young steeler available

Chris Castle · Post by **Chris Castle** » 24 Feb 2009 1:20 pm

thats a good one matthew!!

im enjoying my music alot... im doing some steel shows in the next few months, leading up to the st.louis show.

and i have just been contacted by some people in ashland... i am going to meet with them thursday night. they have asked me and my dad to join their house band... good country show, no smoking or drinking. every friday and saturday night from 7:30 til 10. so hopefully all of that will work out.

but i am saddened to think about my steel career after graduating high school... i plan to attend vanderbilt/belmont universities in Nashville, and then their conjoining medical school to major in anesthesiology.

but i know i will still be able to follow my heart and passion which is music...

-chris castle

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 24 Feb 2009 6:40 pm

Chris,

This is nothing new to me. I know of several steel player that can put me to sleep.

Chris Castle · Post by **Chris Castle** » 24 Feb 2009 7:59 pm

yea..

Chris Castle · Post by **Chris Castle** » 11 Mar 2009 1:05 pm

well guys, the gig at ashland fell through...

still enjoying the teenage high school life though... college letters and offers pouring in every week...

but im always ready for a good jam session or show...

chris

Chris Erbacher · Post by **Chris Erbacher** » 4 Apr 2009 1:33 am

hey man, i saw your post and thought i would chime in...let me tell you my story and maybe you can glean something from it (i'm 34 and i'll try to keep it short). i always loved music as early as about 4 i listened to everything i could and wore it out. i always wanted a guitar but my dad wouldn't get me one even though i had near a 4.0 almost all the way thru school. he "didn't want me to learn guitar because the next thing you know, there will be a band in the basement, i know, i used to bug your grandmother with my band"...she said otherwise and told me she liked it...anyway...i was in college and about 23 before picking up my first instrument (the banjo)...i spent most of my time playing that and learning as much as i could to the neglect of my classes at college (i graduated from ohio state). i didn't start playing steel until jan 1st of 2003. i have put in many hours of practice and played some nice gigs since then and always wondered what life would have been like if i had been lucky enough to pick up an instrument back when i wanted one to begin with...i'm happy with the life i live now (i live on maui and play as much as i want to), but i just wanted to tell you that as much as an education can't be replaced, neither can your dreams. whatever your dream is, go for it. go for it with all you have and then some. don't let anyone tell you that you can't...go big or don't go at all. pour all your heart and soul into what it is you want to do and you will be happy knowing you did that. you have the benefit of playing an instrument that allows you to go to just about any jam and be the only one there with that instrument...this equals a lot of playing time with a lot of different types of musicians and people. it also equals a chance to try out a lot of different things in different settings besides just country, which will allow you to gain a feel for what will work with a lot of types of music and expand your knowledge of your instrument. be open. be curious. be positive. i can say this about music...it has opened doors in my life where i didn't even know doors existed. you gotta make a living somewhere and if you put yourself in the right place at the right time, you might not have to go thru one crappy job after another to play music at night like a lot of musicians do...you are still young enough to just play music, especially if the college town you are going to has a scene to it where you could join a band that gains popularity...but that said, make sure you get an education because one thing they don't tell you in those steel education books is how shifty the music business is and how really great bands with paying gigs can go down in a puff of smoke in no time flat if everyone doesn't have their life outside of music together. i have seen it happen a few times now and i'm glad i have an education to draw upon. at the very least you oughta be able to put yourself into position to meet a lot of girls at school if you can play something sweet. one final thing...if you go and get one of those roland cube mini battery powered amps...once it warms up, set your steel up on the sidewalk where there is a bunch of foot traffic and put your hat out...i bet you make money and find a gig pretty easily...ok, good luck and have fun...aloha

Chris Castle · Post by **Chris Castle** » 13 May 2009 3:28 pm

hey chris, thanks for the kind words and advice. I'm just so afraid that when i go to medical school i will lose my touch on steel. i know i will always have it, but still you know. I just love playing so much and would love to make it my career instead, but i know what i have to do to make a great life for myself and make the life i have always wanted. I love helping people too and that just adds to it so much.

i have a few gigs coming up.

Chris Erbacher · Post by **Chris Erbacher** » 13 May 2009 9:58 pm

since you like music so much and like to help people and are wanting to be a doctor, seems logical to look up music healing, which is an up and coming field in medicine...i'll bet you would be a hit with your patients if you brought in your steel and played it for them to help soothe their worries while they were in the hospital, and you would gain quite a reputation as well...keep on pickin, have fun, aloha, chris

Chris Castle · Post by **Chris Castle** » 14 May 2009 12:22 pm

hey that's a good idea chris! actually, a friend of mine is doing that. she plays the fiddle and just got back from france.

that is very interesting and i may have to look into that, but i've honestly never thought of that before. YOU COULD BE ON TO SOMETHING MAN!!

thanks my friend

-chris

Chris Castle · Post by **Chris Castle** » 23 Jun 2009 7:50 pm

really all I want to do is get some shows and maybe spend a year or 2 in nashville or on tour before I pursue my medical career as a neurosurgeon. There isn't anything music wise in these mountains of coal mining country I call home. I just want to experience it. Just want to be able to play some and say I've done that you know. Been there once in my life.

it is a dream, and one that I will not let go of...