Rick Roberts was about 20 when he went to Los Angeles, looking to make his name in music—and he succeeded. In 1970 he was invited to join a country/rock band with an odd name but great musical genetics, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and then in the mid-1970s he co-founded Firefall, writing several of its hits (including “You Are the Woman” and “Just Remember I Love You”) over the next half-dozen years.

Now, decades later, we talk with him about his life from the Burritos until today, including the dormant years, alcoholism, other musical ventures, a head injury he writes about in his book Lame Brain, his recovery, his persistence, and his return to performing. He shares a few stories behind his songs and talks about playing again as a solo act.

Listen now - - Banjo Bones sings themes of the present in a voice of the past.  With lyrical content that spans the introspective to the esoteric, Banjo Bones combines elements of roots music into a genre defying style that borrows in equal portions from blues, jazz, country and folk.  Whiskey infused philosopher, frustrated poet, and wannabe cowboy, Banjo Bones takes listeners on a journey filled with the musical landscape equivalent to Death Valley, as told by a pallet of characters that would be perfectly at home in a Fante or Bukowski book. 

A founding member of post-punk band Samsara, based in Washington DC in the early part of the 1990s, JL Espada recorded and released a regionally successful EP (recorded in the legendary Inner Ear Studios, home of underground legends Fugazi), only to turn away from the music industry in 1996.  He eventually found his voice again through the alias Banjo Bones, and after relocating to Sacramento, CA in 2011, released several works, including the EP Failed Ambitions (2012), and the popular single Snowy Mountain (2013).  The full-length CD of new material, The Place of Dead Roads, was released March 5, 2015.  2017's Cowboy Dreams is the most recent release, a ten song collection of songs that can best be described as the soundtrack to a desert adventure.

In a music environment cluttered with overproduced, empty-minded flavor of the month music, Banjo Bones makes an honest attempt to keep the musical story-telling tradition alive. Visit Banjo Jones at www.banjobones.com. Note only songs played from the CD Cowboy Dreams are listed on the playlist