Band Members
Meet the talented musicians who made The Love Saints band swing for so many years. These wonderful friends brought their hearts and incredible talent to the stage. Here you can see photos and read a little about each member who helped create our special sound.
Jay Hudson – 34 years we have played and recorded music together. My recording studio guru. Jay worked long hours at his studio The Hit Shack and he didn’t play out with the band until the later years. It was always a treat to have him with us.
One fine day in 1991 I was driving down Guadalupe in Austin and I heard a cajun band out my car window so I pulled over and met Steve and Grady playing and it wasn’t long before I was calling them up to play my Love Saints gigs.
Long time Love Saint guitarist Boomer Norman added much class to the sound of the Love Saints. There were very few country and western swing songs that Boomer didn’t already know. He was well versed in the western swing and classic country music artists. We both had a very serious love of Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams songs.He was always encouraging me to play my own original songs. He loved the cajun-y blues-y grooves. I miss his jazzy solos.
Don Bacoch was my first bass man and played all the bass on Twisted Love CD recorded at the Hit Shack. Don was with me when we first drove up (in his baby blue Mercury) to the Hit Shack where we met Jay Hudson and got the CD project started.
Will Indian came along one day and for quite some time we ran two electric guitarists in the band. Will had a radio show at one time and he really could play the exact styles of so many guitarists before him. Will was always so much fun to play with.
Interesting and fantastic thing about Austin is that musicians played in various bands and every so often a gig would come up and you need a sub. That’s how Larry Eisenberg became a long time member of the Love Saints. Larry drove in from Lockhart TX many Tuesdays to play the Spoke with us. So many amazing fun nights of music we shared. Larry could play anything. He was a #1 call bassist for top western swing bands around Austin.
Michael and I met at the Whitehorse in ATX and I started to attend the Austin Cajuns jam sessions where I always felt so included and welcome. It wasn’t long before Michael became a Love Saint and I also played with his Chansons et Soulards.
Jhan was my booking agent in Vancouver back in the 1980’s and we started up a duo while in Hawaii. I went to Waikiki often in those days and one day I get a tap on my shoulder and it was Jhan. He decided to come for a surprise visit. We rehearsed about 25 songs and found a couple places to play. I would sit in at the Hilton Hawaiian Village jam session and the manager offered us a gig. Then we found another cool bar on Kalikawa and played a bunch of happy hours. After a month or so, Jhan said he better get back to his Vancouver booking agency job and I went back to Vancouver. We played some gigs there until he got so busy he decided to hook me up with another amazing guitarist named Lindsay Mitchell who taught me how to play bass on the left hand on my piano and we played a bunch of pub gigs that Jhan booked for us. Good times.
The Early Years
