Scott Holt Road Diaries / Dispatches From The Sonic Front

2012...When she's dreaming and the other thing...

2012-01-03T00:26:00.000-06:00

New Years. A reset. A Do-over. Like rebooting your computer. Fresh as a daisy. 2011 is in the books. What a year! It’s been a year of wars, victories, lies and scandal and that’s just in the SHB! Joke! Actually, once again, I’ve been blessed with an amazing group of people who have made it a year that feels like one big WIN! (No offense Charlie Sheen!) I’m proud of the band and the way we’ve been able to create music and entertain people. Our drummer, Marshal Weaver left the band in August and it was a rough time for me for sure! I never made any official announcements about it, just because it hurt! Marshal and I have been friends and family for a long time. That’s how it is when you’re in a band; you’re family. Forever. Marshal and I have had more of a brotherly relationship that anyone in the band; we both can really piss each other off, but if someone comes between us, God help ‘em! I think that’s where the best music comes from. It has to have an edge. I’ve always said that I hope people love us or hate us but anything in between is apathy and that’s the worst thing in the world. Marshal’s one of the best drummers I’ve ever worked with and certainly one of my favorites. I truly love and respect him. I know whatever he does he’ll be amazing.

What a miracle that Tom Larson, former SHB drummer, would be willing and able to step in and fill the gap! I can’t believe the blessing! Tom is an amazing percussionist and also a brother and another favorite musician/drummer. He played in the SHB for several years before leaving to pursue other musical opportunities. The SHB’s like the Mafia; you never really leave...

Dan Eubanks is leaving now to pursue his solo career. I truly hate to lose him! He’s been a brother on the road and we’ve gone through stuff that you couldn’t imagine. I’ve loved the music that we’ve created and he’s made me a better musician by being here. He’s an incredibly gifted songwriter and singer. If you’ve seen any of the shows in the last few months, you’ve seen Dan opening the gigs with amazing solo sets. You’ve seen the Dio jacket, the Big Nasty perch on top of the bass rig and the sheer rock and roll on the right side of the stage. He’ll be successful and my love and respect for him will remain unabated (I used a football term just for you D!).

So what’s next? I’m really not sure. I have a lot of music written, a lot of gigs to play and I’m looking forward to 2012 and creating a new body of work. The videos that I’ve been posting on YouTube are works that we’ve recorded over the last year. They’re slated for recordings that might never see the light of day, (at least until I’m dead and my daughter releases the box set!) I hope you dig the videos and I really hope you dig the songs! I’m very proud of them. You know, there are a lot of free programs out there that allow you to record the audio from YouTube to your computer. I’m just saying that it’s an interesting fact. Sometimes after an artist posts 10 tracks or so, he might even post a running order to let you know how he’d sequence the record. Not that I would ever condone recording the audio from the videos I’m posting! I’m just saying it’s possible and they’re good songs that I’m proud of.

In the South, we have a New Years tradition; the tradition is to eat turnip greens, black-eyed peas and hog jowl for New Years Day. It’s supposed to bring good luck for the year. I’ve eaten it every year for the last 35 or so and I have to say, it must be working! Luck or blessing or whatever, I’m so grateful for my wife and daughter, for the family and friends that I have, you all have enriched my life beyond measure. May God bless you as He’s blessed me for the coming year! See you soon!

LOUD IS GOOD!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-13T00:01:00.002-06:00

This year will mark the 7th annual Have A Blues Christmas benefit. It’s a concert/auction/feast that Xtreme 4X4, Natalie Stovall and I have put on for 7 years in a row. It was originally conceived as an “end of the year” concert in my hometown, basically, just a reason to play at home. I wanted to have an event at home to end our touring year and play for my family and friends. My brother, Keith Throneberry and I cooked it up over a BUNCH of Dos Equis one night with our wives (they had margaritas). As we brain stormed we decided that just having a concert wasn’t enough, we both wanted to do something for the community. To try and give back.

I moved a lot as a child. We lived in Texas, Mississippi, and all over Tennessee before settling in Columbia. My mother tells the story that I asked her, after kindergarten, where I’d be going to school next year and she decided then and there that we would be staying right here.

I grew up here. I made my life long friends here. I found my wife here. I spent some VERY formative years just south of here on my Uncle Carlton’s farm. I learned to drive a tractor, shoot a gun, drive a car, swim and play a guitar here. I learned about work and responsibility here. I learned to shoot a gun, found Jimi Hendrix, Prince and Buddy Guy here. My daughter was born here. My family’s here. This is my home.

On Christmas Day, my daughter will awake to a tree full of presents. Santa Claus will deliver on schedule! I’m blessed. Blessed because for one, I’ve got a home for my daughter to wake up in, a lot of folks don’t. A lot of folks don’t have a tree or stockings or presents. I’m sure some of you more “sociopolitical” brothers and sisters will say that it’s ‘their own fault’ or some other crap. Some can say; “it’s not really my problem” or “I’m sure they’ll be okay”. The thing is, I’m not preaching. I won’t be serving in a food line this Christmas, I won’t be offering a homeless person my home as a place to sleep. I’m not Mother Teresa. I’m not saying that if you just take care of yours you’re wrong or less or whatever. I told you to begin with, I started this as a selfish reason to play a gig for my family. What I can do, is one day a year, help put on an event and raise money for the kids in my area that might not otherwise have a Christmas and in the spirit of that, try and shame others into giving!

This benefit provides vouchers for toys. Nothings else. ALL of the money goes to toy vouchers that can’t be used for anything else, so that kids can have something under the tree. Every kid deserves to have a visit from Santa. Santa is all of US! Every person that works at this event is working for free. Everything involved in the event is donated. Nothing is paid for so that all monies go to the kids.

We live in a very cynical world. We’re always braced for the next con. I got an email today saying that someone wants to transfer $94,000.00 into my bank account. Seems like everybody’s got a scam. But Christmas is my favorite time of the year. To me it’s a pure, invincible time. It’s owned by Santa Claus and he calls the shots. It’s about dreams and, as Abraham Lincoln once said; “the better angels of our nature”. I love this time of year. I believe that there’s a little Clark Griswold in all of us. Just because it won’t be perfect doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect it to be perfect. (We’ve all got a “Cousin Eddie” I’m sure.) I can do without the commercialization, the debate about “holiday trees” versus “Christmas trees” (my take is I could NOT care less). But the spirit of Christmas; being the better version of ourselves that we can always be. Wishing people a merry Christmas, sending cards to people that we haven’t sent a letter to in 364 days, just keeping an extra smile in our pockets for emergencies. It’s a really cool time of year.

We’re putting on an amazing concert. Natalie Stovall http://www.nataliestovall.com is one of the most talented people you’ll ever see. Her music is phenomenal and her band is second to none, (well maybe second to mine:) JOKE!) My guys will play they’re butts off like they do every night. The donated items will sell for big $$$ and the BBQ and drinks will flow. The T-shirts will be the fashion item of the year. If you can be there, DO! If you can’t, at least consider donating to our pay-pal page http://www.xtreme4x4.net/donate It’s secure and you can donate a dollar and tell others you donated $1000.00! I promise your secret is safe with us!

Wether you participate in our event in any way or not, I wish you and your loved ones a blessed holiday season. I pray that you’ll find a warmth and happiness in your heart and that you’ll allow yourself to express it to others. Trust me, it’s not as easy as it sounds!

Be Better...

2011-11-27T22:38:00.002-06:00

I haven’t written in a while. A lot’s happened. Life’s like that, a lot always seems to happen. I’ve lost and I’ve gained. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference but I keep trying. If you keep up with my Facebook (or the Facebook of hundreds of my friends) you know that we lost a great human being; Chris Kent. Chris was a dear friend and an amazing example of what I’d love to be. He was a positive, beautiful spirit, who faced unimaginable challenges with a complete faith in God and and he never gave up. If I could be so bold and with no blasphemy intended; he could’ve given Job a lesson in faith.

Chris and I were in a band together. He’s one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever known and I never could understand why he’d want to play with me. He brought such an elegance to the music that at times I was almost ashamed to play as though my notes might “mess up” what he and Drew Wiseman and Derek Wiseman were playing. Of course, before you think I have no ego at all, I did manage to turn up louder and play anyway!:) They always forgave me. Chris and I rarely saw each other after he left the band. Not out of animosity, but probably out of the same reason that you might not talk to someone that you were close to in high school. Life’s rivers just drift you apart. We stayed in touch, my wife is another amazing spirit and those folks tend to drift into each other’s orbits more often, so Chris and I would keep up on the internet through Buff and his correspondence. He would come out and jam when we played in Nashville and I was always thrilled. I miss him. I miss knowing that he’s here. That’s a selfish thought but it’s true. I feel the same way about everyone I’ve lost. I wish they were here. I think I’d be different, more proactive about getting together and catching up. I know that I wouldn’t but I know that I would love the chance to do it over.

Sometimes I think that’s the worst thing about life; continually forgetting what we’re here for. Focusing on the “stuff” and forgetting the ones we love until it’s too late. We get so caught up in the day-to-day and forget that what’s most important is flying by faster than we realize.

The younger you are, as you read this, the less sense it will make, but you look in the mirror one day and you see a few more lines. There’s some grey in your hair. Maybe when you got out of bed some muscle ached that never hurt before. If you’re like me, you just ignore it and roll on but it’s there. Tapping your shoulder, nudging your ribs as though to say; “Better hurry up, I ain’t got all day!”

So what’s the point of this blog? I have no idea!!:) All I know is Chris passed away and the accolades came pouring in about what a positive influence he was, how many lives he touched and how many people he affected. He was an amazing musician but that rarely came up in his tributes. People talked about his strength, his positivity, his faith in God, his warmth. Having personally known Chris, I can say that no amount of praise could be considered “too much”. He was that good of a person. I practice my guitar playing everyday. Chris’ lesson to me is to practice being a better human being.

Hank Williams Jr. is a little goofy...

2011-10-03T23:27:00.000-05:00

The strange thing about a perfect day is that you don’t really realize it’s perfect until it’s over. Today I spent the entire day with my girls. We went to the gym, the AT&T store, the dump, soccer practice and even hauled a little hay. Tonight, they’re both asleep and I’m realizing how perfect today was. When I’m on the road, I have to access my “mental pictures” to keep sane. I remember dinners, watching TV shows, moments. I’m not any different from any other working parent/husband. We do what we do because it provides for our family. If you work at a plant or you drive a truck, you’re doing what you have to do to keep the lights on. I drive for a living. I spend days and weeks away from home for a living. Selfishly, I make music for fun. I always say, “I get paid for driving and being away from my family, I make music for fun and for the love of it.” I love what I do for a living. I hate that it keeps me away from my family. It definitely makes me appreciate the moments we have together. Just like you, I’ve got a lot of “stuff” going on in my life. A lot of challenges that make it hard to just let the days flow. I’m not sure I’ve ever even met anyone who can just let the days “flow” but thats the myth we’re all led to believe. Cynics say, “Life is hard and then you die.” (If I find out Socrates said that I’ll be humiliated!) Life doesn’t “flow”, it’s bumpy and full of curves. No one is just “gliding” through this, don’t be fooled for a second. Life is gritty and sometimes crazy. You can’t truly feel the high’s without the lows. I think that you have to find the perfection where it is; not in the big moments but in the little ones. Tell someone you love them, eat a very GOOD piece of chocolate, listen to some amazing music (Jimi Hendrix is good...), spend a moment really feeling the moment. You might just realize that a perfect day was happening while you weren’t looking.

Video: Ray Charles and Dolly Parton Indian Leg Wrestle!

2011-09-28T23:18:00.000-05:00

Grateful. That’s what I am today. I try and remain grateful all the time. Sometimes it’s hard because life can throw more curve balls than Sandy Koufax. I got to watch my daughter’s play tonight (Willie Wonka Jr., she plays the role of Charlie!!) and was blown away. Yes, I am her father and I’ll always think she’s an amazing genius, but she IS! She obviously got more of her mother’s genes than mine! She’s beautiful inside and out just like her mother.

All day I’ve been watching the Conrad Murray trial on HLN. Propofol. AEG. Millions of dollars and at the end of the day, just a sad end to a tremendously talented, under-appreciated artist. My thoughts keep going to Michael Jackson’s children. My daughter is roughly the same age and she can see and hear CNN so I’m sure they do too. Hearing the graphic, gruesome details of your father’s passing is horrible. They’re in my prayers.

I’m grateful for my wife. My best friend, my most trusted confidant, my “Yoko of the South”! No one gets me more than she does. I’m grateful for my friends. They listen to me vent, worry, fret, revel, howl, brag, joke, cajole, and often just make a jackass out of myself. I’m grateful for my family. My mom, my brother, my in-laws, my adopted-laws, my MF brothers, my friends who don’t even realize we’re friends.

I’m grateful for not so spiritual stuff too, of course. I’m grateful for my Jimi Hendrix collection. I’m grateful for Jimi Hendrix! I’m grateful for my guitar collection (humble by guitar player standards but still pretty goofy). I’m grateful for my truck that defies all mechanical logic and continues to operate perfectly. I am especially grateful for a certain guitar that allows me to “cheat” on her periodically and simply reminds me of her perfection every time I pick her up.

Sometimes it’s hard to be positive. Sometimes, it’s hard to be grateful. It’s easy to wallow in the mire of your own personal misery and feel like you invented woe and trouble. I’m ashamed to say that I am guilty of that sometimes. There’s a saying in the South; “I’ve got more than I can say grace over.” It usually means; “I have more responsibilities than I can deal with.” For some reason, I always hear it the other way; “I’m being blessed so much, I can’t thank for all of it!” I always think of that phrase when I get pissy. I can’t thank for everything, because I can’t THINK of everything. I’ve got more than I can say grace over. When I go to bed tonight, I’ll pray like every night. I’ll pray for my wife and daughter, my family and friends, my soul, the sick and hurting, and YOU. I can’t think of it all, so I just remember what I can. I’m grateful for you. I am GRATEFUL!

Rick Perry and Mitt Romney both name Scott Holt their favorite guitar player!

2011-09-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

Driving home from the gym today, I took a route that I don’t usually drive on. It got me to thinking about the fact that when you live in a town (wether it’s all your life or just for a couple of years) you tend to “learn your way around”. You learn the fastest routes, the best routes for red lights or traffic and even the route that allows you to do all of your errands in order!

As a traveling musician, there’s a similar thing that happens from being on the road. The more you travel on certain roads, the more you learn about the area. Whenever we get a new person in the bus with us, they comment on how we seem to know where every Starbucks on the interstate. We also are pretty good at remembering where we left the Red Robins, Chipotles, Five Guys and every bbq joint we’ve ever been too.

Lately, we’ve been running the same route through St. Louis, just about every week. It goes like this; Nashville to Paducah, KY on I-24. Then through Metropolis, IL., Mount Vernon, IL., East St. Louis and then St. Louis. From there we might go north or west. Funny how we always manage to hit St. Louis at lunch time and Zia’s is always “on the way”!

Between Nashville and Paducah, there are only two Starbucks. Both in Paducah; one’s at Lourdes Hospital (always fun to stop at the hospital with a new guy and tell him we’re going in for a quick blood transfusion!) and one’s in the mall. Depends on what time we’re blowing through town and just how fast we’re rolling as to which one we stop at. Coming out of Nashville on I-24 there’s a big hill that you have to drive over and it has two big cell towers on the south side of the interstate. If you’re rolling before daybreak and especially if it’s foggy, the flashing lights on top of the cell towers look just like police blue lights. Always a great way to get the heart rate up for driving! Passing through Clarksville I always think of Jimi Hendrix and his time there with the 101’st Airborne and gigging there and later in Nashville with Billy Cox. Metropolis; I look for the water tank with Superman on it. There’s also a Exxon gas station on I-24 that sells BBQ’ed fried baloney sandwiches! I’m pretty sure there not that good for you. Mostly because they taste soooo good! Carbondale is the next place for Starbucks and they also have a Steak and Shake right across the street. Good place to re-fuel at the Flying J too. On I-64, especially coming home, I see the signs for Nashville, IL and it always feels like a cruel joke knowing that we’ve still got some miles to go. Crossing those rivers; the Tennessee, the Ohio and especially the Mississippi still excites me. I never get used to the magnitude of those big rivers.

Then of course there’s the soundtrack. When you’re driving, it’s important that you’ve got good music to listen to. Also, it’s important that you have the right music to listen to. Usually, we leave Nashville and it’s been a couple of days since we’ve seen each other. It’s usually about a half-hour to an hour of what’s been going on at home and general chit-chat before everyone settles into “long-drive” mode. Some sleep (I’ve been in too many wrecks for that ever really work for me), some read and everyone pops the little white ear plugs that Apple kindly gave us (for a nominal fee of course) and for the next 5-6 hours it’s dead silence. Somebody will get a phone call or maybe need to stop for something but for the most part an entire CD can play through before you stop. You need music that keeps you engaged and alert, not soothing stuff, no matter how much you enjoy it. Depending on my mood and what I’m into at the time anything can go either way. Lately “good” driving music has been; Jimi Hendrix, Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, BB King, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle. “Not good” music is usually instrumental music. Bach can get you killed if you’re not careful! If the ‘drowseys’ start to set in, just wake somebody up and get them talking. Sometimes that’s as good as a cup of coffee for getting you back on point. As I read back through this ramble, I realize that the person writing it could very well be a truck driver or a traveling salesman. The only thing that makes what we do different is the gig at the end of the trip. Thank God for the gig!

Scott Holt Road Diaries / Dispatches From The Sonic Front: Going to the Chapel and we're gonna get marrarrarr...

2011-09-20T23:02:00.000-05:00

Scott Holt Road Diaries / Dispatches From The Sonic Front: Going to the Chapel and we're gonna get marrarrarr...: Twenty years ago, I knew everything. Smart! I was fresh out of school, fresh off the farm and playing guitar for a living and a legend. Wis...

Going to the Chapel and we're gonna get marrarrarried...

2011-09-20T23:01:00.002-05:00

Twenty years ago, I knew everything. Smart! I was fresh out of school, fresh off the farm and playing guitar for a living and a legend. Wise! I was rubbing elbows with Clapton and Santana, I was playing the same stage with the Rolling Stones and traveling the globe. Worldly! I had really, really great hair and no tattoos. Twenty years ago, in the midst of all my “smartness”, I did the smartest thing I’ve ever done. I walked into a church, in my hometown and in front of God and everybody, I promised Buffy “‘til death do us part”.

I was late. The wedding was supposed to start at 6:00 and I think I showed up at 5:50. Technically on time, but by all other standards...late. Cold feet? Not even cool feet! As a matter of fact, I had hot feet! I’ve been hot footing it after Buffy since I first saw her! One of my best friends and groomsmen, Joe Frye and I went shooting. .45 automatics at helpless cans and bottles (I should write a coffee table book; “Death Of A Budwieser Bottle”). Being born and raised in Tennessee, popping away in a corn field is a good way to keep nerves at bay. If I’d had any...nerves that is. I’ve been sure, completely sure, of only a few things in my life but marrying my wife was one of them. I have loved her since the first day I laid eyes on her, (that’s not an exaggeration). The second time I laid eyes on her I knew we would be married someday. These days, every time I lay eyes on her I know it was one of the smartest things I ever did.

Shooting with Joe wasn’t actually what made me late. Technically, I wasn’t late. Twenty years ago I thought that being ‘technically’ right was all that mattered. I went home, showered, wrote letters to my parents, put on my fancy tuxedo and rolled over to the church at 5:50, right on time! Twenty years ago being ‘technically’ on time was being “on time”.

I stood at the front of the church with the preacher and my best men; my dad and my brother. Candles were lit, family and friends were all seated, one of my favorite musicians was playing songs I had chosen on piano, (yes I had Hendrix, Clapton and Albert King played at my wedding). The doors opened and all the breath went out of me. (I don’t know everything) I had just seen her the day before. I had looked at her practically everyday since we’d met. I knew she was beautiful. I knew she was amazing. As she walked down the aisle, I realized that I had no idea how beautiful she was. I realized that I had never really seen her. I realized that I had never, ever had my breath truly taken away. (I don’t know anything). She had to help me light the unity candle because my hand was shaking so bad, cutting the cake and taking pictures went by in a blur, we left in my Jeep with the top down (the confetti was still in there 6 months later). I went into the church being the smartest guy in the world. I walked out knowing nothing.

Twenty years later, I’m used to her shaking her pretty little head at me when I do something that I think is smart. I’m used to hands on the hips and rolled eyes. I’m used to being the fourth smartest person in our house (I’m just behind Henry, our Labrador). I’ve learned that “technically” is never to be used as a defense...ever! I did one very smart thing, twenty years ago and if I never do another one, I’ll be just fine with that. Happy anniversary Mrs. Buffy Holt, you are the absolute love of my life...‘technically’ I wasn’t late...:)

The Sword Of Damocles

2011-08-09T15:09:00.000-05:00

My office is a wreck. That’s not a complaint or even an admission of guilt, it’s just an observation. Kind of like; “the sky is blue.” When I’m on the road, Buffy cleans up my office and puts everything neatly away. Then I come blowing in with 15 guitars and bags and CDs and magazines and small crumpled bits of paper with song lyrics on them and receipts and turn a once neat room into a cluttered catastrophe, once again. Thank you to my beautiful wife for taking care of me for the last 20 years!

As I sit writing this blog, listening to an excellent Jeff Buckley bootleg (02/02/95, Skala Espacio - Fukuoka, Japan), I can feel the teetering stacks of CDs behind me. I turn around and choose one stack at random (there are currently 6 stacks total, behind me) and here’s what’s in the pile;

Steve Earle - I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive

Jesse Johnson - Verbal Penetration

Johnny Cash - Personal File, Bootleg Vol.1

Hank Williams Jr - Whiskey Bent And Hell Bound

Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson

Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection

Elton John - Madman Across The Water

Willie Nelson - Honeysuckle Rose Soundtrack

Townes Van Zandt - Live At The Old Quarter, Houston TX

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Annie Lennox - A Christmas Cornucopia

Keith Richards And The X-pensive Winos - Live At The Hollywood Palladium

Cage the Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday

Jeff Beck - Rock And Roll Party

Rush - Moving Pictures

Whitesnake - Greatest Hits

Beady Eye - Different Gear Still Speeding

Foo Fighters - The Colour And The Shape

R.E.M - Collapse Into Now

John Lennon - Walls And Bridges

John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

John Lennon - Rock And Roll

John Lennon - Sometime In New York City

Have a little faith...

2011-08-03T00:19:00.002-05:00

I am a man of faith. I Believe. I believe that my wife loves me. I believe that I’ll be able to buy all of the land contiguous to my land some day (it’s not a lot, I mean it’s a lot but not like the Louisiana Purchase ‘a lot’). I believe that every time my whammy bar comes back up, my guitar will be in tune. (Okay, that one’s just a pipe dream!) I believe in God and I believe that He is in control of my life, that the path that I am on is by His design, that He’s given me the talents and desires that I have and that as long as I stay true to Him, everything in my little world will be just fine...then I doubt. I worry. I get scared. I get scared and the little voices in my head start chattering away; “you’re not that good.”, “you’ve played that same lick a million times and now everyone’s going to realize you’re a fraud.”, “you don’t have a good singing voice.”, “you’re too fat/tall/skinny/bald...”...you get the idea. Sometimes it seems like the closer you get to some really great thing; (a vacation with my family, a big gig, a stable career...) something comes along and undermines it. An unexpected bill, an unexpected crisis, an illness (although I do not get SICK, TIRED or HUNGRY. Just ask my wife!) Something comes along and shakes my faith.

When I was growing up, I was taught that God (or as it sounded from the preachers and teachers; GOD) was my father. Now, you have to understand, my earthly father, Jess Holt, is/was a gentle, loving, full of life and humor, supportive, understanding man. He loved golf, books, backgammon, his sons, his wife, life, photography and most of all his family, (yes that means I put us in that list twice, on purpose). I could go to him in the middle of the night (which I did every time I saw the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds on late-night TV) and he would say, “it’s okay, son.” “every thing's fine.” “you just had a bad dream.” “I’m right here and I won’t let anything happen to you.” I would then go to bed and sleep like the baby that I was.

GOD, on the other hand, was a white haired, white bearded man who was angry at me. He had lightning in his hand that he was ready to throw at me. Nothing I could say or do would gain me the comfort that the church hymns said I was supposed to be feeling. In fact, every day that I was alive just drove me further from his love and grace.

Lot of conflict growing up. Which I am still doing. Growing up, that is. I’m going through some tumult now, like I’m sure you are too. Mine’s minor, minor; business related so it might be small potatoes to what you’re going through. I was visiting a family member in the hospital recently and was reminded that there are worse things in life than being cutoff in traffic, (but I digress). My point, (and yes Virginia, I do have one) is about faith. Faith, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said; “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.” Faith is belief. Belief that you are not alone. Belief that something is working beyond your power, knowledge and ability. That there is more to this than...THIS. What stops you from robbing banks or kicking canes out from under old ladies. My worries and issues these days are small. My worries are just little nuts and bolts issues. My family is healthy and strong and loving and focused. My dad faced death with grace and strength that I can only pray that I will have. I have family members that are dealing today with catastrophic issues. Things Buff and I have never had to face, (thank God). I have a very dear friend that is battling a life and death issue and I have watched, silently for the most part, while he deals with it in a fairly public forum (facebook). He posts his thoughts, his fears, his frustrations and I have been continually amazed and uplifted by his strength. “Here is a man of true faith!”’ I says to myself... A while back, he had some bad news. Then, he had some good news. Now, he’s had some sketchy news that rattles him. You can hear it in his writing. But, his faith remains. His ability to see through the doubt and fear is his biggest strength. I have always admired him for that. Tonight, however. Reading his latest post, I was struck by another realization; God is working on all levels. He’s caring for CK (my friend) and he’s also using his experience and his ability to articulate and communicate a bigger, more universal message. Basically the way I hear it, is like what my dad would say to me and certainly what I say to my daughter now; “ I got ya!” No matter what, no matter how bad it gets; “I got ya!” You might not believe me, you might not agree with the outcome, but “I got ya.”

I’m told that we’re all going to grow old and then die. I’m told that. I don’t believe it for me personally and if you ever happen to come to my funeral (which I promise you will be an affair you will want to attend...if you can get tickets for one of the performances!) and look down into my casket, you will see one very surprised MF!:) I am told that though. I have faith. I have faith that there is a plan. I have faith that there is someone, smarter than all of us, driving this train. That love will prove to be the prevailing force in our universe. There has to be a reason why children and old people suffer. There has to be a reason why good people leave here and not so good folks seem to thrive and carry on. Faith. Faith is believing in something. Have faith. Have faith in each other. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your loved ones. Whatever your faith is (and even if you’re an atheist you have faith!:)), pray for my friend tonight. And, while you’re at it, pray for one another, pray for your enemies, pray for YOUR friends, pray for a stranger, pray for ‘your fellow man’, pray for our country, pray for your country, pray for CK, pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Pray and have faith that your prayers will be answered. What have you got to lose?

"I'm giving her all I got captain..."

2011-04-26T09:45:00.000-05:00

I really can’t say enough about the great band of guys I am surrounded with. This weekend was a great example of the talent, focus and determination that these guys are putting forth daily. We’ve been having some kind of mechanical issues with our touring vehicle and thought we’d fixed it by staying in Moscow, ID for 4 extra days a couple of weeks ago. No luck! After an uneventful ride home the problems came back about 250 miles into a weekend run that had us going just north of Chicago and then to Quincy, IL., before getting back home in time for Easter.

After an incredibly useless stop at a mechanic on Saturday, we limped through the weekend and made it home in time to celebrate Easter with our families. I couldn’t have done that with any other group of guys! Dan, Marshal, Pappy & Shelton; Thank you all so much for your dedication, energy, talent and belief!

Who is John Galt?

2011-04-18T13:01:00.001-05:00

What a great start to the year 2011 for the SHB! KUDZU, our best record yet, was released in January and we’re getting a lot of radio play including satellite radio now on XM! We had a great time playing on the Mando Blues Show in Nashville earlier this year (www.radiofreenashville.org), what a blast! Great leg of touring just finished with two nights in Moscow ID. John’s Alley is becoming a favorite place to play, thanks to Dave and the staff there as well as the great fans that come out and see us. Great shows in Minneapolis, Fort Dodge, IA., Sioux Falls, Billings and our first ever show in Vancouver! Just an awesome leg of our never ending tour. Buff and I heard That Girl on XM radio over the weekend and it was a big thrill for me to hear our music played on the radio, (that will never get old). It was really important that Buff and I heard it together for the first time. Check out XM channel 74/B.B. King’s Bluesville and request our music!

Last Saturday was National Record Store Day. Hope you supported your local record stores! Jack White, a Nashville resident and newly named musical ambassador for Nashville, hosted a concert by Jerry Lee Lewis. I’m grateful to artists like Jack who use their influence to protect the best parts of our industry. Thanks Jack!

I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing more of ya’ll this spring/summer. We’ve got some cool festivals in the lineup and some interesting gigs. I’ll be in NYC in May as part of a tribute to the late Rory Gallagher. We’re doing the Windsor International Blues Fest this year as well as a bunch of other gigs that we’re looking forward to like Stoogefest in Jackson MO for our Jackson friends. We’ve been in the studio working on some new music and hopefully we’ll get some of that out in the next few months, stay tuned!

P.S. If you wondered about the title of this blog, yes I am reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Amazing Book!

If I Had A Radio Station...

2011-03-21T11:53:00.002-05:00

I am not a fan of talk radio. I like music. I LOVE music, actually (not like I love my wife but very much like I love Mexican food, actually MORE than Mexican food! But much, much LESS than my wife!!). I like for my radio to play music. I expect it to play music. That’s it’s job as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’s not your radio’s job and that’s fine. Maybe you like talk radio and that’s fine too (If you love it so much why don’t you marry it?!...sorry I’ve been watching a lot of Pee Wee Herman lately!). I’m just talking about MY radio and what I like to hear. When my radio stops playing music, I put in a CD, turn on my iPod, sit down at the piano or pick up a guitar because I want to hear music. Talk radio is very popular these days. There are stations that talk about sports, news, conservative issues, liberal issues, science, comedy, cooking, etc. there might even be a station that talks about music! I’ll have to check. I have many friends, musicians and music fans among them, who listen to more talk radio than music. I am not one of them. If I had a radio station it would play music 24/7. According to the current paradigm, it wouldn’t be very successful to most people I know. My friends would listen to it because I asked them to, (at least they would claim to be listening to it, probably while listening to talk radio). I would limit advertisers (you have to have the ads to pay for the airtime, or maybe I could be like XM and just sell subscriptions!) to 5 second commercials; “Buy Ford Trucks!”. The news would only come on if something major happened and then wouldn’t repeat until a really new development actually happened. There would be no hours and hours of commentary about the implications of this major event on the rest of the world, blah, blah, blah, unless there was an implication for the rest of the world to be concerned about, and then the implication would be explained and we would move on. The news would come on with that sound that they used to use on TV when news would break; click, click, click... We don’t use that sound anymore because news is ALWAYS breaking! Turn on any news program and while they’re talking about news, a scroll is running underneath telling more news. Sometimes it’s important; Japan’s earthquake and nuclear disaster, but sometimes it’s not important; the warlock Charlie Sheen. That’s not news. It’s strange and interesting like a car wreck is interesting, but it’s not news like Libya and yet it’s on the same scroll as news about the economy or the health care debate. Sometimes, they break in to the news with more news! It’s like; “That’s interesting news Bob but we’ve just heard this even more interesting news!”

My station would be unlimited when it comes to genre. I don’t recognize them in the world so why would I recognize them on my radio station? Blues would be next to Rock, which would be next to Country, which would be next to Jazz, which would be next to Pop, etc. I think other than making it easier to find CDs in the record store (if you can find a record store and even know what a CD is...) Genres are kind of useless anyway. It gets very hard to categorize some artists and figure out which section they should even be in; (is Johnny Cash in the Country section or the Folk section?) For that matter, if “Pop” is short for “popular” (it is) wouldn’t all artists who’s records are selling well be considered “pop”? Currently, according to Billboard magazine’s chart of the top 200 songs, R.E.M, Sara Evans, Bruno Mars and Jason Aldean would all be considered ‘pop’. Hmmmm. On my radio station, they would all get played anyway, so I guess the categories wouldn’t matter.

On that thought, genres are kind of like us humans. We’re always looking for the differences in ourselves that separate us from each other and yet there’s way more stuff that make us the same. Just like music! Race, sex, religion, social class, nationality, eye color, weight, skin color; all that stuff that we use to differentiate ourselves, separate, put apart. Categories are great for a simple explanation but they rarely tell you anything about a song, a movie, a painting, an artist or a person for that matter. I’m not sure why we feel the need to do that. I have a young daughter that I’m trying to teach about life and the world and trying to teach her that all people are the same is a very important part of that. I try and explain to her that we don’t judge people. We get to know them. That tells more about someone than the color of their skin or their height. Music is like that too. Don’t dislike something out of hand, listen and judge it based on if it moves you or not.

My playlist of artists would look something like this:

B.B. King
Ms. Aretha Franklin
Motorhead
Justin Bieber (just wanted to put his name right next to Motorhead!)
Roy Hamilton
Buck Owens
Rhianna
The Statler Brothers
Albert Collins
The Police
Elvis Presley
Jeff Buckley
Jeff Beck
Jeff Bridges (I could just do a day of ‘Jeffs’)
George Jones
Salif Keita
Buddy Guy
Eric Clapton
The Monkees
Hound Dog Taylor
Material
Sonny Sharrock
Fleetwood Mac
AC/DC
Steve Earle
Jimi Hendrix
Merle Haggard
The Beatles
Van Halen
Tammy Wynette
Spinal Tap
Ali Farke Toure
Robert Johnson
Prince
The Rolling Stones
Stevie Ray Vaughan
The Sex Pistols
Hank Williams
Scott Holt (well, it IS my radio station!)
John Coltrane
Sam Cooke
T.V on the Radio
P-Funk
Jerry Lee Lewis
Billy Idol
Sly & The Family Stone
Wes Montgomery
Miles Davis
Santana
Skip James
Faron Young
Mozart
Bob Dylan
the cast of Glee (seeing if you’d actually read the whole list down!)
etc. (by that I mean, I could go on and on. Etc. is not to indicate a band called etc. although I’d probably play them too)

In Defense Of The Tangible

2011-03-17T12:42:00.001-05:00

I love technology. I love my iPhone, my Mac, my Kindle, my iPod, etc. I believe that technology is our friend. I’m all “big screen TV’s and wireless guitars!” That being said, this blog is in defense of the “old school”. I recently read an interview with Jon Bon Jovi, in which he was lamenting the seeming replacement of the physical album or CD with MP3’s or Wav's. He blamed Steve Jobs personally, which I don’t really agree with, but much of the interview felt right to me. I reposted the article on my facebook and got some interesting responses. It made me think about my own feelings concerning this topic, which in my line of work is kind of important!

When I was growing up, (in olden times) music was on albums (33 1/3 baby!!), then we got 8-track tapes (horrible) and then cassettes (ehh), then the glorious CD! Yes, an indestructible, last forever format; except it’s not. They scratch, have a shelf life, and you can break them. Still it was the last physical format to come along before the age of 1’s and 0’s. When MP3’s became the thing, it wasn’t the sound quality that bothered me as much as the physical “not being able to hold something” feeling. My high-school years (my truly formative music listening years) were spent listening to most of my music while driving in my truck, cruising up and down the streets of my hometown, on a really crappy car stereo with a graphic equalizer that did little more than add too much treble, bass and volume. In other words, sound quality was not really a major issue for me at the time. Even now, as I write this, I’m listening to music (Lucinda Williams / Blessed) on desktop computer speakers...sounds fine to me:). A lot of my favorite stuff isn't really “audio-phile” type stuff anyway, I’ve been listening recently to Robert Johnson, not exactly pristine recordings (some things even technology can’t do yet!)!

When I first heard Jimi Hendrix, it was important that I saw a picture of him. It was important to read the liner notes and see where the music was recorded, who else played on it, when was it recorded, etc. I learned as much about music from reading my CD’s as from listening to them. I learned about Guitar Slim in the liner notes of a Stevie Ray Vaughan, CD. I found out about Earl Hooker from Buddy Guy, but I learned more about his discography from liner notes on Muddy Waters records, etc. I can’t overstate the importance of that source of information and knowledge when learning about music. There IS a reason why there’s a Grammy category for liner notes!

When I first started exploring iTunes I was excited about the “compactness” of it; I can carry my entire record collection with me everywhere on a device roughly the size of a deck of cards. That’s awesome! When I started touring, I carried a little CD player and 3 BIG albums of CDs! Very cumbersome!! Once the newness of iTunes wore off and it became a regular part of my day, the limitations started to reveal themselves. Especially after my first hard drive crash that lost my entire iTunes library! 4,450 albums...GONE! That’s a great, (albeit painful) wake up call! I’ve had a couple of crashes and ‘losses’ since then and it sent me scurrying back to my local record store (Grimey’s in Nashville) and made me appreciate, again, the feeling of tearing the plastic off of a new resource and a new friend.

I believe in the ability of humans to assimilate new technology and refine it over time. I think that’s what will happen to recorded music; it’s great to have MP3’s, it’s great to have iTunes and be able to buy a song while driving down the interstate at 3:00am (yes, I have done that for some of the most random songs you can imagine!) but I don’t believe 1’s and 0’s will ever fully replace the physical recorded work any more than I believe that texting will ever fully do away with face to face conversation (although it is very handy!!) Buddy used to tell me; “just because something is new doesn’t make it better.” I agree with that.

Finding it pt.2

2011-03-07T12:34:00.000-06:00

The meandering stream of life. Can you remember how you came to have the list of ‘favorites’ that you currently have? If today you like eating lobster, did you start with fish sticks? If today your favorite book is Water For Elephants was it once Green Eggs and Ham? If today you are jamming to Born This Way by Lady Gaga, was there a time in your past when it was Fallin’ by Alicia Keys? (Did you know that was 10 years ago?!) Sometimes I wonder why I like certain songs. In my line of work it’s an important thing to try and study. If I could figure it out, I’d be writing this from my private island fortress, while sitting on a stack of gold bars. How did I go from listening to my parents live Sha Na Na record to listening to Lightnin’ Hopkins? How do I draw the line from my love for Hank Williams Jr to my love for Funkadelic? I loved Elvis long before I began to raid his record collection for guidance. I got my appreciation for B.B. King from Buddy Guy. I found out about Guitar Slim from Stevie Ray Vaughan. I learned my gospel music from church but I learned my love of George Jones from my mom listening to WSIX in Nashville. There’s a place in the Bible where Jesus says to become like “little children”. I won’t go into the spiritual aspects of the passage but I will say that a lot of aspects of the creative life (and maybe just life in general) are made better by following that ideal. In my last blog, I spoke about how I discovered music. I discovered it in a random, sort of meandering way that wouldn’t make sense if you were trying find the straight line of discovery. I still find music like a child plays; any toy is fair game, size and proportion doesn’t matter. A 2” tall doll can be friends with an 18” doll and they can live in a house that is in now way proportionate for either of them. When I play dolls with my daughter, I’m the ‘boy dolls’ which tend to be a little less ‘together’ than the girl dolls. My favorite is the one we call business man; he has a tie and suspenders but no jacket and no shoes. She may be a Cinderella or a small girl in a riding outfit but it makes no difference. The rule is; there are no rules. It’s just playing. Imagination.
Music is like that (thank God!). In my iTunes, Donny hathaway is right next to The Doors (alphabetized by first names I guess) I found Robert Johnson like this; Jimi Hendrix - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Buddy Guy - Billy Idol - John Lee Hooker - Robin Trower - Eric Clapton - The Time - Robert Johnson. There was no straight line, no path of logic, just a sort of “Hey, I wonder what this sounds like?” I remember sometimes I would find someone that I wasn’t really ready for and it would be a while before I could come back to them and it make sense to me. John Lee Hooker was like that for me. I had heard Buddy, Stevie, B.B., Muddy and I had heard John Lee’s name enough to know he was “important” but when I bought my first record, Mad Man Blues, it made no sense at all. It sounded out of tune, unorganized and nothing like what I was used to. It was NOT love at first sight. As time went on, I developed a broader sensability, found more music, varied sounds and when I came back to John Lee, it WAS love. I put him high on my list of favorites and consider him one of the greatest bluesmen ever. I heard the Sex Pistols looooong before I loved them. For a long time I liked Adam & The Ants better than the Clash! (What do you want, I was a Prince fan!)
(My List of Greatest Blues Men, order subject to change daily or hourly)
Muddy Waters
B.B. King
Robert Johnson
Howlin’ Wolf
John Lee Hooker
T-bone Walker
Buddy Guy
Albert Collins
Freddie King
Hank Williams

*I add this caveat; Stevie Ray Vaughan was the LAST real authentic blues man. I’ve yet to see anyone access that channel since. Also, I know that I left off; Little Walter, Son House, Sonny Boy Williamson, Albert King, Junior Wells, Elmore James, Little Milton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Charlie Patton, etc...

My daughter, who has become one of my best teachers, shows me every day how to ‘learn like a child’. She discovered the song You Really Got Me not from Van Halen like I did, not from The Kinks but from Alvin & The Chipmunks. Not trying to be cool or hip, she just found the version that to her ear sounds ‘good’. She learned Hank William’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry from a film version of Beverly Hillbillies. I learned the same way; my first Clapton record wasn’t Derek & The Dominoes or Cream, it was Behind The Sun. Good record but not the record responsible for his “godhood”. Not the ‘cool’ record you want to say was your first. My first Buddy Guy record was a Vanguard compilation. Then I accidentally came across Stone Crazy on Alligator, (still my favorite and I would argue his best). I heard Elton John for years and saw his videos through the 80’s and early 90’s but couldn’t be bothered to even own an Elton John record. Then one day it just clicked into place and a casual purchase of his greatest hits (because I am determined to own every record ever made) led to me deciding that he is one of the greatest pop music geniuses of the 20th century. (Yes I am prepared to argue that point with anyone!) I liked the Monkees before I liked the Beatles. I liked the Beatles before I liked The Rolling Stones. I liked 70’s jumpsuit era Elvis better than 50’s era (I still do sometimes) because that’s the one I was exposed to first. I like Merle Haggard doing Lefty Frizzell better than the originals. I like to discuss music. I will debate (not argue) with you about my choices if challenged, but in the end it’s about what you like as an individual. There are 31 flavors of ice cream for a reason (except in Libya where there is just the one flavor; Kaddafi Krunch! Bahahahahahaha!! WINNING!)

Finding it pt.1

2011-03-02T11:29:00.001-06:00

I’m always fascinated by how “new” music finds me. I’ve been on this planet for several years now and not only do I find new recent music all the time (still in love with F**k You by Cee Lo Green) but I also find stuff that I’m amazed I haven’t come across before. Some of you who came out to the shows last year on ‘The Big Nasty’s Traveling Freak Show’ tour know that I was in the throes of discovering Elton John for real, finally. The temptation to play Bennie And The Jets was often irresistible (sorry for that!)! These days I’m finding amazing artists like Townes Van Zandt. I’m a music fiend, so I’ve heard his name for years, but actually tracking down some of his work and listening to it is different from just being aware that we share oxygen.
I’m not sure how other people do go through this type stuff (or if they even think about it at all) but being a musician, I’m always working on my craft from every angle and that includes my “diet”. I believe that an artist is not only the combination of elements and desires that God gives but also a result of the influences that come to you and at what stage they arrive. I started with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan in very short order so discovering the guitar gave me an entry to my medium. If my first influences had been Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean-Michel Basquiat or Charles Portis, I would be a very different type of artist!
After spending a bunch of time immersing myself in the blues (I actually wrote Muddy Waters but just couldn’t bring myself to let the pun go!), I was introduced, by Buddy and others, to P-Funk, Earth, Wind & Fire, Prince, Bobby Womack etc. I also looked around my hometown area and started finding the people that I had grown up hearing; George Jones, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Jr. My list of favorites has grown over time to be quite an eclectic list; Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Miles Davis, Donny Hathaway, Annie Lennox, Jeff Beck, Aretha Franklin, Jason and The Scorchers, Sly & The Family Stone, The Sex Pistols, Mozart, B.B. King, John Coltrane, Funkadelic, Wes Montgomery, Elton John, Steve Earle, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Eric Clapton, George Jones, The Beatles, Dwight Yoakum,... I could literally go on and on!
The point (if in fact there is a point) is that I am so grateful that God has given me such an adoration for what I do and allows me to continue to discover new music and have it feel like it did when I first started. I’ve told the story of “finding” Jimi for the first time. I can still access that feeling in my memory. I can still see the place I was, the way the sounds hit me and assaulted my senses and left me knowing that this was my path. I remember going to see Elvis with my parents, I can still feel the air from that night. I remember exploring Prince’s 1999 album (yes kids, on vinyl!). Hearing Buddy Guy for the first time, on a cassette, late at night. The impact on me was huge! I LOVE MUSIC! can you tell?

Recommended Playlist (if you’re interested)
Buddy Guy / One Room Country Shack
Hank Williams / Rambling Man
John Coltrane / Naima
Duke Ellington / Lotus Blossom
George Jones / He Stopped Loving Her Today
Jason & The Scorchers / White Lies
Townes Van Zandt / Pancho & Lefty
Funkadelic / Maggot Brain
The Rolling Stones / Rocks Off
B.B. King / You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now
Prince / She’s Always In My Hair
John Prine / In Spite Of Ourselves
Earth, Wind & Fire / September
Donny Hathaway / A Song For You

...when she's dreaming

2011-02-25T10:31:00.000-06:00

Just got back from the latest recording sessions in Minneapolis. (Snuck out in 18” of snow before another 12” fell!) We are in the process of recording a new project. Tentatively titled; ...when she’s dreaming. We’re calling it an acoustic record, but hopefully it will be more than that. We did make a rule that the only “electric” instrument would be Truth’s B3, so we’ll see if we’re able to keep it like that! In the process of recording, we actually put down a couple of songs that will be on a later, somewhat larger project, more about that later. I’m really happy with the reception that Kudzu is getting. We’re getting a great response to all the songs every night and it’s really great to see our fans really “getting it” so to speak. Being able to create music is my favorite thing to do (second favorite thing actually...) and suddenly it feels like we have no limits in what kind of music we can make and that feels great! If you haven’t checked out Kudzu yet, what’re ya waiting for?!? Go to iTunes or Amazon and download it right now!...I’ll wait...:)
Buff and Olivia give the new stuff their thumbs up so hopefully we’re on the right track! Look for the new stuff later this year and until then BUY KUDZU!!!

Random:

2011-02-07T12:27:00.002-06:00

Just my Monday morning thoughts; Congratulations Packers! Christina Aguilera should be forgiven for messing up the National Anthem, it’s a lot of pressure to perform solo in front of the entire world. I don’t think that it should put your patriotism into question if you can’t remember the words. The Black Eyed Peas were actually pretty good for a Super Bowl Half Time show. Not sure what you’re supposed to expect from something like that but I thought they performed well, actually sang live and made it interesting. The commercials this year were probably the most unimaginative and dull of any year I can remember. I think the Bill O’Reily interview with President Obama was strange. I thought the president handled himself well but I’d rather see John Madden interviewing. Doesn’t anyone else remember that Bill O’Reily was the host of A Current Affair?
Buffy gave me a Kindle for Christmas (thanks again Beautiful!) and I have read more in the last two months than I have in the last two years! Best books so far; The Kennedy Detail, Hellhounds On His Trail, A Terrible Glory, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest.
TODAY'S PLAYLIST:
1. ALICE IN WONDERLAND - BILL EVANS
2. A LOVE SUPREME - JOHN COLTRANE
3. GYPSY WOMAN - MUDDY WATERS
4. WICKED AS IT SEEMS - KEITH RICHARDS
5. CONTREDANSES (12) FOR ORCHESTRA - BEETHOVAN
6. SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE - CREAM
7. CLOSED CAPTION DEMO - FUGAZI
8. SINCE I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU - LED ZEPPELIN
9. HOT PANTS - JAMES BROWN
10. MY BABE (LIVE) - SONNYBOY WILLIAMSON

All Hail The King!

2011-01-08T18:15:00.001-06:00

“Before Elvis, there was nothing.” - John Lennon

Elvis’ birthday is today. He would have been 76 years old. I, like many people, called him the King of Rock and Roll today on Facebook and was challenged to explain how he could merit that title. So here goes;
It’s hard to imagine how different the world was 60 years ago. Nowhere was our cultural differences more broadly expressed than in music. Pop music was divided into ‘black’ music and ‘white’ music. The names for the categories were much more genteel; white music was either ‘pop’ (short for popular music) or country & western (yes, both kinds!) black music was first called ‘race records’ and then was changed to ‘r&b’. Of course all of these distinctions were only invented by the recording industry to sell records. In the real world, ‘white’ people would listen to ‘black’ music and vice-versa.
When Elvis walked into Sun records in Memphis, TN in 1954, he stood in front of the mic and let loose a new kind of music. An uptempo, countryfied version of an old rhythm and blues song by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup called That’s Alright Mama. This was the birth of Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll transcended boundaries of culture, race, gender or nationality. The music was embraced by kids all over the nation and soon the world. Elvis started the avalanche of artists that followed; Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, etc. He influenced everyone from Buddy Holly to Led Zeppelin. Keith Richards, in his recent autobiography, had this to say concerning Elvis’ imprint on his own career; “Heartbreak Hotel...was the stunner...when I woke the next morning, I was a different guy.”
No other single artist or group influenced more artists or a more diverse group of artists than Elvis. In the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland there are a collection of drawings made by a young Jimi Hendrix in grade school, the subject of one drawing; Elvis Presley. Bob Dylan referred to listening to Elvis like, “busting out of jail”. Little Richard called Elvis “an integrator”. Rod Stewart said; “Elvis was the king. People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps.” Elton John said; “If it hadn’t been for Elvis, I don’t know where popular music would be.” In a career that only lasted 20 years, including 9 years in Hollywood making movies instead of rock and roll records, it would be easier to make a list of 20th century artists who weren’t influenced by Elvis...it would be a very short list.

6th Annual Have A Blues Christmas

2010-12-17T10:45:00.000-06:00

Well, another year is almost gone and once again we were able to have our annual Have A Blues Christmas charity event to raise money for the needy kids in my hometown. After 6 years, the generosity of people still amazes/blesses me! This year it seemed like everything was working against us; we lost our venue from the last two years, we were having trouble securing a ‘backup’ venue, the economy remains hard on everyone and by the time we got in position to announce the event and start selling tickets and accepting donations, we were about a month behind schedule. Even with all of that, we managed to sell out the venue and raise over $12,000.00 for the charity.
The heavy lifting for this event is always done by Keith Throneberry. It’s impossible to describe the amount of work that he selflessly puts into this event to make it perfect. He’s in charge of every aspect of the event from securing the venue, to printing and selling the tickets, to handling the T-shirt design and sales, organizing the lights and sound, staffing the event, gathering donations from large contributors, arranging the meal and drinks, coordinating the band’s soundcheck and load-ins, and probably a dozen other items that I’m not even aware of and he does all of this while maintaining his own business, full time! It is a LOT of work. Those of you that have been to the event know what I’m talking about; Keith is there when you get there (no matter when you get there) and he’s there when you leave (no matter when you leave). I can’t praise or thank him enough for taking this responsibility on his shoulders every year for the last 6 years.
Ms. Natalie Stovall and her fantastic band donate their time and talent every year and I truly believe that her show is worth the price of admission alone! Natalie is an extremely talented young lady with a bright future in front of her and it’s an honor and a privilege to share the stage with her every year.
The Xtreme 4X4 club provides the manpower (and woman power!) every year and we literally couldn’t do the show without them. Every chair, every table, every trashcan, every ‘overexerted’ audience member is taken care of by these incredible people and it’s an honor to work with them as well!
We’ve also been blessed with the donation of items to sell through the events silent auction. These include works of art from many local artists (including my extremely talented wife Buffy!) and sports and music memorabilia. This year we had a football autographed by Chris Johnson from the Titans and a guitar autographed by Robby Krieger, Joe Bonamassa, Mick Taylor, Natalie Stovall and myself.
If you still want to be a part of this great event, we have T-shirts for sale (contact Keith Throneberry: iceman@xtreme4x4.net ) All money from sales will be delivered to the charity until Dec.24, so it’s not too late!!
Make your plans to make it next year!! Merry Christmas!!

Church

2010-12-05T23:13:00.000-06:00

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
We went to church this Sunday with our best friends Keith and Jen. I’ve been a Christian since I can remember. I was raised in church. I was baptized when I was 12. I have a bible with my name on it. My parents sang in church, my grandparents sang in church and church has just been a part of my life, all my life. My momma took me to church every time the doors opened. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, vacation bible school, etc. When I was young I never questioned what I was being told. I was taught that my denomination was the only true denomination. I was taught that not only was everyone not in church on Sunday going to hell, but everyone that wasn’t in a church of my denomination was going to hell as well (my church even taught that a lot of the people in my church were going to hell so I’d better be exceptionally scared!). I thought everyone who sat on the front row, or was old, or had a bigger bible, or who wasn’t me was guaranteed to go to Heaven and I was just lost. There was a secret code or something and I didn’t have it. God was scary because he was already mad at me. I was doomed from the start and I was supposed to spend my life playing ‘catch-up’, trying to ‘fix’ myself and that was something that could really never be done, but I’d better try forever!
I got older, I strayed. I was under my own choice and I quit going to church. I missed Wednesdays first, then Sunday nights and then it was a small leap to missing Sunday mornings. Late Saturday nights full of ‘sin’ made Sundays easy to sleep through. As an ‘adult’ my first exercise of my ‘maturity’ was to stop going altogether. God’s already mad at me, I’m not perfect, even though I know ‘right from wrong’ I still do ‘wrong’ so I’m sure I’m doomed.
Interestingly, for all of the ‘holiness’ that I didn’t posses and was constantly being drilled into me, when I started missing church, no one from my church ever called to ask if I was okay or why I wasn’t coming to church. Not one of the people, that I was sure were going to Heaven, ever tried to help me ‘find my way’. That’s not an accusation, it’s just interesting in hindsight.
I got older, I started to read books and question everything. I still doubt algebra. I doubt that not having good typing skills will stand in the way of me finding work. I was never good in school ( The only thing Ms. Sonya Ingram, my third grade teacher, and quite possibly the meanest, worst teacher in the universe, taught me was to hate school. Thanks Ms. Ingram, wherever you are.), by the time I realized that mistake (long after I had graduated from school), I started trying to compensate in every area, including religion. I read the bible. I read it again. I still believed in God, I still believed in Jesus. I believe that he is the son of God, sent to earth to die for our sins. I still want to go to Heaven. I want my family to go to Heaven. I want my friends to go to Heaven. I want you to go to Heaven. I’m still not perfect. I won’t ever be. I read about a Jesus that turned water into wine. I read about a Jesus that ate with prostitutes and tax collectors. I read about a Jesus that spent more time with the ‘imperfect’ than the ‘perfect’. I read about a Jesus that said;<‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’>
Some things seem to stick with you and that verse stuck with me. I started to realize that while I had been taught that; <...God created mankind in his own image,   in the image of God he created them;   male and female he created them. > God created people in His image, I had treated that verse as a figure of speech. “Surely God didn’t mean all people, just the ‘good’ people.” ‘People who had a job, who weren’t addicted to drugs or alcohol, people who didn’t ‘sin’, people who were ‘perfect’. ‘ I was sure that God had created ‘special’ people in his image to try and guide the way of the rest of us ‘sinful savages’.
I got older, my ‘black and white’ world started to get some gray in it. My politics changed. My philosophies changed. My view of the world changed. I have friends who are different from me in philosophy. They don’t see things like I see them. They might be a different denomination, they might be a different culture, they might have different politics, they might even be vegetarians(!) they might be a lot of things but they are my friends and I love them. Some of my older friends think I’m a ‘lefty’ or a borderline socialist! I have some younger friends who haven’t found the ‘gray’ yet. It’s easy for them to see right and wrong. They can judge moral issues better than I can. Or at least easier than I can. In their eyes, foreigners, homosexuals, vegetarians, addicts, democrats, people that drive foreign cars, etc. are wrong and if they (or anyone purporting to be representing them) offend us, we should destroy them. I just can’t find that black and white anymore. It’s just not easy for me to say to someone; “you don’t like the Titans, or hot sauce, or Jimi Hendrix, you are going to hell!” I try, not always successfully, to see their side. Or at least accept them for who they are.
I’ve kind of gotten off the point. The point is I went to a church today that had a ‘crazy idea’. That’s what the preacher said anyway. He said; “We’re going to do something really crazy today...” I’m a visitor, so I’m mentally saying; :Oh no!! What’s going on here? I just want to hear a little sermon and get out of here in time to eat lunch and watch the Titans play!” The crazy thing was this; They handed out a sheet of paper with a shopping list on it. Instead of a sermon, they dismissed the service so that the entire congregation could go shopping and fill trucks with items to donate to a family center for families in need. No sermon, no collection plate, in fact, they specified that a collection would NOT be taken so that that money could go to the Family Center. In all my Christian life I never felt like I was closer to the true intent of Jesus than that moment; doing for someone who has less. Doing for the least of these. Giving! My family and I had the best Sunday I can remember. The title of the sermon was “Be The Sermon”. I took that to mean, if you are a Christian, if you say you’re a Christian, go do something “Christlike”. Go help someone else. Don’t just mouth the words and call it a day, go act! Don’t spend your time pointing out to someone how they are falling short or failing. One of my favorite gospel songs says;You may run and hide, slip and slide
Trying to take the mote from your neighbour's eyes
As sure as God made the rich and poor You gonna reap just what you sow” . I fall short all the time. I fell short later the same day. I will forget to be that Christian tomorrow but I pray that I will at least try and remember to be a better version of myself.
No matter what your beliefs are, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. at least agree with me that we can be better to our neighbors. Be kinder. Be gentler. Try and be more understanding. Try and be more forgiving. Be an example of what we want to see in the world. It doesn’t have to cost us anything and you never know, it might just turn out to be the best day you’ve ever had!
Thanks to Maury Hills Church Of Christ for showing me and my family a fantastic Sunday!

Gratitude

2010-11-17T11:03:00.000-06:00

I am grateful. I am a blessed person with too much and I am grateful. Right now we are in Sioux Falls, SD. Today is Wednesday. We’re broke down, waiting on a new transmission, that won’t be ready until Friday. Stopped for fuel, got in to drive off and nothing! We still have 958 miles to travel when we get rolling and in the meantime, we’re sitting still. Even still, I can’t be anything but grateful. I’m grateful for the obvious stuff; my wife (my heart), my daughter (my life), my friends and family, my music, etc. I’m also grateful for the fact that we broke down in a place where we could get the transmission fixed properly. I’m grateful that I have a band of guys with me that I can depend on. My guys made a conscious decision to stay here and face this with me, for that I am incredibly proud and grateful. It’s hard to be on the road, to do it alone, for me, is unimaginable. I’m grateful for the people that support me behind the scenes at Gracetone (my company) that work so hard to make our lives run smooth. I’m grateful for the fact that we have a safe, comfortable place to stay while we wait. We started the trip home in Moscow, ID. We traveled 1,000 miles through plenty of desolate country that would NOT have been hospitable to us if we’d broke down there. We broke down 15 miles from a dealership that services and repairs our brand of vehicle. We broke down in a town that has a classic rock station that happened to play one of our songs on the radio last night. Just that little thing (a big thing to us) was special and wouldn’t have happened if we had blown through here like we were intending. I’m even grateful for the little stuff like being walking distance from Starbucks and Mexican food! It would be easy to focus on the cost of being here, the missing of my family and whatever, but I can’t / won’t do that. I’m just not wired that way. I have to focus on what I see which is just an avalanche of blessings. God is great and I am blessed!

My 5 Desert Island Discs

2010-11-13T12:37:00.000-06:00

My mind is wandering this morning (yes, it CAN be a dangerous thing...), so I thought I would write a blog about my 5 favorite albums. I decided to call it my “Desert Island Discs List”, because that’s what I’ve always heard it called. The inferred question being, “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have 5 CD’s, what would they be?” Soon my thoughts of CDs were taken over by the idea of being stranded on a deserted island. Would I really be worrying about CD’s? If I was, how would I play them? More importantly, however, how did I come to be on this island? Plane crash? Shipwreck? Was I taken prisoner by an evil genius, like in James Bond movies and left to die here after being interrogated for hours? In fact, if I was the captive of an evil genius, would he allow me to choose 5 CDs to keep me entertained on the island that is supposed to be my prison? If he did, should I take a really long time to decide in the hope that he’d lose interest and I could more easily escape?
If I table the ‘why am I here’ aspect of this already slightly unsettling and potentially horrifying scenario, I am left with the practicality of survival on a deserted island. Is this place truly deserted or are there cannibals or dangerous animals that I will have to fend off? If there are animals, can I eat them if I catch one? (also, can you eat a cannibal? is that morally okay since they would surely eat you...) What about snakes, (of whom I am NOT a fan!)? Would it be like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway? He managed to do pretty well after he got acclimated to the situation. He did however end up with a bizarre assortment of stuff to survive with; ice skates, a volleyball, etc. Apparently he was NOT asked what 5 CDs he’d like to have with him. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that I have a made a thorough reconnoiter of the entire island and found it to be strangely absent of any other life forms...yeah, right.
I think if I was to be stranded on a deserted island and being a fan and longtime viewer of the show Survivor, I would first like to have fire. A LOT of fire. As Jeff Probst is always saying “Fire means life.” I would ask for an entire carton of Bic disposable lighters. Yes, I realize that disposable lighters would be bad for the environment, but I’m stranded on a deserted island at the moment and if and when I am rescued, I will return here in a boat and restore the island to the way it was...I promise. Next, I’m going to need shelter. This one was tough because it needs to be comfortable, dry, warm or cool depending on the outside conditions, etc. Therefore, I choose a tour bus. They are familiar, comfortable to sleep on and if cannibals or snakes attack, I can just lock the door. The following items are necessary without any explanation; a CD player (apparently), a shotgun, ammunition, Spam, fresh water, bathing suit, a big knife, a machete, a small knife, another shotgun (in case something happens to the first one), a GPS, a satellite phone, a flare gun, flares, my guitar, pictures of my family (this is assuming that they are not with me), salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, a skillet, a coffee pot, coffee, plenty of socks, a solar powered generator, crackers, a BBQ grill, a hammock,...
As I look over my list so far, I realize that this is going to cost quite a bit. The tour bus alone is about $500,000.00 and after it’s been on an island, it’s probably going to be greatly depreciated. No resale value there! (by the way, when they deliver the tour bus, couldn’t I just catch a ride back with the delivery person?) This brings me to the question; “ In this scenario, is money ‘no object’?”. Is the question; “If you were a jillionaire and allowed to prepare yourself to live on a deserted island, what 5 CD’s would you take?” I have to say that sounds pretty unrealistic to me. If I’m a jillionaire I could afford more than 5 CDs. Also, if I’m a jillionaire wouldn’t I have a staff of people around me that would theoretically protect me from inadvertently finding my way to a deserted island all alone? A more likely headline would be; “Famous Jillionaire Guitarist Almost Lost On Deserted Island, Saved By Very Efficient Staff Members”. If I am a jillionaire, I would definitely have a personal flying machine, like a jet pack or something (in addition to my Segway of course), so I could probably just use that to escape. (That is if I’m the captive of an evil genius of course) I guess to be fair the question should be; “If you are NOT a jillionaire and you find yourself stranded on a deserted island through no evil machinations of any sort and while money is an important consideration your mind is focused clearly on the 5 CDs that you would like to have with you to listen to, understanding that these are the last 5 CDs you will ever listen to...wait...am I to understand that this scenario contains no ‘happy ending’?!? I’m going to DIE on this island?!? Suddenly my appetite for Spam is disappearing. As are my thoughts of what music I want to hear before I die from starvation and exposure. Or maybe I die of thirst because I can’t get fresh water. When I was a jillionaire, I had plenty of fresh water but now I’m just a poor, unfortunate soul with 5 stupid CDs to my name, dying of thirst on this uncharted deserted island. Or maybe there were cannibals after all and they were hiding in those caves that I saw on the other side of the island but I was tired and thirsty and ready to get back to my camp...to listen to my CDs...God this Spam is starting to turn my stomach...one should never eat Spam in the hot salty air! The salty ocean air is scratching my CDs too! Soon they’ll be unlistenable! What was that noise?! I think I hear something in the jungle...
Okay, so the question as I now understand it is; “You are going to die. You are not rich and no one can save you. You are going to die alone on an uncharted deserted island, far, far removed from any known shipping lanes and the chances for rescue are nonexistent. While you are going to die...soon...for some unknown reason, the gods of fate have seen fit to allow you to have in your possession 5 CDs and a device to play them on. If you can stop your mind from dwelling on the fact that you are DYING(!!!), and can concentrate on music purely for the purposes of enjoyment (in these, your last few hours before delirium sets in signaling that final sweet slumber) what CDs would you take with you to this ISLAND OF DEATH?”
That’s the question?....well...hmmm...alright...I guess...

Live - Donny Hathaway
Stone Crazy - Buddy Guy
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
The Violin Concertos II - Mozart
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane

WAIT! I’ve got it! What if, when the cannibals come for me, I play my CDs to them and they, never having seen a CD player before, are fascinated by the magical box of sound and decide that I am one of their gods! They take me back to their caves and give me food and fresh water and through my time with them, I gain their trust and convince them that cannibalism is just not morally cool. Then we all work together and build an outrigger canoe and we row ourselves into the shipping lanes and are rescued by an oil tanker (probably owned by BP!!) we return to the US, get the cover of People magazine, (one of the cannibals gets caught up in a love triangle with Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson and ends up on the cover of the National Enquirer...Hollywood can be more dangerous than a deserted island!) get interviewed by Matt Lauer, meet the President, who gives me the Congressional Medal of Survival or something, we get to make a cameo in The Hangover 3, get invited to be interviewed on the CBS morning show and turn them down...after we stop laughing! (who watches the CBS morning show anyway?!?), we do Leno, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel, Letterman (where we jam with the band of course) we do Jimmy Fallon just to jam with The Roots (oh, Fallon’s alright, but he seems like he’s just trying a little too hard..),National Geographic wants to have me host a reality show and the cannibals and I are invited to be Grand Marshals of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! (all of which can only help the sales of KUDZU - out Jan. 11, 2011)

1968 - Martin Luther King's Prophetic Last speech - Remember

2010-11-08T12:17:00.000-06:00

Snapshots from Memphis

2010-11-08T12:13:00.001-06:00

Recently, I took a trip to Memphis for a project I’m working on. I’ve always had a real affinity for Memphis. Some of my biggest musical influences come from there; B.B. King, Little Milton, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis of course, the flow of music that has passed through Memphis from New Orleans up through the Delta and northward has probably been the single biggest path of influence in contemporary music. So I went to Memphis to soak up some of those ghosts. Feel the weight of the air that men like Howlin’ Wolf pushed out of their lungs to sing something like Moanin’ At Midnight. Even though I live just 3 hours east in Nashville, the vibe is completely different. There is a rhythm to southern towns for sure but at the same time they are all very distinctive in the way they feel, the way people walk and talk and just the ‘texture’ of them.
I went to Memphis to soak in that feel for a while and see if she would ‘shake the muse’ so to speak. “Hello Memphis, I write songs, whaddya got? Anything left in the old tank?” I’ve just begun to scratch the surface of what I found, so I can say Memphis is still there!
The coolest moment of this particular trip though was sort of an unexpected one. We went to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is in the old Lorraine Motel, site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The museum is a profound space. A well done introductory film of Dr. King’s life and his pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement begins a self guided tour and it takes you to the actual motel room he occupied on that fateful day as well as to the room where the shot was fired from. All in all, a very profound and thoughtful trip in and of itself, but we weren’t done. The next day was a cold and rainy one and we were sort of wandering around Memphis, talking about the city and what we were seeing and almost as an afterthought, we decided to drive by the Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ Headquarters; the site of Dr. King’s final speech.
We entered, although I’m not sure visitors are even permitted! We were allowed, after signing in, to go into the sanctuary by ourselves! A huge, stately space. I’ve been in a lot of churches when they’re not having services and I’m always awed by the stately silence they have. Just a deep, peaceful air. This one was no exception, a large room, the center of which was occupied by the podium from which Dr. King made his speech. We approached the spot and when I stood there, the feeling was overwhelming. This was the spot where a man, who knew he was destined to die because of his convictions, boldly stood and espoused those very convictions and exhorted the audience to keep the faith. The air felt solemn, heavy with the kind of somber, passive awareness and resignation of a witness. Thanks to an iPhone and YouTube we were even able to sort recreate the speech. Even from little cell phone speakers, Dr. King’s voice was powerful and we all got chills. Thanks to YouTube, I’ve been listening to a lot of Dr. King’s speeches lately and I’m so grateful for the technology that allows us to access these kinds of things! I hope we can put the ideas of people like Dr. King back into the forefront of our consciousness. Just simple ideas; respect, dignity, peace...really simple.

Positivity

2010-10-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

I’m a positive person. I believe in the ‘better’ of life and humanity. Instead of immediately thinking “rip-off” or “watch out”, I believe in the promise of “YES!”. Do I fall short? Hell yeah!! The temptation to flip off a bad driver is tremendous! The desire to berate a bad waiter is compelling! I get pissed off when things don’t go ‘my way’! I wasn’t always so focused on being positive, in fact for most of my life I thought; “It’ll never work, they’ll never go for it, this person is intentionally being difficult, I can’t...”. That IS an easy way to go through life, on the surface anyway. If you say, “I can’t”; you’re probably right. A version of that statement has been credited to Henry Ford. I don’t know if he really said it, but if he did, he’s right.
A few years ago, I was thinking about my career, my life, my music, where I was in the universe, etc, and I realized that somehow, I had been focused on the wrong things. Wrong, in this instance, meaning for me, not the most spiritually healthy things; money, record sales, etc. My wife Buffy introduced me to a book that made me stop and think. I won’t name it outright, because this isn’t an infomercial, but it IS one of the 5 books named at the end of this blog. The book in itself, on the surface, could have been passed off as one more semi-new age bit of mumbo jumbo, but it wasn’t. Buffy responded immediately, reading portions of it out loud to me. When she was through I read it and responded even more! The simple, truth of the book was that we receive the life we create and the life we “see”. If everything looks crappy to you, it will be. If everybody’s out to screw you, they are. I’m not saying that if something bad happens to you it’s your fault, what I’m saying is whatever happens to us, we have a choice to make, as to how we play it. I am a terrible golfer, so if Tiger Woods and I get the same shot, he’ll see more in the shot than I would. (conversely, if we both faced a musical challenge, I’d take him to the woodshed!! That was said with a smile and love!!:))
I realized, some time ago, that because of my path, I have a platform. What do I say? If I have a chance to address the world, what do I tell them? As an entertainer, there must be something beyond; “Hey!!...Ho!!...Wave your hands in the air!!...Do you feel alright?!?!, Let me hear you say yeah!...”. No I don’t believe in the musician/politician. I’m not the guy to pontificate on government policy or the better way to run the world. I’m not even the guy to tell you which brand of soap is better. I do have something to tell you though. #1. You are loved. Plain and simple, believe it or not! Run from it if you will, but it is true. Someone, somewhere, loves you, values you, needs you and wishes/prays the best for you. #2. Someone watches you. Not in a voyeuristic way (well...some of you...) no, seriously, someone watches you to determine how they lead their life. They watch the decisions you make, the hands you play, and they pattern their paths after yours. YOU have a platform, wether you realize it or not! #3. EVERYONE is more like you than not; that’s important so I’m gonna write the whole sentence again in caps; EVERYONE IS MORE LIKE YOU THAN NOT! What I mean is; everyone is scared, in love, nervous, shy, hurt, insecure, unsure, happy, lost...all the feelings you have. We spend a lot of time looking at the differences in each other, “how is “X” different from me?” When all the time the easier question is; “How are we alike?”
In my short time on this planet and in my limited ability to understand, I’ve watched ‘ignorance’ be the cause of a lot of trouble. Often times, the cause of aggression has been not understanding, plain and simple. Every war has ignorance as it’s source. People are persecuted because they are misunderstood. They’re beaten, marginalized, imprisoned, murdered and even crucified. The bottom line is, all it takes to change this truth is US. See you in someone else and you’re less likely to want to hit them with a brick. If you see YOU in someone else, it gets real hard to wish bad upon them! Now I grant you, this philosophy could make the Super Bowl pretty crappy! Ha! (I refuse to type ‘LOL’ as a way of showing you that I am smiling or laughing) but other than sporting events, wishing/working towards a more peaceful world is a noble, beautiful thing!
This blog is not really about ‘conversion’ so much as it’s about explanation; daily, I post quotes on my Facebook page and my Twitter page. They are positive quotes from people I admire. They are intended to point your mind North of this plane. If you read them and they don’t hit you, that’s cool, it’s just ideas. Sometimes I post videos and it’s the same intention. You don’t have to actively engage my “musings”, I just want to get them in the air. The more ‘positive’ energy in the air, the harder it is for the ‘negative’ to get through! If you see me quoting Ghandi or John Lennon, even if you’re not moved to thought, just know that I’m just trying to pollinate the air with positive. There’s plenty of opportunity in our world for negative, sometimes it seems like grains of sand on a beach! The truth is, I think, that we’re better than we think, more than we imagine, braver than we fear and all we need is a little push...nudge...:)

5 Books it wouldn’t kill you to read;
The Traveler’s Gift
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
The Secret
Three Cups Of Tea
The Chosen

My Babe...

2010-09-03T20:57:00.001-05:00

So, we go back some years. It doesn’t feel like a long time, but it’s a bit. I’m a junior in high school and not really feeling the whole education thing. Low and behold you get to pick your courses in the 10th grade and for one of mine, I choose art. I figure, it’s an easy grade and I like to draw so no problem! First day, I enter the class and a girl walks in with gorgeous brown hair and wearing greenish/yellow pants. Yes I’m superficial and yes it IS the 10th grade, but she was HOTTT!! Come to find out she was a year behind me and I was in love. PERIOD. IN LOVE. I can not stress enough what a life changer that day was for me. She had a boyfriend, she had plenty more waiting in line, but I knew that she was the one for me. I did everything I could to direct those brown eyes my way. I even resorted to arm wrestling her just to hold her hand! (yes I let her win, yes I am a nerd, yes she’s that hot!)
We dated for a while, (secretly at first, sorry ex-boyfriends,,,), and then I asked her to be my wife. Best move I’ve ever made, bar none! I’m better for knowing her, better for being with her, better for being part of her life. She makes me who I am, the better part of me, the me I’d like to be. If you’ve met my wife, you know she’s an angel. If you know her, you’re blessed. It’s been 19 years and it feels like a week. Thank you Buff for making my life complete!! Happy Anniversary Baby, I Love U!!!

A shout out to the past!...

2010-09-01T09:23:00.000-05:00

Recently I was looking for a certain CD, (actually, I’m always looking for a specific CD). Joe’s Garage by Frank Zappa. Nothing really obscure, just something that came out several years ago. First I checked iTunes, no luck. Then I checked Amazon and found it but I wanted it sooner. I called the closest store, Best Buy and spoke with a very friendly salesperson who had no idea who Frank Zappa was and actually had me spell the last name. In a matter of minutes, I realized how much we’ve lost with the death of the record store. When I started falling in love with music, I was a constant at record stores near where I grew up. That’s how I first found Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, etc. When I started working with Buddy Guy and traveling the world, I became an avid collector and was constantly in search of the best record store in what ever town we were in. Not only was I able to satisfy my desire to hear and own every record in the universe, but record stores were also incredible reference points. Employees knew and loved music and could direct me to the best recordings by artists that I was interested in. They could also point me toward similar artists or new artists. I learned about the historic independent labels like Chess, Kent, RPM, Sun and Ace, among others, by hanging out at record stores and talking to employees and other customers. I learned about European and Asian reissue labels like Pea-Vine by talking to people at independent record stores. I’ve got a lot of CDs and records and some of them are really prized to me; my CD copy of Folk Festival Of The Blues, my T-Bone Walker CD The Hustle Is On, too many of BB King’s Kent/RPM albums on CD to mention, my Otis Spann CD with Fleetwood Mac backing him; “The Biggest Thing Since Colossus”. The point is I wouldn’t have known about these records if it wasn’t for independent record stores. Places like Grimey’s in Nashville, Ear X-tacy in Louisville, Twist & Shout in Denver, Amoeba in San Francisco, Dobell’s in London (I once went in there looking for a CD that Robben Ford had recorded with Jimmy Witherspoon, the clerk’s pithy reply was; “I feel sorry for Jimmy Witherspoon.”), Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, Revolver in NYC, the list goes on and on. Some of these stores are still around, but many are gone. The ones that remain are selling more T-shirts, incense, and assorted knick-knacks just to stay afloat. As we move into a much more digital era of music, we think nothing of buying a song on iTunes and other than the sound we’ve bought nothing! When I listened to BB King records I read the liner notes to learn who Sonny Freeman was (find out!), when I listened to Stone Crazy, I read the liner notes to learn that it was Phil Guy playing that amazing rhythm guitar. When I bought a Jimi Hendrix record the salesman might tell me to check out Eddie Hazel in Funkadelic. If I bought a Earl Hooker CD, they might say check out Robert Nighthawk. The point is it’s more than just having something to hold in your hands, it’s a cultural element that we’ve lost. Also, when I buy a song from iTunes, I never speak to a soul during the entire process. Yes they might have some kind of graphic that says; “people who bought this also bought...”, but it’s not the same thing. We do have some great resources on the web that can help, such as allmusicguide.com, Rhino records website or Wikipedia, but there’s just something about having someone who’s excited by music suggesting music to you that makes a difference.
You can walk into Wal-Mart and buy a Beatles CD, but you’ll be hard pressed to find John Lennon’s Walls & Bridges album or a salesperson that even knows such a record exists. They might not even know who John Lennon is! Best Buy is more likely to have 3 copies of Tom Petty’s greatest hits than one copy of Damn The Torpedoes but “We can order that for you...”. I realize that my line of work might make it more likely that I would be interested in this stuff, but I was into it before I started playing guitar and my love of music dates much farther back in my life than the first time I thought about being a guitar player. I’m not against progress, but support your local independent record store. It’s more than just a physical thing you’re buying, it’s a spiritual thing as well!

Stevie Ray Vaughan

2010-08-28T11:39:00.001-05:00

I first became aware of Stevie Ray Vaughan around 1984 or ’85. I was a freshly minted disciple of Jimi Hendrix and my guitar teacher mentioned someone else who had recorded a version of Voodoo Chile. I tracked down a copy of Couldn’t Stand The Weather and immediately fell in love. Stevie’s tone, his choice of notes, his singing style and the songs just all came together in a perfect way for me. I, like a lot of people, was an instant fan. I bought his first record Texas Flood the next day and anxiously waited for the next record to come out. I first saw Stevie live in Tampa FL. My dad arranged to get me backstage and I had 6 row/center seats for the show. What a show! Meeting Stevie that night after the gig, I was star-struck and literally speechless. The photo I have from that night shows me in full on ‘deer in the headlights’ mode! I saw Stevie play two more times, both in Nashville. Once at the Opry House with BB King and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and once at Starwood Amphitheater two months before he died. Buffy and I went backstage at that show and I found my words enough to tell him that I was playing guitar for Buddy Guy and that I hoped we’d get a chance to play together sometime.
August 24 and 25, 1990, we played Buddy’s club in Chicago. The place was always packed when Buddy was there but it was especially packed when people knew Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray were nearby and would probably come by to jam. I remember playing both nights with one eye on Buddy and one eye on the VIP section (If you never got to visit the original Legends, the VIP, which was probably the worst seats in the house, was just to my left off stage). Eric and Stevie didn’t come in but Chris Layton did make it out for the Saturday gig. Buddy mentioned that he was going up to the Clapton show on Sunday and I was scheduled to return home to Nashville that day. I wasn’t invited, but I thought about sticking around and trying to ‘hobo’ my way to the show with Buddy. In the end I decided that I really wanted to get home to my then girlfriend (now wife, thank God) Buffy and that there’d be plenty of chances to hang with those guys later, since we were always crossing paths. I went home and Buffy woke me the next morning, calling to tell me that a helicopter had crashed and someone was dead, but they weren’t saying who. I called Buddy and the phone was busy for a while which really made me nervous for him. When he finally answered he told me Stevie had died. It was like the floor fell out from under my feet. Stevie was just coming into the best part of his career. He was a strong presence on MTV, he was recording with people like Stevie Wonder, doing shows with Jeff Beck, Clapton, Joe Cocker. It really seemed like he was going to shift into the mainstream in a real profound, positive way. The latest record In Step had come out and the songwriting and performances from all the guys in Double Trouble was stellar. His passing was like a punch in the gut. How could something like that happen to someone who had just beaten some real demons and come out stronger and sharper than ever? My mother always taught me that we’re not in this world forever and when it’s your time, it’s your time. As a Christian, I believe God’s got a plan and a design for everything. Whatever his plan was for Stevie, it happened and thank God we got the music and the person here for as long as we did but man I sure wish he was still around!

A 'Strapping' Birthday gift!!

2010-08-05T12:52:00.004-05:00

Recently, I celebrated my birthday in Chicago. I was joined by my wife and some of my dear friends. Three of my friends make up the group we refer too as the “MF Mafia”, Chuck MF Lanza, Kempf MF Poole and Keith MF Throneberry. For my birthday, my friends got me an awesome gift; a new guitar strap from renowned strap designer Jodi Head (http://www.jodihead.com )! The purple strap you may have seen me with for the last few weeks, with my initials on it. As a cool added touch, they included my wife and daughter’s initials on the inside of the strap so they’re always with me, right next to my heart! Old Number One is enjoying her new “outfit” as well! Hope you get a chance to come out and see us soon!

Rock n Roll...

2010-07-14T18:34:00.000-05:00

Rolling across Montana on our way to Chicago. I am always awed by the beauty and diversity of our country! I love driving through the mountains and then the plains and crossing the great rivers. For a kid who loved to read about history in school, it’s always a thrill to see these things in person, even if it is often through the windshield of a van doing 80 mph!! We just stopped for lunch in Missoula, MT at a great burger joint called The Missoula Club. Awesome, old school cheeseburgers!! (If you’ve ever been to the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, it’s like that)
The shows have been going great and we’ve really been enjoying the addition of Lightnin’ Joe Peterson on keyboards. Joe is also a great harp player and that’s really added a great dimension to some of the more traditional blues songs that I love to play.
Since my last post, I celebrated my birthday in Chicago with my wife and closest friends. We played Buddy’s club on Friday night and then I got to accompany Buddy to the Crossroads Festival on Saturday and watch Buddy in action with Jonny Lang and Ron Wood. After a quick trip home, we hit the road for Boulder, CO,; Moscow, ID; Salt Lake City, UT (best sushi restaurant Takashi!!); Anacotes, WA & Ritzville WA. At every stop we’ve been welcomed by great crowds and had a blast playing. The new record is almost finished (really!) and should be out in the next few weeks. I’m excited to get it out and see what ya’ll think of it. It’s a different kind of record from anything I’ve done in the past, that’s for sure.
The next couple of weeks will find us in Chicago, Milwaukee, London ONT and Windsor ONT, Baton Rouge, as well as a rare Nashville show early in August. We’re playing material from the new record every night and I’m really excited that people seem to be digging it. Stay tuned!

My Gateway Drug

2010-05-06T16:29:00.001-05:00

Riding down the road today, my mind started wandering about how I got here (with a GPS! Hahahahaa...sorry I couldn’t resist!). I love my job. I love making music and performing, I love recording and working with other musicians to create something bigger than ourselves. I have grown up being a musician. From my earliest memories, music was always around and I look at those times as an indoctrination of sorts that enabled me to become who I am. Music has always been there. I started playing music seriously (I think that‘s an oxymoron) late in respect to years, but I think I was studying lessons that would serve me in that regard all along. Church, my parents record collection, television, radio and later MTV, all of these factors contributed to my education. I can still sing the words to Gilligan’s Island, Love Boat, The Brady Bunch and Green Acres (back when TV theme songs had lyrics and cool melodies!). Little did I know that I was practicing remembering lyrics!
So what was my ‘tipping point’? My ‘gateway drug’, so to speak. James Marshall Hendrix. I distinctly remember the first time I came across his name; it was at school. We had these wooden desks that prior classes had carved into. Pot leaves, call letters for the local rock radio station (WKDF in Nashville, now a country station, my how things change!), girls’ names, boys’ names, band names (Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Deep Purple, etc.) and on one desk that I sat at, I can remember seeing the name Jimi Hendrix. That’s it, just the name. No explanation or even a clue as to who he was or what he did. I remember asking a classmate who Jimi Hendrix was and they said, “I’m not sure, I think he’s a guitar player or something.”
My local record store was called Sound Shop. It was in the local Mall. I came up during the cassette era and they had a good sized selection of rock and country. I bought my copy of Rebel Yell by Billy Idol, my copy of Heartbeat City by The Cars, the Footloose soundtrack, I could never manage to buy the .38 Special tape Wild Eyed Southern Boys, because it was never ever on sale... NEVER! I grew up with 5 really close friends. At some point, for some reason that I’m sure made sense in my youth, my friends and I decided to get really heavy into “60’s” music. I doubt if we even really knew exactly what that was or why we should even care, but we decided that The Doors would be a good place to start. Probably thanks to the fact that we were watching Apocalypse Now about twice a week, (I had that soundtrack on VINYL thank you very much). The Doors were cool and spooky and no one else at school was listening to them, so we liked them even more! I remember going in the store alone one day and seeing a white cassette that said ‘Jimi Hendrix: Soundtrack to the Motion Picture’. It looked interesting, guy in a cowboy hat sitting on a stool on an otherwise white cover. I wish I could remember what I paid for it, $7.99 probably, but I do remember the thin, plastic yellow bag that said Sound Shop in bold black letters on the outside. I remember walking out of the Mall past the video arcade (Pirates Cove!) and getting in my truck, tearing the plastic off my new purchase and cranking the old Pioneer (with an additional booster with graphic equalizer in the glove box!). I remember all these details because they would forever be marked in my life as the before part, as in ‘before and after’.I had never heard any of these songs before and I had never heard any songs like them. The songs were interspersed with interview clips from Little Richard, Jimi’s dad and some others I can’t remember. The acoustic version of Hear My Train A’Comin” with Jimi asking “did you think I’d do that?” at the end, The Star Spangled Banner, Johnny B. Goode was ferociously cool but the song that really stands out in my memory was Purple Haze. It was my first time hearing that song and it sounded huge! Metallic. I have since become a devoted student of Jimi’s music and I have probably heard every version of Purple Haze, from live versions to every studio take of the song, but it never hits you like the first time. I currently have 135 different versions on my iTunes alone!
I think it’s interesting how past memories seem to condense. I’m trying to remember how things happened sequentially after that, but it really seems like a blur. I do know that I immediately fell in love with Jimi Hendrix’ music and had to find and hear all of it that I could. My next purchase was Kiss The Sky a compilation tape that Warner Brothers put out in the 80’s (probably in response to my interest!). That’s the first time I heard Are You Experienced?. Again, I was hooked. It’s hard to relate to now, but I had no real resource for my interest in Jimi. There was no internet, no YouTube, none of my friends knew who the hell he was, much less the best way to approach learning his music and his story. I’ve always been that way, if I find an artist or an actor or a writer that I like, I tend to devour their work and learn as much as I possibly can about them. In the case of Jimi, I had no idea what albums came first, where he was now, or anything. This is the time before DVD and music videos were in their infancy. I had probably heard all three studio albums (Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland) before I had even seen any video footage of Jimi. I found a book about Jimi by Jerry Hopkins in the school library (the only thing I think I ever stole) and then I could get the discography together, understand when he died and how, and try to gain some initial idea of why he was significant. I was blessed with parents who gave me confidence and self value so that I was able to appreciate the music that I liked because I liked it instead of being told ‘this is good, you should like this.’. I liked Elvis long before I found out he was the King of Rock and Roll and still liked him when it was no longer cool to like him. I loved Jimi Hendrix. He could have just as easily been some kind of cult figure in music and I would have still devoured his every note.
Around the time that I acquired the soundtrack and heard Purple Haze for the first time, a voice I had never really heard in my head told me that the time had come for me to learn how to play the guitar. It wasn’t the voice that told me that it might be time for some fish sticks and ketchup after school, or the voice that told me algebra was a waste of time, it was a new, confident, clear voice that left no doubt that I would do what it said. Get a guitar, learn how to play it like Jimi Hendrix, simple! I asked for an electric guitar for Christmas and my parents, God bless them, got it for me. I doubt if they ever dreamed that that act would lead to the tattoos, ear rings, loaded passports and closets full of guitars and amps that followed, but they knew that their child wanted something and they figured out how to pay for it. That didn’t always happen, we didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but my parents broke their backs to give me and my brother everything they could. Along with the guitar, I got a Mel Bay Chord book. A big Mel Bay chord book with thousands of chords that I had no idea how to play. I didn’t know how to tune my guitar or even where to start. It was a catastrophe! My dad loved to tell this story, especially the part where he said “either you’re going to take lessons or I’m throwing that thing out in the yard!” he said it with a smile and with love (like he said everything to me) but he meant it! The short version of this part is that I found the best teacher in the world, Doug Thurman, and he had me bring in a song I wanted to learn and he showed me how to learn it from the cassette. That song was Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), (from my Kiss The Sky tape!!) and I was off! That was a long time ago, I went on to work with and become friends with one of Jimi’s biggest influences Buddy Guy, I recorded with his final rhythm section Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox, I became friends with Band Of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles, met Jimi’s dad before he passed. I can’t believe the path my life has taken, but i still put on my Jimi Hendrix records (or Cds or MP3 files) and search them for some new hidden treasures. I am never disappointed, Jimi never lets me down!
We just passed the exit for Clear Lake IA and the Surf Ballroom where another Strat player played his last gig, now about Buddy Holly...

Who's Dog Is This?

2010-03-25T13:33:00.003-05:00

Sitting here listening to the rough mixes for the new record and I wanted to write about some of the times we had creating this thing. First off I should say that I am more proud of this record than anything I’ve done creatively, ever! I went in with the intention of making an old style “album” (remember album’s from your ancient history books kiddies?). 10 songs, a side A and a side B, and you can drop the needle (figuratively of course) on the first track and listen to it all the way through, or you can embrace the iTunes world we live in and sequence it any old way you choose!
We recorded in Minneapolis, at The Terrarium, with my band and co-producer Truth on keys, (anybody remember Machine Gun at Shaw’s that night???). My friend and amp guru Tim O’Brien made up the third member of our production team and with the help of our ninja – engineer Rob Oesterlin, we cut 13 tracks in 6 days, counting all overdubs!! 8 songs the first day alone! Trust me, that’s pretty quick. A friend pointed out that I always say the latest record is my best yet, so while I say that again this time, I really mean it!! I’ve never been involved with a record project that has this much soul in it. Every single person involved with this record gave 110%.
Things I learned and observed while making this record;
1. The human body can exist on a scone and 3 gallons of coffee with a quart of black tea for dessert per day for a period of 6 days!
2. You can haul $100,000.00 worth of really cool vintage amps into the studio and set them all up and if you use O’Brien amps, it will be a waste of time.
3. Start every project with a prayer. Invite God in on the deal and you’re guaranteed to have an environment of positive energy and creative bliss.
4. The following things are nuisance in the studio; sleep, food, chairs.
5. Unusual but necessary items for this record; Big Nasty, Dave Gardner albums, a shotgun, iPhones, WD-40, lighter fluid, a really really (really) nice pen!
6. Making records is supposed to be fun.
7. Truth is the best vocal/acting coach in the world!

We started planning this record about a month ago. Truth, Tim and I set up a Skype thing and had several pre-production meetings on line, picking the tunes and getting them into shape. (Our last meeting was supposed to be at 10:00pm on an off night at home for me and I fell asleep and missed the meeting!!). We drove in from our last gig in Vegas to my business partner/manager’s house in St. Paul and spent the next two days rehearsing the songs (and basically destroying his house in the process! Seriously, both toilets, washing machine, garbage compactor…it was pretty amazing considering we were being really careful!) First day in the studio, we cut 8 songs. Our rule was simple; no more than 3 takes. Anything more and the vibe’s in danger of being lost. If we couldn’t get it in 3, we left it. We never had to do more than three takes!
So what did we end up with? A record like nothing I’ve ever done before. The best thing I’ve ever done and a record that I am so proud of that it’s hard to explain. Stay tuned for more info soon! LIG!!

...my kind of town...

2010-03-11T12:55:00.000-06:00

Here we are in Las Vegas, getting ready for the last show before we hit the studio! I love Vegas; the Rat Pack, Elvis, Howard Hughes, Liberace, Wayne Newton... My wife finally explained it to me once, when I told her I didn’t know why I loved Vegas so much, she said, “It’s because it’s on ‘11’ all the time.” TRUE!! So how did we get here you ask. We drove straight out here from Nashville and what a trip!! The first day was a good drive and we got to Oklahoma City by 2:00 am and decided to stop for the night. The next day it was a killer lunch at the Cattlemen’s Cafe (16 oz. Porterhouse w/salad and potato and a piece of coconut cream pie the size of my head!) and on to Vegas...or so we thought! Just outside of Albuquerque the weather went from mild and breezy to wild and freezy!! After dodging our share of wrecked vehicles on the interstate, we finally went into a ditch about 17 miles outside of Gallup NM. The only real damage was a flat on the trailer. Gallup NM closes at around 10:00 p.m. and no one was interested in helping the SHB get to Vegas before 6:00 am. Unfortunately, this information didn’t become clear until we had exhausted 3 hours or so trying to find help. Get yet another hotel room, this one for roughly 3 freezing hours of sleep (by the time the room started to warm up it was time to hit the road). We find a tire store to fix the tire, find a roadside service to get the tire on (yes I can change a tire, but it’s too many details to explain why!) and we hit the road at 9:30. Now, here’s the challenge; We have to be in Vegas by 3:00 p.m. local time to go do some local television, it’s 365 miles to Vegas, after getting my MF brother Keith to help me figure out the mathematical formula to determine what our consistent speed should be (yes we really did use an algorithm!) We started rolling at said speed (not the legal limit per se...)which, on dry clear surface, would be no trouble...then it starts to snow...again. Then, it stops snowing, the sun comes out, the roads are clear and we get up to speed. Then it starts to sleet...the roads are solid white, which could be just a covering of snow or something slicker! Then it stops snowing, clears up and we think, “whew!” Then it starts to hail...I’m on the phone with my wife and she mentions that sometimes hail is a precursor to a tornado...Dan, who’s driving, says “look in the rearview mirror”...you know what it is, A TWISTER!!! At this point, we are committed like the proverbial pig at breakfast, so I decide that if the next things falling out of the sky are frogs and locusts, we are NOT gonna be late to Vegas. By this point we’ve called the PR people and assured them we’ll be on time. It is live TV so it’s kind of a big step to be 235 miles away and say, “We will be there for sure.” but if you’ve been following us you know the SHB is not easily dissuaded. I am proud to say that even with a trailer search at the Hoover Dam and more rain and traffic, we pull up to the front of the hotel at 2:58 p.m. local time! We celebrated with dinner and a trip to the strip for a while. Marshal was fortunate, Dan was wise, Milburn was giddy and I was reassured that guitar should remain my focus rather than professional gambler! Tonight, if you’re in Las Vegas, and why wouldn’t you be, I hope you can make it out to see us. Tomorrow we start making our way to Minneapolis to record our next record tentativley titled; “Who’s Dog Is This?” (no that’s not the title, but it would be a mysterious one don’t you think? The phrase comes from one of my favorite movies, that’s your clue...western...John Ford...John Wayne...that’s all I’m saying!!) L.I.G.

Opinions are like...opinions

2010-02-23T10:16:00.001-06:00

Many people think I’m opinionated. My best friends don’t say it out loud, they just think it. I don’t think I’m opinionated, but I do have opinions. Here are some;
1. Loud is good. In context, I don’t think anything is too loud. A hand grenade wouldn’t sound right if it were quieter; neither would an O’Brien amp…
2. Ron Howard is a great story teller. Something that we need more of in the world and something that will never go out of style. No everyone that makes movies or writes books is NOT a great storyteller.
3. All you need IS love. With love as your guide all of our societal problems would be solved.
4. I think the most unfortunate word in the English language is ‘but’. Conversely I really like the word ‘butt’, go figure!
5. Art is art and it comes in all varieties from Van Gough to Sesame Street.
6. Tiger Woods only owes apologies to his wife and his family, not me and you.
7. And finally a word of caution; I believe that we are living in ‘Roman Times’ excessive luxury and massive consumption of goods, services and resources. Remember what happened to the Romans…

The Long and Winding Road

2010-02-16T16:55:00.000-06:00

The road that we travel is unusual in some ways and very similar in others to everyone else in the world. A musician’s life is like a traveling salesman’s in that we “go to the customer” we’re away from home and hotels/motels and restaurants are the major lifelines to our existence. We’re like doctors on call, our hours are screwy and usually the opposite of our families. Same thing with truck drivers and the aspect of many, many miles on the road. As a musician, you are bound to “go where the work is”. This means that you travel thousands of miles to play shows, you go North in the winter or South in the summer, you play in Minneapolis MN on a Friday night and then you play Jonesboro AR on Saturday. You play till 2:00 am and then load out and still make a 7:00 am lobby call to hit the road again. Your loved ones are cell phone calls and emails rather than flesh and blood too much of the time. We just played for two weeks in Northwestern Canada and were continually asked, “why did you come up here this time of year!?!” The answer is simple; “because that’s when and where we were hired to work.” After the 50th time of being asked that question I can’t promise that one of us isn’t mumbling “F.O.” under our breath :) but from that person’s perspective it must seem like we just decided to come at the most unfavorable time of year and maybe they think that “No” is something that we actually have the ability to say. By ability, I mean the fiscal ability more that the Physical ability. The reality is that we are constantly working to get that next job. It’s rare that a musician has the time or opportunity to sit back and truly enjoy where he is because the foot has to stay firmly on the gas and tomorrow’s gotta be made for. All musicians deal with this regardless of where the decimal point lands in the discussion. Eric Clapton knows where and when his next gig is!
Having described this, I have to say I love my job. I would do it for no money (I have actually!!) and it’s something that is in my blood. Hard wired into my psyche. I tell young prospective musicians every day; “Don’t do this unless you have to.” Actually what I tell them is; “Don’t do this. Just don’t do it. If you can live with that answer then you have nothing to worry about, but if it’s impossible for you to accept, maybe you might can try it. Maybe.”It’s not something that you can learn to love or teach yourself to deal with, it’s something that you do because there simply is nothing else. You don’t do it for wealth. The ones that do always end up unfulfilled. There’s just not enough money in the world to make this life bearable if it’s not in you. As far as financial “rock star” success the odds aren’t just ‘not in your favor’, they are stacked against you.
The point of this ramble is we recently lost a great musician, Lil’ Dave Thompson. Dave was killed driving home, overnight, from a gig in South Carolina. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re in SC right now, having driven here overnight (actually 17 hours, all day and night) and the fact that the gig he had just played is one we’ve played as well, or maybe it’s the wreck that we had two weeks ago in Alberta at 3:00 am that left us stranded on the side of a slick and busy interstate for 3 hours, but the truth is everyone in the band reacted the same way upon hearing the news; “That could have easily been us.” That’s not a selfish thought by any means, our prayers go to Dave, his family, loved ones and band members. The point of this is more about the conditions that all musicians work under on the road. For every episode of Behind The Music that you watch with private jets, limo’s, even tour buses, there are tons of guys out there doing what Dave did; get in the van and hammer the miles out. Just as a small example, our current van was purchased about 18 months ago with 100,000 miles on it, today it has 276,678. That’s just gig miles. When I joined Buddy Guy in 1989, that’s what we were doing. The miles are there and you just get after it. I’m determined not to infer any blame in this blog so I won’t speculate on the details of why they were rolling overnight and in the end it’s a tragedy that blame could never undo. I only met Dave once at a gig that we were playing together, but he was a classy guy, great musician and I remember hoping that we’d cross paths again. The point is the risks are real and they’re always there. Yes they’re there for airline pilots, bus drivers, lion tamers, soldiers, etc., but I’m a musician, I’ve seen my contracts with hotels crossed out to save $100.00, I’ve had agents tell me that “you’ll just have to run it over night, but it’s an important gig.” I’ve also been so ready to get home to my girls that I’ve left perfectly good, paid for beds empty to get back to Nashville, so as I said, I don’t know the details so I’m not casting any blame. If you’re in the music business and reading this, remember Dave. If your a promoter or a club owner, try and remember Dave before you cancel the rooms on a contract to squeeze an extra $80 - $100 bucks out of the gig. If you’re an agent think about Dave and remember that the artist is supposed to be your first responsibility and fight for the safest conditions possible, even if it makes you $100.00 instead of $150.00. Finally and most important if you are a musician/band leader making the deals think of Dave remember that no gig is ever going to pay you enough money to make it worth risking your life. EVER.

The Stars In Their Courses

2010-01-31T16:12:00.002-06:00

Well we made it to the great white North for a week of shows in Edmonton @ Blues on Whyte and a couple at Bud's in Saskatoon before heading back to the states to do ND, MN, IL & SC. Yes, by the way, Illinois is quite a drive from South Carolina! Yesterday was one of those adventure days we run into some times. After a late start out of Helena MT, we crossed over into Canada at the Sweetgrass Border crossing without a problem, (really nice border guards there, every time!) and started making our way to Edmonton. The whole way we're trying to decide if we'll stop on the way or make the whole drive. It's not that far, but it is pretty bad weather for a group of guys from the south. Make it to Calgary around 7:30 pm and decide to grab dinner and press on. Extroidinarily sloooooww service makes dinner last 2 hours and we get back on the road and decide to press on. At Red Deer, we stop for coffee and Marshal takes the wheel. I take shotgun and rare back to sleep for the 3 hours or so we have left to drive. I wake from a dead sleep to see nothing but white, the van is spinning and Marshal and I are both yelling, (mine was "we're okay!!, we're okay!!; Marshal's was something to the effect of "shut up!! shut up!!)
Next thing, we're in a ditch, 3 foot snow bank, front of the van about 4 feet from the right hand lane. After assesing the damage and calling for a tow truck to get us out of the ditch, we spent the next threee hours thanking God that we had plenty of gas to run the van and keep the heat on (-11 degrees!! brrrrr!!!), and not letting us get killed of course, and watching as 18 wheelers screamed by 4 feet in front of our grill! Several kind people stopped to check on us, including a Dodge Neon containing one very inebriated giant, (we thought he was going to eat Milburn, but he just wanted to be friends) he offered to push us out of the ditch (with his bare hands from what we could understand) when we told him we'd just wait for the tow, he wished us luck, told us we sounded like Garth Brooks, a slowly drove away with his flashers going and his trunk open. We all said a prayer that he'd get wherever he was going safely.
the tow truck arrived and pulled us out of the snow bank to reveal a flat on the trailer. First we think maybe the wreck just knocked the tire off it's bead and lost air but using Mr.Tow Trucks compressor revealed that there was also a large hole in the tire. We unload the trailer to get to the spare (remember the picture; edge of the highway, -11 degrees, sleeting). When we lift the trailer to change the tire, we realize that the springs on the right side are broken off! After a quick call to my mechanical advisory data base (Uncle Wayne!) we decide that the only choice is to make our way sloooowly to Edmonton and get it fixed on Monday. As we make our way (every knuckle white I promise!) we see a small Dodge Neon in the distance; could it be?, IT IS!! The Drunken Giant!! Flashers still going, trunk still open, pulled over the shoulder of the road! Thank God! the rest of the story is basically the same; get to Edmonton, get lost and drive around the city for 1 hour before we finally find the hotel around 6am. All that aside, God continues to take care of us and I've got a really great gig, great family, great friends and a great life! Sorry if that sounds like bragging, but none of that is my doing!!

You'll shoot your eye out!....

2009-12-28T09:32:00.000-06:00

Random Thoughts;
The iPhone is one of man’s greatest inventions! Right up there with the internal combustion engine and the pyramids!
MOJO is the best music magazine in print today.
A RANDOM SELECTION OF STUFF I’M THANKFUL FOR: (My Wife, Family & Friends are beyond this category!)My Bible, My #1 Fender Stratocaster, Obrien amps, My Grind Fuzz pedal, My Tube Screamer, Wah Wah pedals, Buddy Guy, iPods, Nashville, John Wayne, The MF Mafia, Jimi Hendrix, Ernie Ball Strings, Xbox 360, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Converse Chuck Taylors, Andy Griffith, Ford vans and trucks, B.B. King, Rumi, Dunlop picks and every pedal they make, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Chicago, Elvis, Bugs Bunny, Prince, Gas station ribs from Jackson MS., Sinatra Live at the Sands, Fried Okra, Aretha Franklin, Football, Album liner notes, Austin TX, Miles Davis, Junior Wells, True Grit by Charles Portis, Catfish, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Independent record stores, Bob Marley, Vincent Van Gough, Chipotle, Minneapolis, Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club, Earl Hooker, John Coltrane, Timberland boots, PEZ candy, Muhammed Ali, Socks, Starbucks, Mahatma Gandhi, Canada, the Blues, Pandora radio, Sirius radio, Buffy’s Macaroni & Cheese, Carlos Santana, iPhones, The Sex Pistols, Freddie King, Guitar Player magazine, Albert King, Garlic, Paul Reed Smith guitars, Pee Wee Herman, Sweet Potato Pie, Frank’s Red Hot hot sauce, Thai Food, Sushi, Dr. Mambo’s Combo, Fried Turkey, AC/DC, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Donny Hathaway, Mozart, All Music Guide, P-Funk, Stockhausen, Peanut Butter, Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins, My Peavey HP Special guitar, Rolling Stone Magazine, Grosh pickups, Smith & Wesson .357’s, Frank Sinatra, Mad Anthony’s XXX Private Reserve hot sauce, Jeff Beck, Michigan J. Frog, Jerry Lee Lewis, Led Zeppelin, Floyd Rose Tremolo systems, Eric Clapton, Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy Almonds, Van Halen, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Dilbert, Star Wars, Bone Fish’s Bang Bang Shrimp, Fuji apples, Wired magazine, AquaFina water, Pro-Tools, iTunes, Yellow Labs, My Leather Jacket, Italian Food, Bernie Mac, Al Green, Memphis, Beale Street, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Sonny Sharrock, Eminence Speakers, James Burton, T-Bone Walker, Mitch Mitchell, Marvin the Martian, Black Duct Tape, Mexican Food, Krazy Glue, WD-40, Robben Ford, Ted Greene, The Three Stooges, Peter Green, Little Walter, Cheese Burgers, Woodstock, Road Food (the book), Annie Lennox, James Brown, The Clash, Robert Nighthawk, Electric Lady Studios, the Bacon app for iPhone, BIG TV’s, HD TV, DVR, Las Vegas, Tattoos, John Lee Hooker, Motorhead, LARA bars, Zen Guitar, Nitrocellulose lacquer, Fender guitars, Living Colour, Peach Cobbler, Tabasco, Ruger firearms, Peace, Go-Jo hand cleaner, GPS, Wi-Fi, John Bonham, I-65, Hank Williams, Jim Marshall, You Tube, Nag Champa, Bob Dylan, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Snoopy, dirt roads, kudzu, IMAX movies, 3D, Soul, Harmony, Love.
A public thank-you to my MF brothers for an awesome Christmas gift!! You guys rock!!
As always a HUGE thank you to my wife…for putting up with me and making every Christmas the best Christmas yet!!

Jingle Bells!!

2009-12-16T16:00:00.001-06:00

Saturday night’s Christmas Benefit was an awesome time, (if you were there, you know this of course). For the last 5 years, Keith MF Throneberry, Xtreme 4X4, Natalie Stovall and an army of volunteers and friends have put this thing together and raised over $40,000.00 for a local charity that benefits underprivileged kids at Christmas time to insure that they receive toys for Christmas. This year, over 350 people attended the event! The money is raised and given to our local paper; they in turn purchase and distribute vouchers to people in the community that have registered for this program. All of the money goes to the charity; all of our people are volunteers. My band, Natalie’s band and all of the Xtreme folks work this thing for free.
This year we were joined by the Knoxville based band Dishwater Blonde, an incredibly funky group led by my friend, Davis Mitchell. They also, donated their time and effort making the 6 hour round trip just to play! The venue, Sports Page was donated by its owner Cliff. This year we also were blessed to have one of our local Nashville news anchor men Neil Orne from WKRN donate his time as our MC. For the last couple of years we’ve had an auction during the event to try and raise as much money as we can. This year we had a football autographed by Kyle Vanden Bosch of the Tennessee Titans and a guitar signed by George Thorogood. The guitar and other items were donated by mine and Keith’s friend Chuck MF Lanza. Not only did Chuck donate and ship us a ton of memorabilia from his personal collection, he and his lovely wife flew in from New York to surprise us and make the weekend even better! For the first time in history, the MF mafia, (Keith MF Throneberry, Chuck MF Lanza, Kempf MF Poole and me) was in full effect, and nobody even got injured!
All the bands sounded amazing and I have to say that my guys blew the roof off the joint! For the last couple of years we’ve been joined by my old friend Hodge Cook on keyboards. Hodge is one of the best musicians I’ve ever known and having him donate his time and talent just amazes me. For me this gig is too much fun! It’s usually one of the last gigs we play before the end of the year and it’s always too much fun. This year we ended up opening the whole “mental jukebox” and playing everything from Christmas songs to Rock and Roll All-night, and Party Everyday by KISS! The show closing jam, with a rotating mix of players from all three bands and special guests clocked in at close to 2 hours on its own and was a blast to be a part of.
Once again, it is impossible to fully explain the workload that Keith MF Throneberry is under for this event. ALL of the heavy lifting is his; ticket sales, organization, venue, etc. From the minute planning starts in June, Keith is on it every minute. If you bought a ticket, Keith handed it to you, if you bought a t-shirt, Keith signed off on the design. He arranged the food, the drinks, and the sound, the …everything! Keith never gets enough credit for the hard work he puts into this thing, so BIG Ups to him!!
Thank you to everyone who attended contributed or just sent up positive prayers for us. It is all appreciated and needed! If you missed it this year, start planning now to see us in 2010!!! Happy Holidays!

Gratitude

2009-11-28T11:31:00.000-06:00

This is my favorite time of year. It always has been. Typically, this time of year from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day is the time when my traveling slows down and I get to spend real time with my family. Of course, it’s also the holiday season, so we get to see a lot of the extended family, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. that we miss through out the year. I love the coolness in the air, the Christmas music in the stores, the lights going up around town, and the food of course! It’s the time of year when I like to look back and consider all of the things in this world that I am grateful for. I can tell you without any embarrassment that I am a rich man. I don’t have a million dollars in the bank and if you saw the truck I drive you might think that my statement about being rich was just some kind of hypothermic insanity. I do have a bunch of “stuff”, but that’s not what I value and consider as the thing that makes me rich. I am rich in family, friends and loved ones.
Don’t get me wrong, I like “stuff”. I could survive with one guitar in my life but I’ve got…a bunch! The thing is, my guitars never miss me, they never say they love me, they don’t worry about me when I’m gone and they show no emotion when I come home. Selfish bitches! (I’m just joking!!)
I am seriously grateful for my beautiful wife Buffy. She’s been my partner for the last 18+ years. What she and I have been through could be a book AND a movie AND a mini-series! I don’t know what I’d do without her, nor do I care to find out. I’m grateful for our daughter Olivia. I am amazed and surprised by her every day. She’s taught me more than almost anyone without even realizing or trying. (I’m grateful that she likes Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Motorhead in equal measure!) I’m grateful for my family; my mom who is the strongest most amazing person I’ve ever known and one of my heroes. My dad, he is responsible for getting my career going. He passed away in 1997 and didn’t get to see me go solo or hear any of the original music that I created, but I know he’s always with me and I’m grateful for his teaching, his wisdom, his life and his memory. I’m grateful for my brother Shane. We were a small family, it was just Mom and Dad and me and Shane. We moved around a lot when I was young and Shane and I were often the only friends we had. I’m grateful that we’re still friends! (Especially after all the things older brothers do to younger brothers!) I’m grateful for my MF brothers; Keith, Kempf and Chuck. I’ve been so blessed to have not just one but three amazing friends that support each other and make each other laugh and I know that all four of us would “help bury the body, no questions asked”. I’m grateful for Buddy Guy and his belief in me, his friendship and guidance. He gave me a career and taught me what to do with it. I’m grateful for the amazing group of musicians that have played with me, teaching me through the expression of their talent and allowing me to grow as musician by the example of their gifts. My band has a long alumni list so I’m afraid to try and name them all, lest I accidentally forget someone. Just know that there’s not one person that has played with me for a long time or a short time that I don’t feel I learned something from and I am grateful to all of them. I blessed to say that my list of friends is also long and continues to grow. A list too long to try and include here, but suffice it to say that I am ridiculously rich in friends. I am a very rich, grateful and blessed man.

The Electric Church...

2009-11-09T11:10:00.000-06:00

Great weekend! At the last minute, we got invited to go to Florence SC and play at the Pee Dee Blues Bash. We were fortunate to have Brian Pepo on bass for the weekend and we had a blast. I do, however, think that the Hampton Inn has some really strange “parking issues”. I even made it home Sunday in time for the Titans game (which they WON) and to make chili for my girls (which was too spicy and promptly made my wife sick!). Working this morning on the next project in line which looks like it’s going to be an EP, just working on the running order and what’s actually going to go on it, but I will have the full scoop soon. So far I can say that it is the proud tradition of Loud Is Good!
Random Thoughts;
1. Finally ate at Five Guys Hamburgers, Very Good! Although one order of fries would probably feed a family of 6!
2. Reading The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil. Just started it but a good thought provoking book so far!
3. Listening to Miles, Michael Landau, Stockhausen and Living Colour
4. Curb Your Enthusiasm is an awesome show!

Numero Uno!!

2009-11-03T10:05:00.001-06:00

MEDICAL HISTORY OF #1

PATIENT NAME: #1

PATIENT AGE: 14 yrs.

DESCRIPTION: Fender Stratocaster built in 1995 @ Fender Custom Shop by Larry Brooks. Ash Body, Hand Shaped Bird’s Eye Maple Neck

DISTINGUISHING MARKS: Eric Clapton signature on back of headstock (To Scott Eric Clapton ’96), various dents, scratches, scrapes, dings, gouges, scars, blood stains, etc.

HISTORY OF REPAIRS: 2 Fret Jobs, 11 pickup replacements, 3 tone knob replacements, 3 volume knob replacements, 3 volume pot replacements, 4 tone pot replacements, 2 pick guard replacements, 3 tremolo block replacements, 14 tremolo bar replacements, 3 nut replacements, 6 spring replacements, 6 strap button repairs (including drilling new hole for rear strap button), 2 headstock repairs, 2 5-way switch assembly replacements, 2 output jack replacements

Read The Secret! Now!!

2009-10-17T16:18:00.002-05:00

My five favorite melodies, in no particular order;
Sergei Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No.2 2.2Adagio sostenuto
Carlos Santana - Europa
Jimi Hendrix - May This Be Love
Earth Wind & Fire - September
Claude Debussy - Arabesque

Great gigs this weekend, hitting Stevie Ray's in Louisville tonight for round 2. Thanks to Mario Sangermano for filling in on bass! Great to see my friends Gary Brinkley and Kempf Poole. Looking forward to Chicago tomorrow, Buddy Guy's of course! Listening to Fleetwood Mac's Pious Bird Of Good Omen album this afternoon, Albatross is a beautiful song! Yes kids, Fleetwood Mac was a blues band at one time! All guitar players should recognize. We broke the record on this trip tp Louisville for eating at one spot, 3 times at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. Great Food!!

My top five books of the moment, again, no particular order;
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
Secrets of the Talking Jaguar by Martin Prechtel
Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo
The Bible

Quote of the day, or something for your brain to chew on until we meet again; "I believe that if it were left to artists to choose their own labels, most would choose none."
Ben Shahn
US (Lithuanian-born) painter (1898 - 1969)

Michael Jackson/Ted Kennedy conspiracy revealed!

2009-09-01T10:26:00.003-05:00

So it’s been a while and a lot of stuff’s going on so here’s a little catch up. Richard decided to come off the road after 8 years as my bass player and it’s a good thing for him but still very sad. We’re still in touch and he’s really getting into writing and hopefully we’ll be doing some recording together in the near future. Most of you know Richard and he’s been such a big part of the band for so long that I know we’ll all miss him on the gig, but as he gets projects out, I know you’ll all support him and his work!
We’re working on a bunch of new stuff for the future and I’ll talk more about it as it comes up, but rest assured that we are headed to a whole ‘nother level! Last week, I had a chance to spend some time hanging out with my MF brother CMFL, Buddy Guy and BB King in Westbury NY. It’s always a blast to get to see BG, my mentor/friend and catch up. Buddy recently celebrated his 73 birthday and he’s in great shape and playing his butt off! He was nice enough to invite me up to jam and we played Slippin’ In together (haven’t been able to find it on You Tube tho!). I haven’t played that song in a while and I was nervous as a cat! Buddy’s band is a great bunch of guys and they always make me feel welcome. After the show, we hung out with BB on his bus for a little bit and I got him to autograph a picture for my daughter.
Looking forward to seeing our friends in London ON in a couple of weeks and getting some new music together. I’ve been digging on Pandora thanks to my MF brother KMFP. Merle Haggard, Buddy Guy and Ratt all on one radio station! We live in a great age! I’ve been listening to some cool stuff lately that’s really helping me open up musically. Tinariwen, Tom Waits, lots and lots of Miles, The Replacements, David Lindley…just finding new areas of the garden to explore. I’m really excited about the future. I want to work harder at creating work that is uplifting, inspiring and entertaining. Music is a tremendous force of healing and I want to use it for that purpose! Yesterday I was listening to Aubrey Ghent’s version of Amazing Grace. The soul and joy in that performance left me speechless!

Gene Simmons; "I'm really not a vampire!"

2009-08-12T10:53:00.001-05:00

Finally home and rested from the 7 weeks we’ve just put in the van (2 days off didn’t count!). My ears have stopped ringing and my caluses are all good and hard! Pardon me for the tech talk, but I’m using a new pedal that I’m really digging and I want to spread the word; http://www.heavyelectronics.com/ check ‘em out!
I had a blast this past weekend playing at home and with some old friends. We had Keith Kenyon on bass, Hodge Cook on keyboards and Doug Thurman on guitar. We were also joined by our old friend Geno Haffner on keys and of course Bobby Inman. My cousin Nick Holt played some blazing guitar and sounded great! I was glad that my wife was there, because she hasn’t heard us play in a while. Looking forward to this weekend in Iowa and playing for our friends in the Mid-West!
Thought for the day; Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.
W. Somerset Maugham,

Lists:

Top 5 Albums (as of right now):
1. Donny Hathaway – Live
2. Jimi Hendrix – Band Of Gypsys
3. Miles Davis – Live Around The World
4. Jeff Buckley – Grace
5. Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks

See The World On A Greyhound!

2009-07-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

Here we are in the Great White North! I really do love playing in Canada. The people here are invariably friendly and very supportive of our music and it’s always a joy to perform for them. A lot has been going on, but the way we’ve been traveling, I haven’t had a chance to really put it down. So, while I have a few minutes, we’ll start from the beginning.
Our merch guy, many of you know, is Milburn. Great young man, enthusiastic and a truly good person. If Milburn has a weakness, it would be his inability to realize the time frame that we operate under in this organization. This is the world of RIGHT NOW. Not tomorrow, later, at your earliest convenience, but RIGHT NOW!! Months ago, when this tour was planned, I advised Milburn to get a passport. The law has become stricter concerning travel to and from Canada from the US and now a passport is required (in the past a drivers license and a birth certificate would work.). When I suggested this to Milburn, I immediately forgot about it, assuming that the task was now firmly on his plate and I could move on to other issues. A passport is a rather lengthy and involved process that can take up to a month to go through. In the meantime, back at SHB HQ, work documents are being filed and personnel are being recorded for the trip. Milburn, not understanding ‘right now’, doesn’t get his passport. Weeks go by and I ask him, with only 2 weeks to go until we leave for the tour, if he has his passport. Nope. I won’t bore you with the details of what we went through to get him a passport, but it involved multiple trips to Nashville, visits to very official buildings and finally ended with the hope that his passport would be processed and expedited to us on the road before we had to enter Canada. It kind of went like this; 1. Passport gets to his house and is overnighted to the last US gig that we’re playing at. 2. Wrong address has it sent back to Tennessee. 3. We leave Milburn in Great Falls MT with instructions to get his passport (resent from Tennessee) the next day and catch a bus to catch up with us in Canada. 4. We drive the 5 hours to the first Canadian gig. 5. Milburn gets on bus & drives for 40 hours!! From Great Falls to Butte to Seattle to Vancouver… (Check this route on a map, or go to www.greyhound.com and check out the route for Great Falls MT to Red Deer AB, it’s insane!). 6. Misses 2 towns and 3 shows, covers over 1600 miles but rejoins us and had a great time and a learning experience. Valuable lesson learned; do what you gotta do RIGHT NOW!!
Shows are going good and we’re seeing a new area of Canada that we haven’t been to before. I’m introducing Richard to some interesting new foods; Greek, Japanese and today Vietnamese! True Texan, he’s game for anything!
Still getting over the shock of Michael Jackson’s death (and Steve McNair's for that matter!!) Now the investigations and allegations start and we are hearing everyday that Michael’s body hasn’t been buried, who will raise his kids?, he was on drugs, he was in terrible shape, he was in great shape, who has his brain?, it just goes on and on. I think that when you die, you should be allowed to die, be given the dignity in death that often your not given in life, be remembered for your good works and the world should just move on. If you don’t buy the argument that as an entertainer you make calculated choices to increase the mystique of your celebrity, (i.e. Wear masks, buy the elephant man’s bones, sleep in an oxygen tank, etc.) then at least grant the argument that as humans, we all screw up and if you’re a rich, international superstar with endless bucks and plenty of people willing to allow you a pass for any and everything you want, your mistakes will be ten-fold, hell, a thousand-fold what the rest of us do. The dirt and negativity serves no purpose. If we learn that Michael Jackson was a raging drug addict, it won’t stop people from abusing drugs, it won’t help in the reform of the pharmaceutical industry, or the general practice of over medicating, it won’t make people more sympathetic to how the world’s criticism can weigh on a performer and make a fragile human being turn to any sort of ‘self medicating’ protective devices. Most importantly, I think, it won’t help his kids. It won’t give them peace of mind or fond memories of their father, it won’t help them make sense of the loss of the only parent they’ve ever known. Same goes for Steve McNair; all of the sordid allegations of infidelity don’t help the family that he’s left behind to cope with their loss. We all do dumb things that we regret, we all make bad choices that come back and bite us, if you’re reading this and you haven’t made a poor choice in the last 24 hours, congratulations, I’d like your autograph!
I guess all this ties into the down side of having this insatiable hunger for the next piece of celebrity dirt. We like to build up our celebrities, tear them down, give them forgiveness and then tear ‘em down again if they make it back up. I’m not saying this from a position of “I know it all” but just working it out as I type it. What makes us like that? Is it some kind of, “well at least I’m not as bad as so and so.” thing? I remember when Elvis died, the first day it was all shock and sadness over his passing and then the drug stories started coming out and the eating stories started coming out and for a long time Elvis was the punch line to a fat, drugged out joke. If you ever go to Graceland, in the trophy room there is a frame with about 20 canceled checks to 20 different charities for $1,000.00 each, from like 1959 or something, anyway a LOT of money, just given away to help people. No framed headline from any newspaper saying, “Look what Elvis did!” just the checks framed long after he passed. You gotta admit though that that story isn’t as interesting as how much bacon he could consume at breakfast. At least now it seems like he’s finally being recognized (or at least debated)more for his contributions to popular music than for how many peanut butter and Demerol sandwiches he could consume in one sitting, but it sure is an interesting phenomenon. If you care, just watch the Michael Jackson story unfold; we’ll hear sordid tales of drugs and assorted mischief, his work will be over-shadowed and pushed to the back and then in 10 years or so when the dust has settled and some other poor soul has blasted off into outer space and become the new sensation, some new artist will do a cover of Thriller or name check Michael as their biggest influence and all of the sudden it will become cool to like Michael Jackson the entertainer again. I’m reminded of the tag line to a show that used to come on the E channel (yes I realize the irony of this sentence!) “Fame, ain’t it a bitch?”.

Icons

2009-06-26T12:19:00.001-05:00

One thing I never seem to fully learn about this world is the fact that change is going to happen constantly, ready or not. Three icons in as many days and the world keeps turning, but it sure seems a little bit different. I had the Farrah poster on my wall as a kid, until my mom saw it and made me take it down. At the time I really didn’t understand her attitude towards a nice picture of a smiling pretty girl, but upon reflection, that sure was a good poster! Ok maybe I’m not being entirely honest about the poster, I also watched Charlie’s Angels and not because I thought they were really good detectives!
At the same age, my bedtime would coincide with the start of the Tonight Show and many nights I would lay in bed listening to my parents’ television in the living room and not fall asleep until I heard Ed McMahon say, “Heeeerrees Johnny!” Michael Jackson was always there. The Jackson 5 cartoons, the duet video with Paul McCartney, the Beat It video, Thriller, the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, the Martin Brashears interview that pretty much moved Michael from the realm of music innovator to circus sideshow that his life became. I was never a huge Michael fan. I liked a lot of his songs and admired and respected his talent but I was more of a Prince fan. Buddy and I used to argue about who was better, he liked Michael and I liked Prince, but whenever we saw each others “favorite” perform, we’d just look at each other and say “He is a bad m*****f****r though!”
I know how our culture treats dead celebrities and I dread the onslaught of tasteless jokes that will start to show up. For the record, I’m not interested in hearing them, so if you got some, please keep them to yourself. The down side of having 24 hour news channels is that as they eulogize Michael they’ll run out of immediate family members and close friends and eventually you’ll be seeing interviews with the mailman from Gary IN that used to deliver the mail to the Jackson household back in the early 60’s. Our culture, what I call The Culture of Right Now, makes it difficult or even unnecessary to say goodbye to passing celebrities. They live on through CD and video forever. Hopefully that will be the best and kindest part for Michael Jackson; that his music, dancing and entertaining will outlive the strange final chapter that wrote. Rest in Peace Michael and thanks for sharing your talent and art with us!

Don't seek the pigman!

2009-06-25T17:20:00.000-05:00

So here we are in Idaho (capitol; Boise, entered the Union on July 3, 1890, also known as the Gem State.) Day 8. So far a very good tour. My definition of a good tour is #1; a musically rewarding gig. After that, no breakdowns, arrests or bodily injury and that we’re not being yelled at for being too loud. That, of course, isn’t Webster’s definition of a good tour. They don’t have one! They define ‘tour’ as an intransitive verb. Boring! Touring is nothing of the kind. It is equal parts traveling circus, school fieldtrip and spiritual vision quest. This might be the double setup & teardown tour. After tearing down early in Eureka Springs a couple of weeks ago and having to set back up! (Our fault), we played in Sheridan WY (plotted as a town by John D. Loucks in 1882 on the back of a sheet of wrapping paper. Named after one of John Loucks' civil war officers, General Sheridan. The town was approved and incorporated in 1884.) last week and it was supposed to be an outside gig. We setup under a beautiful blue sky. By show time, black clouds were on the horizon. We started the show and got maybe 3 songs out before the rain started to hit and we had to tear down and move the whole thing inside, set back up and finish the gig! My guys did it flawlessly. Thanks to the help of the great security staff at My Buddy’s Place in Sheridan! We stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield on Sunday, (a place I’ve always wanted to go) and toured the battlefield. Yes, it’s more than just a big field and a bunch of tombstones. We did comment on the irony of walking the battlefield while on our cell phones, taking pictures with our digital cameras and drinking bottled water. Sometimes you can’t NOT be a tourist no matter how respectful you are. It is an amazing place though and they do a great job of giving you the information of the battle and the layout of the thing without letting it seem to “Disneyesque”…until you get to the gift shop anyway!

Marshal and I drove from our current secret location to Idaho Falls yesterday and saw the movie The Hangover http://hangovermovie.warnerbros.com/. Great movie that I will see again with Buffy and the MFThroneberrys I’m sure. Came out of the movies and discovered that I had locked the keys in the van and the nearest extra set (in Richard’s pocket) was 75 miles away! Thanks to AAA, we got hooked up quickly though. Although I am still a little concerned that the guy who opened the door didn’t even ask to see my ID! He just popped the lock and split! I gotta get me one of them slimjim things!

Just finished reading The Secret at my wife’s urging. What a great book and brilliant concept. As an armchair physics fan, (…well I am! Armchair just means I’m fascinated by the concepts and that I’ve read Brian Greene and Stephen Hawking…don’t ask me to explain the single string theory to you though.) I really liked the relation of Quantum Physics to our relationship to the universe as well as the biblical implications. Now I’m reading a great book on the Delta Blues by Ted Gioia. Called…Delta Blues. Very well researched and informative, if not exactly the most clever title. Finally watched the movie Taken this morning and now I am a Liam Neeson fan (I was already actually) but I still needed to forgive him for trying to kill Batman. Now I do!

I did not pack for Idaho weather! My home state is currently going through a brutal heat wave that was just starting to warm-up when we left to come on tour. Idaho is having no such heat wave and I don’t really like it! I did however pack 5 guitars for this tour. After 6 shows, I played 1 guitar 99% of the time. So maybe I didn’t even pack my guitars correctly!

Happy belated father’s Day to all you Dads. Mine was a good day but not a good Father’s Day as I was away from home. Worst part of my job. I did get an awesome card from my girl and a great call from my wife and daughter!

Why does the USA Today paper machine say that you can use any combination of coins but it will only work with 4 quarters?

I’m off now to hug on my guitar and get through the rest of this off day!

What's for dinner Grandpa?

2009-06-16T18:24:00.000-05:00

So recently my wife gave me a great idea (most of my great ideas come from her…and the rest are inspired by her!) to start writing about some of the places we eat at on the road. When you travel, food is one of the most important aspects of your journey, (because without it, you would eventually die.) Okay, gas and guitar strings are also very important, but this blog is about food. Obviously Starbucks is a big part of our rolling diet, but we also tend to seek out BBQ joints, funky local places, Chipotle or Red Robin for lunch. I am a big fan of BBQ and the band will usually indulge me unless we’ve had BBQ four or five days in a row, in which case I can usually smell the mutiny over the smoked sweat smell! When I was with Buddy, BBQ was a ritual, especially in Texas. We did the Iron Works, Stubb’s, County Line or Sam’s in Austin, we did Virgil’s in NYC, as well as a bunch of places that are gone or that I just can’t remember now! That’s where I learned the difference between good BBQ and bad BBQ. My BBQ policy is simple; no chains, no b******t! I do make an occasional exception to the chain rule, but only if the chain is consistent. I eat at Whole Hog in Little Rock AR and Dreamland in Birmingham, but the original Dreamland in Tuscaloosa has let me down a couple of times, so now we go to Archibald’s in Tuscaloosa (the original location). I will not eat at Tony Roma’s, etc. In the past few months we’ve eaten at some crazy good places (and had some crazy great food!) Like Takashi Sushi in Salt Lake City UT, Central BBQ in Memphis TN, Snappy Lunch in Mt Airy NC where we had the pork chop sandwich to end all pork chop sandwiches, or Exxon Gas Station BBQ pork ribs in Jackson MS (thanks KMFP), Blues City Café in Memphis for catfish and tamales, Stage Deli in NYC for the GIANT (and expensive) Rueben, Leatha’s BBQ in Hattiesburg MS. The best resource I’ve found for food on the road is a book called Roadfood by Jane and Michael Stern. This book has yet to let us down. We’ve found killer Mexican food in Denver, Lobster Rolls in Maine, Breakfast in Louisville, Hot Dogs in Portland OR and the list goes on and on.
Today, we are in St Louis and we had to go to Goody Goody Diner www.goodygoodydiner.com I had the BBQ Burger with slaw, fries and a side of chili - $10.00 (diet’s going great, thanks for asking!) This place is the bomb! In business since 1948, they do all the old style diner food you would expect. Burgers, Breakfast stuff, they even do chicken and waffles (don’t knock it until you try it!) Their hours, during the week, are 6:00 am – 2:00 pm. We got there at 1:45 pm and the place was packed! The hostess seated us and she even liked my Chuck Taylors! (How ‘bout that Kempf!) The chili was great, spicy and meaty (oyster crackers and Tabasco on the side!). The burger was exactly what you want from something called the BBQ Slaw Burger, it was a delicious mess (4 napkins!)! They’ve had everyone from Al Gore to Cedric the Entertainer as guests and I can guarantee I’ll be back. Next time I’m getting the fried chicken though, because it looked awesome!
As for Chipotle www.chipotle.com it’s a burrito restaurant chain from Denver CO. I discovered them a couple of years ago and when Tyler was in the band, we we’re eating there at least 3 or 4 times a week! For one thing, the food is great, fresh and mostly organically raised fresh guacamole, salsa and chips. For another thing, when you’re on a budget (who’s not on a budget these days, but if you are a musician, it’s a given that you are on a BUDGET!), a huge burrito fills you up for the whole day, so you don’t have to spend all your money on food (especially when you’re in Denver and you need to go to Twist and Shout www.twistandshout.com an amazing independent record store!)! We’ve eaten at the original a couple of times on 1600 East Evans (got the t-shirt too!!) Chipotle is always good. My favorite stuff is either the Carnitas Burrito or the Barbacoa Burrito, chips with the guacamole and the hot salsa and then douse the whole thing in Chipotle Tabasco! $10.00 - $12.00 for that and a drink and you’re good to go.

'Ello 'Enry!

2009-05-28T00:26:00.001-05:00

So Memorial Day was a good long weekend with my family. Buff, Olivia and I welcomed a new member to our family, Henry, a great (English?) Lab. He’s fitting in just perfectly. General Sterling Price, our aged and perpetually irritated cat has no comment but it is an uneasy truce!

How to create special glasses to look at the sun.

2009-05-15T15:48:00.003-05:00

A snapshot of life on the road finds us all piled up in a single motel room, watching a General George S Patton Jr. marathon on the History Channel. Since I’m currently reading a book about Patton, I am neglecting to tell the guys that we’ve already seen this episode earlier today…I don’t think they really care. For a guy who hates off days, this tour has had more than it’s fair share (7!!) Even Marshal commented today at sound check that it felt weird to actually be playing! At least we do 5 shows in a row starting today and then home! Lunch today at the diner in Tilton was surreal. I bet Buffy $100.00 that she couldn’t guess what I had for lunch and she guessed it immediately (hotdogs). I now owe her $100.00. How could she have known?!!?
Random thoughts from today that lead nowhere; I changed the working title of the new record today, I’m curious to hear how my friend Chris Duarte’s gig at the Tugboat in Steamboat Springs goes considering we got yelled at for 2 days about volume at that same gig and Chris plays pretty loud, I just read a face book entry from a popular guitarist who was complaining about his 18 hour BUS ride and how it just sucks the life out of him, I then read that entry to my band who are no strangers to 20 hour VAN rides (playing a gig first then driving 20 hours and then playing another gig before finding a bed) they thought he was very funny and very sad. I seem to have plenty of clean clothes left in my suitcase, but I wonder if I have enough to finish the tour without doing laundry? It’s a really beautiful day outside and I am thankful for that. I feel sorry for people who are pissed off and negative all the time, I have bouts of that from time to time and when it’s over I’m ashamed and embarrassed to be so blessed and manage to forget it to feel sorry for myself. I doubt if the people that I’m referring to will read that and realize that I’m referring to them! For 3 days we were frequenting an independent coffee shop in Rockland ME. They offered a different organic coffee each day. One day the coffee of the day was called Organic Mexican…I was required to order a large Mexican. The next day, it was Organic Ethiopian… I was required to order a large Ethiopian. I felt very international but very uncomfortable. At least at Starbucks you are ordering a Grande Pike or a Grande Komodo Dragon which sounds very exotic and not quite so “18th century slave trader”! Yes, I could have ordered a small Mexican or a small Ethiopian but I find them less stimulating or satisfying. They also had great cookies. So far on this tour, I’ve read On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Unforgivable Blackness by Geoffrey C. Ward and now I’m reading Gen. Patton by Stanley P. Hirshson. I bought a hard back copy of Alana Nash’s book about Colonel Tom Parker yesterday for $3.00 so that will probably be next. Colonel Parker was never in the military, he wasn’t an American citizen, he WAS supposedly an illegal alien, he enjoyed elephants and he managed the entire career of Elvis Presley which, by the way, was only really 20 years long! That might be an interesting argument for immigration; If Colonel Parker had been deported before guiding Elvis’ career, might we have never had rock and roll?

If you are going to eat corned beef in NYC, you are going to pay...oh yes, you are going to pay!

2009-05-13T09:33:00.002-05:00

So it’s no secret that my major musical influence is Jimi Hendrix. He’s my “Big Bang”. My Elvis…actually, Elvis is my Elvis, but you get the idea. So we’re in New York City to play a gig at The Ace of Clubs. What’s that you say? Never heard of it? Don’t feel bad, apparently no one else has either! Anyway, we get through playing the gig and we’re hanging out with Chuck MF Lanza, the MF Mafia’s prime minister of our Northeastern Operations. We decide to go over to Electric Lady Studios to touch the door. Yes I am that “fan boy” about Jimi!) Just in case you don’t know, (and if you do, just bear with me or feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph!)In 1970, Jimi Hendrix wanted to build a night club in NYC as a place to hang out and jam with his musician friends. This turned into deciding to put a small studio in the back of the club and then finally deciding to build the most state of the art studio in the world. 13 months of construction later, the grand opening of the studio was held on August 26, 1970. Hendrix recorded his last studio recording there and left the country fro his final European tour. He died on September 18, 1970. Given his transient lifestyle for most of his career, Electric Lady was as much of a home as he ever had and as such it’s the Hendrix version of Graceland!
We get to the studio, in the pouring rain at midnight. I mean pouring rain! Biblical rain! The front door is actually a false front and then the original door in just inside (the one I wanted to touch!) We open the door and start shooting pictures when a voice comes over the intercom; “Can I help you?” Someone’s inside! Richard answers, “We just want to come in a get a photo.” No dice. “You can take all the pictures you want…from outside.” Once I realize that someone’s home, I decide that the only acceptable end to the evening is a look inside. After 30 futile minutes of begging and cajoling and shameless name dropping (most of it accurate…most of it…) we decide to call it a night and go to the hotel. Those of you that know me well know that giving up isn’t something I’m particularly good at, so my night was spent formulating my strategy for getting in! I asked CMFL to use his contacts (he has many) and I would hit mine and between the two of us we should be able to find some kind of way inside. Yes I realize in the grand scheme of things this seems like a lot of effort for something so …so…ehh! Anyway, it’s a challenge and as I said before, I don’t do ‘give up’ very well. I won’t name drop in this part of the narrative, but CMFL reached out to the likable manager of a very famous guitarist. A person who has spent a lot of time recording in Electric Lady and should be able to pull off a private tour. “Good luck” was the response from this person (who’s identity I cannot reveal!) “You won’t get in.” Now the gauntlet has been dropped! Telling me I can’t do something is like calling Marty McFly a chicken! (You know what movie I’m referring to!). I call a record label owner in Nashville that I’ve worked with in the past (name withheld to treat all participants equally…even though HE was able to come through better than the manager for the famous guitarist, from the 1970’s rock band…I can’t tell!!!) Lo and behold, we get an invitation from the studio manager (super nice guy! From Tennessee!! Lee Foster! His name is on the website, so figure it’ ok to say his name since he was so gracious.) We go back to the studio with CMFL and the SHB in full force and get to see studio A, the wall mural in the hallway and both restrooms, all still in the original condition from when Jimi was here! Because of a recording session, we couldn’t do more than just peek our heads into the studio, but it was enough for me…for now! The original plaque bearing the name of the studio, the VIBE!!! The list of musicians that have recorded in this place is endless. Billy Idol, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, even famous 1970’s rock band KISS, whose original guitarist was ACE FREHLEY! It's an endless list to be sure. I was so awestruck by finally getting the chance to check out a place that I’ve always wanted to see. I just wish Buff had been with me (of course, I know my baby, she would have been looking at me going, “yeah babe, that’s nice.” and thinking, “How much longer are we going to have to be here?”) Now I’ve got to figure out how to record there…hmmmmm.

Why you always pack long pants.

2009-05-05T16:55:00.002-05:00

One week into the North East leg of the tour and things are going good. Except of course that no one here got the memo that winter is over!!! 41 degrees today and rain! We’ve had some really great shows, especially in some of the new areas like Mount Airy NC (birthplace of the Andy Griffith Show & home of Snappy Lunch and the greatest pork chop sandwich in the world!)). I could do without the land of toll booths. In DC, we went (at 11:00pm) to see the White House. My first time ever in 20 years of touring! We walked around the entire perimeter and Milburn got yelled at by the White House police for his “street gymnastics”, apparently not a welcome addition to the stately environs of our nation’s capitol! We also, earlier in the day visited the graveside of Roy Buchanan, one of the best guitarists I’ve ever heard (no you can’t find his grave without asking, so don’t bother trying.). Really enjoyed the gig at Bangkok Blues and hope we get invited back! This is a great job to have, I highly recommend it! Our needs are simple; electricity (to power Tim Obrien’s monstrous red beauty of course), room to set up and just stand back! Tonight is Red Bank NJ and it’s Cinco de Mayo so, even though it’s an acoustic show (…shhhhh…), gird your collective loins Jersey! Special thanks to Andy Jones for a stellar new fret job on #1! (I will call you soon to brag Andy, I promise!)
Tour Fuel (so far): Jeff Beck @ Ronnie Scott’s DVD, Motley Crue (Shout at the Devil and Dr. Feelgood), Aerosmith’s first record, Miles Davis’ Tribute To Jack Johnson (the boxer not the surfer), Jane’s Addiction DVD, Frank’s Pizza, Doyle Bramhall II live at the Great Wall Of China, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Krazy Glue, always Jimi, and the ‘bucks of course (yeah caffeine!!!) I am living on Starbuck’s oatmeal and dreams at the moment!

Pork, the other white meat

2009-04-21T13:44:00.004-05:00

So, sitting at a traffic light today, in my hometown, I notice a gas station that has raised their price of regular unleaded gas to $2.05. On the same sign, they are advertising a sausage and biscuit for $1.99. If you ride a bicycle, the biscuit would probably energize you for a couple of hours and you could get exercise as you make your way. $.06 stands between your choice of a gallon of gas or a nourishing meal.

The sword and the saucer

2009-03-31T10:35:00.001-05:00

This tour has been like a screaming rollercoaster! One of those rollercoaster’s that they have in horror movies, with flaming skulls painted on the sides of the cars and barbed wire for seat belts and the operator is an old disfigured man with a maniacal laugh that haunts you in your nightmares for years after you’ve escaped…sorry, I got carried away. I haven’t time to really sit still, much less blog, so I’ve got a lot to tell. We started in Rogers AR about 30 years ago…(or at least 2 weeks ago). Great shows in Rogers, we saw Jeff and Trina and got our traditional post show photo in front of the van (different drummer every time!). Then we drove 19 hours to Salt Lake City UT. As a side note, did you know that the Starbucks in Rock Springs WY closes at 6:00pm!?! Great shows at The Sun & Moon Café, always a pleasure to play there. We visited Steamboat Springs and discovered that sometimes we’re just too loud…sometimes…nah! Paonia CO was another unexpected surprise. Great Mexican food and the gig, while a small turnout, proved to be a real fun experience. So much so that, since we were off the next day, they invited us to play the next night also. We went for a hike in the hills during the day and tried to kill the band with thin air and long climbs! Jake’s Roadhouse in Arvada was the best time we’ve EVER had there. A couple of days hanging out in Boulder CO, and then it was off to The Buckhorn Bar in Laramie WY, another favorite place of the SHB. Cunningham Journal in Kearney NE was a blast, Blues on Grand in Des Moines is always a fantastic place to play, thanks Jeff! Sioux City and Davenport IA were a couple of wonderful stops. On our way to Minneapolis, we stopped of in Clearlake IA and paid our respects at the crash site of Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly. 40 mile an hour winds and really cold temperature made it a short visit, but we decided to drive by the Surf Ballroom, where the last gig of the Winter Dance Party was played, and get a picture. We got there and discovered that the place was open and we got to go in and look around. Checked out the dressing room, the stage and all the memorabilia. Richard ran into a really nice guy named Wayne that worked there and after explaining who we were, he gave us a great tour that included a piano played by Duke Ellington, the Pepsi machine that Waylon Jennings used and the phone booth that Buddy used on that fateful night to call his wife. An awesome stop and a great treat.
So now we’re in Minneapolis. Last night we went to Shaw’s, Bunker’s and Nick & Eddie. Some of our favorite places to hang and listen to music. So to sum up the trip so far, it’s been play music, Mexican food, drive, play music, Mexican food, drive, play music, breakfast at Starbucks, drive, play music, pizza, drive, sleep, play music, record store, Mexican food, play music, drive. Seems easy when you say it like that…

American Idol cancels season!

2009-03-20T17:12:00.002-05:00

So far the tour’s going good, we’ve done 5 shows so far and the first one, in Rogers AR, seems like a million years ago. That’s one thing about the road; time just absolutely stops making any kind of sense. One day feels like a year and a week can seem like 20 minutes. We did a radio show a little while ago. Check it out at www.kvnf.org I’m in a really nice room right now, with internet for only the second time on the whole trip and I’m looking at a fake mustache. It was here when we got here, but it’s disturbing nonetheless.
What’s the deal with fake mustaches anyway? Does anyone ever really wear them with the intention of trying to make you think that they’ve actually grown a mustache? I think most actors these days actually grow whatever facial hair is required for the role. I bet that was really Kurt Russell’s mustache in Tombstone. I was in a major motion picture once and I didn’t wear a fake mustache. Of course, my character was; “Scott Holt, guitarist with Buddy Guy” and in my research for the role, I learned that “Scott Holt” didn’t have a mustache; just an unfortunate shaggy haircut that I thought looked fine at the time. I don’t know for sure, but this particular fake mustache doesn’t look real. Of course it’s not in its natural habitat (on some guy’s lip…or unfortunate woman’s lip for that matter); it’s just lying on the table. Mocking me with its faux importance. As if to say, “I am a fake mustache! I might have come here from Hollywood for all you know!” What if the last person who stayed in this room was a spy of some sort and the mustache was part of their disguise? Maybe this was the room for their stakeout and when the mission was over, they forgot to pack the fake mustache away in its special spy carrying case. Usually when you see someone in a movie using a fake mustache, they have a case with all sorts of fake facial hair pieces. I think a good disguise would be to completely cover your whole head in fake hair. Then no matter who you came in contact with, they wouldn’t be able to tell it was you! Like cousin It on The Addams Family. I once saw a guy wearing a Darth Vader helmet and it was impossible to tell who it was. No, before you ask yourself out loud, that wasn’t all he was wearing, he had clothes on but he was wearing the Darth Vader helmet…on his head. It could have been anybody! Jerry Lewis, Elvis, Barbara Stanwick, the guy that plays Benjamin Linus on Lost, Pat Sajak or Nipsey Russell, (I’m not sure if Nipsey Russell is still alive or not, but he was always great on game shows with Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly). Match Game, Cross Wits, What’s My Line. I’m not to sure that The Darth Vader helmet would be a good disguise though, unless you were at a Star Wars convention. The only one in my band that doesn’t have facial hair is Marshal. I think I’m going to ask him to try on the fake mustache and see if I can still recognize him. I bet I can.

The Tour

2009-03-19T16:58:00.001-05:00

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Feral pigs create buzz at awards show!

2009-03-12T14:19:00.001-05:00

Almost 20 years ago, I formed the first version of the SHB. It was right around the time I got with Buddy Guy and I had my band on the side to play shows in and around Nashville when I was off the road with Buddy. That first band; Derek and Drew Wiseman and Chris Kent were augmented by our dear friend Bobby Inman. In the early days, Bobby was the guitar tech, comic foil and all around SHB utility man. Bobby went on the road with me in the early days of my solo career, after I left Buddy and created the role of SHB guitar tech basically from scratch. When Bobby decided to leave the road for good, I asked him to write out a summary of all the things he thought our new guitar tech might need to know. I just thought he’d write down a few ideas to help with the transition. What I got back was 3 legal sheets, front and back! I’ve since lost that precious document, but recently my Uncle Wayne was going through some old files and found a typed copy of Bobby’s original list. Some of you know Bobby and will appreciate this more than those of you that haven’t had the chance to meet him yet. He is truly one of a kind and we’ve had some great crew guys since Bobby, but there’s never been anyone like Bobby. Bobby doesn’t have a computer, so if you know him, let him know “Scotty” (the only people who call me that are Bobby and our friends in Canada!) put a tribute to him on the blog! Here’s what Bobby did for me, unedited;
Load In
1. Help take all gear to stage. Once all gear is in club consontrate on guitar stuff only.
2. Setup amps left side of stage, behind Gene O. Bassman, Marshall on right close to Tom, Super Reverb on left, on outside. Plexiglass shield in front of both.
3. Small silver splitter box, 3-3ft cables, thick shielded cable from bassman speaker to marshall cab. 1 from bassman 2nd channel 1st input to split box. 1 from 2nd channel 1st input superreverb to split box.
4. Pedal board, when power cord is plugged in, pedalboard is on, take other cable plug into input on split box.
5. Straighten out cables on board – (1-25ft – 1 – 150ft.) before each show & during breaks. Check all wires & pedals.
6. Incense in front of plexi, keep burning whole show.
7. Picks on mic stand.
8. Turn amps on standby 1 hour before showtime to let warmup.
9. Check all setting on amps & pb, before show turn on amps hookup gtr check all pedals 1 at a time.
10. Make sure band has towels on stage and water.
11. For SCOTTY only water little ice.
12. For SCOTTY, before show redwine cabernet, during show water, during break Heinekin.
13. Make friends with soundman, bartender, barmaids, ask them for things you may need towels-water etc!!
14. Keep plenty of picks in pocket at all times, also Carefree peppermint gum (yellow pack) & van –trailer keys, & cig lighter for incense.
15. During show keep constant eye on SCOTTY, other band members may need help sometimes.
16. Watch for broke strings, mostly breaks (high E or 10) does break others though.
17. Try to get old broke strings off stage, can cause bad mess, around cables etc.
18. BE ready for (long cable) hookup, the song at the time or the next 1 or 2 he is going into the crowd, keep cable from getting knotted, follow Scotty through the crowd, don’t mind asking people to move or get off the cable, just ask nicely.
19. After show break down gear pack up, load out. Make plenty of dummy checks, better safe than sorrow.
20. Check to see if mic is grounded, plug in gtr cut on amps back of right hand across gtr strings, back of left hand touch mic, to see if it shocks.
21. Before show make sure plenty of walk room on stage, no tangled cords in path way, no old beer bottles, no glasses, no trash in way on stage.
22. NO bottles, glasses, or drinks on GTR AMPS!!!!
23. BEST place for GTR TECH WORK STATION is on same side of stage as the amps, usually the side SCOTTY enters from, plus you can listen to the amps if something is wrong, and everything is there together.
24. ON stage 1 mic only, vocals tad of reverb, in monitors.

No wonder Bobby decided he didn’t want to go on the road anymore!! Since Bobby, we’ve had 17 guitar tech/crew guys! I wonder why the turnover’s so high?.....

Max 03/02/09

2009-03-03T22:34:00.001-06:00

So some of you know, we lost Max today. He passed away during the night and we buried him today. Thank you all for the prayers, phone calls, emails, texts, words of encouragement and just the “letting us know you’re there”. It’s important. Do it every time you know someone who loses someone, even if it’s ‘just a pet’, even if they act like they don’t want it. It’s important. Our friends have lifted us up today. Our family has been there. It sucks to lose a pet. It just does. Before you confuse me with the “I raised my monkey like a child” people, I know the difference. I’ve lost people. It hurts your soul. Pets are like kids in that they require your care. They can’t make it without it. My dog would look you in the eye, which if you know anything about dogs, you know that’s unusual. It wasn’t a dominance thing, it was a communication thing. A trust thing. He wanted to understand me and for me to understand him. When he wanted water or to go outside, he’d put his head in my lap and just look at me. Max was a house dog. I let him out the day he got hit. I’ll never forgive myself for being the one that didn’t go out with him and watch him. I could have prevented this. Our cat is an old man. We’ve had him for 20 years. He hated Max from day one. He hated Jake before him. He’s acted weird all day. He’s one of those people that only feels comfortable showing you nothing but loathing but inside he’s missing Max like the rest of us. That’s not a “monkey like a child” philosophy and if you think it is FU. My wife thinks I cuss too much, but I digress. The thing is, my dog deserved better than to die in a hit and run. He deserved better because he was better. The most supreme compliment I can pay him is that he was a GOOD DOG. He was hard headed like a muthaf***er, but he was a good dog. My daughter would ride him like a horse and he wouldn’t complain. She would put hats on him and he’d accept it. She used him as a pillow and he loved her for it. He never relaxed in the house until he could account for all of us. He would lay in a room between all of us if we were in separate rooms so he could be near us all. His last full day on earth was spent playing in the snow until he was exhausted. When we finally brought him inside to rest, he howled to be out with the kids. That’s the picture on my MySpace and my blog, a dog having a ball. Living life in the right now. I’ve lost plenty of loved ones, my dad, all my grandparents, 2 of my best friends, the list is unfortunately endless. I haven’t cried for Max today because I’m the daddy and the husband. My job is to be the strong one and get my family through this. I’ll cry tonight and I wish Max was here asleep by the couch, farting, because that’s what he did. That dog was the gassiest dog I’ve ever known! I love you Max and I’m sorry I let you down.

Max

2009-03-02T22:50:00.000-06:00

So our dog Max got hit by a car today. I’m not sure if it was a car or a truck because the thoughtless, soulless person, and I say this because Max weighs 100+ pounds and is the size of a small pony so I’m sure there was significant damage to the vehicle (I hope that your car was totaled and you have no insurance!), didn’t even stop. No skid marks to show an attempt to try and dodge the LARGE YELLOW dog, no stopping and asking at the nearest house (there are 5 houses within 200 yards of ours) whose LARGE YELLOW dog it might be, nothing. Max laid in a neighbor’s yard until my father –in-law found him and called me. Max is at the vet with a broken pelvis, a hernia, and head trauma. In addition, he has either a bruised (we hope) or a severed spinal cord. Tonight he’s sedated and we’re hopeful that the next 48 hours will bring a miracle. We’ve had Max for less than a year but he’s an important part of our family. Every morning I wake up and my daughter’s on the couch watching TV with Max at her feet. When I come home, Max is in my daughter’s room lying on her window seat watching the driveway. In the last year we’ve lost Jake, our dog of 15 years, and Teak, Buffy’s horse of 20 something years. My wife and my daughter who’s nine are committed animal lovers. It’s hard to comfort my wife, who’s trying to deal with Max’s pain and potential loss, it’s hard to try and comfort while I feel responsible for Max’s pain, and I’m the one who let him out today to go to the bathroom. It’s hard to explain all of this to a nine year old who’s had to deal with more loss than a grown person should (no it’s not just the two pets). It’s hard, I’m sure, for non-pet lovers to understand. We’re not raising monkeys as children; we just love our dog and pray that he’s going to be ok. Thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts, they are more important than you’ll ever know.

If you'll suck my soul, I'll lick your funky emotions

2009-03-02T11:48:00.000-06:00

So Saturday night, we’re driving back from Gulf Port Mississippi. The temp there is 65 degrees. Buff keeps telling me that there are winter storm warnings for our area (about 7 hours north) and a 30 degree difference in temperature. We get to Tuscaloosa AL and there’s no precipitation or anything, just really cold. Tuscaloosa is about 3 ½ hours from home so I figure we have this ride just about licked. Marshal takes over driving and I’m in the front seat riding shotgun. I fall asleep around 2:00 am and wake up at about 4:00. When I open my eyes, I see what looks like low hanging limbs coming over the side of the road and it looks like we’re drifting into them! My mind, which is still pretty groggy, thinks that Marshal’s fallen asleep and we’re about to wreck. I don’t even turn to check if this is the case, I just grab his shoulder and start yelling, “AAAHHHHHHH!!!” Marshal, who is NOT asleep, starts yelling back “AAHHHH! Shut Up! Shut Up! Shut Up!” For a good 5 or 10 seconds, we’re both yelling at the same time “AAAHHHHH!”
What I didn’t realize in my groggy condition was that it had been snowing HARD for about the last 2 hours and the road was invisible. The snow was coming down so hard that if you looked straight out the windshield you’d become disoriented from the golf ball sized snowflakes coming directly at you. Marshal had been driving in this crap for 2 hours with a death grip on the steering wheel with everyone in the van asleep. Then out of nowhere, I wake up, grab his arm and start yelling “AAAAHHHHHHH!” While it wasn’t funny at the time, I’m cracking up right now as I type this! It was like a scene from Planes, Trains & Automobiles or something.

Why Men Can't Cry Out Loud!

2009-02-26T11:19:00.000-06:00

Remember Gilligan’s Island? What a great show! That show was an intrinsic part of my childhood. I even first heard about the death of Elvis when they scrolled the news across the bottom of the screen during an episode. I watched it every day after school. My favorite episodes were;
1. The one where they did a musical version of Hamlet for the Hollywood producer, Harold H. Hecuba.
2. The one where the hunter comes to the island to hunt Gilligan.
3. The one with the rock group the Mosquitoes
4. The one with the Russian Cosmonauts
5. The one where Thurston and Lovey find out they’re broke (it wasn’t true; it was really Thurston Powell who was broke!)
As a kid, I never wondered why they couldn’t get off the island. I never wondered why the professor could make anything except a raft. Or how their clothes always looked clean and fresh, (Gilligan had a white hat, for crying out loud!). Or in a related point, how Thurston and Lovey and Ginger had plenty of extra clothes for a 3 hour tour. Or how Mary Ann was making all of those perfect pie crusts for Gilligan. When you think about it, the castaways make people on shows like Survivor look like chumps. They can’t even make fire, and the castaways had an entire village of really nice huts with hammocks and doors and everything!
After school we had; Gilligan’s Island, The Jefferson’s, Welcome Back Kotter, the Munster’s, Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle, Leave It To Beaver, Good Times & the Brady Bunch (and on Sunday morning, we had The Three Stooges before church!). I can remember getting home from school at 3:00 and turning on the TV (which by the way was the size of a microwave!) No remote! 4 channels! 2, 4, 5 & 8. 8 was the PBS channel so if that was on you were watching Sesame Street, the Electric Company and Zoom. No VCR’s or DVD players, no cable, no movie channels. With no remote, you pretty much left it on one channel and watched everything including the commercials (that’s how you found out about the Evel Knievel stunt bike action figure!). These days I don’t think I watch anything without my finger on the DVR’s fast-forward button! I just did a quick search and found that I can watch episodes of pretty much any show I want right now! My wife and I laugh about how you had to wait all year as a kid to see A Charlie Brown Christmas. Now my daughter can watch it in July if she wants to.
That was the good old days! I wonder what shows my daughter will remember, probably Hannah Montana. Oh well. At least she’s hip to Andy Griffith!

Possums and the Stimulus Package

2009-02-23T09:43:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I get asked about what it’s like to live in Nashville, here’s a snapshot of an average day; Buff and I are running errands on Sunday. We stop at Best Buy to pick up a new hard drive and as I’m stopped in the parking lot, waiting on a car to back out of an extremely good spot (near the door, first row, you know the kind of spot you find and it just makes you want to stay all day!), a SUV is crowding behind me, trying to pass me on the INSIDE! In other words, between me and the space I’m waiting to turn into. I look in the rearview and it’s an older guy. I give him the ‘look’ and speak to him like you do when you’re driving, as though he can hear me, and I tell Buff, “That old guy’s trying to run over us! He looks like George Jones.” We get parked, get out and start to make our way to the front door. The SUV is now almost on the sidewalk right in front of the store!! (better spot than I got) Buff looks at the driver and says, “It is George Jones!” tag on the car was NOSHOW4!! If you have to get run over, it might as well be by a legend I always say. Just another day in Nashville.

The Jonas Brothers Rock The Grammys!!

2009-02-12T11:05:00.000-06:00

Surfing the “inter-web”, here’s my take on some current events; Prince’s new website http://www.lotusflow3r.com is gonna be awesome! The Grammys never cease to amaze me with their ability to put the Blues in the “back of the bus” so to speak. I realize they had to fill some time after Chris Brown and Rihanna dropped out, but to have 2 icons like BB King and Buddy Guy there and give them a 30 second spot at the end of the obituary segment just seemed like crumbs! At least they had Al Green do his thing. Speaking of Chris Brown, he really screwed up! It’s never okay to hit a woman. Ever. Michael Phelps is more stupid than criminal, risking millions in endorsements, if he’s gonna smoke, do it at home. Or move to Amsterdam! Joaquin Phoenix…what the hell is going on? Check out this link;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1xK6xz8d9Q&eurl=http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b99703_joaquin_phoenix_doesnt_rise_do_anything.html?sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonl&feature=player_embedded

Kenny Chesney tells Playboy Magazine that he is definitely NOT gay…riiiight. There’s nothing wrong with being gay, but being Kenny Chesney is unforgivable. Brett Favre retires! I saw this movie when Bill Murray made it. Listening to Pandora www.pandora.com while I write this and I think Elmore James should’ve been able to trademark that lick. You know the one I mean. Some things just say everything that needs to be said.
Not to get too specific, but racist jokes aren’t funny even when everyone in the room seems to be the same race. Ignorance is ignorance, just ‘cause everybody seems to be agreeing with you it doesn’t make you less ignorant.
My coolest discovery from my trip to Memphis last weekend was that the most amazing time to walk around Beale Street is 7:30 am on Sunday morning. Just me and the street cleaners. Guitars never lie!

Springsteen attacks camera with crotch at Super Bowl!

2009-02-03T12:26:00.001-06:00

This weekend we played a great gig at Darwin’s in Marietta GA. The highlight for me was seeing my friend and former band mate, Drew Wiseman. I’ve been thinking a lot about that band lately; Chris Kent, Derek Wiseman & Drew Wiseman. Along with Bobby Inman, they were my first real version of the SHB and truly a musical force of nature. Chris is still playing. Having played with Take 6 and Larry Carlton, he’s currently on the road with Lorrie Morgan. I think he and Derek occasionally play gigs together in and around Nashville. Drew moved from Nashville, where we were all based, to Marietta and it’s just a shame that we didn’t get to let more people hear how great they were. I was truly the weakest musician in that band and I’ve always preferred that, because that’s how you learn, grow and elevate. I just had to keep up! If you check out the tracks I’ve posted on MySpace, you’ll get a small idea of what we were up to in those days. That particular show (August 16, 1998 at 3rd & Lindsley Bar & Grill) was a record release party for my first record, “Messing With The Kid” and was being broadcast live on the radio. With a limited amount of time to play, we were playing the songs pretty straight. If, however, you were ever at one of our Nashville gigs, you know that the songs were just launching pads for some incredible jams. Sets could stretch to 4 hours! It was an incredible ride to be on. These weren’t rehearsed gigs, I was touring with Buddy Guy and the rest of the guys were gigging or doing day gigs and the only time we really even saw each other was maybe 30 minutes before the gig. A rehearsal might go something like this;
Me: “hey Derek, have you ever heard that Stevie Wonder song I Wish?”
Derek: “Sure”
And then we’d hit the stage and open with it. Everything was head cues and nods and those guys were such amazing talents that they smiled all the time and everything seemed effortless. I’ve been blessed to know and play with some incredible musicians in my career, but it’s only after time passes that I’ve realized how incredibly blessed I was to have those guys for my first band. This year marks my 20th year in the business, you’d think that kind of anniversary might merit some sort of special gig or something huh?...stay tuned!

Obama legalizes Facebook!

2009-01-28T14:18:00.001-06:00

I like Kat Williams. I miss Bernie Mac. I despise negativity. I think that most of us focus too much on stuff. I think that the Great Depression was much worse than what we’ll ever go through. I think that music is powerful and underappreciated as an art form by the American culture at large. Stratocasters will always be the sexiest guitars in the world. One of my favorite sayings from my grandmother; “Can’t never could do nothing!” I hate quitters. I hate racism and I feel sorry for people who suffer from the rampant ignorance that fosters it. I love God. I love America. I love my family. I love music. I love my friends. I think dogs are important. I think we worry too much about getting “screwed” and it blocks us from being true bearers of light. I think Ricky Nelson is underrated. There is no “greatest guitarist in the world” …but Jimi Hendrix is!!! I think it’s ok to say “I love you” to people that you love. I think it’s important to be still. I think Michael Jackson is musically brilliant. In addition, I think that sometimes crazy and talent goes hand in hand. Our generation still hasn’t figured out how rock and roll is supposed to age. Robert Johnson would be freaked out by his success. Additionally, his lawyers would be filthy rich!! John Grisham could well prove to be our generation’s Ernest Hemingway. Cormac McCarthy should be our Hemingway. I wish rehab as we know it now, had existed during Elvis’ lifetime. My top five favorite concerts ever:
1. Elvis Presley at MTSU’s Murphy Center / Murfreesboro TN
2. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at The London Victory Club / Tampa FL
3. Prince at Thompson Bowling Arena / Knoxville TN
4. P-Funk at 328 Performance Hall / Nashville TN
5. Miles Davis at The North Sea Jazz Festival / The Hague, Holland

My favorite guitar is sunburst. My second favorite is white. I love to feel. My wife is the sexiest woman in the world. If I could spend an hour talking to anyone, living or dead, I think it would be John Wayne. If I could arm wrestle anyone, it would be Eddie Van Halen. I’d like to play miniature golf with Jimi Hendrix. My top five events to witness if I had a time machine:
1. The Sermon on the Mount
2. The recording of That’s Alright Mama
3. A play written and directed by William Shakespeare
4. The opening night of Don Giovanni conducted by Mozart
5. Ringside for Ali – Foreman in Kinshasa
If there is a better film, top to bottom, than True Grit, I’ve never seen it! My wife is a brilliant artist, even if she doesn’t know it yet. God has blessed me with amazing friends in spite of myself! I’d rather be respected than liked. Most of my dreams are in some way related to my work. All of my dreams are in colour. I believe that the body we have is just a vessel to hold the light/soul that is actually us and that when we die we’re released from the body and able to travel on the eternal plane. I hope the last thing I do on this earth is significant. I also hope that it happens in Vegas!!!!!!

Old timey tales

2009-01-26T11:47:00.001-06:00

You know how sometimes you remember something from you past and you wonder if it was really as good as you remember or if you’re sugar coating it in some way? A friend of mine gave us a recording of the original SHB (Derek Wiseman, Drew Wiseman and Chris Kent) and you know what? It was better than I remember. Stay tuned…

Death from Above!

2009-01-22T13:38:00.000-06:00

Just something for us to ponder while the glow of a new administration takes charge. There are still horrifying events taking place in the world daily. As a case in point, I reprint this excerpt from a newspaper in Hudson County NJ;

Flaming squirrel ignites car in Bayonne
by N. Clark Judd
Thursday October 18, 2007, 7:29 PM
It's Rocky the Frying Squirrel!
A kamikaze squirrel fell from the sky and detonated a Bayonne woman's car yesterday, police said today.
Lindsey Millar, 23, and her brother, Tony, 22, were both home Wednesday at about 12:45 p.m. when Lindsey's car suddenly started burning outside their 42nd Street home.
Tony Millar said firefighters told them it was the work of a buck-toothed saboteur that had been gnawing on overhead power lines connected to a transformer directly above the 2006 Toyota Camry.
"The squirrel chewed through the wire, was set on fire, fell down directly to where the car was," Tony Millar said. "The squirrel, on fire, slid into the engine compartment and blew up the car."They're always coming around here, chewing through the garbage," he added.
Tony Millar says his sister was fully insured.

Mr. President, I ask you, when will America’s skies be free from the tyranny of these dreaded flaming beasts of prey? At least she was fully insured!

A New Dawn...

2009-01-21T09:12:00.000-06:00

What a weekend! On Thursday, we got to open for Buddy Guy at Legends (first time I have ever done that). My band played great. Full of fire and just pounding out that always wicked groove. We had some of our fans/friends in the audience flying the SHB colors and even calling out some of our songs! The standing ovation at the end was an amazing gift to me and the guys. The only drag part was that everyone was so excited that they forgot to mention the merch we had for sale! We’ve got new hats by the way, guaranteed to fit your head. After our set I got to introduce the man himself. I tried to channel my inner Steve Harvey from the Kings of Comedy film. Two of my MF brothers Keith and Kempf came up with us and we spent the weekend in Chicago hanging out and watching Buddy’s shows. What a treat to get to see a legend, on his home turf, just tearing it up every night. Buddy was kind enough to let me jam on Friday and Saturday night and just getting to hang out in the dressing room with him before the shows and hang out at the bar afterwards was worth the trip. As always, everyone at Legends and everybody in the Buddy Guy band and crew was just completely awesome with their kindness and hospitality. During the day, Keith, Kempf and I hit Jazz Record Mart, Chess studios and did our best to eat way too much; Heaven on Seven, Frontera Grill, Carmine’s, Hugo’s Frog Bar, House of Blues and Giordano’s for pizza before we caught the flight home.
Like every trip I ever make, the best part was seeing Buffy on the porch and hugging her and my daughter. I’m never home until that happens.

The best way to sharpen your Samurai sword!

2009-01-12T15:22:00.000-06:00

The holidays are over now and the time has come to get back into the saddle! 2008 was a great year for us here at the SHB; we played more shows this year than ever before thanks to the hard work and supreme effort of Road Dawg Touring and Doug Tackett. This year we set some kind of record by going through 3 drummers in 18 months! Our friend and SHB family member, Tom Larson, left us in September of last year. He was followed by the very capable drumming of our friend and fellow SHB family member Tyler Crowell. When a medical situation forced him to step down, we were lucky enough to reach out to our old friend Marshal Weaver who has been holding it down for us ever since. We are so grateful to all of our fans and friends who have continued to support us and allow us to do what we love to do. I’m grateful that even with all of the great outpouring of offers from drummers all over the world who wanted to audition for the gig, we have alumni who are willing to comeback and plug back in!
So what’s coming in ’09? Everything will change and everything will stay the same! We are working on a new studio record tentatively titled “Sex and Violets”, a live “bootleg” (tentatively titled “Loud Is Good Vol.1”) that will be available at shows and eventually via download, and a DVD project that we’ve been working on for the better part of the last two years. We are focusing this year on a newer, better show for the fans and a more focused approach to doing what we do to try and inspire a sense of peace and harmony through music. The world is in a state of change that we are all a part of. Our choice as citizens of the world is whether we’ll be ‘pro-active’ or‘re-active’. Either way, it’s coming!
On the live tip, we start the year opening for my old boss Buddy Guy in Chicago on Jan.15 at Legends. If you haven’t made plans to attend, I hope you can make it out to see us. It will be something! I’m looking forward to the gig and can’t wait for the bell to ring so we can get started on 2009. We’ll be covering most of the US this year, doing some long awaited East Coast dates, and making it back out to the West Coast before the year is through. On behalf of Richard, Marshal, Milburn and myself, we look forward to seeing you all soon!

4th Annual Have a Blue Christmas

2008-12-17T10:16:00.000-06:00

The 4th annual Have a Blues Christmas was a great success. We had a great night thanks to the hard work and effort of Keith MF Throneberry. I could write an entire blog about how much effort and energy he puts into making this thing run perfectly. It’s frustrating not to be able to let people see what all goes into this thing but suffice to say the planning starts in January for the gig in December!
This year in addition to Ms. Natalie Stovall and my band with special guest Hodge Cook, we had Civil Service open the show. Xtreme 4X4, as always organized and staffed the event. What a great group of people! Everyone donates their time and talent for free to make sure that all of the money raised makes it to the charity. The food was BBQ by Scott Simms. It was, without a doubt, the best BBQ I have ever had. That includes 20 years of trips to Texas, KC, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and everywhere else that creates my smoky drug of choice! The silent auction was filled with contributions from local artists including my wife, who has recently picked up painting again after not doing it for a long time. Her work is amazing and I hope that you all get a chance to see it at some point. (First I have to stop claiming all her paintings as mine before see has a chance to show them publicly!) We also had guitars signed by Hubert Sumlin as well as members of The Time, Gov’t Mule, Susan Tedeschi, New York Dolls, The Band, Chris Duarte and others. Thanks for the guitars go to Tim O’Brien and the MF Mafia’s Renaissance man Chuck MF Lanza. The total raised was $11,000.00! That’s amazing considering the state of our economy, but don’t get me started!
We had friends from all over come in for the gig. We were thrilled and surprised to see our dear friends Jeff and Trina from Kansas, better people don’t exist. Roger from Chattanooga was there, Uncle Wayne and a host of Holts, Kempf MF Poole and most special for me was my mom who gets to see me play about once every 4 years! Everybody who came out was special and important and I deeply appreciate everyone who contributed and donated time, money, effort, energy and prayers.
As with every year that we’ve done this, I wish I’d played better, I wish the night had gone a little slower so that I could enjoy seeing everyone and visiting with everyone. This thing builds like a snowball going down the side of mountain and by the time we hit it’s roaring so fast and furious that there’s nothing to do but hang on. My thing aside though, we raised money for kids who otherwise might not get a Christmas present this year. Our local newspaper, The Daily Herald, raises the money through a Community Christmas Card fund that collects money from donations and then sends vouchers out to families for kids to buy a toy. The vouchers can only be used for the kids, so it guarantees that they’ll have something for Christmas. Keith and I chose this as our charity 4 years ago when we decided to do something at Christmas to benefit the community. I read in the paper this morning that, even with our contribution the goal for the charity is going to fall about $9,000.00 short of the $50,000.00 total that they were hoping for. I wish we could’ve gotten them closer, but I am so proud of what everyone gave that it’s impossible to have that as a regret. Thank you to everyone that gave, worked, attended or just sent up prayers for us this year. We literally couldn’t have done without you. We are all truly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T02:26:00.000-06:00

So Thanksgiving…I love the holiday. Not my favorite, that would be Christmas! It’s my wife’s favorite holiday and that would be enough for me, but I truly do love the concept. A day that is designated to give thanks. No gifts, no cards, no forced salutations, just thanks. I have so much to be thankful for. First the obvious; my wife of 17 years, she’s the most beautiful, sexy, desirable, intelligent, artistic, inspiring person I’ve ever known and I’m blessed to be in her presence. 17 years! My God! That’s a long time!! With her, it seems like a day. My daughter, (my daughter!!!!!) an amazing entity of such incredible light and soul, she is an endless well of knowledge and eternal learning for me. My friends; Keith, Kempf, Chuck, Richard, Jeff, Will, Phil, Cody, Tim, Dino, Marshal, Tyler, Mark…the list goes on for an embarrassingly long time. I’m rich with friends. My band, our fans, and an entire constellation of people that have no idea how important they are to our very being… to my very being.
We spent the last 2 days in one of my favorite cities; Minneapolis. Why do I love Minneapolis? Sub-zero temperatures? NO! 1,000 miles away from Tennessee? NO! Second greatest record store on the planet? Maybe... but, I truly love Minneapolis because they’ve adopted me. They’ve adopted us. They’ve adopted the SHB. We have so many great friends there and every time I see a Minneapolis gig on the books, I’m excited. My friend/amp builder Tim O’Brien lives there. I say “friend/amp builder” only because I want the world to know about O’Brien amps!!! It’s always a blast to hang out with him. I get to see and jam with my friend Jellybean Johnson. Here’s a little inside scoop, I’m a big fan of Jellybean’s. I grew up knowing who he was as the drummer for the Time, one of my favorite bands. I saw Purple Rain in the theatre like 4 times! You should see it at least twice. He produced Black Cat for Janet Jackson. That’s one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time. To think that I would ever reach a point in my life where someone I admired actually knew who I was is amazing…oh wait, I’m friends with Buddy Guy! Another amazing blessing! This trip was our second visit to a new friend’s Nick & Eddie. What a place! Amazing food, an amazing environment, an amazing jukebox, an amazing proprietor, what more could you ask for? Doug is a great guy with a passion for and knowledge of music. We have a ball at his establishment and I know that any band would be fortunate to play there. To make it even better, my dear friend Dino made the drive from Wausau and hung with us for the show. Wise one that he is, he left before Marshal and I tested Tim’s rock & roll legs by keeping him out until 5:00 am. Thanks to Joe and Heather’s lovely hospitality, we were eating spaghetti and s'mores at 4:00am! That’s rock and roll!! In the moment, you’re rarely aware. I find this true in almost every situation. It takes being on the road for me to appreciate how immaculately important my time with my girls is. It takes time off to realize how imperative and intrinsic making music is to me. I am grateful for every second that God see’s fit to keep me here. I try every day to remind myself not to take a second for granted. That is hard! We’re all the same, we get irritated, or petulant, but it’s all so small. The person that ‘cut you off’ isn’t of the devil, the one that takes up your space or encroaches on your territory isn’t the evil one, and they’re just us at another point. This Thanksgiving I will visit with family that I don’t see nearly enough. The food will be amazing, the conversation will, at points, be “interesting”, and yet I’ll find it hard to say, in the moment, “I truly love all of you and I love this moment”. What a shame that I can know that short-coming in advance. My friends and family are my most treasured blessings. I truly love them all and value each moment that I’m with them. Thanksgiving…thank you God for all of your blessings…even the ones I’m too embarrassed to say out loud!

Mitch Mitchell

2008-11-13T00:50:00.002-06:00

Wednesday night is date night. It’s a sacred night between me and Buffy that never gets disturbed. Tonight, I got a voicemail from my dear friend Chuck. It said, simply, “I’m sure you’ve heard, give me a call tomorrow“. That is a signal that something major has happened. I hit the MSN homepage and discover the Mitch Mitchell has passed. Time seemed to stop. Mitch is an intrinsic part of me and my career. The music that made want to play guitar was a song by Jimi Hendrix. Mitch played on that song, and on most of the songs I heard after that. The song was Purple Haze from the soundtrack to the documentary , “Jimi Hendrix”, it was from the1969 Royal Albert Hall concert and Mitch was the drummer. From that point on he had an indelible effect on my life. Flash-forward to 1998, I’m offered the chance to record with Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell with Eddie Kramer producing. I leap at it and we record Dark Of The Night. We were scheduled to rehearse at SIR in Nashville and I was warned not mention Hendrix around Mitch. “He’ll go crazy and probably refuse to play!” was the description I got. We met for the first time and started to play a very, very mundane, bland, blues groove that had as much soul as a jar of mayonnaise. We played for a few minutes and in my mind I was wondering if it wouldn’t be better to just give up on this idea! We stopped and as I was tuning my guitar, Mitch played the drum intro to Spanish Castle Magic. I fell in at the appropriate spot and Billy was right there. 8 bars later, I’m horrified! I’ve screwed up! Mitch will storm off the set now! I turned to the drum riser, and there’s Mitch, peeking from behind his glasses, “ I was testing you!” From that point on we were mates. I knew that he knew that I loved the music. After that period, Mitch stayed in Nashville for a time and when I would play in town, he’d peak around the door of the dressing room, periodically “Hello Scott! How are you mate?” For me, that’s the price of admission right there!
Mitch and I lost track of each other for a few years. I kept up with him in the news, but we just didn’t cross paths musically.
This last month, Keith MF Throneberry and I went to Louisville KY to see the Experience Hendrix tour. We spent the whole afternoon trying to find a bottle of Knob Creek for Mitch! (Now ya know Mitch!)I was looking forward to seeing Buddy, but our MF friend Chuck had been hanging out with Mitch and had told me that he was looking forward to seeing me, so it gave me an extra amount of excitement to think that my old friend might remember me! Mitch was amazing. I’ve shaved my head and lost 40 pounds since we last saw each other, and the first encounter, he had no idea who I was, but when I said, “ Mitch, it’s me Scott.” his eyes lit up and he hugged me and made me feel so awesome! He turned and whispered something to Eric Gales. Eric’s eyes grew wide and he said, “ He just paid you a very high compliment!“ I have no idea what Mitch said, (probably something about how cool my scarf looked!), but it was enough to know that Mitch thought of me at all! That night, he made the whole show about his joy and I felt it. He danced and shimmied across the stage and I know from reports that that had been a common theme for the whole tour, so maybe in some way, that was his farewell tour. I don’t know, I wish he was still here! He was the rock and roll Elvin Jones (look it up kids, it’ll do ya good!!) What a guy! I miss him so much already! I never met his family, but my prayers go out to them and for what it’s worth, their fathers art and soul will live in me and my playing. If you’re a drummer and you don’t know Mitch Mitchell, you don’t know shit.

R U Experienced?

2008-10-29T11:06:00.002-05:00

After getting updates from our MF brother Chuck, there was no way I was going to miss seeing Buddy and the gang on the Experience Hendrix tour. Louisville was the closest gig to Nashville, so Keith MF Throneberry and I made the trip. KMFT has a far cooler vehicle than me (don’t he Kempf?) so he drove. We got to the gig around 4:00pm thanks to Max and hung out with Buddy’s guitar tech Gilbert until he guys showed up. Buddy has the best group of guys working with him these days. Tim (drums), Marty (keys) and especially Orlando (bass) and Ric (guitar). They always make me feel at home and like part of the family when I come out to see them and I really appreciate it. We got to see and visit with some old friends Eric Johnson, Chris Layton, Hubert Sumlin, Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox. We met Brad Whitford (Aerosmith), Eric Gales and Johnny Lang. Everyone was very kind and generous. It was a great show, everybody is playing great and it’s really a great show to see if they come to your area.
It was great getting to hang with Buddy for a little while before the show; he’s doing good, feeling good and playing great as always. I’ve got some photos posted on MySpace and scottholt.com that were taken by Orlando, as soon as I get Keith’s I’ll post them too. Thanks to my MF brothers Keith and Chuck and Kempf for always being there and thanks again to all the BG guys for their always stellar hospitality.

George W. Bush says, "Screw it, I'm not leaving!"

2008-10-22T09:55:00.000-05:00

Well Buff and I early voted yesterday! I am so glad. My civic duty and constitutional rights were exercised to their fullest. I am one proud motherf***in’ American baby! Now all of you can stop sending me your emails proclaiming the “opponent of who you think I’m voting for” to be the anti-Christ. Make no mistake, my collection of friends comes from both sides of the aisle, from Wall Street and Main Street (I am so tired of hearing that phrase, aren’t you?) and I get emails from both sides. I don’t like any of them (the emails I mean, I love my friends very much). Friends, loved ones, strangers who have had their emails forwarded to me, you are not going to change my vote, as I make my decision based on information not gathered exclusively from the internet. As a side note, I’d like to point out that just because something appears on the internet, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true. Just a quick skim of the recent internet headlines that are obviously false; Keith Richards snorts his dad’s ashes, the whole Joe the plumber thing (who cares if he’s a real plumber?) the story that Tina Fey has actually been briefed by the Secret Service in the event that McCain/Palin wins the election to serve as a decoy and of course the whole Jennifer Aniston/John Mayer thing, like that could be real, (for obvious reasons)!
One of our wisest speakers and voices of conscience, Mr. Bernie Mac, in reference to the Y2K scare once said; “Ya’ll was scared like a muthaf****r! Ya’ll thought ya’ll was sure enough gonna be dead come 12:00. Buying all the sardines, potted meat, and water. Stop believing everything you read! Believe in yourself! I don’t believe in s**t until s**t happens.”
In this election year, just remember that every candidate is telling you what they’ll do for you to get your vote. Every candidate is telling you what’s wrong with the other side and why if you vote for them it will be the total destruction of our civilization. I recommend you use my proven vetting system. Go into your local Republican headquarters and your local Democratic headquarters. Ask for a McCain/Palin t-shirt and an Obama/Biden t-shirt. When they start to charge you for them, tell them that if they give it to you for free, you’ll vote for their candidate. Best case scenario; both headquarters say “no” (because that would be wrong) and you find a small glimmer of honesty in politics. Worst case scenario; you get one or two free t-shirts that you can sell on eBay, to help cover your share of the 700 billion dollar bailout!
I will say on a slightly serious tip, that I do have one dear friend on the opposite side of the fence that I discuss politics with. He’s the only person that I’m able to talk about it without him getting upset or angry or him making me angry, (although I have said some outlandish things trying to get him off his game!) The discussion is important. We don’t do enough of it in this country. Everybody (me included) says, “I’m not going to discuss my political or my religious beliefs because it’s no one’s business but mine.” True enough, but dialogue (not ranting but debate) is the most ancient and honorable way we humans have to communicate and try to enlighten each other. The other person may not ever see things your way, but at least they might gain a better understanding of who you are as person and understanding makes love more possible, not less. I realize now having written this that this is the point of this whole blog and I wish I had opened with it, because I know some of you will see the first few lines about politics and immediately delete this! At least that what somebody wrote recently. I hope not. Every blog that comes from my two fingers, (I took typing in high school! But you should see my wife type man! That girl can go! All her fingers baby! And they’re sexy fingers too!) Is about love. Postivity. We need more of it everywhere. If you laugh when you read something from here, forward it to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while and just say, “Just thought about you and thought this would make you smile! Love, ….” What’s it gonna hurt? God bless each of you and may God continue to bless America!

John McCain wrestles large bear for Justice.

2008-10-14T13:27:00.002-05:00

So here we are at Caribou Coffee, today’s home of free internet! While Marshal toils away at laundry and Richard and Zeke show our new buddy Jake how to smoke, I am sitting here next to two hilarious old ladies who are discussing everything from who died to …”what’s she going to do when she gets a new boyfriend?” Life is so interesting when you stop and just listen for a moment. I’m guilty of roaring through life and not enjoying the moment. Buff reminds me all the time to just hit pause sometimes and be where you are. I am so blessed to have such an amazing person in my life! She is without a doubt my biggest influence. Thank you God for my wife!!
Last night we did an in-store here in Minneapolis. I hope it was good, I never feel like I know what to do at those things. We did play loud though and Zeke went barefooted! Sometimes when you’ve been out here on the road for an extended period of time, the jokes in the van spill out into the rest of the world. That’s why some people are convinced that we’re insane! Maybe we are… Sanity is overrated. As is knowing what day of the week it is. (Right Chuck?) The funny thing for me is that a lot of the stuff that hits us as so funny is impossible to explain. Richard told a tollbooth operator that “It smells like dragon around here!” Writing it, I realize that it’s not really that funny, but to us it was hilarious!
Tonight we are playing at a really cool restaurant/bar called Nick & Eddie in Minneapolis. I am told we can play loud…we’ll see…We went by and had dinner last night and I can say, without a doubt, that the food was amazing.
I just saw a guy with a skateboard that was at least 4 feet long! I’d take a picture of it and attach it to my blog, but my attorney has advised me to stop taking pictures of strangers. They don’t like it.
I have a routine in the van when we’re on the road. I have a bunch of music DVDs and I’ll watch something while I’m warming up to get some inspiration. I’m told that when I watch the Sex Pistols, all the songs seem faster! I’ve been watching a killer Elvis DVD that I acquired from …dubious sources, but it’s really awesome to see Elvis in good shape and just bringing it onstage. I’ve been going back and forth between that and a Social Distortion DVD that my friend Dino gave me a while back. I also have a great Freddie King video from a television show in Dallas that’s really cool. I’m very humbled by the tremendous pool of talent that I’m exposed to on a daily basis. Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, John Coltrane, BB King, etc. the list is too long!
That guy with the big skateboard is creeping me out!

Joe Biden's Ab-Blaster Workout!

2008-10-02T01:00:00.001-05:00

Writing a blog can be difficult sometimes. So here I sit with …keyboard in hand… and prepare to write “mon blog”. That’s French. I like the French. Is it un-American to say we like the French? I hope not! I mean I know when we were trying to get countries to side with us for the war, the French said, “Non! Nous n'allons pas vous suivre dans cette abîme de l'avarice et de fausses promesses, ce qui ne aboutir à vous de trouver votre poursuite de votre queue!”. So we said, “Fine we’ll change the name of french fries to ‘Freedom Fries’ that’ll show you!” I don’t know…I am 100% American. I get choked up when I hear (or play) The Star Spangled Banner. I love to see the American flag, blowing in the wind. I believe in our troops and know that they deserve our complete support and gratitude for the unimaginable sacrifice they’re making. I know in my heart that this is, for better or worse, the greatest country in the world. As I’ve grown older, (shudder…I mean more mature…shudder… I mean more evolved!) I realize that all human beings tend to gravitate towards their “zone” or tribe. My tribe has a flag of red, white & blue. Your tribe might have a flag of…orange! (I don’t know, I tried to choose a completely neutral color.) I believe in the good of people. I believe in humanity. I believe that, at the end of the day, languages and cultures aside, we are all first and foremost human beings. We share a genetic code. We are all the same. To all you racists and ‘white supremacists’ out there…sleep tight! I doubt very seriously if very many white supremacists read my blog. I hope they don’t. I think white supremacists can go f**k themselves. I like to think that only intelligent people read this blog. I think that humans genuinely want to do good to one another, but we are at war against …that thing…dare I call it Satan? Or maybe, as Prince referred to it the De-Elevator…or as Lincoln referred to it the lesser angels of our nature. Actually, that’s a misquote. What Lincoln actually said was “the better angels of our nature…”. He was referring to the good in all of us. Lincoln is my favorite president. He managed our country through, arguably, it’s most difficult time. Yes, we’ve had many wars and poverty and injustice, but during Lincoln’s presidency, we were at war with ourselves. That’s beyond what you and I know. Unless, of course, you’re over 240 years old. We know partisanship…or ideological differences, but during Lincoln’s time they knew war, brother on brother war, daddy on son war, ‘burn your neighbor’s house down’ war. My grandparents knew the Depression and WW II, my parents knew poverty and civil rights, I’ve been blessed to know ‘paycheck to paycheck’ and ‘threat levels’, maybe the next generation (including my daughter) will just know ‘minor, temporary cash flow’ and ‘the President’s tie doesn’t match his socks!’. Things do get better. I believe that. I believe that, as Buffy and my dearest friends have a saying, “Life Is Good”. I believe that. I believe that the world we live in can be as good as we can imagine. It can be as good as we are to one another. Or at least as good as we can be to one another. Most of our (when I say ‘our’ I’m referring to all humans) posturing comes from fear. Fear of being taken advantage of, or tricked, or gotten the better of…it’s all the same, don’t fool me because it reminds me that I’m vulnerable. We’re all vulnerable. We all hurt, we’re all scared, we’re all insecure, we all think too much, worry too much, plan too much. All the negative aspects of our nature can be traced back to fear. Greed = the fear of someone having more than you. Hate = the fear that someone might be ‘better’ than you. Etc. None of us are perfect, and it’s a good thing because the only perfect person I ever read about was executed for it! We all just try and through our trying we, maybe, gain understanding and, with understanding comes love and love do make the world go ‘round! Does this sound like “hippie-sh*t”? Cause if it does, I don’t really care. I ain’t scared to love. We’ve got a young man in our crew that often says ‘I love you.’ He says it as a way of diffusing a situation or just filling the air sometimes, but he means it and it reminds me to say it more and mean it always. Love’s not bad, telling people you love them ain’t bad, it doesn’t make you weak or sissy, it’s what we need in these times. More love. Trying to write a blog is hard! I’ve sat here for thirty minutes and I can’t think of a thing to say! Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

Obama to appear on WWE Smackdown!

2008-09-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

I like loud music. Sometimes in my car, I play my music really loud. Usually I don’t because my cell phone rings every 10 minutes or so, so I have to have the stereo down to hear it. I like to play loud onstage, because it feels good, and that’s the way it’s supposed to sound. It’s a spiritual thing. Like when you have to touch everything in the room 3 times before you leave it…no wait that’s OCD. I don’t really have OCD, I am slightly superstitious though. I wonder if OCD isn’t really just superstition gone wild? I’ve read that Joey Ramone had OCD. That had to suck. I really like the Ramones. I saw footage of them playing a CBGB’s in New York. It’s a fairly small club, but they were using Marshall stacks! It was awesome. I once saw Living Colour play at a place here in Nashville called the Cannery. The Dead Milkmen opened for them and Living Colour was louder than anything! The loudest show I ever went to was Robin Trower. It was also at the Cannery, but he used 2 Marshall stacks! He’s from England, where the Marshall amps come from. They are the second best amps in the world. O’Briens are #1 of course.

Sarah Palin Sex Tape!!

2008-09-19T00:23:00.001-05:00

I have to say, I hate chain letters. You know the ones I’m talking about; the “pass this on to 10 of your closest friends or you’ll die” type letters that we all receive every day in our emails. Some of you are lucky and have a good spam detector that weeds them out, but alas, I do not! So I bring you news from the Forbidden City! You will not die! Your children will not be born with pig’s noses! You don’t have to cow down to the edicts of some faceless (probably unemployed) imbecile, with nothing better to do than torment all of us hardworking folk with their mindless, chickenlittle-esq minutiae! I also hate political emails. You don’t know my political affiliation and if you do and send them to me anyway, then you’re just an a**hole! I will vote for who I vote for and it won’t be based on some email with flags and soldiers and the twin towers in flames. It will be based on an intelligent and thoughtful examination of the policies of the candidates…and who Tina Fey is good at making fun of! My third least favorite emails are cute babies dressed as animals. What the f**k is that all about?!! “Oh the little baby dressed as a lion!” Are you kidding me?!! I have a child. A beautiful child. When she was born, I never once thought, “Oh she would look so much cuter as a llama!” The internet is a wonderful thing. I believe in all of the good it is capable of. I am not a Luddite. I do think that much like the rest of life, there is good and bad all around us. We are an intelligent, discerning species. I offer you the following reply written by a dear friend. It is written with a loving tone that simply implies “you d**head” use it and help make the world a better place.

“Hi friends.....first I want you to know that I appreciate you thinking of me at all.....and I want you to know that no one hates chain mail or "chain email" more than me! I know, I know...either it's funny or there is some sort of promise of a rapid blessing if you just send it to 10 of your closest friends in the next 10 seconds. Well folks....I don't have 10 closest friends and if I did, I wouldn't forward another chain letter to them. I know you are all busy with your lives and families and jobs...and any computer time or correspondence has to be quick. Forwarding some anonymous email is a quick way to let someone know you are thinking about them. rather than hitting "forward", how about a word or two from your own sweet heart.....now that really means something and is precious....and FYI, sometimes I get a little shaky when I just delete those chain letters too! I need all the blessing I can get, but I don't think those chain emails have too much promise of anything but clogging up our in boxes.......................love Shasta”

Full Disclosure; No her name is not ‘Shasta’. I wouldn’t reveal that much of our private life, but I did give her a really cool stripper name, so Doris, if you read this, I gave you a cool stripper name!...no her name isn’t Doris either…that was just to make her and Buffy laugh! Yes her name is Buffy…no she’s not a vampire slayer…no you’re not the first one to say that…no you’re not the 1,000,000,000 person to say that…yes I do think you’re hitting on my wife when you say that…yes I do own a gun…and a shovel…and a truck…and hefty bags…and I do know lonesome country areas where you’ll never be found…

Exercise secrets of the GOP!

2008-09-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

Thank God that the hurricane Gustav didn’t hit New Orleans any harder than it did. Our prayers go out to all of the displaced and harmed, but we’re so grateful that a larger disaster was avoided. That being said, I do have one small point that I’ve often wondered about; why, during a storm, is it necessary to put newscasters outside, in the rain and wind, holding a metal microphone? Is it just so we can see that, yes the wind is really blowing hard, just like we were all taught in 3rd grade? Hurricanes are full of rain and wind and sometimes even lightning! They also often send heavy objects hurtling through the air at amazing velocity and with great force. Fun times to be standing outside in your LL Bean wind breaker with the network insignia on it! You usually see one of these poor tele-journalists standing in 100 mile an hour winds describing how the authorities have forced the evacuation of the area to protect human life. Then they show you the empty streets, all the while soaking wet, holding their hat and squinting into the camera fielding questions from the “important” anchors in the studio, (jacket off, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up as though their ready to start filling sand bags!). I actually saw one yesterday that took the cake; Poor guy standing in the middle of Houma LA ( one of the harder hit sections) wind whipping by at 100+ mph, he gets his report out and answers some inane questions like, “Have you seen any structural damage as of yet to homes or property?” (This question came as a house went cart wheeling behind the poor guy!) Then when he gets to the end of all that, the anchor, ensconced in a warm, dry studio, says… (Wait for it, this is 100% true!)…”Hold on for just a minute Jim we’ll get right back to you!” Oh what I would have given to hear poor old Jim lose it at that point; “I’m sorry Tom, did you say ‘hold on’? It was hard to hear you with the 100 mile an hour winds battering my ear drums. Or maybe the Stop sign that just grazed my skull has me a little dizzy. Or maybe it’s hard to hear because the crew guy that’s laying in 3 feet of water trying to hold me in place is making too much noise coming up for air. I’m sorry; it’s just kind of hard to stand at the threshold of death and hear every amazingly brilliant word that drips from your perfect lips in New York. ‘Hold on’? Really Mr. Big-Time TV Newsman? ‘Hold on’? I have an idea, how about you take your fancy leather-bound script full of incredibly insightful questions like, ‘is it raining really hard there now?’ and roll it up real tight and ‘hold on’ to it while you shove it up your…static! Then the test screen saying ‘Technical Difficulties please stand by’.

John McCain is really Old Man Withers from the haunted amusement park!

2008-08-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

Now that the Western leg of our 2008 tour is done, I’m finally able to find some semi-fond memories of our time in Sturgis! The heat, the flies (they bite!!), the rain, the dust, no showers for 3 days, 4 guys sleeping in a van for 3 days…ahh what a time! I was recently reading a music magazine, and they were interviewing some rock bands about touring during the summer, doing festivals. Basically, it came down to this; they get paid a lot of money, play short sets, tour on nice buses and play to huge crowds…and, according to them, it’s a pain in the ass!
Here’s the other side of the coin, (not bragging by any means, just putting some muthaf***in’ perspective on things!) We started our last tour leg in Jackson MO, played 4 hours, and drove overnight, straight through to Sturgis (14 hours). Due to the bike rally, there were no hotel rooms being provided by the gigs (…umm riiiight…) We finally find and check into a room at the Motel 6 in Rapid City (30 miles from Sturgis), paying double what we normally pay for a Motel 6 room, (remember, 4 guys, one room) effectively taking our entire motel budget for the week. This will be the last bed, last shower, last real comfort we have for the next 4 days. We proceed, over the course of the next 4 days to play 4 outdoor shows, in varying weather conditions (one night’s super hot, the next night has a rain storm with 80 mile an hour winds…)to sometimes less than enthusiastic crowds. Actually, while there were some small crowds, (one night very small!) there was only one sort of less than enthusiastic crowd on the last night, and that’s just because we were too loud…at a motorcycle rally…outside…too loud…bike rally…get it? The way the average day (if there is such a thing) works is this; you load-in in the afternoon, working up a decent sweat, play the gig (usually four hours), load out at the end of the night, get in the van and drive to a parking lot somewhere to go to sleep, sleep until you run out of positions that aren’t so numb you can’t fall asleep, get up, trying to get out of the van by crawling over everyone else and try not wake them up (although they’re not really asleep either), brush your teeth with a bottle of water in said parking lot, change shirts in said parking lot, find coffee and try to get through the next several hours before the next load-in. In the warm weather, you seek out places to loiter that are air-conditioned; malls, coffee shops, libraries, gun stores, etc. At one point Marshal and I went to the movies essentially to “buy” 3 hours of air-conditioning! After the last show, we drive 8 hours, overnight to the next gig in Nebraska, where we had to wait for the hotel rooms because of a mix-up in the reservations! We did make it into the rooms eventually and let me tell you showers never felt so good! Remember, that’s just the first week! We still had 2 more to go. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we were threatened with jail (!)by a club owner (hereafter known as jack “Q” ass) when we asked to be paid after playing an extra 2 hours at his request ( I will write about this creature in a future blog when I can figure out how to fully describe his repugnance without revealing his true identity, but trust me this guy was a real piece of work…he’s probably in jail as we speak!), we had the rear view mirror knocked of the van in a hit and run situation in Denver, we played multiple gigs some days, at one gig we loaded in, came back to the gig that night and had to tear down and move all of the stuff to another room, had another 22 hour drive…I could go on, but the point is during the entire 3 ½ weeks, no one complained. No one bitched about the lack of rooms, the lack of showers, the long drives, the little money, and the long nights of playing whether people were listening or not, nobody in the SHB whined at all! This isn’t acceptance of the situation, none of us, (me included), doesn’t want more of everything, more comfort, more money, more guitars, more attention, better shows, more people, etc. This is very much the art of being a warrior in a campaign. You get up every morning, prepare for battle and go to war. When you lay your head down at night, you know you were true to yourself, your art and your fans. Duct tape and Krazy Glue become your best friends. You learn to live on 4 or 5 hours of sleep per night (sometimes not all in a row!). You learn that while three square meals a day is great, you can live on one (or sometimes none!). Sometimes, you don’t get a motel for the night and you might think, “Any motel is better than no motel!”, then you get a motel that blows that theory out of the water!
I know that everything is relative and I’ve been in the “tour bus/four star hotel” situation and I definitely cried about the bad catering, bad view from the terrace of my suite or that the water in the dressing room wasn’t chilled, but having been there and then been truly blessed by God to have the reality check of having all of that taken away and find that none of that was why I do what I do, and that not only could I live without that stuff, in some ways I’m better off! That’s not to say I’m not trying to work my ass off to get it all back and then some, but it’s important to me to know that my aim is true. I know for a fact that there are plenty of musicians out there on the road, leaving blood on the stage every night doing what they believe in, whether they’re being rewarded financially or materially or not, they are being rewarded spiritually. My supreme respect is given to those fellow warriors for the love of Music. We didn’t invent this life, we just live it.
Life on the road, in any capacity, is life in a bubble. You are surrounded at all times by an almost static environment and whatever that environment is becomes your reality. Things make a sort of bizarre sense, because it’s all your really know. I learned from Buddy Guy who in his career has traveled, with a full band, in a car to the deep south on bald tires, had guns pulled on him, been cheated out of his pay, been pulled over and hauled before the judge by Mississippi cops in the middle of the night, seen people killed while he was playing and had to keep playing! I learned from his stories about legends like Earl Hooker, who while trying to entice workers in a field to come to that night’s performance, was ordered at gunpoint to, “pick up a hoe!” The road is littered with cautionary tales that transcend success. Elvis, Hank Williams and Robert Johnson all died basically scared and alone. Those are just three names that you might have heard of. There are plenty who didn’t gain that kind of notoriety who met similar fates. So to the new breed, I say, “what’s the matter, your Xbox 360 not working right? iPhone got you down? Are your free guitars not showing up in tune?” Shut the hell up and play!
As I finish this, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a few of the “excellent” things that happened on tour; My friend Chuck MF Lanza and his lovely wife met up with us in Denver, I got to hang out with Buddy for an hour or so one night, my friend Kempf MF Poole came out and traveled with us for 10 days or so, we ate at the original Chipotle’s twice, met a bunch of our old friends across the country and made some new ones, discovered a new favorite beer in Salt Lake City, saw The Dark Knight for a fourth time in Denver on the IMAX screen, I finally found Jason & The Scorchers first album on CD at Twist & Shout, went hiking, made amazing music with two very dear friends, got to play loud at least 92% of the time, I even got to play my “big amp” on the last day of the tour, and then got to come home to my girls! I am truly truly blessed!

Phil Guy

2008-08-24T01:28:00.000-05:00

I first met Phil Guy on Buddy Guy’s record, Stone Crazy. Stone Crazy is one of my favorite records. It has Ray “Killer” Allison playing drums, and it has Phil Guy playing rhythm guitar. For guitar players that want to under stand accompaniment, Phil’s performance on this record alone, is a text book for what to play. During the ten years that I was with Buddy, I crossed paths with Phil a lot of times. Particularly during the January shows at Legends when he would come up near the end of the night and jam with the band. I will always associate Turn On Your Love Light with Phil Guy! I love Buddy with all my heart and, having a brother myself, I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now, but I know that while none of us are here forever, we are blessed to have had Phil for the short time that we did. My prayers go out to Buddy and his family and I know that the music in heaven is a little sweeter (and a lot funkier!) now.

Nude photos of Karl Rove

2008-08-16T17:54:00.000-05:00

Today is Saturday, August 16, 2008. This is the 31st anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. When I found out about Elvis dying, I was at home, after school, watching Gilligan’s Island on television. In the old days, TV stations only ran a scroll across the bottom of the screen when something really momentous was happening; like a man walking on the moon, or to announce the death of the King of Rock and Roll. (Yeah that’s right I said the King!) These days, it seems like every channel has a scroll going 24/7. Looks kind of like:…AP/Senator John McCain says he will reduce taxes by 1,000% in his first six months as President…AP/ Senator Barak Obama has 2 eggs for breakfast…AP/Filmmaker Oliver Stone has not died today, he was just napping…AP/ AAA predicts gas prices will level off as we near November…AP/ “The Dark Knight is the greatest movie of all time, or at least 2008!”, says guitarist Scott Holt… We live in a world of 24 hour a day information overload. Look at Fox or CNN and you see at least one or two talking heads, a scroll across the bottom of the screen, text to the left or right of the screen recapping whatever you missed while you were trying to read the stuff at the bottom, and you’re still not sure exactly what the hell’s going on. When I was a kid, my dad would come home from work, read the evening papers (we had two; The Nashville Banner and the Daily Herald) and watch the news at 6:00pm and 10:00pm. And that was it! Anything else that might happen just had to wait for the one morning paper, (The Tennessean) to come out. I think it’s good to have a 24 hour news channel when something major happens, like war or some crisis that we need to be made aware of, but a couple of days ago in the hotel room we had CNN on and at least 6 hours that it was on were devoted to John Edwards affair. Not exactly the same in my book as the war in Iraq, Oil prices, the election, Darfur or the Russian/Georgia conflict! I don’t agree with people having affairs, but I really think that’s between him, his mistress, his wife and the very large fancy couch that I’m sure he’s sleeping on now! They only had about 45 seconds on about the Bigfoot those guys killed in Georgia. I knew that was a bunch of crap. If it had really been a Bigfoot, why would they kill it? They could just make friends with it and get their own reality show. I believe in Bigfoot. Why not? It could happen. I also believe in the Loch Ness Monster, Yeti’s, I believe that aliens created the pyramids in Egypt, and the animal drawings in Central America. I believe Oswald was framed and Jim Morrison faked his death. Why not? If none of that stuff is true, it doesn’t hurt anybody, so who cares?

2008-08-14T12:06:00.001-05:00

Scott Holt in the house

Sturgis...the final chapter

2008-08-06T15:54:00.000-05:00

Today is the 4th and last gig for us in Sturgis and we decided to come over to one of our old haunts Deadwood for the day. We haven’t been here since we used to play at Saloon #10 back a hundred years or more. I’ve always liked this town. Too bad it’s so freaking far away from the rest of the known world! We came here for years until HBO started the series and then we never came back! It was frustrating to be seeing a show about a town that we’d spent so much time in and not be able to go see the actual sites. Yes, I know, you say, “Well why don’t you just go there on vacation or something?” The answer is simple, I travel for a living…not for fun…neither driving nor flying nor taking the train makes a difference. I’m also funny about going places that I play at when I’m not working there. It feels weird…like you’re trying to come back to the home of a party the next day to hang out. That would be pretty funny though. Go to a party, stay late and then just show up the next day at 9:30 or so and just say you had so much fun last night you just wanted to come over and hang out. If you don’t think that sounds funny in an awkward way, you are too young or socially retarded and you may be reading this from the person’s computer that you’re hanging out with today after you partied there last night!
Sight Seeing in Deadwood; Went with Marshal and Milburn to revisit John Wayne’s pickup truck (Marshal’s favorite landmark!) and the resting place of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. I didn’t make it up to Seth Bullock’s grave because he’s too far up the hill…and it was real hot. If you’ve never been here, the cemetery is at Mount Moriah and it’s a pretty healthy climb. Yes we walked it. I loved the show Deadwood. Best show on television at the time. Now it’s Lost, but then it was Deadwood. Cool to be in the town that the shows about. Have you ever noticed that some people treat bookstores like libraries? I notice this now because I’m in a library, (with no flies, thank God!) but some times when we hit a Barnes & Noble or a Borders, it always seems like everyone is being a little more quiet than they are at Best Buy or Target. I like to shush people in Barnes & Noble. For a moment they’re not sure if you’re right or not and they stand there in a sort of confused silence trying to figure it out. Then you smile and say, “Oh I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else!” Then I wander away whistling a wistful tune.

How to see Sturgis on $20.00 a day!

2008-08-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

Well here we are, one more day on the road, one more mall! Free internet for me and my men! We are in Sturgis or as Milburn continues to refer to it “stooges”. This is a tricky part of the tour. We are in the middle of the Sturgis Bike Rally and there are no hotels, motels, or empty homes to stay in and we are forced to recharge at an “undisclosed location”. The shows are going great, the band sounds fantastic and while we miss Tyler very much, Marshal is doing a great job. Tonight we hit the Drag pipe Saloon. Sounds very “motorcycle-like”. Yesterday we hung out at the Rapid City Mall all day and today we’re back (free internet!) This mall’s cool except for the flies! There are flies everywhere around where we’re sitting…I wonder if it’s just us…or if it’s always like this!
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS: Lynyrd Skynyrd is playing in Sturgis this week and the paper is advertising them with a photo of the original band! There are only two of the original members left! John McCain was in town yesterday…so was Kenny Chesney…you figure out what I’m saying for yourself. I just finished reading All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. Brilliant book! Thanks to Dino for the free books! There are no Chipotle’s in South Dakota! Of course, there aren’t any in Tennessee either…yet! Colorado, here we come! The flies in this place are terrible! Listening to Jesse Johnson’s Bare My Naked Soul. Brilliant, underrated guitarist. I’m really into Eddie Hazel lately. Original Funkadelic guitarist and another incredible guitarist that doesn’t get enough props. Funkadelic is the band we’re teaching Milburn about on this trip. We’re thinking about seeing the Dark Knight today (3rd time for me!) Best movie I’ve seen all year. I’d write more, but the flies win, I’m getting the hell out of here!

Tyler Crowell

2008-07-28T00:07:00.000-05:00

I wrote the first sentence of this blog 3 times before I figured out how to say, “Our drummer, Tyler Crowell, is leaving.” It’s not an easy thing for me to write, much less digest. Tyler has been and is a part of the SHB family and will remain so, but due to some medical issues, he can’t tour with us anymore. I’ve watched Tyler grow as a musician and as a human being for a long while now and I can tell you that the hole that he leaves in our organization will be impossible to fill. He is now, and always will be, a member in good standing of the SHB and an honorary MF brother, but, until his medical situation changes, we have to move forward. It’s with his knowledge and blessing that I announce that we are officially looking for a new drummer. Some of you have already contacted me through MySpace and email, and I will be getting in touch with you soon. We are looking for a solid drummer, good human being, drug free, preferably Nashville based, who wants to ride the SHB train with us as a partner and see where we go. I’m grateful to say that SHB alumni Marshal Weaver has agreed to fill in until we can find a replacement for Tyler. Marshal is, and always has been, one of my favorite drummers and having him back is an honor and a rare privilege. We will blow some shit up, I guarantee it!
Tyler is one of those people that I really don’t remember when we met. He’s just always been there. He’s a cousin of my best friend Keith, but I’m not sure if we knew each other from before that or not. I do know that I have always respected and been fond of Tyler. He’s a genuinely good person. We have a similar sense of humor. He’s smart, funny, apparently good looking… (I wouldn’t know about such things but I try to stay well informed)! I do know that no drummer has ever tried harder to get and maintain this gig than Tyler. His tenacity is one of my favorite things about him. He has worked hard to be the best drummer that he can be. As drummers go, I always look for hard hitters, (I’ve had a few!). As musicians go, I always look for those that “swing for the fence”, so to speak. Tyler has never once let me down in either regard. I am a man of faith and I know that Tyler will see his potential reached. His purpose in this world is yet to be revealed. My selfish self hopes it’s with us, but my unselfish soul knows that God’s will, will place him in the exact right time and place just like always. Tyler’s request and admonition is that we find a permanent replacement, so that’s what we’re doing. If you are the person that wants/needs/feels this gig, contact us through MySpace (www.myspace.com/scottholt ), by email (scottholtband@gmail.com) or the SHB website (www.scottholt.com). We will be arranging open auditions in the coming weeks and look forward to finding a suitable replacement for the drum chair in the SHB. If you do contact us, be sure…and come with grit teeth! This ain’t no rehearsal…this is IT!

Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar.

2008-07-20T15:22:00.000-05:00

KMFT and I just went to see The Dark Knight at the IMAX theatre in Nashville…We had to sit on the front row…The movie was great, I highly recommend it…I do not, however, recommend sitting on the front row for any IMAX movies…EVER

Words to live by;

2008-07-18T10:38:00.000-05:00

I started thinking about the philosophies that I’ve been exposed to in my life and the words of others that have influenced the way I see life and approach this journey. These are some of my favorite quotes and words I try to live by;
Be Formless, shapeless like water. Now if you put water into a cup it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle, you put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash, be water my friend.
Bruce Lee
More self-respect, more respect for fellow man. Respect for fellow students and instructors. Respect for all styles and techniques. Body conditioning, mental conditioning, meditation for calming and stilling of the mind and body. Sharpen your skills, increase mental awareness, for all those that might choose a new outlook and personal philosophy. Freedom from constipation.
Elvis Presley’s TCB Oath

I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I expect the same from them."
John Wayne as J.B. Books in The Shootist

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Do not stand in the middle; go to the right or to the left.
Johnny Rotten

I saw the light, I saw the light, No more darkness, no more night. Now I'm so happy, no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light.”
Hank Williams

I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.
Muhammed Ali

Listen to the lyrics - we're singing about everyday life: rich people trying to keep money, poor people tying to get it, and everyone having trouble with their husband or wife!
Buddy Guy

I pay no attention whatever to anybody's praise or blame. I simply follow my own feelings
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.”
General George S. Patton

“The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important
Martin Luther King Jr.

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
Jesus

Sportspage - 012009

2008-07-17T00:17:00.000-05:00

Why I love playing at home; 1. My wife gets to see me play, which is an all too rare event. 2. it's a chance to play for all of the family members…some of whom might think I need to find a day job…3. It's close to my house! 4. For some reason, people I don't even know, seem to act much sluttier!
We had a ball last weekend. I really don't like playing at home too much, because it has the danger of becoming "ho-hum" and that would harm our benefit. I'm always extra nervous about hometown gigs, just because I want to do well and don't want the hometown folks to think that we ain't bringing it always! As a result, I always like to spice things up with something different, like when we had Criss Angel show up unannounced last year!..If you were there, you'd know if it's true or not!
When I became a musician, there were two local players that I looked up to. One was my guitar teacher, Doug Thurman, (one of the best guitarists in the world…period!) and the other was Hodge Cook. Hodge is one of those "pure musicians". He can play anything, sight read anything, and come up with something on the fly that's better than what you come up with after years of introspection. He's the type of musician that I aspire to be. Having him sit in with us was for me the ultimate gift. I don't want to downplay Mike Webber, Andy Jones and the consummate Keith Kenyon, not to mention my brother Keith MF Throneberry. It was an honor and a privilege to share a stage with all of them, but the little kid in me that worked in the music store and took lessons there and fantasized about someday being in a band will always feel like that kid when I'm on stage with Hodge. Apparently, he doesn't play out much anymore, and that's a shame. I know too many musicians who fall in that category and it makes me sad. I know it's an incredibly difficult path to follow, and I know that the "soul-wages" are tremendous but I also know how hard it is to acquire any kind of proficiency on an instrument and I meet too many people that want it and will never get it. I don't preach, because every path is different, but I hope that he decides to play more…that goes for you too Doug, and Derek, and Drew…(in my best Scott Holt voice…"What?! Ya'll want the world to be overrun with Kenny Wayne Sheppards' and Hannah Montanas'??!!!)
We had a great time, and it was worth every minute of it and if you didn't come…and you didn't hear Keith MF Throneberry…you…make…me…sad!!!

01/20/09 Amabo

2008-07-09T13:01:00.000-05:00

Blogs are like the show for me, they’re supposed to entertain, inspire & make you think. Or as I say “make you thank!” Anyway, I like writing them, but sometimes the demands of the road, the lack of internet, etc. make it hard to get them out in a timely manner. This blog is a case in point. I’m warning you up front that it’s going to be long! Some names are abbreviated to protect identities! I go all the way back to my birthday.
On my birthday we played in Westbury NY. Miles away from home and family. Nature of the game as it was. I knew that my wife wouldn’t be able to make it out to the show, and I was bummed to be so far away from my girls. At least, I thought, my buddy CMFL. will be at the show. Then I give him a call only to hear that he’s got to have a surgical procedure and can’t make the show. Oh well I think, I guess it’s just another day at the office. We did our usual routine for the afternoon; Chipotle, Starbucks, Bookstore, Mall, etc. and then I fell asleep in the van for about an hour. Somebody wakes me up…”Hey!” I look and see my best bro Keith MFT and CMFL!!! Awwwww Shhhhhhiiiii…it’s on ya’ll! What a tremendous surprise and birthday gift to have my dear friends show up just to hang for the night and be with me on my birthday! Keith brought a care package from home that my wife had put together with cards and stuff that I love and I had recordings of my wife and daughter saying happy birthday. I just wanted to crawl in the cards and go home!!! We had a great show, all the folks at Mirelles and Lori Productions made us feel so at home and welcome, that I can’t wait to get back there soon! So after the gig, Keith has to go to the airport. He’d only come up for the day! Literally! CMFL was going to drive him out there, but he actually had had the surgery and it was 30 miles in the opposite direction from his house, so I said we’ll take him. Go home and get some rest, but first let me give you a back cracking hug!!! So here we go to take Keith to the airport. Now remember, it’s 30 miles in the wrong direction for us too. Not that it matters when it’s your friend, but it just makes the story funnier to understand the geography. As we are heading towards Islip airport, I get a call from my friend and advisor, Arnie Goodman who tells me that the CDs we ordered are at his house. Cool I say, since it’s closing in on 3:00am, we’ll come to you first and get the CDs so you don’t have to stay up all night…Arnie lives in the opposite direction from the airport…we turn around and head to his house. When we get there, I realize we’re now almost to Manhattan! 50 miles from Islip! We get the CDs and Arnie says “why don’t you drop Keith off at Penn Station. You have to drive right by it on your way out of town and he can catch a train out to Islip. Makes sense, so we head to Manhattan. Penn Station is under Madison Square Garden…middle of Manhattan…3:30am. We get downstairs and see a carpet of humanity lying on the floor, leaned up against posts, waiting for the ticket office to open at 6:30am. Keith’s flight is at 8:00 and we start to vibe that if we wait, he might miss it going this way. Let’s go! Back to Islip!! We get to Islip at dawn and say good bye to my friend. Then head back, same road, to our next gig NJ! Hit the next town at around 10:30 am. I didn’t care, what a great birthday! Second best ever! Almost perfect, except my best best friend Buffy wasn’t there. My Yoko from Tennessee!! My Posh Spice! My Eva Longoria! My own personal Penthouse Pet!!! Ohhhh I could go on and on! Thank you Buff! Keith! Chuck!
Somers Point was a fun gig, after the rain storm blew through! My pedal board had an ocean’s worth of sand on it the next day though! Blue 5 in VA and then home...right? My wife’s family is scheduled to go on vacation on Sunday. We play Blue 5 on Saturday, hen we’re supposed to drive over night (9 hours), so I can get in the car and drive to Gulf Shores (6 ½ hours away). No big deal, we’ve done it before. Sleep is something you use to recharge the batteries; I don’t do it for pleasure or as a hobby (like some people we’ve known!) We start driving…an hour outside of town…BOOM!!! The rear axle breaks! Lucky we’re on the side of the road at an exit, but its 3:30 am…pitch black dark…hmmmm. I don’t have a flashlight!!! (I do now!) Can’t see the amount of damage, can’t find the tire, what do you do? I call Uncle Wayne and Keith MFT. Nobody answers!! 3 calls each and I finally wake them both up…Thanks Scott! No sleep for anybody! Keith gets up, hooks his trailer and drives 9 hours to pick us up and haul the van and the trailer back to Columbia!!! 4 hours of winching and pushing and sweating, we get the van on the trailer. Vans have 4 wheels. They roll fine. When you take away one of the wheels, they don’t roll at all. Vans are very heavy. They slide like the rocks from Stonehenge! The caravan was over 54 feet long…I’m sure we broke laws, but we got it home. 9:00 pm, shower, pack, jump in the car and head to vacation. Get there at 4:30 am Monday morning. I’m not complaining, it IS vacation. If you can’t be happy at the beach, something’s wrong with your mind grapes. Keith has the van at his shop, I have insurance to repair it, and so I call the insurance co. Monday morning and start the process. When I feel like its all in play and rolling smooth, I start my vacation. First time in 5 years or more, I put my cell phone on the night stand and walk away! No cell phone! That night when we get back I have 9 missed calls, 40 text messages, 9 voicemails; U ain’t out of the woods yet cowboy! The van is “F”ed up. Don’t be offended, if you know me, that’s how I talk and in this case, that’s a very accurate description of what’s up with the van. The rest of my vacation is cool, but it includes about an hour of phone calls a day every morning getting the latest updates and figuring out how I’m getting to Ohio on Saturday. That’s right; the back end of my vacation also includes a drive back to home and then get in another vehicle and roll overnight (71/2 hours) to Huron Ohio. Remember; Sleep is just a tool to recharge, it’s not a pastime! Fast forward, through all the boring details, Enterprise rents me the van and we get there and back. We did lock the keys in the rental van, but by this point I’m just glad the thing didn’t explode!!! Thank God for all of my blessings! Friends and safe travels! I am blessed!

What would Bill say?

2008-06-24T10:06:00.001-05:00

I have never liked days off on the road. Ever. Even when I was with Buddy, days off were the worst. Every day I like having a purpose and a goal. I like knowing where I’m going, when I’m going to get there and that I’m going to get to play my guitar loud. Days off are the antithesis of that philosophy. When we’re on the road, everyday is planned out in advance. We’ll be leaving at this time, we’ll arrive at this time, we load in, we play, we sleep (maybe), we go to the next town. Yesterday, (the only day off on this leg…thank God), I spent 2 hours shopping for shoe laces, doing laundry, working out, updating the tour schedule, and just generally pacing the floor. BOOOOOORRRRRRIIIIINNNNGGGG!!! Today, however, we ROLL! Good day!
I might call the next record “No Sleep ‘Til Nashville”. Sorry Motorhead.
We got Milburn out here on the road with us and he’s a great guy. Best merch guy ever. Hype man extraordinaire. He is, however, hungering for a musical education, which we are happily giving him. Right now he has to learn about…Bo Diddley! Is Milburn an example of the lack of musical knowledge of his generation? What kind of country is this when young people don’t know the Sex Pistols, Miles Davis, BO F*#%^N’ DIDDLEY?! I’m scared to ask about Buddy Guy, John Coltrane, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, etc. People, if you have kids, if you know kids, if you just see some kids, you gotta teach ‘em about music! Music is the stuff in the air that lives between the words. It’s all birds do. Well, they fly, but like musicians, they’re probably just going to the next gig. Tell kids about Elvis, Ray Charles, The Stones, Little Walter, Lightnin’ Hopkins… I remember several years ago when Blues was more popular than it is now, thinking that people would probably always know about BB King, now I wonder if he’ll even be remembered in a few generations if we don’t start caring more about the history of music. What if we get to the point where people think that Kenny Wayne Sheppard created the licks he plays instead of getting them all from Stevie Ray Vaughan? Yes it’s important and not just to musicians. Think about it this way; when WWIII comes down and we’re blown back to the stone age, all we’re going to have to do all day is take a bone and tap out a song.
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again! It had a dying fall:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour!
William Shakespeare, "Twelfth Night", Act 1 scene 1

Today

2008-06-19T14:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Ellicottville NY. Cool little village so far. Richard discovered a new brand of smokes today. He’s reading Here, There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick. We had terrible Chinese food. Milburn bought Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols and he’s reading John Lydon’s autobiography! Tyler is working his mind muscles. I am spending all of my time being me…it’s a full time job.

Toast!

2008-06-17T14:05:00.000-05:00

So here we are in Bridgeville PA for the 5th show of the North East leg. Shows have been going great so far and the bands playing at 100% slamming. We did an acoustic show in Cleveland and had a ball. My excellent Obrien amplifier is singing and #1 is getting a pounding every night. We have a new merch/tech guy, Milburn. So far he’s learning about; The Sex Pistols, Miles Davis, the Northeastern US, how to properly catch/clean& cook a groundhog, the correct fork to use when eating soup, what gravity is, why it’s important to be in the van before it drives away, what kind of cigarettes Richard likes and when to light them, who to vote for, when to ask for more, when to ask for less, how to tell if Tyler is asleep (without asking him), “trailer surfing”, and why you shouldn’t fear vampires. That’s just the first week!

...where the sun shines every day...

2008-06-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

The Florida tour was a blast. First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who expressed their condolences about Jake. It’s good to meet so many of our fans & friends who understand that a pet is a family member. The band is sounding better every time we play. We had a chance to play new venues in Bradenton, Sanford, Sebastian and Destin. Kicking much booty with the SHB’s patented SoulSuckerPunch! Just like George say’s, “If you’ll suck my soul, I’ll lick your funky emotions.” This tour was perfect; we had a chance to play our show every night without censorship (some of you know what I’m talking about!) Ending up at the Tiki Torch Bar in Eureka Springs was the perfect last night. We tried to leave everything on that stage as a thank you to the gods of the everlasting groove. Richard perspired, so you know it was a night! If you were there and keeping score, yes that was Bridge Of Sighs being quoted in the middle of Voodoo Chile, and yes it’s always different.
Some observations; The Peace Maker Sandwich at the Acme Oyster Bar in Destin (which is advertised as being voted #4 best sandwich) isn’t #4 or even #444 in my book. My friend Will used to make us Swiss cheese sandwiches on white bread (no condiments)when we were kids and that blew these expensive ass things away! The Exxon station in Jackson MS is still serving the consistently best ribs I’ve had, and they keep in the back of the trailer for at least 2 days and still taste great! Oh don’t start saying “gross!” we had ‘em in a cooler! My advice to all bands on the road is to be sure and pack a Nerf football. You never know when the opportunity to move will strike you. Kempf Poole reminded me to play the blues! Richard and Tyler are two of the finest, warmest human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure to know.

Jake Holt - 1997 - 2008

2008-05-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

Today is a hard day for me and my family. We lost a member of the family. His name is Jake. He has lived with us for 11 years. He’s never helped around the house, helped me mow the yard, cooked supper, or even fixed his own dinner. But I can’t imagine what it will be like without him here. Jake and I first met in the parking lot of a Ruby Tuesday’s while I was on lunch break from working at a music store. He bit me. He was excited, but it still hurt like hell! For 11 years, he has been with me and Buffy through our marriage. He welcomed us when our daughter came into our lives; he’s been through all of our hard times, all of our moves and our triumphs. When my dad died, Jake licked my face. It was all he knew to do, but it was better than some people could come up with! He never learned to warn us when strangers came around, so when he sounded an alarm, we new it meant nothing but that he was feeling good! I always wanted him to wear a sombrero, but he never did. It would have been hilarious! His toenails were incredibly long, he preferred “bones” over real food, he could crap in the floor after being outside for hours, he could shed an amount of hair the quantity of which seemed like biblical locust!, the list could go on and on. But he never judged, he never harmed, he loved and only wished to be loved. More than that, he simply expected love because he never thought of any other scenario. Love was all there is. He was always a better friend to me than I was to him. His last months were hard ones physically, but he tried to ignore it. Steps were the hardest, but he would hide his embarrassment when I would pick him up to help him up them. He never let us down. I’ve spent the day mourning, holding my wife and helping my daughter process the situation. Jake’s under a tree, with a perpetual amount of shade. It’s been a hard day.

Guitar Lesson

2008-05-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

If I was allowed to give advice to beginning musicians, it would be, “be you”. That’s what we need more in music. Individuality. As the music business continues to spiral into oblivion, it’s like a giant snake feeding on itself. One successful artist begets 1,000,000,000 carbon copies. It’s one thing to be influenced by an artist but it’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax to try and steal the clothes out his (or her) closet! I’ve seen some musicians who have done that and I’m not sure what they feel like they’re contributing. Unless it’s just to be famous. In our culture, fame is a big one. Maybe that’s why music doesn’t seem to have the same cultural significance that it’s had in the past. When Bob Dylan went electric, people were so angry that they became violent! If some popular artist these days changed style that drastically, I doubt if anyone would even care!
If you pick up an instrument or choose to create music (or any other art, for that matter). Remember that you have a responsibility to contribute your soul to the equation. I’m not just talking about being a professional musician, when you pick up an instrument for your own enjoyment, remember to be you. Embrace that part of you that’s different. It’s fine to learn that Gun’s & Roses or John Mayer song, but at some point as you play it you are adding your DNA to it and embracing that aspect is what making music should be about. As a guitar player, I’m very influenced by Jimi Hendrix, but if all I did was try and copy his licks note for note without ever putting “me” into it, I’m disrespecting the most important aspect of his legacy which is his originality! Just remember “be you!” God only made one of those!
My second piece of advice would be to recognize that Guitar Hero is not the same as playing guitar!

My Head N Mississippi

2008-05-11T01:37:00.000-05:00

I had an amazing time this Thursday at the Blues Music Awards. Keith M.F. T. and I met Kempf M.F. P. in Tunica and went to the awards show together. I saw and hung out with Denis & Lucy Burns (my favorite Canadians!) Hubert Sumlin, my old friends Arnie Goodman, Rueben Williams, Tab Benoit and even Marty Salzman who was Buddy’s manager when I first joined the band! It was a great time. Even when the casino took my money! I got to say hi to Buddy’s guitar tech Gilbert, Big James (from The Chicago Playboys-a smoking band you should hear!!), Nick Moss, Magic Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and especially Hubert Sumlin. Hubert’s one of those gifted musicians that inspired all of us that pickup a guitar and want to play the blues. He’s also one of the kindest most uplifting people I’ve ever met. I’m so glad that he and Koko Taylor won awards! Roots!!! May they both live forever.
When we got to Tunica, Keith, Kempf & I had some BBQ and then we went down to Clarksdale and saw the Delta Blues Museum and Ground Zero. Then we headed up to Tunica and hit the reception before the awards show. After we left the casino, they might have had all of mine and Keith’s money, but we had all of their Heineken! I saw great performances by The Holmes Brothers and Bobby Rush. It was a great time. If my wife had been there, it would have been perfect. I’m blessed by good friends.
The next morning, Keith and I stopped off in Memphis to hang out on Beale Street and eat BBQ at Cozy Corner, (best ribs in Memphis!!) before heading home. I am blessed. I am blessed. I am blessed.

New Days

2008-05-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Another quick little run in the books. We hit Hickory NC, Winder GA and Charleston SC on this trip. We got o see and visit with a bunch of our friends including Robb and the crew in Winder, Chip and Sara and all our friends in Charleston and we were happily surprised to see Mark and Libby from Tuscaloosa in Winder. It always amazes me when our friends make a long trip to come and see us. Makes it all the more worthwhile.
I try not to say too much about the negative stuff that goes on on the road, but this is too funny to keep to myself. At a recent gig, (I won’t say where, or even which tour it’s from to try and protect the parties involved), I was getting the very familiar speech about the volume. In the space of about 3 minutes, I was told by 2 different management type people that “we needed to turn down...” It’s a speech that I’m all too familiar with and the reasons why are so varied and boring that I won’t go into them here. Anyway, keep in mind, this is all happening on the break, so I’m told to turn down 3 times (one person tells me twice! Like maybe I’m hard of hearing or something!) Before we’ve even started playing again…very strange. When the first person comes back to tell me again for the second time, this is the exact quote; “I just want to make sure that you guys remember to turn down a little bit, it’s not too loud up front near the stage but in the back… and it’s not so much loud, it’s just the energy…”) I’ve been criticized for a lot of things in my career, but being too energetic was a new one even for me!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where I’m at musically/spiritually/philosophically and I’ve been feeling the need to “recalibrate” my self and get back on the point. I’ve kind of dipped my foot into some pretty murky waters at times over the last year or so and it hasn’t made me a better anything. I believe what I’ve always believed; that God put me here to make music and reach people through that music. My passion for the blues, loud guitars and playing from the heart is stronger now than ever and I hope as we hit the road this summer, you can hear a difference in what we’re trying to do. It won’t be anything drastic from the outside, so don’t look for me to wear robes or a beanie or start talking about the cosmos (anymore than I already do!) but the soul of my playing, my interaction with the music and the musicians, the way we present all of that to you, I hope it creates a more positive experience when you are kind enough to come see us.
One last note, I’d like to hip ya’ll to a friend of mine who is writing some amazingly insightful blogs. His name is Chris Kent and he’s one of the best musicians I’ve ever heard. I was blessed to get the chance to play with Chris for some years in the original version of the SHB (for some reason, he didn’t think that starving and going permanently sleepless were that appealing, so he’s since played with a who’s who of great musicians and entertainers). Anyway, he’s listed in my friends section on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/ckbass) and if he’s not your friend yet, add him and subscribe to his blogs. This cat has his soul tuner dialed in so tight its ridiculous!