January 26th-February 1st: My Feelings About SPBGMA and other things

Happy end of January! I’m so thankful that winter is hitting its turn in stride-I’m gettin’ real tired (literally and figuratively) of these gloomy, cloudy days, as well as the whole getting dark way too early stuff. Summer needs to arrive, and it needs to come quick!

Anyways, this week was bunches of fun! I got to play 2 of my usual venues this week: Monday at North Country Brewery in Slippery Rock, PA, and Wednesday at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale, PA. For both of these shows, we (the band) has the special privilege of having our past member Corey Wood step in on banjo (he used to play mandolin when he was a permanent member of the band.) It’s the first time I’ve played music with Corey since after the new year, and it was a treat let me tell you! You know how there are some people who you just jive well with? Corey is one of those people to me. When you have 2 very good musicians, and you can kinda read each other’s minds in the middle of a song, you know there’s something special there. Corey has even embraced my ideology of having a large pedalboard to make noise with! His rig is awesome- 2 tiers, cables are neat, everything is really accessible, and the construction is solid. Definitely a 10/10 rig (go to one of his shows and ask him about it!) How we first met is actually a pretty amusing story, but I won’t go into that today. I’ll keep the point simple-Corey has been one of my favorite (top 3) performers from western PA to have the honor of playing with. Plain and simple.

Now, back to the shows. Monday felt really good, as we played from 7-10 PM. I got the chance to sell some EPs as well, and some people have been coming back to buy more CDs to give to friends and family-super rad. Wednesday Jergels shows are always great. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille has been a staple venue for western PA for a number of years, both regionally and nationally. On average, I play there about 3-5 times per year, which is pretty cool considering the people who play there on tour (the green room up in the balcony has signed posters of big national acts who have played there-really cool!) We (the band) played from 7:45-9:45, and Corey was there, but he also brought along his wife, Valerie Wood, who plays mandolin as her core instrument. So, we had a full 5 piece that night! I also sold a bunch of CDs there, and I even had a couple buy a CD, and within 48 hours, they had listened to it in their car and emailed me to tell me how much they loved it! Wow! Word really does travel fast. Thanks guys!

One of the great parts about playing at Jergel’s is the sound system. A couple thousand watt speaker system with subs and hanging tops fills the massive building, which holds a couple hundred people (might be closer to a thousand-don’t quote me on that though.) For bands like us, it’s plug and play-simple as that. No loading, setting up, or tearing down PA-monitors, mains, stands-everything except your own personal gear is provided. AJ is usually our sound guy for these shows, and he does a fine job. He’s had to put up with me for a number of years with IEMs and such. Thanks AJ!

There was only one bad thing about this week. Unfortunately, SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America) decides months ago that they were to have their annual convention in Nashville this weekend, and due to already having gigs booked, I was forced to stay in PA and miss my chances of going. I’ve been seeing pictures and videos online of all the people from all over the US who made the trek to Nashville for this, and it looks as if everyone is having a blast, especially the folks I know from western PA. I hope that next year, I’ll be able to make it down, and finally become a part of the larger community. (NOTE: for any of you who are reading this, and are in attendance to SPBGMA, find my CD on Spotify, and let me know what you think! I would love to meet you and talk about the things you have going on!)

That being said, I have one more thing to do before this week is over, and it’s fairly exciting! My great friend, and Pittsburgh’s finest harmonica player, Charlie Barath, has been working on prepping for a compilation album of all his different projects he’s participating in, and he has asked me to come in and lay some tracks down for said record! I’m truly honored to play under such a great guy and musician as Charlie. Keep an eye out on his FB page, as updates will be coming as to the progress, and final product of this CD. I can’t tell you too much more, as I honestly can’t keep up with it all, but I do know it’s gonna be an awesome CD.

Finally, this week, I’ve had a number of new song ideas come into my head (more than usual) and I’m excited about each idea, individually. When I started selling CDs, people kept (and keep) asking me “So, what’s next? When are you starting the next CD?” Which is really encouraging to hear. My response is always, “I’ve already started.” Some people are surprised by that, but it’s the reality of being a musician, kind of like being a carpenter-when one project ends, you don’t stop and stare and marvel over that one project. You admire it from afar, while beginning to build the next thing, so to keep moving and growing as an artist. I imagine that some of these new song ideas will make it into the next record, but theres plenty fo time to make that decision, and many more songs to write, so keep your attention here as I keep releasing information, and soon (hopefully) I’ll have the content I need for my next project, so that I may share it with you and yours. Cheers! See you next week!