- A short history of the Hog Time Music participants -

 It was the late 1950s.  Rock and Roll had taken over the radio airwaves.  Four high school boys from Fayetteville, Arkansas formed an R & R band, "The Valiants" (bands named after cars were common in those days).  Ralph played lead guitar and sang some songs.  John was the drummer.  Other members were Jay McDonald on piano and most vocals and Mike Olivera on electric bass guitar.

Through the early 60s they played school dances and some of the local college nightclubs.  One of them was the Rockwood Club.  Other frequent performers there were Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks.  The Hawks (less Ronnie) went on to national fame as "The Band".

 Unfortunately, no recordings exist to document the musical talent of The Valiants, so Ralph and John are pretty sure they were on the "cutting edge" of R & R in Northwest Arkansas at the time.

Fast forward 40+ years (yikes).  Ex-Valiants Ralph and John ended up living Southern California (Orange County) for 30+ years together.  Neither have gone on to national fame in anything, much less R & R.  However, they have maintained their friendship and interest in music all this time.  The 70s saw their musical interest shift towards bluegrass.  However, it is now spread out to a wide roots music format.

Unfortunately, Ralph and John no longer live in the same part of California (Ralph retired and left hectic SoCal).  However, they get together a few times a year to jam on the old favorite tunes and some new ones, too.  Ralph occasionally plays some open mics and jams with local friends.  John plays with 3 other friends as "The Blacksmith Boys" (they are all real blacksmiths, too!).