Originating from Texas, veteran guitarist Smokin' Joe Kubek had already been performing his fiery guitar work on the Lone Star State chitlin circuit by age 14 while supporting artists such as Freddie King. He soon assembled his own group and began appearing in numerous Dallas bars. During the 1980s he encountered guitarist/vocalist Bnois King, a native of Monroe, Louisiana, and the pair established the initial version of the Smokin' Joe Kubek Band, which started performing throughout the remainder of the Southwest toward the end of that decade. In 1991 they secured a contract with Bullseye Blues and issued their first album, Steppin' Out Texas Style, that same year. After its appearance, the band embarked on its inaugural national tour. Throughout the balance of the 1990s the Smokin' Joe Kubek Band maintained an active touring schedule across the United States and delivered albums including 1993's Texas Cadillac, 1996's Got My Mind Back, and 2000's Bite Me.
Kubek and Bnois King brought out Roadhouse Research on the Blind Pig label in 2003. Their next Blind Pig effort, Show Me the Money, followed in 2004. A single-disc anthology drawn from the Bullseye Blues catalog, Served Up Texas Style, appeared in 2005. Blind Pig Records released a third album, My Heart's in Texas, in 2006. Another collaboration with King, Blood Brothers, surfaced in 2008. Kubek and King continued with Have Blues Will Travel in 2010, followed by Close to the Bone: Unplugged and Let the Right Hand Go... in 2012, then Road Dog's Life in 2013. Kubek died tragically on October 11, 2015, after experiencing a heart attack shortly before a scheduled performance at a festival near Wilmington, North Carolina; he was 58.
