Why didn't you [and I] make it big???

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 24 Aug 2004 7:57 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:28 PM.]

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 24 Aug 2004 8:52 pm

Been thinking about this one awhile---Bob, to start with you sound a little bitter, on this, and several other threads you've started. You said you were making a grand a NIGHT, back in the 70's?? That's what, 300,000 in a year??? What did you DO with that kind of bread? I went through a lot of nose sugar too, back in the day, but WOW! If I'd been making over a quarter million dollars a year, in the 70's, I'd be RETIRED now!! So what is "Making it?" Playing for per diem, backing somebody who may not even know your name? A different woman every night? Adulation of a sold-out crowd, when you don't have the money in your pocket for a decent meal? Playing some bar 5-6-7 nights a week? I was a straight-A student through high school. Always had a voracious appetite for reading, so any subject I took, I already knew a lot about--didn't have to study a lick! Went to college on a scholarship, and guess what? Everybody else there was as smart as I was, except I didn't know how to study! Didn't flunk out, but I did drop out after a year. Kinda like the kid who learned all the licks right away, huh?
Now, though, I'm 49. I am a Christian, as you've stated you were. I play in a couple of bands, when I have a weekend off work, and I dig it! No pressure, just a chance to make music with my friends, and supplement my income(though not by much!). I like my job OK, make pretty good money, my house is nice--NOT a palace, but it's dry, and comfortable.
Hey, you know what? I've made the big-time---BIG TIME!!![This message was edited by Stephen Gambrell on 24 August 2004 at 09:58 PM.]

Scott Henderson · Post by **Scott Henderson** » 24 Aug 2004 10:06 pm

Bob,
Let me tell you a story about two steel players. One is a great player who tool the plundge and moved to nashville.After a few years of 15.00 nights and 40.00 an hour lessons finally purely by chance got the dream gig of a life time. He traveled all over the world, worked on every thing from leno to CMT. He made millions working for one if not, the biggest artist($$$) in country music history. when all the glitz and glamour were gone he had spent all his money on all the wrong things and went back to being a broke musician back near his home town trying to keep a monkey off his back.Did he make it big? by most standards NO.The other was not only a great steel player but a fiddle, banjo, singer. and more. He went straight out of high school to a five night a week pickin job (sit-down) built a solid career in sales and raised two kids. His idea of makin it big was taking care of his resposibilities at home and enjoying his music. He has had a lot of acomplishments and has always played as much music as he wants. (currently 7 nights a week) He works conventions, writes books, records albums, and most important has never stopped doing what he loves, playing steel guitar. did he make it big oh yeah!!!! not because of the number of gold records on the wall but because of the happiness he has given himself and the people around him. Tomorrow he will get up and take his son, the future doctor, fishin and if that ain't big I don't know what is. The first steel player? My cousin. The second? me!!!Bob don't dwell on what you didn't do. be proud of what you did do and are doing now.And if you don't like what you are doing change it's never to late. Sure I have lost some of the fire in my hands but I play with more feeling and thought. After twenty years I can still hang.The point is I thank God for my life and my talent and wouldn't change a thing. Why didn't I make it big? I'm still makin it big. bigger and better every day!!!!

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Steelin' away in the ozarks and life,
Scott
www.scottyhenderson.com

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 25 Aug 2004 1:07 pm

Stephen.. I am not bitter by any stretch of the imagination. If I convey that in my posting I may just need an attitude modification. I DO speak my mind and if I don't like something or feel justified in a complaintI will state it,but I do not have a bitter ungrateful soul. I am sorry I gave you that impression. If you had read my opening post,you would have seen I was in a VERY popular BAND making 1000 a night. Agent took 10%.. Manager took 10%.. Light system rental, PA payments.. both systems were MASSIVE and ridiculously xpensive... Huge truck...6 man crew... hotels... Out of every $1000 I was lucky to bring $25 home... $300,000 a year... are you serious???? Our roadies made DOUBLE what we were paid @$50 a night each. Even us bitter unhappy,miserable guys should make better money than that doncha think??? bob

Mike Lovell · Post by **Mike Lovell** » 25 Aug 2004 4:00 pm

Hi, New Guy here.
I made it BIG after 35 years of struggling on 6 string. Last November I bought an inexpensive lapsteel. Now I have a solid, loyal fan base and get get requests. "Popaw Mike, play Blues Clues. Popaw Mike make that woowee sound again." Playing can become a group effort with so many little hands pushing on the volume pedal. I made it Big

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 25 Aug 2004 4:16 pm

You know just another thought. I have made it as big as I want to go. I've played in front of eight thousand people this year and a number of jobs between three and five thousand. We are booked almost a year in advance. I sleep in my own bed and have financial security. I have tremendous fun on the weekends. I am VERY fortunate. In fact, I am blessed.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 25 Aug 2004 4:44 pm

10-4 to what's being said above. I am pretty much living my dream...

Got a great education, married a beautiful (inside and out) woman, 3 great daughters, house in the country, a tractor, some guitars and friends, and I'm serving Christ. What more could anybody want?

Ok, a few more dollars in the bank would be nice. Maybe if I sell some of these guitars... Nah!

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 26 Aug 2004 3:00 am

Scotty -----

Scotty and Teresa are the "American Young Couple" class act. Catch him at The Lee Mace Ozark Opry in Osage Beach -- Lake of The Ozarks Region.

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 26 Aug 2004 3:45 am

"I don't think I'm the only one hear wallowing in self pity! am I bob"

I rest my case.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 26 Aug 2004 9:01 am

Did one summer on the road. That was enough for me. As much as I love to play, I hated living out of a suitcase!

Unfortunately, you gotta do the road. To my knowledge, there's no shortcut to "the top".

Louie Hallford · Post by **Louie Hallford** » 28 Aug 2004 5:17 pm

A $30,000 year mechanic job,a wife and four young boys for a family and places to pick whenever you want to? Bob I have never heard you play and never met you but having read of you on the forum, I have always had the feeling that you were head and shoulders above most of us Forumites as a player. Is it just possible that you have had a very succesful life even tough all your dreams have not been fulfilled. Unfulfilled dreams probably apply to most of us. This is not intended in any way to be judgemental or to be a sermon,your post just motivated my thinking. Thanks

I travel a lot and there is a small town several 100 miles from where I live. Seldom can I pass through it without pulling off the highway and driving down to a narrow little street,hoping every time I do that I will see a beautiful brick home,manicured lawns and new cars setting out in the drive.

In the last few weeks I have again gone down that same little street and again was disappointed to see the same sight that I have seen for several years.

What I saw was the same old frame house probably 75 to 100 years old with a rusting tin roof,that I am sure must surely leak by now,the paint is more guickly dissappearing,you can no longer call it white, there was the same old air conditioning unit in the window. The most touching thing I saw was the same two old pit bulldogs out in the dirt front yard sadly waiting for one of steel guitars greatest and most succesful steel guitarist to come home... not knowing he has gone home.

From all the inspiration and the musical gifts he left behind for the rest of us, I cannot help but conclude he made it to the top. Further more I am convinced he knew he made it to the top.
My final conclusion is that just like all the rest of ,he proably did not get to fulfill all his lifes dreams and would probably change a few things along the way if he had it to do over again... then maybe not. Maybe the fame he achieved was the success he was looking for. May he RIP

Thanks for your post and for making me think.. I don't have a lot of money,I sure don't have a lot of skill playing steel guitar,and very few people know me,but like you I have a job,a family and get to play whenever I want to, even though I usually don't qualify for the paying gigs.

I am a lucky guy sometimes I forget it.

Ken Thompson · Post by **Ken Thompson** » 30 Aug 2004 10:01 am

Great topic. I have gained a lot of insight into the players and it has been impressive.

I have been in law enforcement for 31 years and playing weekends for about the same amount of time with periods of non-playing in between. I picked up the steel about 15 years ago and began playing gigs about 8 years ago. I play in a band with my son, who is the lead singer. I got him his first job when I was asked to play steel (first paying gig) and told them I would do it if my son could play with us. I paid him out of my cut (I wasn't very good so I was overpaid anyway). Now we have our own band doing small concerts, opening acts, clubs etc. More dates than we want to play.

The other band members are half my age (and point that out all the time) and would love to play music full time. Of course they are making a living from their day jobs and seeing only the profit from the gigs. They don't have to live off of it.

We are now competing for some of the same gigs that the stars (or should I say, artists) of the past are wanting. They have gone to the top and are now going down having been replaced by the "next big thang". We are happy to get the gigs for the enjoyment, they are happy to get the gig for the money. Who is having more fun?

I have truly been blessed by God for giving me a proffession to enjoy and make a living, and a passion to enjoy and share with others. I have made the Big Time in my world. The others are beginning to see my point.

John De Maille · Post by **John De Maille** » 30 Aug 2004 12:32 pm

Bob,
My proffession for the last 33 yrs, has been working with wood as a carpenter.You name it, I've done it.Houses, extensions, remodeling, cabinetry, etc. It's been a decent career. But, like you, during the late 70's and through the 80's, I worked 4 to 5 nights a week at my heart's delight. Being a "Steelman".I've worked with many big guns and a lot of small ones.Traveled to Texas to Florida and Maine and back. The hours were terrible, and the road sucked.I made a lot of money back then (still don't know where it went to!) And, I have to say that,I still have a wife, two nice houses (one here, one upstate NY) and we both have new SUV's. Do I miss playing a lot? You bet!!! I take any gig that's offered me, and then cry about it later, if it's a bad one. But, at least I played the gig. Times have changed a little for us, my friend. The market we knew years ago, doesn't exist much anymore. There are places, though. My friend in northen Arizona tells me I could work all the time as a steel player, but, there's no security in it. I think we should all take stock in what we have as individuals and family members and be pleased that we were graced by God to be able to play this instrument. Regardless of how many gigs we have. Ten years ago, I had a brain hemorrage. I thought I would never play steel again, but, the good lord saw me through it. And, I'm not really a religious man, but, I do pray now and then. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is, be thankfull you can play, and be thankfull you're still here to play. Never give up trying to play! Play all the time, even to amuse yourself. It's a great gift, not everybody has it.
Sincerely,
John

Andy Greatrix · Post by **Andy Greatrix** » 30 Aug 2004 12:58 pm

I didn't make it big, but I made it this far. (sixty years old and counting) I'm alive and still don't have a day-job.
Life is good! John and Norma Lacey are coming to town tomorrow, for a lunch and shop talk get-together. Life goes on (so far!)

Burr Oxley · Post by **Burr Oxley** » 30 Aug 2004 1:30 pm

Just gotta add to Ron Moore's post earlier. Ron and about another 40-50 steel players in the Iowa/Wisconsin area have "made it big" as far as I'm concerned. Those who attend Steel Guitar Jams in this area know and revere these players and look forward to their appearances. Their personal lives appear to be stable and satisfactory to them, and none seem to be poverty-stricken or otherwise disadvantaged. God bless 'em all, I think they're huge successes.

Gabriel Aaron Wynne · Post by **Gabriel Aaron Wynne** » 30 Aug 2004 4:23 pm

Count your blessings. . . Do you think the steel guitar player for Tim McGraw has made it big? Is playing for Kenny Chesney anything to brag about? (no offense to the player - he was very nice to me the night that I was working as a bouncer at Billy Bob's Texas) The joy IS in the playing. I've often said that I would rather not play at all than have to play a bunch of crappie jams dumped out by the Nashville song machine. What exactly is making it anyway? Does it really matter? Maybe some people care about 'making it' so they can walk right past you and act like they're something special. Most steel guitar players that are really great are very nice people and really aren't concerned about it. It's the ones that have problems with their playing that act like jackasses.

Gerald Menke · Post by **Gerald Menke** » 31 Aug 2004 11:41 am

Dear Bob and others,

This is really a great thread. It's been refreshing to read one that isn't so much about wrong/right, but rather how different everybody's definition of success can be.

Maybe some of you can relate to this. I've been striving away in the music business since 1989, and have made a living from it at various points in my life, ironically have probably made more money playing steel than I made playing guitar or bass for sure. I think the definition of "making it" as Bob had laid it out there was something akin to making a good steady living from playing music, specifically steel guitar. Held up to this yardstick, very few of us indeed can say we've made it. I am certainly not among those who can say they have.

I have been interested in "making it" really only because it seemed like the only way to get to do what I've wanted since I was young, which was play music for a living, instead of the double life so many of us lead. I think I'm a pretty decent musician, but feel lately a bit like the guy who made whips during end of the horse and buggy era, does anybody really need what I can do?

To some extent, with each passing year, the chances of my making it seem to pull away into the distance, maybe I'm getting tired and don't want it as bad anymore. But at the end of the day, the reason I wanted to make it was that I just wanted to make a living doing the one thing I think I do well, playing music. Having a family/nice house etc, one day may be nice, but it won't be "making it" in the sense I think of it. That's success by some other measure.

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 1 Sep 2004 2:31 am

Gabriel--you've noticed that too ??? And the sad part is it's not only the "Big Time" but even the little jams around the country have gotten that way it seems to me.
If you're "somebody" there'll be very friendly but if you're just someone who is of no particular value as a friend, well---there's that few that show no interest at all. Thankfully, all are not that way yet. Sad part is it didn't used to be that way years back when steel was younger. Just MHO.

Thomas Bancroft · Post by **Thomas Bancroft** » 1 Sep 2004 7:22 am

Hey Bob,

Were you in Cowtown? I know Stan Taylor was in Kinderhook Creek. Do you know where Stan is. Almost took lessons from him in 70's but the trip to Morristown was too much for my teenage self. So I didn't really start on steel till I was 30. Wish I had started when I was 18.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 2 Sep 2004 5:57 am

Making it big? Now that it is truly all over for me. I look back with pride at all I got to do,all the people I got to meet,all those that I worked with,and all those that worked for me. All the friends I made and still communicate with. The recordings,the phone that use to ring wanting our services. The crowds, The 5-6 nighters, The outdoor shows, fairs ,amusement parks.Being booked on the same bill with some of my heros. To me that was making it big and I feel I accomplished all I could with what God gave me.But as I stated above I made some very lasting friendships and that is the "making it big" for me.

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Gary Dillard · Post by **Gary Dillard** » 4 Sep 2004 4:19 am

Great thread. My opinion of "making it big" is having opportunity. Who knows me and who doesn't? I played for 18yrs for one of southern gospel music's premier groups, yet I am sure many of you have NO IDEA who I am. I was blessed to have made a comfortable living playing steel for those years. Playing the white house, opry, and more, yes what a great opportunity. BUT...I sure enjoy driving 6 miles to work now and being home every night. Making it big? I don't think so...just being in the right place at the right time....Making it big?...that is when you don't have to worry about paying your power bill.

Now I play for the love of the steel guitar, NOT because I have to. What a DIFFERENCE! Like so many have stated before in this thread...play for the love of it!

Gabriel...you are right on it when you wrote:
Most steel guitar players that are really great are very nice people and really aren't concerned about it. It's the ones that have problems with their playing that act like jackasses.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 4 Sep 2004 10:06 am

Bob, my answer to your original question is 'because I didn't really want to'. I'm with the folks who say making it 'big' isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be. The lifestyle can really take it out of you, although there are people who handle it well. I decided a long time ago to focus on being a scientist and engineer, and I'm glad I did. Nor am I trying to 'make it big' there, which is a big theme in science & academe, believe it or not. I do it because I like it and it's a good life. Many times I've felt pressed to sell my soul, not worth it to me.

But I never stopped playing, and I think I have the best of both worlds, for me at least. I bailed out of technical work for 5 years and played music full time, but did get back into the saddle with the technical work a few years back. You often pay a penalty for doing what you want, but it leaves options. I get to do both things I love, and still have a family. I think I'm lucky.

Mike, interesting but sad story about Canned Heat, one of my favorite bands growing up in the late 60's. My brother got married in L.A. a few years ago, and his bachelor party was at a small club near Studio City, where Canned Heat was playing that night. Or should I say, what was left of the original Canned Heat, which was Fito. However, the other guys were fine, and they sounded great. We had a chance to talk about old times while they smoked on a park bench outside (since nobody could smoke inside). And I note, they're playing the same type of gigs that I have the last 15 years. Nothin' to be ashamed of, imo. Now if we could just get more states here in the NE to cut smoking from clubs, my lungs would be a lot happier.

Smiley, didn't know you were from Mass. I'm originally from Westwood/Amherst/Brookline, but my wife's from Gallatin, TN. Her folks are still there, will check out your gig at the Cowboy Saloon when I'm down.

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MSA Classic D-10 8+4, Sierra S-10 3+4;
Peavey LTD 400, Line6 Pod 2.0 + Ampeg BA 112, '64 Fender Deluxe Reverb

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 7 Sep 2004 3:13 pm

Great responses here guys!!.. I suppose even some very good very experienced players,singers and songwriters will languish in obscurity. Thats just the way it is. Talent and the appreciation of it is very fickle. Some people are loaded with it and dig ditches to make a living. Others are endowed minimally with it and are multi billionaires. At least most of us here have gotten our shot at fleeting fame.. a little taste..our fifteen minutes... I,like most of you have no regrets or just little ones... maybe...but hey, who knows whats down the road you know??? . just gotta keep hackin I guess. I look at it like this.. The average Joe out there will NEVER know what it feels like to have people dance or clap thier hands or smile with delight because of thier musical ability. That counts for something I guess,right? Most of us here know the feeling. Its in our past probably in our present and Lord willing in our future!... gotta go practice!!! bob

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 7 Sep 2004 3:28 pm

.[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 17 November 2004 at 09:29 PM.]