COUNTRY BAND, BLUES BAND, PLAY ‘EM IF YOU’VE GOT ‘EM

From a country band to blues band, it all started in the school band.

I don’t know what makes others want to stand up and make noise, but for me it’ simple: have some fun.

You remember fun? It’s spelled f – u – n.

Do you come from a musical family? One with a guitar or piano around to bang on? Yeah, me neither.

There was music on my mom’s side, with grandma’s baby grand piano. Grandpa was a logger with a brass habit, brass like horns. And he was a singer in the church choir, too.

None of it transferred to the next generation. What did transfer was a big stick. Grandpa found a branch with a pitch ball in the middle and sawed it into a club for my mom.

It was supposed to be a joke, but my mom found it useful when she pounded the truck hood like a bass drum.

My mom could keep a beat.

Country Band On The Porch

The top image is from Sauvie Island and the Bybee Howell House at Wintering In. I’m on the right.

If you’ve been in a band, you know how tricky things can get. It’s a class in cooperation. If you can’t cooperate, you’re out of the band. It’s harder than it sounds.

The 14th Ave band started like most bands. A few guys hung around after work and talked about guitars and amps. One of them had rebuilt a Fender Twin from the ground up. And he played a Gibson through it.

His favorite band was Guns And Roses. He could play it all.

Another guy played bass. So we talked about making time, and did it. We practiced after work, running through blues riffs we could all hang with.

An older guy with a keyboard heard us and joined in. He said his wife was a singer.

Anyone who has heard those words, “My wife is a singer,” knows what happened next.

She showed up, looked at the song list, and started crossing them off. See, she was a devout Christian and couldn’t sing certain songs, like House Of The Rising Son. No blasphemy for her.

Basically, Yoko came in and changed the band and we got to learn a bunch of gospel songs. A country band playing gospel? Hell, yeah.

We worked it out and got the porch gig at a country gathering celebrating the year’s harvest. And it was a grand time.

I made sure my kids could say they come from a musical family. Whether they like to play or not, they get the push. It’s a natural thing.

Give music some water, or beer, and watch it grow.