A BRIEF LOOK AT TIM'S PERFORMANCE HISTORY:

First Band "AMERICAN APPLE": Early High School years.

Sadly, there are no surviving recordings from this group. This crew of 12 to 14 yr. olds needed an organ player and even though I didn't play (having adamantly refused to take piano lessons as a child) I eagerly answered the bell when Johnny Chappell called and asked me to join. Sensing the opportunity for fame, fortune and chicks, I immediately sat down at my mom's piano, taught myself a few chords and was magically transformed into a keyboard player. Phillip Morgan, the original keyboard player, owned a Farfisa Combo Compact Organ and  graciously allowed me to use it.. We played a few high school dances and church functions. It was fun. Band mates included Johnny, Doug Mazur and Darwin Conort.

Second Band "MANTRA":  Late High School and College.

This really wasn't my band. I just sat in when asked (and when my mom would let me).  Members included Darwin Conort, Mike Randman (now owner of Cafe on the Corner in Hapeville), Steve Coltrane, Paul O'Daniel, , Eddie Stevenson (and sometimes) Drew McPherson, Roy Drukenmiller,  Hugh Pitts and Marty Bone.

Third Band "The Spread Eagle Band": A short-lived duo featuring Tim and Darwin.

My first radio exposure. Darwin and I played two gigs together. The first at my Alma Mater (Davidson College) and the second at the now defunct  Little Five Points Pub. Luckily tapes of both performances still exist. The quality of the tapes (and for that matter the performances) isn't the best, but hearing them does bring back memories. (MP3 format- just click the song title. Click here if you need help)

1. Autumn

2. Morning Sky

Fourth Band "Traveler" aka "The Brett Hartley Band": This was my real first attempt at "making it." Core members of the band were Darwin Conort, Marty Bone and me. We had lots of help however. Early on a guy named Pepper (whose last name escapes me) played drums.  He was subsequently replaced by  Paul O'Daniel and Steve "hey man" Phillips. Earl Usury started on the bass followed by Andrew Rich, Dan Sullivan and a host of others (if anyone remembers let me know). Marty was the big influence in the group having come close to signing a major label record deal with Atlanta based " Carrie Nation "  the first in a string of very popular bands to call "The Bistro"  (Jimmy Buffett, White Face, Baby and the Pacifiers) home. I guess the big thing for "Traveler"  was winning the 1981 Georgia State -Wide talent search sponsored by Atlanta radio station 94Q (WQXI-FM now STAR94). We won some recording time at a big studio and performed on live TV. Ironically, we had to re-form the group to go to the competition having broken up two weeks prior to being chosen.

  Songs by BRETT HARTLEY/TRAVELER: (MP3 format- just click the song title. Click here if you need help)

1. "Cry No Tears" - This is the first song I ever wrote (1979)

2. "Loves an Old Fool" - This is the first song I ever recorded (1981)

3. "You're The One" -  Written by Marty Bone, this song is what got us into the WQXI talent search. It also received air play on WQXI-FM and a couple of other Atlanta  AM stations.

4.  "Gimme Your Love" - This song was recorded at MasterTrax (1982) as a result of our winning the aforementioned contest.

5.  "Only Make Believe" - Another Marty Bone composition, this song became the  title cut for an album by Atlanta legend Tommy Strain and his band MAGIC CAT. (Click here to view Tommy's web site)

Fifth Band "The Nelsons"

This was my first venture into hippness. Gary Limuti, his then wife Patti Ray,  Rose Robinson and a keyboard player named Ben had a group that was playing some of the cool clubs in town. Places like Hedgens  (The Satellites were discovered  there) in Buckhead and 688 . The Nelsons canned their lead singer (his name like so many others escapes me) and  luckily I was looking for a gig. Gary was and is one of the most talented guys I've ever worked with. His guitar playing and songwriting are superb and second only to his drawing ability. Rose wasn't long for this group but she surfaces later in my career. Neither she nor Ben played on any of the recordings I have. During this period I guess I came as close to getting a record deal as I ever would. My good friend and college roommate John Huie, was working at the time with Ian Copeland at F.B.I. (Frontier Booking International) in New York City as the booking agent for some pretty big time acts (The Police, The GoGos, Iggy Pop, R.E.M. among others). In 1984 I visited New York and played my new demo for John and Ian. Ian took a big liking to it and proceeded to cart me around the office playing it for all of the employees. I swear he must've played it ten times that afternoon. I don't know what he was smoking at the time, but I guess his head cleared up the next day and he forgot all about it. Whatever the reason, he didn't follow through with his big plans for me, but I can still see him dancing around the office shouting " we're going to make you a star...."  Maybe it was the song, maybe it was the singer, maybe it was the production (Nick Jameson -Todd Rundgren protégée and Foghat member) that got Ian excited and I guess eventually turned him off- I never did get the straight poop on that.

Gary and I parted ways after a year or so, Regretfully I don't have any pictures of this group but I do have some decent recordings. Gary moved to LA and funny enough crossed paths with The Mustangs' current bass player , Scott King,. You'll have to read Scott's personal history to see how that went....

(MP3 format- just click the song title. Click here if you need help)

1. I Imagine You (The Innocent)- This was the song Ian liked

2.  Two Girls in Paris- Yes that is my wife doing the French thing on the intro. Clearly she is from southern France

3. I Lied- That's Patty on lead vocals. I play the "oh so fine" piano solo.

Sixth Band "I Don't Remember What We Called It"

About the time I was breaking up with Gary, an old friend, Hugh Pitts (see Mantra and Carrie Nation) introduced me to three of the best players I've ever known: Ricky Brunetti, Willie Gentry and Jim Gentry (no relation). Up until this point in my career with the exception of Gary and a few of the players in Traveler I had really only been in bands with people I'd known from childhood. While many of these players were very talented in their own right,  I had never and still have never played with a better rhythm section than Ricky and Willie. Willie was a giant (in girth) of a man from McComb, Mississippi who played the bass guitar like it was meant to be played. He was in short a musical genius. He had an incredibly rich and soulful voice and turned any song he sang into his own. Ricky, a virtual rhythm machine, had some commercial success in his youth with  Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods .That group had a number one national hit with the song "Billy Don't Be A Hero."

I remember the first time I played with those guys at Ricky's house. It was an epiphany. I was hooked. I never sounded so good!!  Funny what a groove can do. Sadly, by the time we got enough songs together for our first gig,  Hugh had skipped out to California to join up with Tom Johnston of Doobie Brothers fame. He'd be back as an important  force in my career a few years later, but for now even with the help of  Darwin and another really fine guitarist/singer Rick Dupree, the thing fell apart. The funny about rhythm sections that became apparent to me a little later is that that's just what it is, a two man section. I had occasion to play with both Ricky and Willie individually and neither played close to as well as they did together. Maybe that was why they were basically inseparable until Willie's death.

I took back up with Gary for a short period but it really wasn't going anywhere. Ricky, Willie and Jim however found a girl singer,  (or did she find them) Diane Durrett and formed the group Class Act. A couple of months later, Ricky asked me to join the group as a keyboardist.

Seventh Band "Class Act"

This was my first experience with a female singer and I must say I (like another of the band members) was pretty much a jerk to Dianne. We tended to find fault where there was none. I think spurned romantic interests may have been the underlying cause of our (really stupid!!- and not from me mind you) dissatisfaction. Dianne was in fact a great singer. Unfortunately the material we were trying to do at the time ( like Madonna and other disco junk) really wasn't her (or for that matter any of our) forte. It was kind of like the proverbial square peg-round hole routine. She has certainly since found her niche and is now a very successful singer/songwriter. She now lives in Nashville and stays busy writing and touring. You can check her web site by clicking here.

After conspiring (unwisely) to cut Diane out, we decided to try our luck as a four piece. The bad news was that none of us was a qualified front man. Believe it or not "Mr. Talky" (that's me) was microphone shy. The search was on for a front man. Enter Marshall Smith.

Marshall, from Mobile Alabama, was the rhythm guitar player for "Wet Willie" (Keep On Smiling, Weekend) and was decidedly better ("Somebody Scream!!) than any of us as a front man. He came up with the name for our new group "The Limit."

Eighth Band "The Limit"

"The Limit" was my first full time band. Up until now I had worked a day job as a credit manager for Lowe's Home Improvement playing music part-time. In April of 1986 my first (of three) daughters was born. My wife and I looked at our respective employment outlooks and I'm pleased to say made an extremely wise decision: that being she would pursue her career as a lawyer for Coca-Cola while I tended the baby by day and toured the clubs of Atlanta by night. It was a great arrangement. In those days, unlike today, clubs featured live music seven nights a week. The Carlos McGee's chain basically kept us working full time.

The Limit lasted about three years. Willie and Ricky were snatched up by that mean old David Cole and offered jobs in the band "Starshower." Jim, Marshall and I tried to carry on and replaced them with a couple of pretty good players in Robbie "The dancing Bear" Catlin on bass and Bob (again no last name) on drums. It's these guys you hear playing on the live cuts below.

I only have one cut of Ricky, Willie and me playing together. Its a song called "Yellow Jacket" written by a friend of mine, Frank McShane about the Georgia Tech basketball team of the 80's that featured Mark Price and John Salley. I've included it below. The band finally broke up (just after these recordings were made) and Jim again joined Ricky and Willie in Starshower. Sadly after moving to Orlando to take a house job with Starshower, Willie  died of a massive stroke.

1..I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You - Live at The Hogs Breath Saloon in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. We broke up the day after these songs were recorded.

2..Reelin' In The Years-  Jimmy Gentry (lead guitar) just smokes on these cuts. Since its my history I just put up songs that I sang.

3..My Old School- I just love Steely Dan

4..Paperback Writer-  We did ok with this

5. Yellow Jacket-   This one is with Ricky and Willie in the studio