The Steel Guitar Forum

Carl Heatley wrote:Hey Joseph,
Has Lucky found a new steel player yet???
Man I,d love that job....cant wait to get back on the road.
Carl.

It would be a long commute from Kernow (Near England).

Carl Heatley wrote:Hey Joseph,
I got a call from Lucky today to say that I have the job as the permanent steel player.
Thanks for the contact info....Happy Holidays

I guess I should read all the posts before commenting.

The last touring I did was with a USO Show in the Far East. Don't want no mo................

Some outstanding stories and perspectives here.

When we were young and we got that tour encompassing four to five states, room and board, pretty fair wages. To get out and hit the road, get paid for something we all love and not having to don a suit shackled to a 9 to 5; the road beckoned many times.

Those were incredible times. I wouldn't be able to endure it again though. It took it's toll on this boy. In retrospect, I wouldn't change a bloody thing even if I could. These days it's the quest to find the sit down gig without striking gear every week. I have had a fair share of those over the last few years and it's always nice to come home to the Mrs. and my own bed.

Anyone remember seeing that expose that 20/20 did about 10 years ago regarding motel/hotel rooms using the black lights to illuminate all the seminal fluid left over by the previous guests. Some of those rooms looked like some crystal palace! I was cured of the lust for some aspects of the road after that segment; namely hotels/motels or would that be the no tell hotel motel?

My USO Far East tour was about as good as it gets. Flew everywhere, had bus waiting for us at airport, roadies took care of moving all the gear and were fed after the show, sometimes with great steaks and stayed in a hotel when we weren't sleeping on a plane. Still unless you are making big bucks and have enough "clout" to tell the booking agent "when" you are not going to work it just ain't worth it.

Joseph Barcus wrote:Joey yes good ole fedex thought the 77 pound package should be tossed and dropped as much as possible I had it shipped to Texas and I took the bus that I did not know I could had took those on the bus with me for a much less fee. comes from not knowing these things. if the guitar had not got broken I would had still been on that tour making a few dollars. but again I was dumb. could not find a car to rent that was not 500.00 because of a one way rent. so I took a bus back to get my car to drive back to their 3rd gig to pick my stuff up.

Heres an Idea for a one way rental car without the cost. Rent the car drive it where you need to and gee don't know how those wires got unplugged,Sorry had to leave Car,These Rental car companies are crooked I do not feel sorry for them:)

Why go on the road? I had my "On The Road" experiences back in the sixties, although it wasn't music touring -- just insane wanderlust diluted with degrading poverty...

I like being a "local musician!" I sleep at home, with my wife and cats (I hear you Bama Charlie!!!) and eat healthy food from my garden and not weird poisonous road food, and my bodily functions (I hear you Herb!) are taken care of in peace and privacy, and I still have plenty of paying gigs within 40 miles from home. I would rather have my quiet life in the country, getting plenty of sleep in my nice quiet house, than be out on the road with some hungry psychopaths desperate for fame and fortune. I don't have fame, and I don't have fortune, but I'm not hungry, and I'm happy...

When you play local gigs, you play for people who actually came to see you, and who actually like what you do. That's more fun than playing for suspicious and hypercritical strangers.

But I suppose I'd go on tour if the money was good enough to eat and sleep well and have some left over when I got home. I still enjoy travel and adventures, but I sure don't want to have to sleep in a single motel room with six other men. Maybe if I was touring with an all girl band...

DITO Joseph

I enjoy touring. Its a great way to see the world and the way different people live. Just last week I watched the sun set in Lake Charles sitting on a bench eating crawfish and corn. A few days later the singers grandmother was cooking me chicken fried steak in Oklahoma City. For the long drives we listened to a history of the battle of Gettysburg on an audio books download. Civilized and pleasant.
I just came off a year long run that makes it so I can beat or at least keep up with any road stories when it comes to crazy and messed up. I still love it. Staying healthy is key and takes some work. My biggest struggle is finding practice time. Its a different world out there but it can be a great one.

Hey Bob, we should share some road stories sometime. I bet I can match some of your craziness and madness.
I'm with you. I love touring. I like that I don't have to think for a week or so, once I get in that van. Just enjoy the ride and play at the end of the day at some really great cities and towns.
I have tried to slow down and play in town more, but I'll take a tour when they come up.
All these years out of town have made it tough to get back into the local scene. I really didn't see that coming. More steel players have come up in the last few years I guess.
Thanks to Gary Carpenter, he's flooded the D/FW area with Rains steel guitars! Haha
I've been having better luck doing acoustic gigs solo and duets.

The three best musicians I have been lucky to know are all "settled down" now, so to speak. One of them built a professional studio into a house in Minneapolis, another is a professor at Berklee and the third stays home, raises her kids and plays gigs within a two-hour radius. All of them teach students, and continue avidly exploring the styles of music that they don't know well, yet. And couldn't have learned on a tour bus, in a van etc.

Your personality type plays into it, of course - I personally need my bed, my food, my home... I hate hotel rooms. I have long thought that the very best musicians in the world are sitting in their living rooms playing, but it is age-dependent too. Hot Young Bucks have so much to prove.

This reminds me of the stories of Louis Armstrong traveling almost until his last days on an unheated bus, on the road over 300 days a year. The musicians never complained because Louis never complained. And of course in those days, they couldn't even get food or hotel service in many places. It was a hard life, but you'd never know it seeing Louis perform.

The whole concept that the road is a hard life and is for the young and reckless doesn't match my experience very well. In many ways its an easy and fun way to live. Seeing friends and relatives all over the world. If the band is doing halfway well you pull into a town others would be saving up for years to visit on vacation and are treated as an honoured guest with a built in social structure giving you an insiders perspective on the culture. Plus you have a concert that night and they give you money.

I agree with Bob,If you add a fishing rod and a camera life on the road gets better.

I agree with Bob Hofnar. I've been alot of places touring as a musician or tech. As a result I hate going on vacation and coming home broke or in debt. Bob I like your approach to the road. There is plenty of time to grow in knowledge with all the so called down time. You make it work for you. That's smart. Don D