This is a recently published video from a young man and his band local to northwest Alabama. The first time I ever met him was about nine years ago at a local high school fundraiser (my kids and he went to the same school). He was playing a six-string guitar with four strings and sounded pretty darn good. The next day I took him a set of guitar strings and you'd thought I'd given him a new car. Best of luck Bo.
That is quite alright Sarthurk. It isn't my music either. He is a very talented young man with a great voice, but not my fondest type of music. I listen to classic rock and a local classic country/bluegrass (40's-80's) station that gives the "farm report", news, weather, etc. It is Big Country 105.7
Some people just don't "get it." I played a little over 25 years ago, in a band named Tradewinds. We had two female singers, sisters, who were gorgeous. A guitar player, a bass player, a drummer, and me, a sort of everything player, from saxophones, to the occasional guitar,and background singer. We were better than well over half of the bands you heard on the radio, without a doubt, not to brag, just the truth. Just like this group here,The Band Steele, who are pretty good, they have a label, and someone to promote them. But the sad fact is, they likely will go nowhere. The music business is so much worse even today than it was in the 90's. Back then, it was about money, and if you could draw a crowd. My band actually was filling up the bars and nightclubs we were playing at. We were booked out a year in advanced, and had some of the better gigs, like weddings, and a local cruise ship party. But we were all in our thirties with families and could not go on the road, and that was what made us just another bar band. My son had a band, they actually did go on the road, spending time working to earn money to keep going. They did hurricane relief in Galveston, they played at the Phoenix Suns stadium, when they had a minor league hockey game there. They played at the Whiskey a go go. Then they headed up the California coast, and ended up at San Luis Obispo. He was there for a couple of years, then got married, and moved his bride back here to Michigan. Like me, he also found out just what the music business is all about. I actually did some session work, way back when. Mostly just playing for some radio commercials, and that sort of stuff. It was only satisfying in that I could say that I did it. Back then, you would go in, sit in a room, with a few mics, and play two or three lines of music, then stop. The guy running the board, I guess the sound engineer, if he was satisfied, would say, ok, and you would then move down to the next lines. The entire thing usually only took around an hour. Only once in awhile would the engineer say something like, " we need this to be jazzier, or this should sound a little sexy." It was not romantic at all, but like I said, it was kind of cool to be able to say that I did it. I only heard one lick that I played on the radio, once or twice, for a commercial for a car sale. I don't know if they used any of the other stuff. They might have just held onto it, as a just in case. I did get a call one other time, asking if I was interested in doing more, but by then, I had moved on from wanting to do that sort of thing. Now days, I suspect that much of it is done digitally, with no real musicians being involved at all. I know that I have not played the sax in probably 5 years, I don't even own one right now. I had been playing guitar for my own amusement, but mine got broken, when I tripped over it, in the dark, and smashed it to pieces. I now have a choice. I cannot be without some way to make music. So I either have to buy another guitar, or pony up the money and pick up a saxophone. I have spoken over the internet with a young lady from London, a professional sax player, who has encouraged me to go the sax route, and that is the direction of my heart. The problem is with my wallet, since I can get a playable acoustic guitar for a C note, but I can't say that about a sax. The only way I can justify a sax is if I decide to start taking playing gigs for money again. And I don't know if I want to do that. Decisions, decisions.
Thanks for sharing PigPen51. It is a tough business. For everyone who "makes it" there are probably thousands who do not. I've got a friend in Muscle Shoal who has dabbled in the music industry for years. He is a local guy who went up there and opened a law practice. He owned a recording studio for years. He has a band and has co-written some songs that became "hits". He tells it just like you. Introduced this friend to my best friend who could play several instruments and was a very good singer. He still has great vocals. He cut a demo album at my other friends studio back in the mid-eighties. A mutual friend who was good friends with Hank Williams, Jr.'s manager, James R. Smith, at that time hauled my friend along with the demo to Nashville where they had an appointment at RCA. After listening to the tapes, the RCA executive told them he could make my friend famous and sell a lot of records, but it was going to take some serious money to set things in motion. That was that as they say.
I knew one woman who had it all, the voice, the looks, the charisma, the whole package. She also had a cocaine habit. The industry would not touch her with a ten foot pole. For everyone like her, with the problems, there are a thousand who are just as talented, and good looking, without the baggage. It is all about money, and the people with money don't risk it anymore. They only bet it on a sure thing. Hell, they don't even care that much if the country girls can sing that well, with auto tune. They just want someone who fits the same mold.
http://meanmemes.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteMeh. Quite repetitively typical of "new" contry rock. Sorry. JMO.
ReplyDeleteSarthurk
That is quite alright Sarthurk. It isn't my music either. He is a very talented young man with a great voice, but not my fondest type of music. I listen to classic rock and a local classic country/bluegrass (40's-80's) station that gives the "farm report", news, weather, etc. It is Big Country 105.7
Deletehttps://www.wqah.com/on-air/listen-live
Some people just don't "get it." I played a little over 25 years ago, in a band named Tradewinds. We had two female singers, sisters, who were gorgeous. A guitar player, a bass player, a drummer, and me, a sort of everything player, from saxophones, to the occasional guitar,and background singer. We were better than well over half of the bands you heard on the radio, without a doubt, not to brag, just the truth. Just like this group here,The Band Steele, who are pretty good, they have a label, and someone to promote them. But the sad fact is, they likely will go nowhere. The music business is so much worse even today than it was in the 90's. Back then, it was about money, and if you could draw a crowd.
ReplyDeleteMy band actually was filling up the bars and nightclubs we were playing at. We were booked out a year in advanced, and had some of the better gigs, like weddings, and a local cruise ship party. But we were all in our thirties with families and could not go on the road, and that was what made us just another bar band.
My son had a band, they actually did go on the road, spending time working to earn money to keep going. They did hurricane relief in Galveston, they played at the Phoenix Suns stadium, when they had a minor league hockey game there. They played at the Whiskey a go go. Then they headed up the California coast, and ended up at San Luis Obispo. He was there for a couple of years, then got married, and moved his bride back here to Michigan. Like me, he also found out just what the music business is all about.
I actually did some session work, way back when. Mostly just playing for some radio commercials, and that sort of stuff. It was only satisfying in that I could say that I did it. Back then, you would go in, sit in a room, with a few mics, and play two or three lines of music, then stop. The guy running the board, I guess the sound engineer, if he was satisfied, would say, ok, and you would then move down to the next lines. The entire thing usually only took around an hour. Only once in awhile would the engineer say something like, " we need this to be jazzier, or this should sound a little sexy." It was not romantic at all, but like I said, it was kind of cool to be able to say that I did it. I only heard one lick that I played on the radio, once or twice, for a commercial for a car sale. I don't know if they used any of the other stuff. They might have just held onto it, as a just in case. I did get a call one other time, asking if I was interested in doing more, but by then, I had moved on from wanting to do that sort of thing.
Now days, I suspect that much of it is done digitally, with no real musicians being involved at all. I know that I have not played the sax in probably 5 years, I don't even own one right now. I had been playing guitar for my own amusement, but mine got broken, when I tripped over it, in the dark, and smashed it to pieces. I now have a choice. I cannot be without some way to make music. So I either have to buy another guitar, or pony up the money and pick up a saxophone. I have spoken over the internet with a young lady from London, a professional sax player, who has encouraged me to go the sax route, and that is the direction of my heart. The problem is with my wallet, since I can get a playable acoustic guitar for a C note, but I can't say that about a sax. The only way I can justify a sax is if I decide to start taking playing gigs for money again. And I don't know if I want to do that. Decisions, decisions.
Thanks for sharing PigPen51. It is a tough business. For everyone who "makes it" there are probably thousands who do not. I've got a friend in Muscle Shoal who has dabbled in the music industry for years. He is a local guy who went up there and opened a law practice. He owned a recording studio for years. He has a band and has co-written some songs that became "hits". He tells it just like you. Introduced this friend to my best friend who could play several instruments and was a very good singer. He still has great vocals. He cut a demo album at my other friends studio back in the mid-eighties. A mutual friend who was good friends with Hank Williams, Jr.'s manager, James R. Smith, at that time hauled my friend along with the demo to Nashville where they had an appointment at RCA. After listening to the tapes, the RCA executive told them he could make my friend famous and sell a lot of records, but it was going to take some serious money to set things in motion. That was that as they say.
ReplyDeleteI knew one woman who had it all, the voice, the looks, the charisma, the whole package. She also had a cocaine habit. The industry would not touch her with a ten foot pole. For everyone like her, with the problems, there are a thousand who are just as talented, and good looking, without the baggage. It is all about money, and the people with money don't risk it anymore. They only bet it on a sure thing. Hell, they don't even care that much if the country girls can sing that well, with auto tune. They just want someone who fits the same mold.
DeleteAnyway you could get this guy to do some true "southern rock"?
ReplyDeleteSteve
I bet so Steve. You can go to YouTube and search The Band Steel and find out more about them/him.
Delete