Bobby Cage: Bio

Bobby Cage

INDEPENDENT & PROUD

With the release of his debut CD, COMING HOME TO YOU in the spring of 2001, Bobby Cage realized a life-long dream of recording in Nashville and having his music reach country radio worldwide.

Bobby’s sophomore effort, WRONG SIDE OF LOVE continues his musical journey by taking his music and writing skills to the next level.

Born on the outskirts of St Louis, Missouri, Bobby Cage decided at a very early age that he enjoyed entertaining the neighbors with his renditions of popular songs. Bobby began serenading anyone who would listen with such 60’s staples as "Hound Dog" or "I Want to Hold Your Hand" while decked out in his well-worn cowboy boots. He began to realize that performing was a great source of enjoyment that would eventually become a permanent way of life!

By the age of seven he was the proud owner of his first electric guitar and amp and had already co-written his first song titled ”PT-109”. The lyrics told of President John F. Kennedy’s South Pacific exploits. The song really surprised his folks and teachers alike. "I wrote the music and my friend Tim wrote the lyrics. It was really a good little tune . But by mid school year Tim’s Dad got transferred and the act split up. I did not even get a copy of the words -- my first musical letdown!"

Along with a ravenous interest in sports, Bobby began honing his musical skills by performing with friends in neighborhood garage bands. They worked at learning songs off on the radio. "We never really gigged out much, but it was a great learning experience." At that young age, he learned that each band member’s influence and musical preference created an interesting diversity and added dimension to their music.

Nearly every summer he would spend several weeks visiting his family member’s dairy farms in Jefferson County Missouri, helping out where needed and learning about farm life. His mother was raised in a two room log cabin on her grandparents farm. She escaped the hardships of her youth by moving to St. Louis after graduating high school, found work in a shoe factory, got married and started a family. ”Mom really thought it was funny that I bonded to the life she dreaded most of her childhood. She would shake her head at the thought of me loving it all so much and just laugh, ‘It must be in your genes,’ she would say.“

At the end of the each stay, Bobby would return home to the suburbs with a bevy of new songs freshly picked off of the local country radio, and perform them for anyone who would listen. The love of country music was not always widely shared by his band-mates. Around the summer of 1969 Bobby came back with Glen Campbell’s "Wichita Lineman" album and was shocked that most of his friends didn’t share his opinion that it was a great album. To his peers, country just wasn’t cool!

A successful talent show appearance with the band Excalibur during his senior year of High School convinced Bobby that the transition to a full time musician was well within reach. But until the transition was complete, he held various full & part-time positions as a welder, truck driver, salesman, maintenance & warehouse worker to help pay the bills.

His love of music became a full-time adventure and the road became his home for the next several years. Being away from home full time can be very demanding as anyone who has done it knows. When you’re young and single doing what you love, it can be a very educational experience. "Meeting all of the great people that I did, and performing at so many great venues was great. But I realized that you could spend an eternity playing in a honky-tonk doing someone else’s material." The band Bobby was with at the time, KIDZ, had a growing regional following and reputation. They performed mainly cover material, but also several of their own promising, original compositions that seemed to go over very well their expanding fan base. "At the time I thought that was the direction we should follow, to write and perform all original material, but the other members worried that we could not maintain our full-time schedule on originals alone."

With nearly ten years of experience living on the road and playing in a multitude of bar bands and lounge acts, Bobby married his high school sweetheart and settled down to raise a family. He continued to play for a few years but became frustrated by not being able to perform only original music. He then made the decision to give it up for a regular 9-to-5 job. But the music never really left. "I always had a guitar hanging around the house and started writing songs and putting them down in my small home recording studio. This was something that I had never really done before, - it was great! The thought of ever doing anything with my compositions or putting a band together and performing them live never entered my mind. It was done just for my own entertainment."

After years of writing and playing in his home studio Bobby finally played some of his songs for friends at work who encouraged him to continue pursue his musical career. The rough home recordings found their way to Nashville, TN and into the gifted hands of Larry Marrs. A musical pioneer in his own right, Larry suggested that several songs showed promise and could do well on country radio.

In the fall of 2000, Bobby was nominated for a golden pen award for his writing efforts on "My Heart Belongs To You." In February 2001 his first independently produced CD titled COMING HOME TO YOU was released and received immediate airplay and interest in the independent country markets throughout the world. With songs like "Honey", "Have a Good Cry Over Me," "Walk the Walk," "My Heart Belongs to You," "Make it Right," and title track "Coming Hojme to You," Bobby discovered a fan base that was eager to experience country from a different point of view.

Bobby performed at several new artist show cases during Fan Fair, 2003, with performances at Douglas Corner and Nashville Palace and then several at the first annual Loretta Lynn's Songwriter’s Festival, Bobby felt the fire of live performing return!

"I really enjoy the writing and recording aspect of this business, it is something that I have not done a lot of until now, but there is nothing that compares to performing before a live audience! Fanfair gave me the opportunity to meet so many people from around the world who listen to and support my music!! I can’t put into words just how awesome it was to meet them face to face. They asked when was my next cd was coming out."

Photo by Mike George

Most independent artists will tell you the thing that keeps them going is the love that they have for the music and the hope of someday being able to write, record and perform full time. Bobby was no is different. As much as he has enjoyed every bit of success he experienced over the last 3 years with his music, he still maintains his day job of Modelmaker/Machinist at a local St. Louis vending machine manufacturer and tries to keep it all in perspective. "My first project was just that, a starting point. My next effort had to take my music to the next level. I would love to perform and write full time and have the support of a major label, but so would the other half a million artists out there. It all was on my shoulders. My next project had to really stand out above the rest."

In 2001 after the completion of Coming Home To You, the next project, WRONG SIDE OF LOVE was quickly started with a projected release date of spring 2002. "I had umpteen songs that I thought were ready for the next project. We would go into the studio and put several down and I would go home and write more that I thought were better suited for the album; the release date quickly came and went. I discussed it all with my producer Larry Marrs and he agreed, we would not put this one out until it could 'run with the big dogs'." By September of 2003, we both felt that we finally had the line up that we wanted to go with. The 10 song cd includes Carl Kohnen’s "You Can Always Come Back Home," a runner up in the 2002 NSAI songwriters contest, "Lost on Love," written by Katy Gilda and Bobby Cage, and 8 other compositions that Bobby penned himself.

When asked if being a independent artist can be a bit overwhelming at times he quickly responded "Yes.. but I wouldn’t have it any other way - Independent and Proud!"

\

Bobby Cage © 2006
All rights Reserved

web design by

Gayle Gallagher

http://www.GayleGallagher.com


Bobby Cage INDEPENDENT & PROUD

With the release of his debut CD, COMING HOME TO YOU in the spring of 2001, Bobby Cage realized a life-long dream of recording in Nashville and having his music reach country radio worldwide.
Bobby’s sophomore effort, WRONG SIDE OF LOVE continues his musical journey by taking his music and writing skills to the next level.
Born on the outskirts of St Louis, Missouri, Bobby Cage decided at a very early age that he enjoyed entertaining the neighbors with his renditions of popular songs. Bobby began serenading anyone who would listen with such 60’s staples as "Hound Dog" or "I Want to Hold Your Hand" while decked out in his well-worn cowboy boots. He began to realize that performing was a great source of enjoyment that would eventually become a permanent way of life!
By the age of seven he was the proud owner of his first electric guitar and amp and had already co-written his first song titled ”PT-109”. The lyrics told of President John F. Kennedy’s South Pacific exploits. The song really surprised his folks and teachers alike. "I wrote the music and my friend Tim wrote the lyrics. It was really a good little tune . But by mid school year Tim’s Dad got transferred and the act split up. I did not even get a copy of the words -- my first musical letdown!"
Along with a ravenous interest in sports, Bobby began honing his musical skills by performing with friends in neighborhood garage bands. They worked at learning songs off on the radio. "We never really gigged out much, but it was a great learning experience." At that young age, he learned that each band member’s influence and musical preference created an interesting diversity and added dimension to their music.
	Nearly every summer he would spend several weeks visiting his family member’s dairy farms in Jefferson County Missouri, helping out where needed and learning about farm life. His mother was raised in a two room log cabin on her grandparents farm. She escaped the hardships of her youth by moving to St. Louis after graduating high school, found work in a shoe factory, got married and started a family. ”Mom really thought it was funny that I bonded to the life she dreaded most of her childhood. She would shake her head at the thought of me loving it all so much and just laugh, ‘It must be in your genes,’ she would say.“
At the end of the each stay, Bobby would return home to the suburbs with a bevy of new songs freshly picked off of the local country radio, and perform them for anyone who would listen. The love of country music was not always widely shared by his band-mates. Around the summer of 1969 Bobby came back with Glen Campbell’s "Wichita Lineman" album and was shocked that most of his friends didn’t share his opinion that it was a great album. To his peers, country just wasn’t cool!
A successful talent show appearance with the band Excalibur during his senior year of High School convinced Bobby that the transition to a full time musician was well within reach. But until the transition was complete, he held various full & part-time positions as a welder, truck driver, salesman, maintenance & warehouse worker to help pay the bills.
His love of music became a full-time adventure and the road became his home for the next several years. Being away from home full time can be very demanding as anyone who has done it knows. When you’re young and single doing what you love, it can be a very educational experience. "Meeting all of the great people that I did, and performing at so many great venues was great. But I realized that you could spend an eternity playing in a honky-tonk doing someone else’s material." The band Bobby was with at the time, KIDZ, had a growing regional following and reputation. They performed mainly cover material, but also several of their own promising, original compositions that seemed to go over very well their expanding fan base. "At the time I thought that was the direction we should follow, to write and perform all original material, but the other members worried that we could not maintain our full-time schedule on originals alone."
	With nearly ten years of experience living on the road and playing in a multitude of bar bands and lounge acts, Bobby married his high school sweetheart and settled down to raise a family. He continued to play for a few years but became frustrated by not being able to perform only original music. He then made the decision to give it up for a regular 9-to-5 job. But the music never really left. "I always had a guitar hanging around the house and started writing songs and putting them down in my small home recording studio. This was something that I had never really done before, - it was great! The thought of ever doing anything with my compositions or putting a band together and performing them live never entered my mind. It was done just for my own entertainment."
After years of writing and playing in his home studio Bobby finally played some of his songs for friends at work who encouraged him to continue pursue his musical career. The rough home recordings found their way to Nashville, TN and into the gifted hands of Larry Marrs. A musical pioneer in his own right, Larry suggested that several songs showed promise and could do well on country radio.
In the fall of 2000, Bobby was nominated for a golden pen award for his writing efforts on "My Heart Belongs To You." In February 2001 his first independently produced CD titled COMING HOME TO YOU was released and received immediate airplay and interest in the independent country markets throughout the world. With songs like "Honey", "Have a Good Cry Over Me," "Walk the Walk," "My Heart Belongs to You," "Make it Right," and title track "Coming Hojme to You," Bobby discovered a fan base that was eager to experience country from a different point of view.
Bobby performed at several new artist show cases during Fan Fair, 2003, with performances at Douglas Corner and Nashville Palace and then several at the first annual Loretta Lynn's Songwriter’s Festival, Bobby felt the fire of live performing return!
"I really enjoy the writing and recording aspect of this business, it is something that I have not done a lot of until now, but there is nothing that compares to performing before a live audience! Fanfair gave me the opportunity to meet so many people from around the world who listen to and support my music!! I can’t put into words just how awesome it was to meet them face to face. They asked when was my next cd was coming out."		Photo by Mike George
Most independent artists will tell you the thing that keeps them going is the love that they have for the music and the hope of someday being able to write, record and perform full time. Bobby was no is different. As much as he has enjoyed every bit of success he experienced over the last 3 years with his music, he still maintains his day job of Modelmaker/Machinist at a local St. Louis vending machine manufacturer and tries to keep it all in perspective. "My first project was just that, a starting point. My next effort had to take my music to the next level. I would love to perform and write full time and have the support of a major label, but so would the other half a million artists out there. It all was on my shoulders. My next project had to really stand out above the rest."
	In 2001 after the completion of Coming Home To You, the next project, WRONG SIDE OF LOVE was quickly started with a projected release date of spring 2002. "I had umpteen songs that I thought were ready for the next project. We would go into the studio and put several down and I would go home and write more that I thought were better suited for the album; the release date quickly came and went. I discussed it all with my producer Larry Marrs and he agreed, we would not put this one out until it could 'run with the big dogs'." By September of 2003, we both felt that we finally had the line up that we wanted to go with. The 10 song cd includes Carl Kohnen’s "You Can Always Come Back Home," a runner up in the 2002 NSAI songwriters contest, "Lost on Love," written by Katy Gilda and Bobby Cage, and 8 other compositions that Bobby penned himself.
When asked if being a independent artist can be a bit overwhelming at times he quickly responded "Yes.. but I wouldn’t have it any other way - Independent and Proud!"