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Cliff Weston was born into a musical family and it was probably inevitable that he would end up with a career in the music industry.
He formed his first band, Questionnaire with members of his family, including his father, in 1971.
They were a pop band but he soon realised he wanted to play Country music, forming another family band, The Silver Dollar Band, by the end of the decade.
He has been a member of a number of very popular Country bands, most notably Medicine Bow from 1992 – 1996. Medicine Bow were formed in the 1960s. The original line-up was Dave Cawse (lead vocal and drums), John Pearson (lead vocal and rhythm guitar), Mike Barnshaw (lead guitar and pedal steel), Peter Orgill (fiddle) and Dave Cook (bass).
When I first saw them in the early 1990s only Dave Cawse remained from the original line up. The rest of the band comprised Cliff Weston (pedal steel and keyboard), Alan Underwood (bass) Mike Manion (guitar) and John Vickers (fiddle).
On leaving Medicine Bow, Cliff joined Band Named Sioux, staying for 18 months before leaving to form the Corn Dogs trio alongside Kevin Blake and Shane O’Borne who both played lead guitar. The Corn Dogs were very well respected with three versatile multi-instrumentalists and three good singers, both harmonies and lead vocals. There were several changes in the line-up. Shane was, in time, replaced by Rick McKay and later by John (Stubby) Stubbs and finally by Nadine Somers which brought a change in name to The Corn Exchange.
By this time, bands were generally in decline and eventually the trio folded. After a short break from playing, Cliff joined Calico Trio with Nikki Napier and Brian ‘Shanks’ Bennett c.2006. Cliff played pedal steel guitar and keyboard in each of the bands.
After leaving Calico in 2010 Cliff formed The Westons family trio with his younger brother Paul and Paul’s wife Debbie, who is an excellent Country singer and formerly one half of Livewire.
In 2016 he decided to continue his Country career as a soloist with an emphasis on strong instrumentation and good vocals although from time to time he still performs with Paul and Debbie as The Westons.
He produces all his backing tracks in his own studio to ensure a high quality sound that is different to other solo artists.
As it is difficult for a soloist to play pedal steel unless sitting down Cliff now plays lead guitar and dobro on which he has quickly become a past master. The technique is very similar to pedal steel he told me. This is an instrument we see too infrequently these days.