FINIS TASBY
Vocals

Born in the rural town of Levon on the outskirts of Dallas, Finis Tasby first encountered the blues when his family moved to Garland, Texas. As a young child, he was inspired to take up the harmonica by local bluesman L.B. Bailey. Finis later started playing drums and began hanging out in West Dallas night spots like the Empire, the Zanzibar, and Clark's where he befriended local sensations Frankie Lee Sims and singing drummer Mercy Baby. In the late '50s, Finis moved to Fort Worth and played drums with his first band, the Blues Blasters. He eventually returned to Dallas switching to bass and formed the Thunderbirds, a band whose name later inspired another famous group featuring a young guitarist by the name of Jimmie Vaughan. Throughout the '60s, the Thunderbirds backed up blues heavy weights, Freddie King, Lowell Fulson, Clarence Carter, Jimmy McCracklin and Z.Z. Hill on regional tours through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas before ultimately disbanding by the end of the decade. After the band split up, Finis gave up playing and worked exclusively as a driver for Freddie King. In 1973, Finis relocated to Los Angeles and found work as an auto mechanic taking gigs whenever they became available, even playing bass behind John Lee Hooker for a short time. Finis recorded sporadically over the years releasing several 45's including 1978's classic "Get Drunk and Be Somebody' and his first LP "Blues Mechanic." In 1997, Randy Chortkoff produced the fantastic CD "Jump Children!" on Evidence Records which featured Finis backed by a host of incredible talent that included Rick Holmstrom, Kid Ramos, Coco Montoya, Lester Butler, Larry Taylor and Richard Innes, a trend that continues to this day in both Chortkoff's and Tasby's involvement in the all-star super group, The Mannish Boys.