It's coming, boys and girls! Summer AND the new lineup of the band! It looks like the pieces are coming together. Let's review, shall we?
Barry (B'Ray) Hensley - acoustic guitar
Jeff (JPass) Passifiume - electric guitar
Jimmy Castoe - drums
Pete Remenyi - dobro/harmonica
Ben Lamb - bass
All of these guys bring loads of experience to the table. If you've been to many shows on the Columbus music scene over the past years, you've undoubtedly heard these guys play several times. As one person commented recently, "If you'd been in town for 10 years, you couldn't have put together a better band!"
We're putting the word out that we're just about ready to begin making inroads on the scene. If you know of a band that would make a good co-bill, let them know about us. We need to be in front of some folks before too long.
Once we get up and running, be on the lookout for appearances in Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Lawton (MI), Dayton, Cleveland, Buffalo, Toledo, Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, and somewhere very close to you!
But, before all that takes off, I'm heading to the bluegrass state! That's right! Kaintuck Territory!
On June 7th, I'll be in Morehead, KY to serve as a judge at the Clack Mountain Festival band contest! I know one of the other judges will be Grant Alden, publisher/editor of the nearly departed NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE. I'm not sure who the others will be but I'm sure we'll have a blast!
In April, I visited the Third Thursday gathering of the Wild Goose Creative. They're an art collective in Columbus that is really supporting a variety of artistic expressions. In their own words, "Wild Goose Creative is about a lot of things. It’s about sustainable partnerships and artistic collaborations. It’s about giving artists resources and facilitating their work. It’s about creating a space for people to experience art and engage each other. Mostly, Wild Goose Creative is about building a vibrant community of people who care about art and who want to change the world."
On this particular night they were featuring a music writer. Andy Whitman writes for Paste Magazine as well as many other publications. He spoke passionately and with much humor and insight about appreciating a wide variety of music. At the end of the evening I overheard him speaking with Morgan Foster, a nice guy from Chicago who is in a band called Common Shiner. Morgan happened to mention John Prine who just happens to be one of my favorites and a guy I consider a friend. I was leaning a little too close in an attempt to eavesdrop on their conversation and Andy noticed my Bad Livers t-shirt. We started talking about them and it came up that I'm a singer (Mark Rubin, BL's bassist/tubist/musicologist had played bass with me for a few shows when I was in Austin a few years back).
Anyway, I wasn't going to impose my music on Andy. I thought it was bad form and he'd been pretty clear that his favorite music leaned more toward punk and rock. Nonetheless, he said he'd been told about my music (I'm assuming that came from the Wild Goose folks) and asked if I had a disc to share. Well, I do usually carry some in my car so I retrieved one of each from my trunk. A couple of days later he wrote a very nice blog entry about our meeting and my music (although his memory of it is a little different than mine; he seems to think I asked him to listen to my records but if that were the case I wouldn't have had to go to the car to get my discs - not that it matters). I'm honored by his words.
We've since shared a lunch and he is a very nice guy and we have some crossover interest in old Christian music. We even discovered that the "Dave Perkins" with whom he'd been communicating about blues music was none other than my old friend from Chagall Guevara (one of the greatest unknown bands ever). Six degrees...
However, all is not well. Unfortunately, I do have some sad news: Gospel songwriting legend Dottie Rambo was killed in a bus accident on May 11th. Her music is part of my musical DNA. She's written literally thousands of great southern gospel songs. Her songs have been recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Andrae Crouch, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Mel Tillis, Whitney Houston, Dottie West, Lily Tomlin, Porter Waggoner, Hank Snow, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, Vince Gill, Larry Gatlin, Crystal Gayle, Alison Krauss, CeCe Winans, and hundreds more. I recorded a version of her song "Too Much To Gain To Lose" on my second record. She was a musical giant and a legend in her own time.
Well, I've outdone myself with hyperlinks in this entry. But there's a lot of good stuff there! Don't take my word for it. Follow the links. You'll be glad you did!
Until we meet again, I leave you with two last hyperlinks. One takes you to a video of one of my favorite (if not my absolute favorite) songwriters of all time. Mark Heard was another taken-too-young artist. I absolutely encourage you to seek out his music. You will thank me later. Enjoy: click here
Take care. Thanks for stopping by. Leave a note so I'll know you were here. Go listen to live music.
Hayseed
Barry (B'Ray) Hensley - acoustic guitar
Jeff (JPass) Passifiume - electric guitar
Jimmy Castoe - drums
Pete Remenyi - dobro/harmonica
Ben Lamb - bass
All of these guys bring loads of experience to the table. If you've been to many shows on the Columbus music scene over the past years, you've undoubtedly heard these guys play several times. As one person commented recently, "If you'd been in town for 10 years, you couldn't have put together a better band!"
We're putting the word out that we're just about ready to begin making inroads on the scene. If you know of a band that would make a good co-bill, let them know about us. We need to be in front of some folks before too long.
Once we get up and running, be on the lookout for appearances in Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Lawton (MI), Dayton, Cleveland, Buffalo, Toledo, Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, and somewhere very close to you!
But, before all that takes off, I'm heading to the bluegrass state! That's right! Kaintuck Territory!
On June 7th, I'll be in Morehead, KY to serve as a judge at the Clack Mountain Festival band contest! I know one of the other judges will be Grant Alden, publisher/editor of the nearly departed NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE. I'm not sure who the others will be but I'm sure we'll have a blast!
In April, I visited the Third Thursday gathering of the Wild Goose Creative. They're an art collective in Columbus that is really supporting a variety of artistic expressions. In their own words, "Wild Goose Creative is about a lot of things. It’s about sustainable partnerships and artistic collaborations. It’s about giving artists resources and facilitating their work. It’s about creating a space for people to experience art and engage each other. Mostly, Wild Goose Creative is about building a vibrant community of people who care about art and who want to change the world."
On this particular night they were featuring a music writer. Andy Whitman writes for Paste Magazine as well as many other publications. He spoke passionately and with much humor and insight about appreciating a wide variety of music. At the end of the evening I overheard him speaking with Morgan Foster, a nice guy from Chicago who is in a band called Common Shiner. Morgan happened to mention John Prine who just happens to be one of my favorites and a guy I consider a friend. I was leaning a little too close in an attempt to eavesdrop on their conversation and Andy noticed my Bad Livers t-shirt. We started talking about them and it came up that I'm a singer (Mark Rubin, BL's bassist/tubist/musicologist had played bass with me for a few shows when I was in Austin a few years back).
Anyway, I wasn't going to impose my music on Andy. I thought it was bad form and he'd been pretty clear that his favorite music leaned more toward punk and rock. Nonetheless, he said he'd been told about my music (I'm assuming that came from the Wild Goose folks) and asked if I had a disc to share. Well, I do usually carry some in my car so I retrieved one of each from my trunk. A couple of days later he wrote a very nice blog entry about our meeting and my music (although his memory of it is a little different than mine; he seems to think I asked him to listen to my records but if that were the case I wouldn't have had to go to the car to get my discs - not that it matters). I'm honored by his words.
We've since shared a lunch and he is a very nice guy and we have some crossover interest in old Christian music. We even discovered that the "Dave Perkins" with whom he'd been communicating about blues music was none other than my old friend from Chagall Guevara (one of the greatest unknown bands ever). Six degrees...
However, all is not well. Unfortunately, I do have some sad news: Gospel songwriting legend Dottie Rambo was killed in a bus accident on May 11th. Her music is part of my musical DNA. She's written literally thousands of great southern gospel songs. Her songs have been recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, Andrae Crouch, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Mel Tillis, Whitney Houston, Dottie West, Lily Tomlin, Porter Waggoner, Hank Snow, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe, Vince Gill, Larry Gatlin, Crystal Gayle, Alison Krauss, CeCe Winans, and hundreds more. I recorded a version of her song "Too Much To Gain To Lose" on my second record. She was a musical giant and a legend in her own time.
Well, I've outdone myself with hyperlinks in this entry. But there's a lot of good stuff there! Don't take my word for it. Follow the links. You'll be glad you did!
Until we meet again, I leave you with two last hyperlinks. One takes you to a video of one of my favorite (if not my absolute favorite) songwriters of all time. Mark Heard was another taken-too-young artist. I absolutely encourage you to seek out his music. You will thank me later. Enjoy: click here
Take care. Thanks for stopping by. Leave a note so I'll know you were here. Go listen to live music.
Hayseed