Our next gig was in Corpus Christi, opening for Michael Murphey, who'd had a hit with the song "Wildfire." […]

A bit before show time, David Allan gave each band member and myself a small, Lone Ranger-style mask, and insisted that we put them on backstage. The masks obscured our vision[. …]

Finally the band felt their way onto the stage[. …] Then David Allan threw them another curve ball. He strode to his mike stand, looked out at the packed house, and started playing the guitar intro to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."

The band had never played this song with him, and although they all knew the tune (everyone does) they had no idea what key he'd started in. And with the stupid masks on, they couldn't see clearly enough to watch David Allan's hands on his guitar. Finally, the bass player caught the key and showed the guitar player on his bass neck where he was, and they all kicked in. It was a very ragged way to start, but David Allan was pumped up and the crowd responded loudly to his energy. When they finished the first song, the applause was heavy. This only encouraged David Allan, so he launched into another unrehearsed number. The band members were looking at each other, dumbfounded. […]

In that whole show, I think David Allan played one or two songs that they had rehearsed. The rest of it was off the top of his head. The crowd went nuts and was screaming for more.