Under the Gun

  1979 to 1982: Southpaw was already an established band in New England. It was the brainchild of guitarist and Songwriter Charlie Doherty. After a number of fine players had moved on to new projects, the band held auditions for guitarists the winter of 1979. The current players were Charlie, Nelson Checkoway(guitar and Steel Guitar) , Tom Dion(from the Kenny Rogers band) on Drumas and harp player Ron Sloane. In walks Johnny Press with his Marshall amp and that was the end of the auditions. Johnny brought in Bobby Young on Bass. Southpaw was a Country, Southern Rock band with a huge following. The band did many opening gigs for acts like, Molly hatchet, Johnny Paycheck, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Wishbone Ash and others. Charlie wrote many original songs that stand up to this day. Because of band infighting the band split. Charlie, Johnny, Bobby brought in Jay Dumas and David Cimpaglia and changed the name from Southpay to Under the Gun. The band continued to play large venues and get reviewed well. Charlie wasn't comfortable with the new sets and David had an offer from the Fools. The band parted ways. there are a number of incredible live recordings of this band which shows the great diversity the band displayed.

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