Band
This page is for you if you book the room, not if you're planning a party. We explain what we bring and what we need, along with the claims we don't make.
Ricky Bobby is a live Austin three-piece playing covers across six decades, with two frontmen trading lead vocals and guitar, and three-part harmony.
The group has three players: Sonny on drums, Rik on bass, and Bob on guitar. Both Rik and Bob handle lead vocals, and Sonny covers drums plus backing vocals, so every chorus gets a lead voice with two harmonies rather than one voice carrying the room.
Our songs run from 1967 through 2018 by design, and we play each at its original tempo and in its original key. We don't lower any song's key or piece familiar hooks into a medley.
Rik Avalos fronted Dirty Oliver, and Bob Michaels handled lead guitar duties with the Rave and Slippery Fish; all three musicians cut their teeth in Austin's club scene, with Avalos and Michaels coming up through the identical Sixth Street venues, sometimes performing just one night apart. Sonny Sanchez co-founded Sounds Under Radio, an Austin rock group.
The payoff from that background is ordinary but useful: we begin on time and read the room. Nobody leaves a silent gap while looking for a cable.
The usual shape is up to three sets of roughly forty-five minutes each. Treat that as a starting point for a club night, not a requirement. Longer sets with fewer breaks work, so do four shorter sets or a single long one; tell us how the room runs and we'll build around it.
Our setlist page shows the full running order, plus the artist who originally recorded each song. You can tell exactly what the night will sound like before you book; most acts sent to you don't provide that.
Every show gets our full PA and stage lighting because we own both, which means we can work rooms with no production at all. When the house supplies a system and an engineer, we run on that setup and coordinate with the engineer.
Practical numbers for load-in, footprint and power draw live in how much space and power a live band needs and how long a band needs to load in.
On a page aimed at people who hear pitches every day, being upfront is worth it.
Send us the date, the room, and the set times you need. Let us know whether the house provides production. If the room prefers a particular genre or won't take one, tell us now rather than at eleven o'clock; our setlist has enough songs for either choice.
Want to hear what we sound like first? Watch the promo video and look through the setlist. Use the same form you'd use for anything else to book us. Your message goes right to our inbox, not to an agency.
Rik and Bob both handle the microphone, so announcements never hold up the music.
Our PA runs all night, not only during our sets. As guests arrive and between sets, we play recorded music through it, a playlist from a laptop. If you want more, Ricky Bobby DJ is a separate offering of Ricky Bobby Music that you can book together with the band in one booking.
You can pick the music, or tell us the mood and we’ll pick it. If you’ve hired your own DJ or host, they can use our system.
Yes. At every show, we arrive with our own full PA and stage lighting, which means we can perform even in a space with no production of its own.
Yes. We usually do up to three sets, each about forty-five minutes, but that isn't required.
We play covers from six decades, with songs spanning 1967 to 2018, each one done in the key and tempo of the original.
I am an automated assistant, not one of the band. Ask about the setlist, the show, or what we need from your venue. If you want a date looked at, I can pass your details to Rik, who handles booking, and I will tell you when I have.
Anything you send here is covered by our privacy and data use page. Prefer a person? Use the booking form.