The Old Hat Band

Old Dogs…New Licks!!

T. Gozney Thornton –
Rhythm guitar, harmonica & vocals
Manuel, "Duck" Cortez –
Key Boards 
Joe “Guitar” Forlini –
Lead guitar & vocals

Manuel Burciega –
Drums & Percussion & vocals

Joe Dianda –
Bass guitar & vocals

“OLD HAT BAND” … a pack of “Old Dogs” with a bag of “New Licks” has a tasty Tex-Mex sound that gets people on their feet and dancing the night away.  The old dogs play what they call “Rockin-Tejano-Country”, an eclectic mix of Country, Rhythm & Blues and vintage Rock & Roll, with a dash of Tejano, served up hot and spicy like a good bowl of menudo.  The band is made up of veteran road musicians who have  “paid their dues” in the honkytonks and juke joints of America.   T. Gozney hails from the   c-OZ-mic “Austin Scene” of the 70’s and has played from coast to coast.  He had featured cuts on the 1975 Kerrville Folk Festival album, KOKE FM’s “Best Bands in Austin” album, the official state sesquicentennial album,  “The Fathers of Texas,” singing a duet with Ray Wylie Hubbard, and recorded his “Pass It On” album at Willie Nelson’s Pedernales studio.  Additionally he has played at several Willies Picnics, Farm Aid, The Palomino Club in Hollywood, California and the stages of Las Vegas.  His band, “The T. Gozney Band” was written up in Bill Board magazine as one of the top five bands in the Pacific Northwest.  Manuel, "Duck" Cortez is a veteran of the road.  Having played piano and keyboards with such regional and national acts as Los Tejanos and Little Joe & La Familia.  He has performed from "coast to coast" and has played on many hit Tex-Mex recordings.  Joe “Guitar” Forlini hails from Detroit, Michigan, but felt the call of Texas pulling him to GOD’s country in his early twenties.  Joe is the consummate guitarist, having done guitar work on albums by such artists as  Delbert McClinton, Roy Head, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Bramlet, Rusty Wier and Larry Joe Taylor.  Forlini has shared the bill with Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Bob Seger, Gary P. Nunn and on and on and on……!   Joe Dianda, along with his brother Gilbert, gained national fame leading the band “Coyote”.  “Coyote”, on it’s own, and as the opening act for Little Joe & La Familia were renowned in Tejano circles and popular throughout Texas and the Southwest.  Manuel Burciega has been one of the premier drummers in West Texas for over twenty years, playing with the likes of Frank Trevino and other popular “Latin Bands”.  Manuel and Joe serve up the “Hot Latin Rhythm” that drives the OLD HAT BAND like a well-oiled machine.