Steve Baxter

Steve Baxter is an American songwriter and guitarist, best known as one of the founding members of the rock group Daniel Amos. In 1972, Baxter was performing in a band with friends Kenny Paxton and Freddy Sakehama. All three men attended San Jose Bible College. Not long after the trio began performing together, they began hanging around with Terry Scott Taylor, who had been in a number of local bands around the San Jose area. Soon, Taylor, Paxton and Baxter formed Jubal's Last Band together. That band, with the addition of Chuck Starnes, recorded a demo tape together in 1974, which included Baxter's own compositions, "The Bible" and a song called "Freedom." Later that year, Starnes and Paxton had both left the band to pursue other interests, while guitarist Jerry Chamberlain and bassist Marty Dieckmeyer were added to the line up. Sometime in the middle of 1975, Jubal's Last Band (minus Baxter) auditioned for Maranatha! Music and Calvary Chapel in hopes of signing a recording and performance contract. Another band at the meeting, led by Darrell Mansfield, had a similar name - Jubal. The two bands decided to change their names to avoid confusion. Mansfield renamed his band Gentle Faith, and Jubal's Last Band became Daniel Amos. Daniel Amos succeeded in landing a recording and performance contract, and quickly recorded their first song for the label, Taylor's "Ain't Gonna Fight It." A full album, produced by Al Perkins, followed - which included Baxter's "The Bible," "A Servant's Prayer" and "Freedom" (now renamed "Love In A Yielded Heart"). Baxter sang lead vocals on four songs on the album. Baxter left the band after their first album was released.