Hi folks, its me again. I don't have a new Whisky Hill video today but I just thought I would check in with the blog world briefly and say a few things about the music and the band. We had a "regular" practice on Friday night and it was our second in a row when it wasn't actually a real regular practice. By that I mean we didn't go over our material list like we normally do. It turned out to be a sort of jam session. We went over a few songs that we have tried before and put on the back burner, and then it happened again. We were standing around talking mechanics of a song ( I forget which one) and usually at least one of us kinda plucks around a little while we're talking. I started to play the opening notes to Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash and our bass player (who knows ALL those old country songs) just jumped aboard, followed by the drummer and then the rest of the guys. We ended up going through it a couple of times, experimenting along the way like probably all bands do. When you have 2 (or more) guitars you really need them playing something different that still fits. That's kinda how it works in the studio too. You layer your guitars, and or all instruments on different tracks. But that's all for another blog post one day maybe.
So anyway, after going through it, experimenting and getting our parts down to our own satisfaction we played it a couple more times just for the hell of it and practice sake and it sounds BAD ASS the way we do it. We put the Whiskey Hill mojo on that song baby! Our bass player is designated lead singer for this tune and our lead singer is going to sing harmonies on it. I've saw a lot of rock bands cover this tune over the years and I've saw my share of country bands do it too. I can honestly say that to this date I have never heard it done quite like we did it. I'm not going to give it away right now either. Sorry about that but I'd rather just get a video of us doing it and let the music do the talking. As soon as I get a video I will post it here on my blog before posting it anywhere but youtube of course. I'm super excited about it. I know its a genuine oldie that every band and their brother has covered but I think our version is going to have a small unique aspect to it. At least I hope so. Until then I'll leave you good folks a video from one of the great musicians that I am subscribed to on youtue. He goes by "tonedr" there and works hard and regularly at being a great guitar player and teacher. He is in a band called Big River Band, and another by the name Lexington Lab Band, and also does shows with the beautiful and talented Lauren Mink, who was also a contestant on American Idol. If you click on that little youtube button at the bottom right hand side of the video player you can watch it on youtube directly. From there you can check out his channel and find 525 videos and counting. I promise you there's a lot of good music to be found on (tonedr) Dales channel.
Hello good people, I'm back for another blog post. I know its been a long time but nobody reads my blog anyway haha!! No, seriously, I do have one very dear friend that reads my blog. Today started out kinda bad for me and I've been thinking about that dear friend of mine and wishing I had a way to call him and shoot the breeze. Emails just aren't the same, and lately my internet access has been very limited due mostly to financial reasons. The life of a starving musician isn't what its all cracked up to be.
Recently, like last weekend, we played 2 gigs in one day. I'm getting ahead of myself though because you don't know about the departure of our original singer, Tyler. Back several months ago he decided to go to Colorado for 6 months to a year. He does construction/welding type work and has to go where the work is. Unfortunately he didn't tell the band about his decision and we had to find out kinda second hand by way of a comment on facebook by his wife. Well, that was a little devastating to say the least. For some of us, well me anyway, this band is all I have. Fortunately there was a guy in the neighborhood that can sing and wanted a shot at it. He had actually came to a practice session before and was going to sing a few songs with us. None of the rest of the band knew that at the time though. Good ole Tyler never told any of us about that. In hindsight now it makes perfect sense. We since found out all kinds of things about him that, lets just say, the boy has a hard time telling the truth and leave it at that. He's talented at singing but he'll never step foot near this band again. In fact he still hasn't bothered to call any of the band members since he left us high and dry with a gig booked. Enough of him though. Its pissing me off just thinking about it.
We have a new singer now and we're as happy as can we be with him. He actually shows up for practice. When he's not going to be able to make it, and that's rare, he lets us all know well ahead of time. That's how it should be too. He's a talented singer and pretty darn good guitar player too. Rich helped us make up the gig Tyler left us stuck with. We played another gig the very next day too. It was a benefit for one of our local paramedics who got stung by a wasp and it darn near killed him from the reaction he had from it. He's on the mend now and getting some much needed rehab. This past weekend made four gigs we've played since Rich joined the band.
We played at a benefit concert this past weekend called the Bob O'Palooza. Bob recently found out he has stage 4 lung cancer. Being the small tight knit community this is, a lot of people sprung into action and put on a show. That's just how we roll around here. A local band, The Midnight Hurricanes put all this together and despite the rain, raised over 12K to help Bob out with the medical bills that are racking up for him.
These benefit shows don't pay in dollars, but that's not important to us. Just knowing you helped someone out is worth more than any dollars and cents. And it pays off down the road eventually. Usually in Karma. And hey, we get to play music for people. That's worth everything right there. How can you put a price on applause ? How much is it worth to see people get up and dance to the music you're playing ? That's one of the greatest feelings in the world to me. Its why I do it. I don't have any false illusions of fame and fortune. I'm fully aware that we are just another band among thousands just like us all over this country out there living the dream. If I have any regrets it would be that I didn't do this sooner. Its been a dream of mine for as long as I've been playing music.
We're still working on getting better at this. Its a lot of work too, but we're starting to come around and sound like a real band now. I'm going to leave you with a video from last weekend. Its from a private party we played after the benefit show. There was no way I could get a video from the benefit. Long story there, but in short, the rain had the audience sharing the stage with the bands and it was hard enough just to carve out a big enough spot for yourself and your equipment. We never thought about a video. Maybe someone else got some footage and something will surface later. If so, I'll share it here.
Hello good people, its been a long time since I've posted anything in this blog. I have been pretty busy lately with my band, Whiskey Hill. Back on May 4th I had the opportunity of a lifetime. The way it all went down still baffles me but it really happened and I have the video to prove it haha!
It started out one day when I logged on to my youtube account and discovered a fresh new video from a band called JB and The Moonshine Band who's channel I am subscribed to. The video had just been posted about 30 minutes prior to me seeing it. Get In Where You Fit In was the name of the video and it was basically a contest for a chance to perform with them on stage. It just so happened I had a video of my band doing a cover of one of their songs, Hell To Pay. I'll be the first to admit it wasn't a very good cover, and it was from our first gig, using a cheap 4 channel no name PA head coupled with my old Kustom speakers. One of which was turned toward us for a monitor because it was all we had at the time.
I entered the video into the contest never thinking we would ever win it. It was done in jest really because I'm always pranking my band mates anyway. Within about 20 - 30 minutes I get a "restricted" call coming in on my cell phone. I ignored it because I was in the middle of a text message at the time telling one of my band mates what I had done. Luckily they left a voice mail. When I checked the voice mail it was shocked to find that it was JB Patterson himself asking if I could be in McKinney Texas that Friday to sing Hell To Pay with them on stage. He left his email address and told me to get in touch with him and let him know if I could make it. I emailed him and explained to him that I was not the singer and I was actually one of the guitar players. He answered back and asked if both myself and our singer would be willing to do it. Of course I said yes, and then called my singer to ask him if he could do it. Being the joker that I am, he didn't believe me at first. So he came to my place to listen to the voice mail. He even wanted me to play it again so he could record it on his cell phone. Of course he was shaking when he recorded it because he was a bag of nerves and in need of a pinch or something lol. I could barely believe it myself.
We arrived in McKinney the following Friday afternoon and was greeted by the manager, "Hamburger Dan". Dan asked if we were planning on driving back home after the show and I told him we were. He told us we should stay the night as he had an extra room anyway. Well it didn't take any arm twisting on our part and we agreed to stay. We had a gig the following night in Texarkana opening for Brian Jones and the OzzyCash band. Needless to say we ended up partying with the drummer, Gabe, from JB and The Moonshine Band. We didn't get to sleep until around 5am and had to get up at 8am to head back home and load up for the gig in Texarkana. Playing on stage with JB and The Moonshine Band was the highlight of my musical life so far. I will never forget that night and I hope its a sign of more good times to come. JB and the band are a great group of people. They were all very friendly, kind, and generous, and just good ole down to earth regular guys who happen to play music for a living.
