Randall Ward grew up in Austin and benefitted from the rich musical influences found there.

Austin had an abundance of excellent musicians and bands, both local and touring acts. The readily available access to great players was appreciated and also, no doubt, taken for granted. 

“I remember sitting outside the Armadillo World Headquarters and debating with friends whether to go eat or go inside to see Freddie King, as if the two choices were somehow equivalent!! We thought there would always be a “next time."

Randall was a founding member of Fools  with Van Wilks, Tommy Shannon (pre SRV) and Phil Ballinger. He played with them for a year or so, doing many club gigs including the Armadillo. He left to join "Mariani" with Vince Mariani and Reggie Witty (Randall was filling the guitar spot recently left open by the departure of Eric Johnson). Mariani recorded an album for Tomato Records (never released) and played some shows including the Armadillo.

Randall later recorded and performed with Jay Aaron on his Warner Bros release in a band that included Joe Clark on keyboards (Joe plays on "Becoming" – but the Armadillo  was now long gone, alas, so no shows there this time around). 

"It was a special honor and pleasure to work on the Jay Aaron record with Eddy Offord, producer for bands including Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer."

Randall would then join with Arthur Brown (The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, aka the “God of Hellfire”) on a variety of different projects, including three UK tours. One tour (which Stu was also part of) resulted in a live album recorded at "The Marquee Club"  in London. 

"...played The Marquee Club, take that one off my bucket list!" 

A subsequent tour resulted in recording the song "The Green Manalishi" for a Peter Green tribute album produced by Pete Brown (poet, Cream co-writer, producer, percussionist, etc). Around this time Randall began teaching guitar on a more regular basis and this, gladly, continues today.