I am a muscian. Yes, it’s like a strange addiction. And like all addictions, you have to admit that there is a problem. However, I don’t feel that my passion for music is a problem! There is one problem that may befall all musicians one time or another (besides the lack of an apprciative audience!), and that is not having a serious band to play with.
Now, I have some buddies that I pick with every now and then. We get together, drink a few beers to loosen up, and let it rip with some old country and bluegrass tunes. It is a blast really, and a good way to forget about jobs and women problems and everything for a while. Only thing is that it is only every now and then, and I need this more than I ever thought I would.
I am only thirty three, but it is a ripe thirty three years. I’ve been rich, and so poor I’ve ate at homeless shelters and talked to people that most rich people stepped over to get to their favorite restaurants in the big city. I’ve sang and played bass in heavy rock bands since college, in all sorts of gig scenes, big and small. So this is hardly my first rodeo.
What does one have to do to get recoginized?! I have so many original songs, I have almost lost track of the older ones. They are poignant and emotional. They have also only reached the ears of my mother and girlfriends, except for the rock stuff, which I can hardly listen to anymore for being so angry at the world as I was when I wrote the stuff. It is still quality stuff though, and I’d stand by any of my old repitoire if I had to.
However, gone are the days of stage diving and everything else diving. I’d probley break a hip now! Just kidding. I’m not that old. Yet. Which is why I am writhing this to you with one question. What’s a guy gotta do to find some fellas to seriously pick with?!
Now the guys in our little band have farms and wives and full time jobs to contend with, and could never be serious about being in a band. I can respect that, and even admire them for it. But where does that leave the artist that feels that nothing else can make him or her happy until they are out entertaining people with their music? What does a guy do when he knows very little people in his area in the first place, let alone musicians?
I was drawn the Bluegrass Today in an attempt to find somebody in my area around here in Bardstown Kentucky to jam with in an attempt to do something serious. I have my own little studio which I have set up to record my projects here in my girlfriend’s place. I’ve saved up a lot of money, and am truely enjoying myself for the first time in my life by not having to go to work every day, though I sub teach when I can.
If you know of anyone wanting to jam, leave me a message, and you can bet your sweet bippy I’ll be getting back to you…
