He got his first guitar when he was 14, most of the influences were the local radio which was country music. The school only had about 300 students total. In 1955-56 he started hearing alot of rock and roll artists such as Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Buddy Knox, Buddy Holly and several others. They both liked the new music and started playing together. At a local radio station they would record enough songs on the weekend to have one played each day the following week.
Next weekend start the process all over again.
Lonnie found Ralph Clark at another college close by and we began to work together. Lonnie had a Les Paul custom guitar and Ralph Clark a blonde bull bass. Between February and September 1957 the group did approximately 50 local shows from high schools to colleges to radio stations to theaters to sock hops to everything in between. They became regulars at the Majestic Theater in Ft. Worth at the Cowtown Hoedown and at the Big D Jamboree in Dallas.