Texas Jamm Band

The Texas Jamm Band is a traditional country and honky-tonk band from San Marcos, Texas, built largely from the members of George Strait's Ace in the Hole Band. It did not start as a band at all. In February 1993 a member of Clay Blaker's Texas Honky Tonk Band called a couple of the Ace in the Hole players about setting up a jam session at a small but popular night club on the San Marcos town square, and on Monday, March 8th, 1993, the Monday Night Jam began.

The players showed up for the love of it, with no set list and no rehearsals. Pianist Ronnie Huckaby has said the reason they are called the Jamm Band is that they have never once had a rehearsal. Because the band was born and reared at a jam session in a Texas honky tonk, the name Texas Jamm Band fell into place once offers to play other rooms started coming in.

The lineup reads like a who's who of Central Texas pickers. Ronnie Huckaby has been George Strait's piano player since 1983; steel guitarist Mike Daily was one of the original founding members of the Ace in the Hole Band; guitarist and fiddler Benny McArthur wrote George Strait's "When It's Christmas Time in Texas"; guitarist and fiddler Rick McRae was elected to the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame in 2008; bassist Tom Batts has played the Grand Ole Opry; fiddler Jon Kemppainen recorded with the Squirrel Nut Zippers; and drummer Bobby Jarzombek, a San Antonio native, also played with Rob Halford and Fates Warning before taking the throne in George Strait's band.

The band leans on classic, timeless country, the Ray Price shuffles and Hank Williams tunes and the dance-hall standards, and has carried that sound well past the San Marcos square. Over the years they have played fairs, festivals, corporate events, and good old honky tonks across Texas and beyond, including a six-year run at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.