In the mid ’70’s my friend Dutch and I tried to move from Baltimore to Santa Fe and make a go of it. Well, it didn’t go……and we were very far from home. My parents had moved from Baltimore to Baytown, Texas because my dad was an industrial plumber and worked was to be found in Baytown, Texas….Refinery central. They said “Come down here and work for a while and regroup. There is TONS of work here.”
Dutch and I moved there and got jobs immediately…in oil refineries, working for Exxon, Zachary, Brown and Root…All you had to do was apply and start working. When a job would run out, all you had to do was walk across the street and get the next job.
We were soon joined by my girlfriend, Gail, Hammond and Sue Brown and Penny Brungard, Dutch’s wife and, eventually, my pal Charlie Gatewood. My sister, Margaret, was already there and working as a pipe-fitters helper.
What can I say? I didn’t hate it but it was COMPLETE culture shock, going from Baltimore inner city to Baytown.
I soon discovered Gilley’s and Lone Star Beer. Gilley’s was in Pasadena, TX. It was  a MASSIVE bar, with a mechanical bull and everything. This city boy had NEVER seen anything like it. This was pre Urban Cowboy, too. I would go to Gilley’s immediately after work, every day, and drink with my co-workers, welders, pipe-fitters and crew.
Margaret eventually quit the refineries and she and Gail got jobs at The Golden Nugget, a bar in “downtown” Baytown that had “LIVE” bands. I met an Austin band called “Denim” when Margaret brought them home. I am still friends with those guys 40 years later, here in Austin!
Baytown is also where I met my first Rastas and formed my first reggae band, called “Steady” with Stedman Joseph-later Ras Iginga Tafari (R.I.P)an amazing drummer and Steel Pan player who would go on to do my first recording session (See Kieth Hudson and “Pressure” entries) Rabbi, Adufo, and Charlie Gatewood.
L to R Â Â David, Charlie, Rabbi and me
We had a very tight group, I guess because we were all from B-more.
L to R Dutch, Hammond, Charlie and me.
Charlie in our house in Baytown.
One great adventure we had was driving out to Alamo Village in Brackettville, Tx and playing “Cowboys” where John Wayne filmed THE ALAMO. Hammond and Sue, Dutch and Penny and Jim and Cheryl Bell had a blast, literally, robbing the bank, the stagecoach and riding horses. 
I am not fond of Baytown but living there led to Houston, which lead to Austin and now 45 years later, I feel more Texas than anything. My dad was a Texan, my parent lived and died here and my kids were born here. If not for Baytown…I may not have ever made it to Austin….where my musical dreams came true! (and then some!)
My Entertaining Life-Steve Carter 