Fargo Strut

Fargo Strut formed when two life long friends, Jeff Turner and Billy Atkisson got together to jam. Billy and Jeff both got guitars for Christmas the same year when they were in their early teens. They had played together numerous times throughout the years and had very similar taste in music. Billy studied music at MTSU and earned a Bachelor's degree in classical guitar with an emphasis on instrumental performance. As fate would have it, when they got together to play some music Billy had a set of drums and became the drummer and singer because that way they could play and write and have more of a full band sound.

Having a great time jamming, they tried out quite a few bass players along the way, but none of the bass players seemed right for the band. While looking for a bass player, Jeff contacted a friend he had worked with named Matthew Powell. Matt no longer played but was now into making videos. He offered to make a music video for Fargo Strut. Jeff and Billy decided to give it a try and the result is the Get Too High video now on Youtube.

Soon Billy and Jeff were approached about playing a gig at the first annual Futlzfest. Excited about the opportunity, but still without a bass player, they contacted Chad Grant. He had been a friend for many years and had a lot of experience playing bass in rock and metal bands and had been playing around Nashville for several years in a wide variety of bands. Chad joined the group and began to play gigs. This line up also shot a video called Every Time You Touch Me. Soon after, Mike Porter joined Fargo Strut as a second guitar player. Chad left to play with a signed act and it prevented him from continuing on with F/S due to the contract he signed.Tony Emerton then came aboard to fill the bass slot. More gigs followed as well as a couple of more videos- New Day Rising and All Through the Night, which can also be found on you tube.

This line up played gigs and was stable for quite a while. Eventually, Jeff and Billy parted ways with Mike and Tony due to musical differences and because things slowed down in the writing and recording department with this line up. It was back to Billy and Jeff again and since they had written all the songs on the first CD Across the Sky, they began writing and recording the second CD called Can't Cool Down which is scheduled to be released in October. With possible gigs and opportunities beginning to develop, Billy and Jeff once again contacted Chad, who had parted ways this the signed act. He was down with getting back together and seeing where the road may lead. Billy switched to his main instrument, which is guitar, but will continue to sing as well. Auditions for drummers is currently going on as the band gets ready to release their latest music and hit the stage again very soon!