📍Arlington, TX, USA
1966 – 1986“I was born Darrell Lance Abbott in Texas in August 1966, the second son of Carolyn and Jerry Abbott, a country music songwriter and producer, and I grew up in Arlington, a sprawling city between Dallas and Fort Worth. My father immersed my brother, Vinnie Paul, and me in country music, but we loved hard rock too, especially Kiss, Black Sabbath and Van Halen. My parents divorced in 1979, but life stayed happy; we lived with our mother in a ranch-style house on Monterrey Street, and she supported our music all the way. Vinnie came home from school with a tuba one day, and our dad told him he'd never make a nickel with it, so he traded it for drums. I took up the guitar at twelve, after first trying the drums, and I'd ride my bike over to my father's place for guitar lessons pretty much every week. I shut myself in my room for hours practising, when I should have been at high school, and I started winning local guitar contests, so many that they asked me to judge instead. In 1981 a friend gave me Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz, and Randy Rhoads blew my mind. My father's recording studio gave us a place to rehearse and record. In 1981 Vinnie and I formed Pantera, and by 1990, with Phil Anselmo singing, our album Cowboys from Hell, followed by Vulgar Display of Power, made us leaders of groove metal, and my heavy, precise riffs inspired countless guitarists. People knew me for my big laugh, my red beard and my generosity to fans. Arlington remembers the kid who practised in his bedroom on Monterrey Street.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today