Bobby Flores
2003 Grammy Award winning musician Bobby Flores is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, arranger, producer, composer and first call session musician. He studied music theory and classical violin at Trinity University under the late Dominick Saltarelli, jazz guitar with Jackie King, and classical guitar with David Underwood. Bobby is featured on over five hundred albums, CDs and singles, including performances with numerous artists on major labels such as Willie Nelson/Ray Price. He composes music for radio and television commercials airing throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. While Bobby feels at home in the country, pop-rock, jazz, blues, Latin and classical genres, he also enjoys composing for and performing with his Starlight Strings Quartet (www.starlightquartet.com). Bobby regularly composes/records horn and string arrangements for artist's tracks as well.
In 1968 at the age of seven, Bobby started his professional career by performing at local functions and Texas area circuits in a gospel duo with his mother Mary Jane Flores. Two years later Bobby began working nightclubs as a featured single artist with George Chambers & The Country Gentlemen,.
The next 10 years would set the precedence for Bobby’s career. At the age of twelve, he began opening shows for artists Marty Robbins, Wynn Stewart, Conway Twitty, Bobby Bare, Larry Gatlin, Tanya Tucker, Darrell McCall, Johnny Bush and Johnny Rodriguez. He formed his first band at the age of 13 and began performing at various nightclubs and dancehalls throughout Texas. To coincide with Bobby’s live performances he was also featured in a widely popular TV commercial for the regional Big Red soft drink company. Shortly afterward he recorded the first of four charting country singles and released his first LP album on the San Antonio based Joey Records. at the age of 14.
By 1980, Bobby had become bandleader, show opener and fiddle player for Johnny Bush and the Bandoleros, and by the mid 80's was vocalist/guitarist for Top 40 and rock bands, “Gone City” and “The Boiz,” and was also performing with the Trinity University Community Orchestra.
In 1988, along with brother, Greg, and sister, Sandra, Bobby formed the extremely popular band Angel Fire and played the Texas “A” circuit until 1997, opening for numerous country superstars including George Strait, Vince Gill and Garth Brooks. Shortly thereafter, he toured the US and Canada with David Kersh (Curb Records), including performances for Prime Time Country on TNN and numerous radio shows.
As fate would have it, this turn of events led him to his dream job by becoming first violin/fiddle player for Ray Price through 2001. This also inspired Bobby to record his debut CD, Just For The Record. He has since released an additional eight CD’s.
In 2003, Bobby received Grammy recognition for string and brass arrangements and violin performances on Freddy Fender’s CD, "La Musica de Baldemar Huerta".
2004 yielded "Male Artist of The Year"- Third Coast Music, "Western Swing Instrumentalist of The Year" - Academy of Western Artists", "Fiddle Player of The Year" -Terry Awards, "Album of The Year" (Just For The Record) - Swingin' West and "Top 10 Album of The Year" - Take Country Back.
In 2006, Bobby was thrilled to be chosen to compose the original soundtrack for the multi-award winning film documentary "The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez"..
In 2007 Bobby was inducted into the "Southern Legends of Entertainment" in Oklahoma City and was also honored by being inducted into the "Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame" in San Marcos, TX. Bobby's recording of "I Wonder Who'll Turn Out The Lights" (from his "Festival" CD) is featured in the recent Tommy Lee Jones movie "Three Burials". His work on albums has had him nominated another two times for Grammy Awards. His record labels, Yellow Rose Records and R.D. Music, are doing very well for him as he continues to produce great albums for a variety of artists (www.yellowroserecords.com).
2009 brought several more recognitions including a Top 10 "Swingin' West" Western Swing single for "Are You Teasing Me" as well as an Academy of Western Artists finalist for Traditional Country Album of the Year for "11 Roses".
In 2010 Bobby was given a special Award of Congratulatory Recognintion from Govenor Rick Perry for 40 years of performing in the music industry.
In 2013, the Western Swing Society inducted Bobby into the Western Swing Hall of Fame.
2014 brought many awards, including induction into the Country Music Association of Texas Hall of Fame, a finalist for Ameripolitan Award for Western Swing Male, the Western Swing Hero Award from the Cowtown Society of Western Swing and Governor Rick Perry, and being nominated for "Texas Musician of the Year".
In addition, Bobby Flores has been a Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Recipient from 2010 to the present and also won the 2015 Ameripolitan Award for Western Swing Male.
Bobby Flores is continuously gaining recognition as one of Texas’ premier musicians and vocalists, both on stage and in the studio. Bobby enjoys peforming all over the world with his Country and Western Swing 7-piece band, the Yellow Rose Band (which features Three fiddles!) and also has a second band called Rush River that plays Top-40 Country and Rock. He also plays in three different Trios: The Wagon Wheels, the Bobby Flores Trio and the Frio Trio.
His music can be heard on radio stations all over including Sirius-XM Radio’s “Willie’s Roadhouse”. Bobby can also be seen and heard regularly on RFD TV's "Tru-Country" and "Midwest Country Opry" shows.
Bobby owns, directs and teaches at his live-performance music academy, the Bulverde Academy of Music, www.bam8.com and is joined there by several top notch music instructors on many instruments.
Bobby's recording and production talents have found a permanent home at B.A.M. Recording Studios in San Antonio, which Bobby owns in partnership with his father, Robert Flores, Sr.