Used to Be

Written by Tom Skinner and Bob Wiles
BMI @Cimarron Soul Music, 1986

Honored song in the Red Dirt music scene. Performed by many artists and bands. Written about the 'days gone by' sights on a stretch of old Route 66 between Tulsa and Bristow, OK.

A man playing the bass guitar in front of a microphone.

TOM SKINNER

A man in cowboy hat playing guitar on stage.

BOB WILES

Vocals performed by

BOB WILES …AND THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS OF THE RED DIRT FAMILY

A woman standing in the middle of a field.

MONICA TAYLOR

A man with a beard and sunglasses is holding a guitar

CRAIG SKINNER

A man with a beard and mustache playing an acoustic guitar

GREG JACOBS

A man with long hair and glasses playing guitar.

CODY CANADA

MUSICIANS PERFORMING ON USED TO BE:

GENE WILLIAMS & TRAVIS FITE ON ACOUSTIC GUITARS

DYLAN LAYTON ON BASS

RICK GOMEZ ON DRUMS

ROGER RAY ON PEDAL STEEL GUITAR

JOHN FULLBRIGHT ON PIANO

A man playing an electric guitar on stage.

GENE WILLIAMS 

A man playing an acoustic guitar while sitting in front of a microphone.

TRAVIS FITE 

A man in striped shirt playing guitar on stage.

DYLAN LAYTON

A man playing drums in front of some trees

RICK GOMEZ

A man playing an instrument on stage.

ROGER RAY

A man sitting at a piano playing an instrument.

JOHN FULLBRIGHT

Two videos of Tom Skinner performing Used to Be:

  1. This is from 2016; Tom was in his last year of life. He tells the
    story of how this song was written. Thank you to Red Dirt Nation for the use of this video!  Click on the record below to view the video
    www.reddirtnation.com 
  1. I love this filmed out at The Farm in the old carriage house. Falling down from it’s approximately 100 years of standing- Bob Childers called it ‘the Gypsy Cafe’ because so many songwriters, bands, and gypsies of all kinds would stop by when they had gigs in northern Oklahoma or as they were crossing the region on tour… and sit down in ‘the Gypsy Cafe’ and share songs and stories with whoever was at The Farm that day. Bob Childers had parked his small travel trailer just behind this old structure. Folks would beep their horn or walk back to his trailer or into the farmhouse, get a meal and then get a healthy ‘meal’ of music before they got back out on the old red dirt road and continue their journey.

There weren’t many folks out at The Farm when this video was shot by Matt Daniels (Skinner gave Matt the nickname “Junior Showcase”). One of the audience members siting on a bale of hay can be heard clapping at the end… that was a young mid-twenties ‘monica taylorme.’Thank you for filming so many special moments of music, Matt!

click on the record to view the video