Rocky was born in the tiny town of Broaddus, Texas. The many trips to his mother's childhood home of Picher, Oklahoma helped develop his love of music. He also learned to sing and keep rhythm with his grandfather, Wyan Sims, former lead guitarist for The Foggy River Boys of Branson, Missouri. Wyan and family later formed a traveling gospel group called The Eternals.

At eighteen, Rocky got his first guitar in a Nacogdoches pawn shop and hasn't put it down since. Married twice, divorced twice...