The Steel Guitar Forum

It seems like the less interested the crowd or client's crowd, the better I'm expected to dress, but the more money I make. That's the private function world anyway. Concerts, festivals and bars? Dress compatible to the occasion, but dress "sharper" than the crowd. I've got everything from jeans to tuxes in my wardrobe. Never a t-shirt. I've got several short sleeve, Hawiian, western shirts. Black is always good. Newer jeans when jeans are appropriate, unless faded is a statement, but never holes in them. Common sense and respect get you a long way in the world. Decent shoes, no tennis shoes or runners though rubber soles are cool most of the time unless I'm in a suit, and always a sharp hat.

That's where I stand after 40+ years playing music. I want to look like I can hang with anyone in the crowd, but I want to be the coolest. Every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man, as Billy said.

I have played for dinners, clubs, dances, and stage shows, and we always dressed neat, and clean. Never tee shirts, or jeans with ripped knees. No tuxes, or suits, but dress to the occasion. Mostly a western shirt, pressed slacks, boots, or polished shoes, and sometimes western hats. Try to look more dressy than the people you are playing for. And never tap your foot to the beat.

Unless there is some correlation between playing well and dressing well I'll go more casual, clean but casual.
If it's a gig outside in the blazing sun, casual is cool. stevet

While I agree that you should always look just a touch sharper than the crowd, my only hard rule is NO SHORTS. No one needs a view of my Threlfall Cluster while I'm sitting down. And frankly, no one needs to see the the bass player's chicken legs either, even if they are more than half covered by those silly long shorts

Same band, one pic at sound check without suits and one with suits from same angle. I play in several bands and this one isn't the best as far as players go, but this group consistently makes at least double the money of the other groups. The look of the band matters a great deal on the business side of things.

Sharp lookin' bunch of guys.

There is a saying that some people "Hear" with their "Eyes". I suppose it depends on the type of music. Perhaps "T" shirts/jeans would suit a Rock or Country/Rock venue...but perhaps a nice night club might appreciate, some smart shirts..H Bar C perhaps?

Micky "scars" Byrne U.K.

Mike Bagwell, That is COOL. J.R. Rose

In the immortal words of George Clinton...

"A good show, starts in the dressing room
And works its way to the stage"



Black suit and black Sho~Bud....

This Sat. night, I dressed in all black, jeans, shirt, boots and ball cap. Because this gig was for a nice wedding, with a real pro (Bro. Country) band for some very wealthy folks on an estate in beautiful Kingfisher Ok. It was a perfect evening, no wind,(and in Oklahoma, that is a Miracle). In an air conditioned barn with the 15ft. doors opened at both ends, and 300 people attending the festivities. Got lots of compliments on the band and my steel pickin'.I might add, this barn was not a barn I'm used to seeing on a regular basis around here. Luxurious, with kitchen and bathroom facilities, finished concrete floors, and nicer than my home.....On the other hand, my regular band I gig with, I wear overalls, black T-Shirts and old beat up (used to be white) Tony Lama Ostrich boots, that I bought in Justin Tex. in 1998....I said all of that to say this, Nice Gigs, dress nice, Bar Gigs, Who Cares?

well fellas I agree withmost of you my personal feelings is that it depends on the venue if you are playing a redneck honkytonk just about anything goes heck after 2 hours every one except hopefully the band is pretty drunk I don't drink anymore never did much but you cant make good music if you ar epickled I do believe that doing stage shows that you should dress better as long as you are comfortable don't tell noody but performing is work the larger the venue and price of admission calls for dressing better I started in the late sixties when the star had a shinny rhinestone outfit and the other band members all dressed to the same or similar so do your thing and have fun but do give the audience their money worth remember micky gilly said it best give what they want and you will pack them in I aint much of a steeler YET but I have been through the wars and paid my dues on the rest of this music thang ye haw dennis n brown

lets not overlook this...

Say you are the band leader, at the end of the night you go up to the owner to get paid, you know ,to get a handful of 100's or a bigger handful of 20's.

They are dressed (even casually) for their evening at the venue...you may be in saggy shorts and a stretched out sweaty Tee. Do you think they notice ?

Do they even care ?

Who can say.

Being in sales on the road for a few decades I can tell you this with certainty , don't take anything for granted with regard to appearance, especially if you are asking for money !


The 2nd thing , with certainty, if you dress neat and clean, not overkill, clean jeans , nice casual or western shirt, you never have to worry about appearance.

You can check off that box and not look back. Now all you gotta do is worry about being in tune...

Different times called for different measures but neatness was always the look.

I will never forget what the late Ray Price said in an interview once. He said a singer (band) is selling two things, Sound and Sight. Fail on either one, and your performance suffers. There is an old adage among magicians that you should be the best dressed person in the house.

Dress for the venue: We played a gig for a motorcycle club and we dressed down, a lot, to fit in. Common sense prevails. If it's an outdoor gig, picnic, BBQ, company picnic, etc, dress accordingly. An indoor performance after six or a wedding reception, you should dress nicely out of respect and make yourself look like you have some manners.

Unfortunately, the style for many year now is to dress just anyway you want. I have seen pro groups at fair dates doing a sound check and thinking, surely they are not going to perform in those old road clothes. WRONG...even the stars dress sloppy. I just think the people that are paying your bills deserve better.

It's been quite a few years when I have played in a band that everybody dressed alike. They always say other bands don't do that, to me, is the perfect reason for us to do it, to be remembered and to stand out.The bands I was in, it rarely worked out, though. Almost every show, we had at least one guy dressed different. The reasons were: I didn't get time to wash it, I couldn't find the shirt, I forget and left it home, I thought we were wearing the red shirts today, etc. etc. (case in point: Check out Roy Carroll's great photo of his band, the guy in the middle forgot his tie) I think the only sure fire way is to have a "wardrobe" mistress to bring all the shirts to each venue then take them back home and get them ready for the next show. This doesn't cover, I thought we were wearing black pants today, my jeans were dirty, I didn't have time to press my pants,since it's is hot, I thought I would be more comfortable in shorts, and on and on.

Bottom line, I dress nice for a show and let everybody else do what they want. It is pretty bad when the steel player is upstaging the star in dress, but they don't seem to mind. I have lots of shirts that I only use for shows, not to wear to Walmart.

Also, short sleeves do not look good on stage. Bare arms just don't look good but hot outdoor gigs, long sleeve shirts would look out of place not to mention the obvious, you would have a melt down.

How can anybody see a group walk out dressed like Roy Carroll's group and not immediately have high expectations that they are going to hear some professional music? Maybe we need to start a new trend: If you have an amateur, sloppy band, then dress accordingly. You are not permitted to dress like Roy's group unless your music is equally as good. You have to earn a brown belt before you can wear a black belt.

I would want an extra 100 to have to dress that way. But Mike Bagwell's right. And I'm betting he gets that much extra and more. People do hear with their eye's. And Bag's got the money in his wallet to prove it. Shorts on old guys is not good no matter the gig.

b.

I guess if you dress like a slob on the job, you'll probably play like one as well !!!

Poor guy, if he'd only wore a Nudie suit he may have been able to provide for his family. You guys crack me up. No one comes to SEE most bands, they come to dance. Unless your a HUGE headliner, your just a live jukebox. And even of your a HUGE headliner, they dont care what your wearing, they just want to be part of the music.




This is Jason Boland and forum member Cody Angel feeling the love...In jeans and t-shirts. Get over yourselves.

James Sission wrote:


Poor guy, if he'd only wore a Nudie suit he may have been able to provide for his family. You guys crack me up. No one comes to SEE most bands, they come to dance. Unless your a HUGE headliner, your just a live jukebox. And even of your a HUGE headliner, they dont care what your wearing, they just want to be part of the music.




This is Jason Boland and forum member Cody Angel feeling the love...In jeans and t-shirts. Get over yourselves.

FWIW, Boland and Angel are actually in genre appropriate costume. Just like Eric Church and his band was on the last ACL he did. And countless other pop-country acts.

Most do a calculated "dress down and earthy" thing, often involving selvedge denim, designer t-shirts and boots (with a few ornaments, like wrist bracelets, a dog tag necklace, 'murica bandana maybe, whatever). The whole idea is to appeal to a target demographic while still maintaining some distance between the audience and the band - just enough distance to make the artist be something "above average/different/desirable" and yet "approachable."

Hey, if you're out in public playing music you already have my respect. But don't throw away a valuable tool in your performance arsenal (your dress) because "only the music matters." At least, don't do it without knowingly and consciously doing so. Your dress is a tool just like your guitar and amp and picks and pedals. Use it, or don't, but know you have it if you want it/need it.

Here in Florida where it is 90+ degrees most of the time, most of the clubowners pay less than half what I made back home (NYC) 20 YEARS AGO! Ya know the saying you get what you pay for? Well, for what they're paying, they get nice jeans & a clean black tee; that's all I ever wear. They're lucky they at least get a good musician with high end gear, I'd rather spend my money on top notch gear than shirts & suits. If the gig pays a little more, they get better dress, like nicer jeans & a Hawaiian shirt (I never wear western stuff; too cornball in Florida)Dressing alike is hokey & dated. I ain't gonna sweat my butt off for 1970s pay. And, it ain't like there's a whole Cragslist page of steel players here waiting to take my gigLOL!
Doesn't really matter anyway in Florida; most of the audiences here go to bars to smoke,play pool, get drunk, & get (hopefully) laid. Most could give a damn about the band. When they come up & identify me as the keyboard player, I know they ain't paying attention.

I occasionally play a large Texas-style dance hall with a couple different bands. Place gets packed out with young chicks, & every single one of them has their chest lit up from playing with their stupid phones, so you think they care about how the band looks?

I think Josh just nailed it. One Artist that comes to my mind is Kurt Cobain / Nirvana. Simultaneously changed popular music and what teenagers wore for a long time. They weren't dressed up, but they were conscious about what they were doing.

I would love to have a 'Fake Nudie' suit like the Buckeroos or Ray Price's band wore. But can't find any to buy or anyone to really make one that a working musician can afford. So I just buy the Scully embroidered shirts and go for it. I agree I grew up on Dressing for success.

James,
Points very well taken. stevet

Back in the day, in the bands I played in, we always dressed nice. No matter if it was 100 degrees, at a free gig (benefit), or..... The dress is part of the band. I have always liked the "dress-alike" look.

Let's put it this way, when I started with the group 5 years ago, we were doing 50-60 dates a year. We now do 120-135 and get paid pretty well for it. We attribute some of that to the dress. There is a not a single night that goes by that we do not get compliments on how we look. People just do not see professional looking musicians anymore. I came up in a time of Mel Tillis, Ernest Tubb, Ray Price and Faron Young. When the musicians hit the stage not only did you hear a professional band but they looked like one as well. As far as expectations being set. I would hope that when the people see us, they would have high expectations of hearing something good, as opposed to low expectations and something s^&%y.

Our guys would play just as well in t-shirts and torn jeans, but then the image of a professional is gone. If you look like you just climbed out of a dump truck, I guess the pressure to perform is off. I cannot tell you how many jobs we get because of the dress. The music would be the same, but the appearance would not. Half of the battle to win the crowd is already done. There will always be musicians that want to dress in t-shirts and shorts and that's fine. It's what they want to do. To each his own. It doesn't mean they aren't great musicians. The fact is that dressing nice brings jobs and money and THAT boys is THE bottom line if you are a serious musician! $$$ We have around 10 combinations of very nice uniforms and rarely have a wardrobe mix up because all of us give a crap about what we are doing, not just going out for the beer.
Those of you that want to sit home in your t-shirts and shorts and complain that there are no jobs, feel free to do that! I will choose to dress up and work. Oh, by the way, I believe Wille started in a business suit?
P.S. as far as the missing tie in that photo is concerned, the leader can skip a tie if he chooses, he's the guy that pays us. Professionals will get that sentiment.

A friend of mine went to see the Time Jumpers and Vince Gill was with them. He said Vince was wearing shorts and flip flops.

RC