Hey everyone out there in radio land! (I always wanted to say that...) Please forgive last episode's hiatus, I was incredibly busy and missed my deadline. I've been working on another project that's sucked almost all of my free-time. But I'm staying busy, so that's nice. As bass players and musicians in general, we should constantly be thinking about improving ourselves. We make a lot of sacrifices staying in this business, and it's important to make sure our efforts are in the right place. For those of you that aren't doing this professionally, your number one priority should be having a good time. In September of last year, Johnny's steel guitar player left for a Texas Country singer by the name of Aaron Watson. They were having bass player trouble as well, and offered me the job back then. I wasn't ready to leave Johnny, but I was offered the job two or three more times over the next few months. They were scrambling to find someone who could play bass and sing the majority of the harmony parts. Remember what I said in previous episodes about playing bass and singing, right? Those skills are very marketable in today's music industry. The offers kept coming and I kept turning them down. My friend kept hounding me at least to take an audition. Being a mentor and good friend of mine, I took his advice, got the songs, wrote some charts, figured out lyrics, and started practicing. I drove out for the audition and played six songs, and there wasn't any doubt that I was the right guy for the job. They made me an offer and I took it.

So, for almost two months now, I've been playing with Aaron Watson and The Orphans of the Brazos Band. We're staying plenty busy out on the road, looking to play around one hundred seventy shows this year. I miss playing with the Urban Cowboy Band, and although we keep in touch regularly, it's few and far between that I get to see my brothers in that outfit. It definitely was not an easy decision for me to leave, since I really had a great gig over there. There was a lot of meditation and soul-seeking on my part. I had to get back and reevaluate my long-term goals as a musician, and I'm back doing exactly what I wanted to do when I got started. This project allows me the luxury of focusing entirely on my craft, while playing a bunch of shows. The guys in the band are all around the same age, so I really feel like I fit in better. The material is refreshing and original, and the show is very high-energy and packed with music. We've got over twenty songs in a ninety minute set.

Having watched several shows before getting started with the group, I realized that their show is not only good musically, it's good from a production and planning standpoint as well. Moving from a Traditional Country act to a Texas Country act has really opened my eyes and made me go back and review my notes from the Commercial Music curriculum, especially from my classes where we studied crowd dynamics, stage presence, and performance techniques. I have to thank my friend and instructor, Scott Faris, for getting that stuff hammered into my head. The sorts of things we learned about eye contact, body language, and where your attention is focused are VITAL to a good quality stage show.

So, here I am, with just a little bit of a change of pace, still out there doing what I love. For everyone out there, remember that there are always opportunities for you to further your career. For you amateurs, play as much as you can, and have as much fun as possible. I've said it a million times, picking is good for the soul. You don't have to be good at it. Just keep playing and you'll get better. Push yourself and you will improve. Get your fingers on some strings, keys, sticks, whatever today and make some noise. We'll see you out there on the road.