The Decades Band

Donald Hubbard first played music in grade school, as a first-chair clarinetist. He picked up the guitar in the mid-1960s while serving in the U.S. Navy and has been playing it ever since. He lives in Liberty Hill, just outside Austin, and co-leads The Decades Band with singer Diane Tropea.

The two met in 2015, when a venue owner thought they should try playing together. It worked, and before long they had a name. Since then The Decades Band has played more than 600 shows around Central Texas, and the calendar is still full. They have 55 upcoming dates right now, including regular nights at The Shed in Salado and The Vineyard at Florence.

Most of the time it’s just the two of them, though it rarely sounds like it. Donald plays a guitar synthesizer that brings in saxophone, organ, accordion, flute, vibes, banjo, clarinet and horns, so a duo can fill a room the way a bigger band would. When a gig calls for more, they add a sax player and play as a trio. Donald also plays solo and leads a separate jazz group under the Decades name. Diane also sings with Not Past 11, an 18-piece big band out of Georgetown.

The name fits the music. Their sets move through ’50s and ’60s oldies, classic rock, country, pop, Americana, jazz and blues, built around songs the crowd already knows. A Sunday lunch at a winery gets a different set than an anniversary party or a Saturday night at a dance hall.

You’ll find them at weddings, anniversaries, benefits, festivals, company events and retirement communities, as well as wineries and restaurants from Austin up through Bell County. Whether the room is small or large, they size the show to fit it.