The Steel Guitar Forum

(1) I am fortunate to have the best steel playing job in my part of the country. I play "The Little O' Oprey" in West Fork, Ar every Saturday night with a great band and it is a family show, unrehearsed, so we basically take on all comers as far as backing the singing acts. We draw from about 60 regulars as well as other invited singers and usually have about 20 acts to back. We don't know what they will be performing until they step on stage. A singer will be called up, hit the stage, tell us the song and the key and one of us kicks the song off and here we go. The band members are very band wise and pass the fills and solos around and very seldom step on each other. A fun three hour show. I have been there 15 years. My wife sings on the show and supports my music all the way.
(2) I play steel with "One Way Flight" a country Gospel group and a very good one. My son plays lead guitar with the group and he and I are the only lead instruments so we get a lot of fill and solo playing. We play at an area Church most every Sunday night. We have played 44 Sundays this year. This is a most enjoyable job for me as is the "Little O' Oprey". I am a very fortunate steel player.

I agree with Johnny. Although it is a huge rush to play infront of ten thousand people at a festival, etc. there is nothing like playing off the cuff in a honkytonk. With Lonestar we are off through the end of January, so during our off time I have taken a job playing at a club in Atlanta called wild bills. (www.wildbillsatlanta.com) Although not all of the music is what I would prefer to play, no Bush, no Price, not even any Haggard, it is still alot of fun to be able to play what ever hits me at the time. there is nothing cooler than a well executed impromtu solo when the band is cookin'. It has been great to get out of the "playing parts like the album" rut for a while.

I would have to say I'm most comfortable playing live on stage, either at the dance places or in a show type setting. I've found that since moving to Texas, it's so much fun to kick off the first song with the band, and watch the dance floor fill completely on the that first song. That happens pretty often, especially at Pearl's in Fort Worth, and at the Trio Club, where I was Saturday night filling in for Randy Reinhardt with Bobby Flores'great band. Not only do the people fill the floor dancing, but they also stand around the bandstand and applaud when each guy takes his lead ride. That makes you want to play, and also for having a lot of fun. Randy, I hope you're feeling better. Needless to say, I'm completely spoiled rotten
Joan

Great responses. It seems that most of us like playing the old stuff in the old places. One thing that I failed to mention was Church. I don't get to play in church much now but when I do that is the very best it gets.


Johnny

I like playing shows in theaters the best. The sound is always great and everyone in the audience is focosed on the entertainment. I just did a "Grand Old Country Christmas" show in a theater this week and the feeling of closeness to the audience and the other performers was amazing.

I like shows, recording and all of it, but I like big crowded Texas dance halls the best. That's mostly why I moved back to Texas. I especially like the open air ones with wood floors.

What's a gig??????

Stephen........ isnt that the pointy thing you use when your hungry for froglegs?

------------------
Got Twang ?

Mark

I like playing anywhere where there is dancing! Dancing is a celebration of life. When an audience is dancing, it really makes you feel like you are communicating with them and that they are part of the musical experience you and your bandmates are creating. Here in Illinois, the best places to play country music are the VFW's, American Legion's and the Eagles Club's. I love the "Cowboy" states west of the Mississippi, they always have great dance halls and Honky Tonks. Another reason I like playing for dancers is because I love to play shuffles, swing and waltzes. I also like the 2/4 tunes and the ballads but I just love those shuffles,swing tunes and waltzes...<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Bob Watson on 01 December 2005 at 09:30 PM.]</p></FONT>

In addition to the usual Moose Lodge, etc. gigs on the weekend, we play at the Hardee's fast food places in Chesapeake, and Norfolk, every Thursday night! Those are really fun gigs and we make a little cash and the folks love it. I've lived in Va. for twenty years now and had heard about these "Barn" jams in this part of the country but never went to any! Thanksgiving weekend and old friend of mine from the west coast (Al Bruno) and his wife stayed with us for a couple of days and on Saturday night we went to this "Barn" in Surrey, Va. which had the 2nd floor all fixed up with a very large bandstand and a bunch of couches for seating. Folks brought covered dishes and all and the place was packed. We played about 2 and a half hours before we finally took a break to eat. I hadn't had that much fun playing for a good while so every Sat. night that I have open from now on I'm going. Kenny Dail plays one of the same type places in North Carolina every Friday night also....JH in Va.

------------------
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

I live in the Cape Cod area; I was away for 30 years and came back.In the 7O's I had no problem finding a country band to play steel in! Now I can't even find a club that plays country music!Is this the national trend? All I hear now is "There are open mikes in Falmouth,Hyannis or whatever! At this time of life I do not feel like packing my 68 pound Dekley and 50 pound Amp
for that kind of gig.How do you all feel out there.
Ron C.

Good topic Johnny.
I love the Honky Tonks and ocassionally a stage show, PLUS radio remotes for grand openings.

I feel very fortunate that I have a steady 2 night a week gig with a good band. Plus the other gigs mentioned above.

Like you, I like the steel shows, but don't handle the pressure as well as I used to.

Merry Christmas to you and Joan.
Bill Ferguson

Johnny-I just played one of your CD's last night and listened to your "Shadow of your Smile" and "Nearness of you", great music.

I also play both of those songs and really enjoyed Hearing your versions of them.

I have played at Restaurants, Hotel lounges, dinner music, no dancing, and enjoyed them.

But the jobs I enjoyed the most was playing where people danced , loved to dance, and enjoyed our playing.....al

------------------
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

I like the studio most of all--of course, I have spent most of the last 30 years holed up in them, so it's a total comfort to me. I like the challenges and precision.

I also love my church gig--the band is all session level musicians, great material, great sounds etc. Not to much off the cuff playing, more like a artist gig, but totally fun.

And the honkytonks are a blast, too. Nothing like "knocking the rust off" you accumulate from the other gigs.

That's my order of preference, though they are all very close...

I love old dance halls, beer joints such as The Broken Spoke-Austin, Gruene Hall-New Braunfels, etc. But I prefer a small listening venue when folks are moshed into the stage, hanging on every note, singing along and maybe a few break out into a dance. A few come to mind, Dan's Silverleaf-Denton, Tx; The Iota, Arlington, Va; The Tractor Tavern-Seattle, Wa; Bluebird-Denver, Co; Mucky Duck-Houston, Tx; Fitzgerald's-Chicago,Il; Village Underground-NYC....
Dancehalls, although I love the type of music required to accomodate the dancers, it leaves me feeling like I'm a jukebox, and they could care less who's playing. I prefer listening venues because the people who show up, are there to hear YOU.

Every morning when I climb out of bed I thank my lucky stars to be living in Texas where I can go just about any night of the week and hear or go play some "Hardcore Honky Tonk Music"

<SMALL> But I prefer a small listening venue when folks are moshed into the stage..</SMALL>

Yeah Chris, sounds kinda like Ginny's Little Longhorn in Austin. One of the few places I've played where everybody generally sits facing the band and pays attention.

My favorite gigs are where I am relaxed, improvising what comes from the heart/soul without thinking, playing music that I love, and where there is a connection between me, my fellow musicians, and the audience.

Possibly my favorite moment on stage was the very first time I played with the Campbell Brothers at the first Sacred Steel convention. They asked me to play (OK it wasn't hard to convince me), so I got up there and tried to figure out what to do. So I just played a slow blues. About half way through the first 4 bars I realized that every single person in that room was right with me. I'd play a line and I'd hear right back from that audience whether they were feeling it or not. Somewhere around 3 minutes into the song I hit one of those 'whistler' notes (false harmonics ala Roy Buchannan). I just milked that note for at least 8 bars, and the room just came unglued. Now that was more than fun, it was a direct connection between me, the audience, and some sort of higher power. Proof positive that you don't need to be an Evangelical Christian to feel the Holy Ghost.

Every time I play now, I search for my own personal Holy Ghost. When it's there, it's a good gig.

------------------
www.tyack.com

Love them honky-tonks, mainly because I'm an inveterate people-watche. About midnight, I start betting with myself as to whom is going to go home with whom.

Besides playing on a few projects in our studio, Churches or Gospel music shows are all I've ever played, so I guess thats my favorite gig. Like Dan said so well above, there is just something about feeling the "Spirit" flow through you and your instrument and connect with the audience. Or, even if there is not a lot of audience response, it still just feels good.

------------------
Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Well for me it's not so much where I play but who I play with and what kind of music we get to play. For instance my favorite gig in my whole career was in a small little dive that couldn't even seat 50 folks until they added on about 500 square feet so then they could seat around 100 but when it was packed I have seen 300 people in there.

Well there were times that there were 5 steel players lined up across the stage and dance floor and 3 or 4 fiddle players a keyboard player and I was the only guitar player at least the only one that had a rig setup there were always plenty of guitar players to set in but when it got good like that they couldn't pay me to get down.

We would have 10 or 12 really good singers that didn't do anything except shuffles waltz's and Swing (notice the cap on Swing hee hee) tunes. Oh and yes everyone always got a lead ride and sometimes 2. We would play til 3:00 am and then sometimes the owner would lock the door and we would play til dawn or even till the afternoon. Oh man those were the days and they were some of my favorite memories in the biz.

There were only 2 clubs like that in my whole career and one of them was in Sacramento Ca and the other was here in Nashville.

I'll bet you can name the one here in Nashville pretty easy but can anyone name the one in Sac???? a little hint the one in Sac was primarly an after hours gig and the gig that everyone wanted to play was the one from 3 til 8 am of course there was an early gig from 9 until 3am but the latter one was the one everyone lined up for. Sometimes there would be over 75 musicians in there wanting to pick and jam and only 4 members got paid and the rest just did it for the fun. I have seen the jam still going on there on Sunday night/Monday morning at 2 and 3 am! No prizes LOL Thanks Johnny for the fond memories

Big Bob

I am with Darvin, all my playing is at church or on our Gospel Opry. I have an opportunity every once in a while to play a Friday night singing at a little non denominational church where things are really laid back and everybody gets to take a ride on almost every song. Now that is fun and they love every note I play, good or bad.
James

<SMALL>I like playing anywhere where there is dancing! Dancing is a celebration of life. When an audience is dancing, it really makes you feel like you are communicating with them and that they are part of the musical experience you and your bandmates are creating.</SMALL>

Well said, Bob, and talk about a natural high! This takes me back to mid-70s Western NY at Dino's restaurant (long since gone now). Great regular crowd, and would they dance!

The drinks were free, but with this, anyone who would need them was missing the point!<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by James Cann on 06 December 2005 at 07:46 AM.]</p></FONT>

Whereever they aree paying the most. CC

One of these days I'll be playin' in a dance hall setting with a good band.
Until then, the most fun I have is playing Dobro in at church. Includes a flute, grand piano, 12 string guitar, and bass. No electricity. Pure as it gets. The sound is a joyful noise.

Ron