The Freddy Jones band was formed by two friends, Wayne Healy and Marty Lloyd back in 1990.
Former Loyola University classmates Healy and Lloyd created the band in the early Nineties and quickly became a fixture on the college circuit. Encouraged by the positive reaction to their live show, they quickly dropped out of school and hit the road in a dilapidated old van.
“It really wasn’t that tough of a decision for me,” says Lloyd. “I was majoring in communications by day, and playing music around town at night. Realizing that I was cheating all aspects of my life by not concentrating on any one thing, I decided to do the band full-time.” Luckily, the dropouts eased their parents’ fears by releasing a self-titled indie album that went on to sell more than 10,000 copies — just enough to attract the attention of Capricorn Records. Six years, four albums, and an AOR hit later (1993’s “In a Daydream”), the Joneses have carved themselves a nice little niche and amassed a loyal and sizeable Deadhead-like following.
The band is celebrating their 30 year anniversary of “In a Daydream.”
“People always come up to us and tell us how the song was a huge part of their life,” says longtime bandmember and bassist Rich Ross, who has also spent many years touring with The Samples and playing with Nashville country artists Phil Vassar and Josh Gracin. “When you release a song that is that powerful, where it captures people and takes them back to a special place, moment, in their life, it becomes part of their personal collection of songs — a soundtrack of their life.”
Bass player Rich Ross is my friend and a terrific guy.
When my house burned down in the Pacific Palisades fires, Rich called, immediately put a box of clothes together, and mailed them to me ASAP.
I’m still wearing his cool t-shirts and jacket.
Open Thread.
