Blues & Rock Vocalist and Guitarist, Junior Medlow, was born in Lubbock in 1953. From a young age, Junior was active in the church and found Gospel to be a major influence on his musical career. Junior played in Lubbock throughout the late ’60s and ’70s before moving to Austin, where he eventually joined the Cobras, one of Austin’s most influential bands. Making a name for himself as a red-hot vocalist and guitarist, Junior’s shows were renowned for providing audiences with a rollercoaster of style and energy. During the summer of 1986, Chris Duarte of The Bad Boys asked Junior to sit in on some studio cuts after the two of them had performed an impromptu jamming session at Austin’s Black Cat club. Immediately, the chemistry was there, and the group quickly became known as Junior Medlow and The Bad Boys. Junior fused his Lubbock childhood influences of soul, blues, funk, and gospel with his experiences in Austin to create a unique style of high-energy, soulful R&B that saw the band winning the Austin Music Awards several years in a row. The band went their separate ways in the early 1990s, after which Junior returned to his roots in Lubbock, where he created Tornado Alley, performing his distinctive style of funked-up, rhythmic soul. In 1993, longtime friend and fan Tom McMickle funded his album “Thrill for Thrill.” Junior and Tornado Alley performed at several European blues festivals, showcasing his seemingly limitless energy to an international audience. Despite being diagnosed with cancer in 1994, Junior performed when he could, including sitting in with his life-long friend Chris Duarte in February of 1997. Sadly, this would be their final performance together; Junior passed away on April 17, 1997.
Junior Medlow was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame in 2023
