Lenno was a junior in high school when he became serious about learning to play the guitar and formed his first band, the Madrias. Playing a combination of British Invasion and Jimmy Reed style music, the newly formed band packed in audiences and skaters every Friday and Saturday night at the Stephenville Skating Rink. It was during this time that he was introduced to the blues.
After a lot of practice and hard work, Lenno began to make a name for himself as a young guitar slinger. He played lead guitar in a couple of regionally successful bands, Throckmorton Street Rescue Mission and Soup.
In 1972, however, his music headed in a completely different direction, when he formed an acoustic duo with his brother, Frank. They had their own local radio show, toured from Texas to Chicago, and opened shows for national recording acts. The brothers had success as singer/songwriters and were part of the New Folk Concerts at the Kerrville Folk Festival. They stayed together eight years, and during that time, Lenno expanded his musical skills and learned to play the mandolin and bass guitar.
In 2001, Lenno made the switch to his main love, bass guitar, and formed the Barton Street Blues Band with A.J. Babineaux and Jim Brunelle. The band split up in 2004, and Lenno played with Blue Lisa & The T-Bonz, Willie Brown Blues Band, Tommy & The Tom Cats, The Maurio Marcus Band, The Bulldogs, The Randy Willis Band, Three Time Fool, and The Jimmy "Preacher" Ellis Blues Band. He has been in bands that have shared the bill or opened for Chubby Checker, Buddy Miles, Cookie McGee, Dan Seals, Dave Loggins, KM Williams, The Red Elvises, Cold Blue Steel, Mke Morgan & the Crawl, Texas Slim & The Love Machine, Andrew "Jr. Boy" Jones, Hash Brown, Son Henry, Candye Kane, Joe Jonas, and Lindwood Taylor.
Randy began playing an acoustic guitar when he was twelve years old, and though he loved music, it was to take a back seat to his interest and participation in the sport of motocross. Randy worked his way up to “Pro” status and was competing for money. At the age of twenty-one, he was struck by a car and seriously injured while riding a bicycle. It took him about six months to recover from his injuries. While he was healing, he had lots of time to develop his musical skills. A couple of his friends had a music group and talked Randy into joining the band. The drummer took him to a music store and helped pick out an electric guitar to get him started. The bass player and drummer went on to be on tour with Box Car Willie.
Randy has been performing with his own band, the Randy Willis Band, for several years throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and has used a number of featured artists including, Blue Lisa, Miss Marcy, Cricket Taylor, and Andrea Dawson. He has performed at Stroker’s Ice House, Pappadeaux’s, The Hole In The Wall, Blue Cat Blues, Greenville Bar & Grill, the Box Car, and J&J’s Blues Bar in Fort Worth where he opened for Omar & the Howlers. Other bands that he has opened for are Texas Slim & the Love Machine, Rocky Athis, and Cold Blue Steel.
Randy Willis is a gentle soul with what can best be described as a “character” voice. He half talks half sings the blues. He has been influenced by the guitar work of Freddie King, Jimmy Vaughn, B.B. King, Albert Collins, Albert King, “Johnny Red” Latham, Mark Pollock, Mark Brown, and Carlos Santana. His favorite songs to perform are tunes by Jimmy Reed, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and instrumentals by Freddie King.
Rockin' Ron Thompson - Drums
Phillip Law - Drums
Kevin Schermerhorn - Drums
Mark Minton - Drums
Mike King - Drums
Bill Eden - Saxophone
Chris Wommack - Saxophone