The Jellydots begins with Doug Snyder. Doug grew up in the seventies and eighties in a small rural mountain town in New Mexico. He sang in local school choirs from age 6 to 13. At age 14 Doug began studying the guitar and by 17 was fronting his first band with a cover of “Just Like Heaven,” by the Cure.

Doug began giving guitar lessons in 1999, and by late 2001 had built up a large enough clientele to quit his day job as an academic advisor in the Department of English at the University of Texas at Austin. Since day one, many of his students have been kids aged 7 to 17. One of Doug’s specialties as a teacher is songwriting. He teaches kids how to write songs by co-writing songs with them. Mr. Cookie and Race Cars Go were both co-written by a then 7-year-old Sean DeVere.

By March 2002 it became clear that a CD of these collaborative songs was in order. Doug hot-rodded his cassette recorder 4-track, on the advice of Jim Wilson, and recorded all the songs at his home in Blanco, Texas for the Jellydots first album “Music is Cool.” A lovely CD release party was held at Austin’s The Hideout theatre space where a sold-out audience enjoyed performances of the songs featuring Doug and some of his students (Eliza Walton, Will Rice, Jason Callahan).

In 2003 a five piece version of the band featuring Shawn Jones (bass), Gray Parsons (drums), Karla Manzur (vocals, guitar), and Hollie Thomas (keys) rocked the crowd at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. In the Summer of 2004 the dots brought their poppy fun sound to the Kerrville Folk Festival for 2 packed performances. In the early Winter of 2004 Doug and Karla released “Sleepin’” a lullaby CD designed to help people of all ages sleep.

In June of 2006 The Jellydots featuring Shawn Jones (The Lovely Sparrows) and Gray Parsons (Sheboygan, AUX) went into the studio and recorded “Hey You Kids!” The disc was released in the fall of 2006 to wide praise and excellent sales. 2007 will be full of tours, new songs, and many more creative endeavors.
Now go get on your bike. You look like you could use some fresh air.

The Jellydots have just finished a 12 song album called Changing Skies. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.