LTCL Concert: Piano with Randy Dennis
Join us at the Lake Travis Community Library for live music with pianist Randy Dennis! Dennis has played alongside well-know musicians such as Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, and Reba McEntire. He fell in love with the keyboard, and with music, during his childhood in Killeen.
“In about fifth grade, I became interested in it because of my soulful music teacher,” Dennis said. “She’d start to play, and she’d just tear it up. I was captured.”
Dennis began to learn piano and also participated in choir throughout middle school and high school, he said. By the time he reached high school, he was in a band, playing gigs for money.
“I learned to read music, but I was never really governed by the music,” he said. “I’d tell my friends, ‘I’m in a band with these guys who are way older; they’re in their 30s,’ and these guys I played with, they were like, ‘Whoa, this kid can really play.’”
Between playing gigs and working at Barton Creek Country Club for tips, a friend touring with George Strait called Dennis to see if he might like to tour with an up-and-coming artist on their label named Tracy Byrd.
“So I rolled the dice on that, and it turned into a 12-year career,” Dennis said. “We went to the White House a couple times, and played at the Grand Ole Opry. That was a dream come true; that’s a goal for every musician.”
Dennis toured with other major acts that include Brooks and Dunn and Kenny Chesney, also playing with local Austin band Duck Soup for a stint, which Dennis described as “an honor.” But now, Dennis leads his church worship ensemble, plays at weddings and parties, arranges and produces music and teaches everyone from beginners to skilled pianists.
