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I can’t believe summer is drawing to a close! Well, not really…It’ll still be really hot down here in middle Tennessee for at least another month or so. But to me, especially being from the north, Labor Day weekend always feels like the end of summer – kids go back to school, it begins to get colder, the holidays start creeping up, and so on. And it has been a great summer, at least for me. I worked hard, played some cool shows, hosted a couple of Berklee alumni events, took my first yoga class, released a CD of originals with my band “Skinny Buddha” and had an action-packed 10 day trip to New England, during which I gave a clinic and performance at the Berklee College of Music. And most importantly, I celebrated another anniversary with my wife and best friend of 18 years (I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship…).
So what’s in store for the fall, you might ask? I’ve got lots going on – I just had the transmission rebuilt in my van, began a new round of P90X, started an herb garden on my back deck, plan to have a yard sale this coming weekend…seriously, I do have a lot of big things in the works.
Skinny Buddha will be the guest artist on “The Mando Blues Radio Show”, with the taping coming up on Monday, November 16, and aired on Wednesday, September 18 on 107.1 FM Radio Free Nashville. Thanks to Whit Hubner from Nashville’s very own “Hippie Radio” we will be rocking the “Mando Blues Tent” with a six song performance. If you haven’t yet discovered it, Hippie Radio is the coolest radio station in Nashville, and you can get a free phone app from their website and listen to them anywhere. Pretty groovy stuff!
Coming up in October, I’ll be playing guitar with “The Peach Pickers” featuring Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson on the sold out “Luke Bryan Farm Tour”. We did this last year and it was a hoot! This year’s band will consist of Nick Forchione on drums, “G-men” Mike Chapman on bass and Chris Luzinger on guitar, and yours truly on guitar and harmony vocals (for those of you who don’t know, the G-men are an infamous group of Nashville session players who played on all of the Garth Brooks records). Look for us when we come to a farm near you!
On Monday, October 28 I’ll be hosting the last Nashville Berklee Jam of 2013 at The Rutledge with special guest speaker, performance coach, Diane Kimbrough. Diane has coached a wide array of artists ranging from beginners to artists like Shania Twain and Toby Keith. After her talk, she will be critiquing and coaching some of the regular performers from our bimonthly jam. This event is open to the public and should be a great night!
Starting in November, I will be playing some shows with a northern Alabama-based band “The Flashbacks”. Along with Mike Chapman and some other veteran players, I will be digging into a night of 60s and 70s R&B and Motown.
On Wednesday, November 27 Skinny Buddha will be performing a set of Jimi Hendrix music at Nashville’s “Soulshine Pizza” for their special “Jimi Hendrix Tribute Night ” being held on the great guitarist’s birthday. This night will begin with our performance at 9 PM and will conclude with a second show of Hendrix music performed by the legendary, Phil Brown (formerly of Little Feat). This is a great excuse to learn some new Hendrix tunes (well, new to me) and I’m planning on digging into some deep cuts like “Who Knows”, “Hear My Train a Comin’”, “Drivin’ South” and “Stone Free”, in addition to my regular repertoire of Jimi favorites. For any of you that know me, this is an extra special night; one I am honored to be a part of. I first heard Jimi Hendrix at the age of 11, when the sounds of his Woodstock performance of the Star-Spangled Banner sent me on a musical adventure that I am happy to be still exploring.
And lastly, I am planning to record some more Skinny Buddha music.
That’s about it for now. I hope you all had a great summer and that the fall will bring you much peace and happiness. I guess I’d better go clean out my garage to get ready for the big yard sale!
It’s the first week of this brand-new year of 2013 and, not that I believe in New Year’s resolutions, one of the things I’m going to try to do differently in this new year is to get back to blogging more regularly. In that spirit, I also want to learn how to write shorter blogs. Let’s see how I do at my first attempt.
2012 was an interesting year, a lot happened in our world. A long-winded, and divisive election season came and went, it was one of the most extreme years of extreme weather since record-keeping began; our military is still in the midst of several conflicts around the globe; the tragic Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut terrified us all, gun control is now a national conversation, and Facebook is still here after a disastrous stock market ploy.
I also had a few big moments. I played a handful of shows with The Peach Pickers (Rhett Akins and Dallas Davidson) on the sold-out Luke Bryan Farm Tour (you can read more about that adventure here), I hosted a monthly Berklee Alumni Jam, got to play music with Jack Pearson (read “Jack Pearson at the Nashville Berklee Jam) and Reese Wynans (read “Stevie Ray Vaughan keyboardist, Reese Wynans talks at Nashville Berklee Jam”), I ran in my first-ever 5K road race, met a lot of cool people, listened to a lot of great records, and cooked and ate a lot of good food!
I’m not sure what lies ahead in 2013, I’ve got a lot of big ideas and plans – we’ll see what happens. One thing that’s on my 2013 to-do list is to get out on the town little more often. After 23 years of being a professional musician I found that it’s still easy to get myself off the couch for a gig, but much harder to just go out and hang. I’m going to try to change that. I plan to still host the Berklee Alumni Jam (we are now going to be doing it quarterly). Thanks to my wife, Kelly, I’ve learned to enjoy running, and we are both training for our first half marathon in April. I’m trying to reassert myself into my musical craft, to take another step, and therefore practicing the guitar and vocals daily and learning new material is a top priority. Basically, I’m trying to stay healthy, inspired, and viable, while trying to help a few folks along the way.
So that’s about it for now. Let me know what you’ve got going on and don’t be afraid to drop me a line. I hope this New Year brings much happiness and success to you and your family. Thanks for reading!
I hope everybody is having a great winter so far and that 2012 will be a great year for us all. February is looking to be a busy month for me and I would like to tell you about some of these gigs and events.
Thursday, February 2nd I’ll be playing a benefit show for “My Friend’s House”, a group home for boys in Williamson County, TN. The benefit will be at Mickey Roos in Franklin starting at 7 PM and will feature a ton of great Nashville talent. One of the organizers of the event, Keith Landry (currently of the band Leroux, (former credits including harmony singing for Toto and Lee Greenwood) will be fronting a set of classic rock ‘n roll and coordinating the guest musicians. Some of the music we will be covering will be songs from Journey, the Doobie Brothers, Toto, Van Halen, and others. This just might be the most rock music I will have played in one night since moving to Nashville! It’s a great cause, so come on out!
Tuesday, February 7th will be the first ever “Nashville Berklee Jam”, featuring special guest, Nashville session bassist and former “G-man” Mike Chapman. This is something I have been working on for quite some time, and will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at The Fillin’ Station in Kingston Springs, TN.
Friday, February 10th I’ll be playing a gig with Nashville songwriter and artist, Carl Wayne Meekins at the world famous Puckett’s Grocery in Leiper’s Fork, TN. Carl is a fabulous performer and a great guy and I have been fortunate to do several gigs with him over the last several months. The band on this night will feature some top-notch Nashville session players, so come on out and support some great live music!
Saturday, February 11th will be my monthly outing at The Fillin’ Station in Kingston Springs, TN. The lineup on this show will be Heston Alley on drums, Tom Good on bass, and yours truly on vocals and guitar. Patrick will be behind the bar and guesting on harmonica throughout the night. Come get your blues rock fix with us!
Towards the end of February I will be playing with upcoming Nashville artist and South African native, Mirka at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley. Our set of original material will be part of a monthly showcase hosted by Nashville producer and guitarist, Kent Wells. The date hasn’t been set yet, I’ll let you know as soon as it is.
My book, “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide” received a great review on the popular Nashville blog “Music News Nashville”, follow the link above to check it out. I also submitted the book to The Country Music Hall Of Fame and there’s a good chance they will start carrying it this spring!
And completely unrelated to music, I have decided to enter in an annual event called the Warrior Dash that will take place in middle Tennessee on September 22nd. This is essentially an off-road 5K race integrated with an obstacle course that includes things like climbing a rope wall, jumping over a fire pit, crawling under barbed wire through the mud, etc. I may or may not be in the shape I need to be for this event at the moment, but the goal is to be in good enough shape to kick some serious ass on this course come September! Similar events take place all over the country and you can learn more about it on the website above. Anybody out there want to take the challenge?
So that’s about it, I’m excited about the possibilities that this New Year might bring and looking forward to making new friends and playing some great music!
P.S. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of my book, “The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide”, you owe it to yourself to check it out! Available in hard copy and ePub.
