I was born in Seattle, but I was raised in the South, and therefore cut my teeth on Southern Rock. I was learning to play guitar at the time the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, 38 Special, The Allman Bros. Band, Marshall Tucker, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Kiss, Boston, Kansas, Aerosmith, Journey, the Police and so many others I can't possibly think of them were having their heyday. I therefore learned to play these kinds of music. It was tragic to me when Disco happened and pushed all southern rock from it's pinnacle point of coolness. Disco still sucks, and I shall never forgive it! I get into gospel music as well. I love point of grace, michael w. smith, rachel lampa, rebecca st. james, the martins, third day, kutless, switchfoot, and many others again too numerous to list.
As far as the newer acts go, I dig KT Tunstall, Kings of Leon, David Mead. Speaking of David, I got to play a small part in setting him up with my old friend Brad Stine who gave him a record deal (which subsequently didn't work out well unfortunately). Here's a promo vid of the title cut of his latest, entitled "Dudes."
I used to play a writer's night along with David and a fellow with the pen-name of Matthew Ryan, another magically gifted human being...
It was in a little place by Vanderbilt University called Guido's Pizza. Those were wonderful days, at the old Mark & Martin's Tuesday night show. I remember Matthew telling me once that I was the first one there that "got" him. It wasn't long after that that he had a record deal...
I also love Nickelback, NickelCreek, Allison Krauss, and Keith Urban.--
I hosted a writer's night for three years at Jack's Guitar Bar here in Nashville. I wandered in there one night when trying to get away from my psycho girlfriend of the time, and just fell in love with the place. (And Jack) I noticed the PA sounded like a cardboard box full of dirt, and bought a new system and put it in there and basically ran it every night while Jack fed me free beer. Keith Urban would come in occasionally. What an awesome musician. He played the bar regularly. It was a real little hole-in-the-wall dive of a place in a bad part of town (though fortunately located near I-440), but it was the only place Keith played in Nashville for a long time. This just shows what kind of cat he is. I think he did it to help Jack out. Keith is a truly cool human being. The place was always packed to the rafters when he played. Patty Griffin used to play my show every Wednesday night. She was simply amazing with just her and her guitar. Her label had recorded her first album with a full band, and I believe it was hearing her there at Jack's, with me mixing, that caused them to decide to re-cut it with just her playing and singing her songs. I still can't believe I got to sit ten feet away from her every week. (It was a pretty small place...) Kim Richey was the host of the writer's night for a while before me. When her first album came out it literally played the whole time in the bar for about a year. What an unbelievably wonderful piece of work. Stacy Earle hosted for a while before that. I think she even met her husband-to-be there, Mark Stuart. What fine people (and great musicians) they are. Her brother Steve used to play there too. He had a bad drug habit at the time and used to hock his guitars up the street and Jack would loan him money to buy them back. Jack's another very cool story too. He had a "sculpture" up in the bar of a guitar being smashed over a guy's head, and the caption was "He played cover tunes..."
The wonderfully talented Jen Foster used to play there as well. The first time I heard her it was a song off her first record called "What a Pretty Picture," about a kid whose father was not very interested in her. I thought it was a guy singing. When I met her, I realized that in fact it was. She is a dude in a girl's body, and one of my all-time favorite people. We used to chase women and raise hell together. She, like me, is now sober. She is also the reason I get kinda bent out of shape when I hear "christians" say evil things about homosexuals. Hillary Lindsey also used to play my writers night; this was when she was just starting out, I think she was about 18 years old and very shy. Her friends had to just about push her up to the stage, but OH MY GOD when she got up there she OWNED the place. She's the most talented person I've ever met. I wish she hadn't seen me go crazy and tear my posters down and yank my PA system out of the bar in a fit of beer-and-pot-fueled rage one night long ago...(I was feeling used) I'll never forget her plaintively saying, "Is Jack's going to close now?" I remember telling her, "No, honey, Jack's will be here forever." Jack barred me when I stumbled in to the bar a week later and saved my life. Of course he went out of business about a year later. I'm not sure if the two events are connected, but I have my suspicions... He's still one of my best friends in the world.
Check out the movie of the night my former band Hayseed-Dixie found out we had to change our name from the original "AC/Dixie" below. This was sort of a debut performance for us at the Billy Block's Western Beat show. We sold a lot of records.... What a country....
Hayseed Dixie First Show (original lineup)
Add to My Profile | More Videos
No comments:
Post a Comment