CJ Fuson

CJ Fuson has spent a lifetime following the rhythm: gospel stages and country gigs, rock bands and the road, and finally the creative freedom of original music. All of it lands behind the kit as the heartbeat of the Rik Avalos Band.

He picked up the sticks at nine, playing gospel with the Jeannie Bos-Wheeler Quartet, Soul Searchers, Donnie Wright and others. By twelve he was playing country, though his heart was already pulling him toward rock. At sixteen he formed Black Sheep with his brother, then came Eclipse and a brief stint with Shag Nasty. At twenty he launched his own band, Syrinx, and won the West Texas Battle of the Bands.

At twenty-four, CJ hit the road with Ronald Reeves and the Shot in the Dark Band, touring alongside several major acts. Two years later he stepped away to finish school and raise his children, and in 1987 he made Austin home.

In 2005 he came back to the stage as a freelance drummer, sitting in with Blue Dog, Bad Rooster, Fusion, the Michael Ingels Band, The Pictures, Stella and the Hey Dudes, and more. By 2016 he was back to what he loves most, creating original music. That chapter ran through Stranger Angels and Axelson, and it led him to the Rik Avalos Band.

He brings all of it with him: decades of experience, a rock and roll heart, and a personality as unmistakable as his playing, which is powerful, precise and deeply musical. Like Bob, CJ’s friendship with Rik goes back to the Dirty Oliver days, and that history shows every time they play: a shorthand no rehearsal schedule can teach.

“NUFF SAID. That’s all, folks… or at least what I remember.”

CJ, in his own words