Danny Settle
James "Skip" Slaton
James "Skip" Slaton
Danny Settle
Life years: 1958 – Present
Bus years: 1990 – Present
Danny Settle was born in 1958. He was raised in Monticello, KY and Monterey, TN. After high school Danny attended Peterbuilt Diesel College in Nashville. In 1981 he began employment with 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee Curly Jones at Stagecoach VIP and remained there for 9 years. D
Danny Settle
Life years: 1958 – Present
Bus years: 1990 – Present
Danny Settle was born in 1958. He was raised in Monticello, KY and Monterey, TN. After high school Danny attended Peterbuilt Diesel College in Nashville. In 1981 he began employment with 2022 Hall of Fame Inductee Curly Jones at Stagecoach VIP and remained there for 9 years. During this period, Danny picked up a new Silver Eagle bus in Brownsville, TX. Curly wanted the roof raised, so Danny cut it and did it himself while his shop partner John Vilmerdeen was on vacation. In Jan 1990 Danny began employment with Hemphill Brothers Coach Company and is still employed there today. He is currently the Service Manager of Mechanical Repairs.
While country music entertainer Don Williams was still touring, he needed a repair done on his privately owned MCI bus. Someone recommended Danny and Hemphill Brothers Coach Company to Don, so upon receiving the telephone call, Danny told Don that he was not familiar with MCI buses. Don told Danny that he had read the service manual cover to cover, he knew how to do the repair but didn’t have the skills and tools to do it. Don brought his own chair, sat by the bus while Danny made the repairs and got him back on the road.
As of this writing, Danny is alive and well and residing in Joelton, TN.
James "Skip" Slaton
James "Skip" Slaton
James "Skip" Slaton
James “Skip” Slaton
Life years: Sep 4, 1942 – Nov 7, 2015, age 73
Bus years: 1970’s – 2006
James “Skip” Slaton was born Sep 4, 1942 and raised in Rome, GA and Nashville, TN. After high school Skip became a mechanic, and during the late 1960’s he worked for entertainer Marty Robbins. Skip was Marty’s tour bus driver, a pit crew member and wro
James “Skip” Slaton
Life years: Sep 4, 1942 – Nov 7, 2015, age 73
Bus years: 1970’s – 2006
James “Skip” Slaton was born Sep 4, 1942 and raised in Rome, GA and Nashville, TN. After high school Skip became a mechanic, and during the late 1960’s he worked for entertainer Marty Robbins. Skip was Marty’s tour bus driver, a pit crew member and wrote a song on one of Marty’s albums.
In the 1970’s he owned Skip’s Coach Coral, an entertainer coach repair shop in LaVergne, TN until it closed in 1981. One of his biggest clients in that day was George Jones and so many other music stars. Skip was a bus driver for Florida Coach for several years, driving for Johnny Rodriguez, .38 Special, Jeffrey Osborne, Gregg Allman, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, and many others.
Around 1993 Skip went to work at Nitetrain Coach as a mechanic. In 1997 the repair division of Nitetrain was sold to Eagle Nest Coach, and Skip transferred along with it. He remained with Eagle Nest until he retired around 2006 and passed away on Nov 7, 2015.