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Borden Byrd
On Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals & backup vocals is our very own Borden Byrd. Originally from Alabama, Borden has family ties that cover Alabama, Texas, and even Hawaii. Influenced by a mix of everything from The Beatles to SRV, Borden brings his many years of experience as a guitar player and singer with his strong bluesy-type vocals to Don't Tell Mama. Truly dedicated to his music, Borden also had the foresight early-on to establish and create his own band "De Ja VuDu Band" that had a very successful run. So, Borden will definitely be an attribute to our band, and as a professional musician, and guitar enthusiast, he is proud of his Guitar "toys". His gear includes a 1965 Fender Stratocaster, 1977 Gibson Les Paul Standard, 2004 Rickenbacker 360/12(50th birthday present arranged by wife Vanessa), POD XT Live, all run through a mid 70's Fender Twin Reverb.
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Ken Graves
Ken "G-Train" Graves, was born and raised in St. Louis, MO and is now a proud Texan since 1986. By day, he manages a distribution operation. At night, the "G-Train" turns into the "Funky Groovemeister", laying down the phat grooves.
He started this bass journey in the late 70's, after hearing Cordell "Boogie" Mosson lay down that funky bass track on Parliament's "P-Funk". Funk and R&B are the foundation to his playing style. However, Ken explains that he has been very fortunate to have shared stages with some great musicians from blues, rock, pop and smooth jazz, which has helped him to become a better musician.
In addition to Boogie, some of his other influences are Stanly Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Nathan East, Rhonda Smith, Rick Minor, and many, many, more...
Ken says that his musical tastes "are all over the map". He enjoys listening to artists such as Prince, Foreplay, Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind & Fire, Rush, Van Halen, Weezer, The Roots, to name just a few.
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Blake McElory
Blake "Animal" McElroy grew up in Athens, Texas. Being a country boy, it was no surprise that he listened to...HEAVY METAL! Upon moving to Dallas, Blake met up with Pat Gary and formed the ska band, Idiot Box. Blake and Pat would play in other bands ranging from punk to old school rock. Upon hearing of Don't Tell Mama's want of a drummer, Blake stepped in and has been rockin' with the band since. His musical influences range from Classic Rock (Zeppelin, Hendrix, Van-Halen) to more modern rock and heavy rock (Tool, Fish-Bone, Dave Matthew's Band).
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 | Patrick Gary
Pat "The Bone" Gary, a.k.a. the Mambo King of Greenville, is a multi-instrumentalist in a variety of bands from a little bit of everywhere. Depending on his mood, he might just claim Louisiana, South Carolina, or Texas for "home", and spent enough time on the road to not really be able to tell the difference anymore.
He actually started playing music at around 2, and never spent the time to choose just one instrument or style of music. He can't even decide on a single band, gigging with several other groups in Dallas at the moment. When asked about it, he just says something like "I think Duke Ellington said there were only 2 types of music. Good and the other kind. I try and avoid the other kind."
He picked up the nickname "The Mambo King of Greenville" in the late 1990s when he was playing with a ska band named Idiot Box up and down Greenville Avenue in Dallas, TX. It was a way to keep him dancing, if you can call it that. Those who are smarter about such things actually describe it as throwing all 4 limbs in different directions at the same time, and then trying to keep from falling down. His playing is similar in that it's energetic and occasionally even entertaining. Often it's close to being in tune. But don't tell him (or Mama)... it will probably only go to his head and he'll want to chase the pretty girls around at shows, which would probably be a bad thing for everyone involved.
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