Remembering An El Paso Music Legend: The Late Great Rod Crosby

The El Paso music scene is certainly thriving nowadays but looking back at history, there are SEVERAL musicians that have been staples in El Paso's history. Rod Crosby was one of them. He went on to start Rod Crosby & The Intruders & was a great friend of another legend, Bobby Fuller. Rod would sadly pass away April 4th, 2022. So in honor of Rod, I figured we'd take a look back at his career.

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Rod moved to El Paso in 1960 & graduated from Austin High School in the Class of 63. He started playing guitar (learning mostly Buddy Holly & the Cricket tunes) & sang with The Intruders (later it would become Rod Crosby & The Intruders) & they would get asked to play many after-school dances at Austin High.

At the time, one of the biggest artists from El Paso, was the Bobby Fuller Four (another artist Rod admired). In an interview with Gary James, it was revealed that Rod was even asked to JOIN Bobby's band, which Rod said no. After Bobby's death, Jim Reese &  Dalton Powell who played with Bobby Fuller, would later join Rod Crosby & the Intruders. He would always play Bobby Fuller songs as a sign of his appreciation & friendship that they had.

Rod Crosby & the Intruders would play all types of gigs around El Paso in the early days, including: the Fort Bliss Teen Club, Johnny Fairchild's Golden Key Club, & the Downtown Hilton Hotel (which is The Plaza Theater now).

In 1972, Rod would start up his own audio equipment rental shop Crosby Sound & it's still open today for business. He would also be a huge part in playing for Border Legends of El Paso, which was founded back in 2008; all dedicated to showing off bands who been in El Paso's music scene for YEARS. Rod was not only a co-founder but a prominent performer for Border Legends. He would continue playing there until 2016.

Rick Kern Sr from Talk & Rock Radio, & longtime friend of Rod Crosby, got to interview him this year back in February, where he talked all about his 6 decade career with the Intruders, the battle of the bands he was part of at the El Paso Coliseum, the creation of Border Legends of El Paso. There's also some of his recordings both older & recent, showing that he's still got it after 62 years.

Two months later, they did a special tribute episode to Rod Crosby showing their appreciation for what he meant to El Paso.

It's always a shame when we lose a musician but, it's even worse when they were one of our own. People are encouraged to show their support on Rod's obituary & some people have already done so. So if you want to pay your respects, you can online here. R.I.P. Rod Crosby...