sweetest gig?

Steve Becker · From: Daytona Beach FL

I know there are a lot of threads regarding crappy gigs played under lousy conditions, but how about one recalling your favorite gig, i.e. easiest, most gratifying, best paying, most fun, etc.
Any good experiences out there??

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

No doubt about mine - a tour with singer/songwriter Sonny Curtis in 1990.

The money was okay-ish, the venues sometimes questionable, the travel sometimes arduous, but I learned so much about making music on that job that it still towers over all the others.

I was actually playing Telecaster on that - Gerry Hogan played steel. I think we had the best drummer on the planet - the incomparable Gerry Conway!

But it was all about Sonny and his gentle good manners, his lovely songs, his self-deprecating attitude and - above all - his wealth of experience and consummate musicality. I had previously thought that I never played too loud Embarassed

, but Sonny soon had us all playing at a volume-level suitable for a drawing-room, and what a pleasure it was. It was all a salutary lesson in 'less is more', too.

Oh, and his fund of great stories about his earliest days in Lubbock with Buddy Holly, Weldon Myrick, Bob Montgomery then, a bit later, his days on the road with the Everly Brothers. Great stuff, and I'll treasure the memories of that job for ever.

Thanks, Sonny Curtis!
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Steve Becker · From: Daytona Beach FL

Wow- one reply! I can think of at least a half dozen jobs that were so much fun I would've done em for free, even though I was well compensated! Must be tougher out there than I thought...

Dick Wood · From: Springtown Texas, USA

Well I was never on the road so no road stories but here are a few that stick out over almost 30 years.

1.Played a small dive and Janie Fricke sits in and when I kicked off pass me by she looks at me with this beautiful huge smile of approval.

2.Worked with Johnny Lee and he made fun of my name all night.

3.Played in opening band with Jimmy Day watching from the side of the stage. Why did he keep looking at his watch?

4.Had the great pleasure of having the one and only Red Rhodes sit and watch me play 2 sets and then chat with me while we were on break.

5.Opened for Leeann Womack at Billy Bobs not long ago and Randy Beavers sat 20 feet away and put up with my feeble attempts for one hour.

6.Fun gigs: Cheyenne Wy. Frontier days Rodeo.Kodiak Alaska,played outside cold as hell that night.

7.Grizzly Rose Denver was always a fun Gig/Vacation

8.Had Mel Tillis and his band minus Paul Franklin (we had no steel in band) sit in on our equipment in 1980 and I got a pic of Mel and I together.

9.Played a private wedding and we all made $1k for 4 hours.

10.Bob Wills lead singer Leon Rausch (sp) hired me for a weekend. That guy had a zillion great stories.

11.The old R&B group The Coasters hired us as their band. I overheard them saying what a great job the band did and one of them said "yeah and that steel player didn't miss a note of our stuff".

I'm sure there's something else but that's all I can think of at the moment.
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Cops aren't paid much so I steel at night.

David Nutt · From: United Kingdom

Steve
I guess this one comes into the 'etc' category

Certainly the sweetest when I think back, but not so at the time.
We had for many years a country shindig in the UK
The Wembley Country Music Festival, on the evening prior to the first days events the promoter would put on a sparkling welcome dinner for all the artist, mostly top flight names from the USA country scene.
I was playing with a UK country band that provided the entertainment,scary in itself with all the stars out front, but for me, having Lloyd Green, Johnny Gimble and Charlie McCoy sitting about 15ft away was at the time a nightmare, neednt have worried though,Charlie got up and played with us,making the nightmare into the gig I will never forget.

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

On a Sunday afternoon at the old "Red Barrel" in Hawaiian Gardens, Ca. I was playing with Jack Tucker and Tommy Duncan was our guest star singer. Tommy was singing on a set and Noel Boggs had come by to see us. I had Noel slip into my seat behind my Fender 1000 and he was playing not yet known to Tommy. When Tommy finally looked over and saw Noel I wish you could have seen the expression on his face. Noel and Tommy had worked together for several years on the Old Bob Wills Band. We all had a great afternoon ! (Noel played on my A6th tuning but did not use the pedals).

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

Back in the 80's, it seemeed like I played a million gigs ( well maybe 999,999 ) all over the northeast. Most were good, some bad, but, none were sweet.
The sweetest gig was when my wife, Darlene, and I got married. We hired some friends, who, had a country band to play. And, as you might expect, we were asked to get up and play. Watching my beautiful wife sing while I backed her up on steel was the best and sweetest gig for me. Truly, a wedding I'll never forget. ( I better not )

Steve Becker · From: Daytona Beach FL

Oh man, you're gonna rack up some points for that little story!

John De Maille · From: On a Mountain in Upstate Halcottsville, N.Y.

Aw! She never reads the forum stuff, anyway.

Clyde Mattocks · From: Kinston, North Carolina, USA

Getting to work a three week tour with Mel Street when he was on his way up. What a great person!
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Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

Opened the sold out concert for Ledward Kapana and Ray Kane. When we were doing the sound check Ray walks out on stage and stares at us while we finish. Then he says da Lei-aways can play da kine Hawaiian music bra!! We were floored!! I ended up playing electric bass behind Ray, Ledward and the rest of the Lei-aways for several encores. The ghost was in the house that night.

Steve Becker · From: Daytona Beach FL

Then he says da Lei-aways can play da kine Hawaiian music bra!!

I have no idea what this means...some sort of musical undergarment..like the greeting cards? Smile

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

The best country gig I ever had was the 2 years (give or take a month) with a singer named Bobby Cahill. Bobby was a local country music hero who never went national, but he sang as well as any major star. It was a real pleasure listening to and playing behind him. He was also one of the nicest guys I'd ever met.

But the performances that gave me the most pleasure were the ones I did with my classical music trio. I call it "my trio" but the real leader was a violist name Carole Mukogawa. Carole recently retired from the L.A. Philharmonic after 30 years, and is an A-list session player who has played on countless film and TV sound tracks, as well as an equally uncountable number of hit records.

Carole put this trio together and invited me to be part of it. (I consider this to be the greatest honor of my entire life.)Prior to our first rehearsal, our cellist, a lovely younger lady named Michelle Beauchesne, had never seen or heard a pedal steel guitar before, and was a little skeptical at first, but once we started playing together she fell in love with the sound.

Leaving aside the incredible musicianship of these two ladies, (I had to work my behind off to keep up with them,) and the interesting nature of the music we played, The thing I liked most about our performances was that we played concerts, rather than gigs. Our audiences did not talk, or dance, or play pool, etc. but sat quietly and paid attention to the music.

An added plus for me was that most of these people, many of whom were classically trained musicians and friends of the 2 ladies, had, like Michelle, never seen or heard a pedal steel guitar before, and, like her, they were utterly captivated by it. As part of every performance, I gave a 30 second lecture/demonstration, and invited members of the audience to come and take a closer look at it after the concert, before I broke down. I would also let them sit down at it and try it out.

At present, the group has broken up, mainly because Carole is too busy doing session work to keep it going, but we plan to reunite in the spring for at least one more concert.

If I had 3 wishes, one of them would be that the 3 of us would play together full time and tour and make record etc. Unfortunately Carole's, and to a lessor extant Michelle's busy schedules preclude that from happening. I'm working on something else at the moment, but I'm really looking forward to next spring when we play together again.

P,S. You can hear a recording of the trio in concert at Charles Tilly's wonderful web site with all the MP3 files of so many of us. The tune is called "Bourrée." On this particular tune, I played the melody on the bass strings of my U-12 so you can hear how I use them.
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Please visit my web site and Soundcloud page and listen to the music posted there.
http://www.mikeperlowin.com http://soundcloud.com/mike-perlowin

Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

Hey Steve B. Doesn't mean we're bad people!! Very Happy

Billy Wilson · From: El Cerrito, California, USA

Hey Steve B. Doesn't mean we're bad people!! Very Happy

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

pulled up to a small club in Memphis and they had rented us a limo (we were/are nobodies), took us to graceland and out for some fantastic bbq, then the cops stopped the show after our second song because we were too loud. thats was a good-un.

on a boat cruising down the HUdson river, Manhattan, what was that called? the rock and roll boat or something? That was insane. Guilliani killed that boat and half the real fun of NYC durng his tenure, he was a horrible mayor.

Rick Barnhart · From: Arizona, USA

Chuck Hall · From: Warner Robins, Ga, USA

It's ok Rick, Dick Wood get it. Very Happy

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Chuck
MCI D10 8/4 Nashville 400 and a Profex.

Tommy Boswell · From: Virginia, USA

Sweetest gig? The one that started me on the road to PSG. I was asked to play 6-string acoustic in a local production of "Always, Patsy Cline". When I showed up for the first practice my cousin Kenny Boswell was there on pedal steel. Prior to that my only memories of Kenny were from my childhood, watching him on a weekly country music show on a Richmond TV station. Kenny was a delightful gentleman and a master of his instrument. Playing that show with Kenny turned me into a pedal steel fan, and ultimately an amateur player myself.

David Wright · From: Pilot Point ,Tx USA.

Ummmm, Had a lot of fun gigs in the past 40 years, a night with Buck Owens, giged with Commander Cody, Sue Thompson, so many ....But the most musical rewarding one was last Dec with a 14 piece swing band in Canton, Tx. Dave Alexander Whoa!

filled in for Maurice, I have to say, it was GREAT!!!!.. I asked Dave and the end of the show how much I owed him!!..to work with such Great players was such a Honor, words just can't explain the fun I had...
Heres a link to a song....If ever Dave is in driving distance, go see him, you won't be sorry!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29JgcNF_UTU

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