Pedal Steel Player Looking For Work in Colorado

[Paul Carestia]

OK, I wish I lived in Texas because if I did I'd be playing in a good country band. But I don't and I'm not!

I have over 40 years of professional experience all over the Midwest. I now live in Colorado. I'm looking to hook up with a country/country rock band of top caliber musicians (why, because I'm top caliber). And my those who know me on the Forum will vouch for that.

I am also available for studio work.......which I have done a huge amount of in Chicago over the past decade.

I can provide demo and samples of my studio work.

I'm dying to get hooked up with a good country band. My chops are going to waste, and I hate that!

[Paul Carestia]

Ok.......this is pitiful!

I guess all of the country music has left colorado.

Check me out...........explain why I'm not working!

www.reverbnation.com/paulcarestia

And, I'm a nice guy! LOL!

[Al Risbeck]

I Come to Iowa to play every summer because country is dead in eastern/central Colorado.

Al

[Bill Bailey]

Hey Paul, so glad to find you hear on the forum. I really enjoyed the clips on the Reverbnation site you posted. You sound great as usual. You should definatly be with a Major Artist. So sorry we had to miss you at the Nat Rodeo finals in Las Vegas, I was so disappointed, but what can you do. Maybe you should get Dee off that Montana Ranch and you two should form your own band,that would be so strong. Good luck at what ever you do, all the best.

[Rick Kornacker]

Hey Paul! Good to hear from you in Colorado! Not that it will grant you much solace but you're singing the same song that a lot of us are!(and great steel players don't need to sing!). I am recently retired from daytime work and used to be excited about all the unfettered time that I would have to play and teach. My opinion on our dilemma...we are now not part of mainstream "country music", but "up on the shelf" next to western swing and other such great genres..not knocking any of them. If you don't hear (good) steel on the radio you don't hear it in the clubs. I can't imagine going to a club nowadays and hearing bands play Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and the like. If you can find bands doing Buck and Merle, they are few and far between. Some on the Forum have intimated that maybe Vince and Paul will "revive" interest in this art form but I don't believe it will ever be mainstream again. If it ever does you will be right where you would like to be, the accomplished player that you are. As far as I am concerned personally, I don't know how thrilled I would be just playing the cliche' licks and would prefer to play in a more progressive situation...but a good solid country band with other peers of one's own caliber would be tempting enough. Anyway, good to hear from you and let's hope for the best! Your friend in Nashville(WOW)! RK

[Al Risbeck]

from what I hear there is still some good "classic Country" being played in southern, southwestern and western Colorado, mostly in rural areas. Around any of the bigger town (city's) you'll probably get a DUI for one drink if you get stopped. One incident I am aware of was a deputy sheriff putting electrical tape on the left rear tail light of cars parked in the club's lot and stopping them as they came down the road later. As he walked up to the driver's door he'd remove the tape. He was caught doing it and fired. Happened in Franktown, Douglas County, Colorado about two years ago.

Al

[Paul Honeycutt]

Where in Colorado are you? It's a big state.

[Gary Guzzardo]

Same here in south west Florida, Bands would rather put the money in they're pocket than pay for a steel player . The clubs are not paying like they use to. Thats a big part of it...

[Niels Andrews]

Could it be the generation that enjoyed that type of music has aged out? Could the fact the cops have sat outside the bars for the last few years and nailed anybody leaving, driven the bars out of business? This used to be a Cowboy town, now it is the center for drug gangs and cartels. To find Country music here you have to drive a few hours and it has to be the right night. I am afraid this is just the way it is, and it isn't coming back. I think this is a national issue. Bummer!

[Larry Waisner]

I am afraid it is that way across this great country Paul. If your not in the hub area where steel guitar is used everywhere it's hard to get work. Steel players in Albuquerque can't even buy a gig here. There's less than a half a dozen bands using a steeler out here New Mexico. Most of the clubs do not want to pay for that chair.
Larry

[John Booth]

Ok.......this is pitiful!
I guess all of the country music has left colorado.
Check me out...........explain why I'm not working!
www.reverbnation.com/paulcarestia
And, I'm a nice guy! LOL!

The fact that you're not working really scares me.
That means I may never work again
You should have your pick of acts Paul.
Very nice skills.
JB

[Lee Barber]

Paul
Don't know much about this, but he is in Co. and looking.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=276961

[Glenn Demichele]

Hi Paul: I met with you once at Cadillac Ranch back in the line dance days. I was in Robbie Fulks' band for awhile too, and proud to steal one of your licks off his record. Well, I don't know if Chicago is any better than Colorado these days. There are a bunch of good players here trying to "keep country music alive", and clubs like Martyrs and Fitzgeralds do their best to give it a place on stage as "art music", but the changing tastes of the EDM-fed kids are killing all the bread and butter jobbing and bar gigs. It's not just country either. I used to play over 150 jobbing dates per year doing bar-mitzvahs and weddings (on bass) with six to 20 piece bands. Two of my kids - both in high school now - attended bar-mitzvah's of Jewish friends, and out of maybe 30, only ONE had a live band. The sadder thing - I knew everyone in that band from the old days. They were great, and it was a good party, but kids now need to hear the actual record, and need a DJ up there telling them when to spin around and wiggle their hands in the air. Sort of like square dancing I suppose.

We've pretty much given up trying to get gigs at dance clubs, and instead are trying to promote our own events, like doing a 3 band show at performance spaces etc.
It's a heavy torch to carry. Geez, I'd think it would be easier in Colorado. Glenn

[Jory Simmons]

hey Paul..i feel your pain Bro! Perhaps you remember me...I had the house Job at nashville north back in '79-80-81...with Dallas Wayne...I currently reside (for the last 20 years) in SE WI..and I have to go on the road to make a living playin Steel...No country Music here...so its off to Wyoming AGAIN with a Band from here...IN WINTER!!! This is what We have to do.

[Bob Bartoli]

Paul you are great!! if your having trouble, I may as well sell my stuff.....

[Don Chance]

I lived in Colorado Springs for eight years, and played (country) music for a living the whole time. And I found out that when it came to music there were at that time 2 Colorados.

One is in the mountains, where just about everything west of the Front Range depends on winter and summer visitors (with about six weeks every spring and summer being lean times for musicians). Tourists. Skiers, hunters, fishermen, gold prospectors, hikers, photographers, tree huggers, ghost town explorers, so on. They like live music, including country music; but they're not (or they weren't when I was there) particularly interested in the kind of classic country where steel guitar is most at home.

The other Colorado is the open ranching country east of the Front Range. The towns out there might be small, and spaced pretty far apart, but those farmers and ranchers love their classic country music. Almost every town out there has some kind of Elks or Moose or Eagles or Lions (I tell ya', it's a jungle out there!) civic group kicking up its heels almost every weekend, and they demand live country dance music at their local festivals, rodeos and "Pioneer Days" celebrations. And - when I was there (I came back to Texas in the late 1990s) - they dance all year 'round, which never failed to fill out my spring and fall calendar. I've played as many as 33 and 34 bookings in a 30-day month, and could have booked more if I thought I could get away with it without the music suffering because we were so exhausted.

Since I got tired of those long, cold Front Range winters and came back to Texas, where the weather is better and there's more music work, I've kept in touch with the pickers I worked with up there; and according to them the Colorado music scene hasn't changed all that much.

You might have to organize your own group and do your own booking. As long as there are farms and ranches in Eastern Colorado I can't imagine those hardworking country people sitting at home every weekend when they can get together and dance.