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Increasingly escalating as one of the highly popular bands
on the western swing scene, Bobby Flores formed his Yellow Rose
Band around 2003. A top musician in Texas, Bobby can often be
found playing fiddle with Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys. My first
viewing of this fine fiddle player and  vocalist
was in 2001 when he was playing with Jake Hooker and The Outsiders
at a western swing festival in Texas. Since then I've seen him
on stage several times with both his Yellow Rose Band and as
a part of the Cherokee Cowboys. His stage presence just gets
better with each presentation.
Flores has a long list of musical credits and started his
professional performances in 1968 at the age of seven playing
at local functions and on the gospel circuit in the Texas area
as a gospel duo with his mom, Mary Jane Flores. Bobby is a multi-instrumentalist,
vocalist, arranger / producer / composer, and first call session
musician. He's recorded and performed on stage with Ray Price,
Willie Nelson, Johnny Bush, Doug Sahm, to name just a few. In
2002 he received a Grammy Award for his string and brass arrangements
and violin performances on Freddy Fender's CD, "La Musica
de Baldemar Huerta". He studied music theory and classical
violin at Trinity University under the late Domenick  Saltarelli,
jazz guitar with Jackie King, and classical guitar with David
Underwood.
He has performed on Austin City Limits, The Grand Ole Opry,
TNN Prime Time, numerous Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnics,
The Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. and has been featured
on the "Stars Over Texas" show on C.M.T. Just a couple
of the awards that Flores has received include; Academy of Western
Artists' "Western Swing Instrumentalist of The Year"
and 2004 Terry Award Winner - "Fiddle Player of the Year!"
Too Many Rivers is Bobby Flores
sophomore album release on the Yellow Rose Record Label. Eleven
scintillating tracks start out with Justin Tubb's (Ernest Tubb's
son) breathtaking "Big Shoes"
which follows on with a crying version of Roger Miller's "When
Your House Is Not A Home". The pure western swing
"My Life's Been A Pleasure"
written by Jessie Ashlock (fiddle player with Bob Wills Texas
Playboys), sees Bobby Flores injecting a new freshness into
this number from 1941. We are treated to a little Spanish on
Johnny Bond's "I Wonder Where
You Are Tonight"., while the title track comes from
the pen of the legendary songwriter Harlan Howard with a song
of love lost and "Too Many Rivers"
to cross. Willie Nelson has not been left out of the pieces
of music here, he contributes the emotive "I've
Just Destroyed The World (I'm Living In)" and "How
long Forever".
Along with his sweet fiddle playing and a vocal style of
his own, Bobby Flores makes everything sound effortless as he
travels through a choice of love, passion and desperation. He
has already broken into the European market with an appearance
in August (2005) at Furuvik, Sweden. Hopefully our own British
promoters and festival organisers with pick up on the talents
of Bobby Flores and The Yellow Rose Band…they are a band to
watch for and not to be missed on their next tour. http://www.bobbyflores.com
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