The Steel Guitar Forum

Had fun playing in Sidney,NY last night.

Glad to see you’re out there playing, John! Looking good.

Doug,
Yeah, it's not like it used to be, but, I'm keeping my hand in.

Looking good! Is that location a former church? I saw the pipe organ in the background.

Larry,
Yes it was a church. Now, they're doing different venues.

Nice John !! Glad to see you're out playing some. We need to get together to talk steel and model railroading one of these days. Or go bass-fishing. Church (at Service) is about the only place I play out these days.

Tiny,
Not much of a fisherman, but, steels and trains are in my background.
Maybe we can get together this summer. It would be fun.

And, in the studio tonight doing some tracks for the local college students. They're learning how to set up and rcord in a modern studio. My, how things have changed.

Great picture John.

Glad to see you are picking as I always loved to hear you play.

Now just find some gigs for this OLD guy in NW Fl. They are non-existent.

Yes, great picture, John. I'll bet those students were going ga-ga over the pedal steel guitar!

As far as gigs... the breweries are where it's at now, in my area anyway. There are four breweries within a 15 minute drive of my house that have live music. The pay is not as much as we used to make, so we play as a trio or 4-piece and put a tip jar out. Between the guarantee from the venue and the tips we do surprisingly well. And there a many more micro-breweries within an hour drive, so we keep busy... 90 gigs last year. That includes several fairs and town concerts. No more big dance clubs though, and I miss those gigs.

Doug,
It's actually amazing what they do. Having not been in a studio for a while, I was quite surprised to see the change in equipment. When I used to record for people, back in the day, rhere were hige control boards, large tape machines and wires running everywhere.
Today, most of they're stuff was compact and digital. 32 tracks, all on a computer and a 55" viewing screen to see the tracks electronically. Amazing sound with minimal or small intrusion.
As for the gigs, I/we have about 14 scheduled gigs this year so far. The pandemic tore the guts out of the playing jobs, but, they are slowly coming back. Hopefully, things will start opening up again and we'll be playing a lot more.

And nobody play's better than you John, and your wife Darlene singing, great to see you out playing again, hopefully we can get something going again in Norwalk at some point, I miss seeing you!

Can’t buy a gig. I’m not playing in restaurants, who wants to watch people feed their face while playing.

Looking good, Amigo! I owe you a call but it sounds like you are finding lots to keep you busy. Happy to see your talents are being appreciated!

As for your schedule, 14 gigs SO FAR, I'll bet you more than double that before it's over. Then you'll be saying you never get a break!