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Ponty Bone

Ponty Bone (09 Oct 1939—13 Jul 2018) grew up in San Antonio. He took up the accordion when he was just five years old, and while he later played trumpet in his high school marching band, the squeeze box was his true love. His musical heroes included Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier and Blues master Lightnin’ Hopkins, but Bone’s musical repertoire also included French and German dance tunes along with his native Tex Mex sound. In 1962 he met and befriended Texas musicians Jimmy Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Tommy Hancock with whom he kept in touch after moving to Phoenix in 1965. After returning to the Lubbock area with his family in 1971, he began playing in Tommy Hancock’s bands the Roadside Playboys and the Supernatural Family Band at Hancocks’ famous Cotton Club venue. Having landed a recording contract, in 1976 Joe Ely invited Bone to join his band. He played on Ely’s first four releases and toured the world with him. He followed the Ely Band to Austin in 1980. By 1982 he had put together his own group, Ponty Bone & the Squeezetones, which played local gigs. However, after he left the Ely Band in 1983, he put all his effort into the Squeezetones, releasing a number of albums and doing both regional and international tours while continuing their Austin nightclub gigs. The Squeezetones played Tex-Mex, Reggae, Zydeco and everything in between. In 1987 the group was featured on the PBS television program “Austin City Limits” along with Queen Ida and Santiago Jimenez, Jr. They shared the concert stage with the likes of The Clash, Tom Petty, Flaco Jimenez, Linda Ronstadt and Ronnie Lane. In 2016 Ponty Bone was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame.