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Topic: Austin Steel Guitar Co-op April 19th... Gary Thorsen! |
Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 31 Mar 2015 8:39 pm |
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Gary recently moved to Austin... and was seen with the fine Luker amps at the Dallas show... thanks for loaning the Non-Pedal Room that amp, Gary... and now we've twisted his arm to play for our group, third Sunday in April.
Gary's got a gig later on (4pm at Poodie's Hilltop) so he'll go on at 2pm sharp and play to 3pm... then we'll jam out til 5 or so. Location is the usual:
290 West Club
12013 U.S. 290W
Austin, TX 78737
(512) 288-0808
... and our band will be the following artists:
Jerry Don Motley - guitar
Charlie Irwin - bass
Ron Erwin - drums
The 290 has great burgers and drinks... bring things to sell if you want... bring a steel and jam with us! Hope to see y'all there.
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2015 4:17 am
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Here's Gary's bio:
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I grew up in a musical family, so there was always a guitar around. Back when a Fender Precision was taller than I was my father tracked me down to play bass in his band. By the time I hit seventh grade I was in a rock band playing school dances. In my early years Dad encouraged me to play steel guitar but I got into playing rock and blues on the six string guitar. In 1972 I saw Jerry Garicia playing steel guitar with the New Riders of the Purple Sage and decided Dad was right. Steel was my instrument and from that time on I was hooked on steel.
Playing all that Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in my pre-teen years finally paid off. That stuff started sounding pretty good to me, so I locked myself in my room and started woodshedding Tom Brumley and Ralph Mooney licks. After a few weeks I went out to jam and got hired in the house band at a local bar playing cover tunes. Sometimes I didn’t know whose licks I was copying but my obsession with the steel grew –and is still growing.
Over the years I graduated to playing in better bands and was recruited to play in top regional acts. In the 80s I started my own county band and got hired in Missoula Montana where we played seven years straight, five nights a week, which helped my playing tremendously, thank you Paul Franklin.
Eventually I landed in Nashville and started playing steel and Tele with the legendary Don Kelly, the quintessential band leader for up and coming Nashville guitar players. Don’s lineup over the years includes the best guitar players I have ever heard and I’d have to say that being hired by Don is still one of my proudest accomplishments as a player. Don is famous for hiring the best guitar slingers in the land, guys like the legendary Bent Mason and Jeff King, Danny Mohamed, Rod Riley, Jason Roller, Rod Jensen, the fabulous Mr. Redd Volkaert, Johnny Highland, Guthrie Trapp, JD Simo and other terrific musicians. Whew! Just saying those names makes me want to lock myself in the woodshed and practice twelve hours a day!
After working with Don and predictably getting gunned down on the streets of Nashville by monster Tele pickers (like Redd) I was hired by a number of recording artists to work concerts. Some of the names I worked with are The Lynns, Ken Mellons, Chris Ward, Lyla McCann and (predictably too) I eventually made another long list - the list of players fired by Tanya Tucker. Like Paul Cook said, “Welcome to the Club!”
Over the years I’ve played and written with some wonderful songwriters too. Kostas, James House, Mike Ward, Jamie Richards and I must say, these guys were really fun and a privilege to work with. And they let me play what I wanted to play. Currently I’m working with another gifted and up-and-coming songwriter Tessy Lou Williams. Remember that name, she’s terrific.
It’s been a fun ride and I feel lucky to say I’ve played all over the world with great musicians, talented artists and played some great shows and tours too - Nashville Now, the Grand Ol Opry, even the George Strait ’98 Tour. There’s nothing like having 60,000 people out there in the audience to get you excited about playing!
But this my first time playing as a featured “artist” for a bunch of steel players so the pucker factor is right up there for me. I will definitely be in the woodshed getting ready to have my ideas in order for the Austin Steel Guitar Club on April 19th. I want to thank you for this opportunity to share my love for the steel guitar with you all! |
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2015 6:52 pm
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One week to go!
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Ben Price
From:
San Antonio, TX - USA
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Posted 15 Apr 2015 7:32 pm
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Sorry I'm going to miss this one. I have folks in from out of town and we're doing the San Antonio tourist thing. I would love to hear Gary play live.
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Proud member of the San Antonio Steel Guitar Association (www.facebook.com/satxsga) |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Apr 2015 5:00 am
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Coming up tomorrow! Come on out if you can. Ben, we'll see you May 3rd.
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Dean Schilling
From:
New Braunfels, Texas, USA
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Posted 18 Apr 2015 12:08 pm
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| Stephen Cowell wrote: |
| Coming up tomorrow! Come on out if you can. Ben, we'll see you May 3rd. |
Hey Stevo,
Just back to New Braunfels from the Big Valley (Alamo), I'll be up there tomorrow.
Lookin forward to seeing everyone again.
Deano
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Infinity D-10 |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2015 8:53 pm
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Hey, great to see (and hear!) you Dean... here's some video of Gary entertaining us...
http://youtu.be/IgByxWNnSS8
Thanks again for playing Gary!
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Gary Thorsen
From:
Oregon, USA
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Posted 19 Apr 2015 10:51 pm Asgc
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| I'd like to express my appreciation to Rose Sinclair, Stephen Cowell and the ASGC for putting on such a worthwhile monthly event - and inviting me to play. And let's not forget Neal Flanz, who has done so much for steel guitar, for taking pictures. Thank you Neal! Also thanks to the wonderful band Jerry, Ron and Charlie. You guys did terrific, especially considering my charts. Charts? What charts? We don't need no stinking charts! With help from y'all steel guitar is alive and well in Austin Texas. A heartfelt thank you! |
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Kenny Piper
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2015 1:39 am Gary
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| Stephen what great job Gary did. So sorry to have miss this great performance with him and your bunch of players, maybe next time. |
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Dean Schilling
From:
New Braunfels, Texas, USA
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Posted 20 Apr 2015 7:39 am
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Great video Steve, and I enjoyed every minute!
Hope to see everyone at SASGA in a couple of weeks. 
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Infinity D-10 |
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