Last Friday was the beginning of a busy month for the Reagan Boggs band as we begin to tour Southwest Virginia to promote the new CD.
Our first stop since The Down Home brought is to Bristol, Virginia and The Vinyard – one of the area’s up and coming listening rooms that continues to support live local music from the birthplace of Country Music.
Joy Rudder has been booking bands at The Vinyard for a couple of years now. She took over the restaurant from the previous owner, knocked down several walls, put up a stage, some lights and has a great room and with a little more patience and support may become an excellent venue here in the Tri-Cities.
I couldn’t wait to get to the show either. Time ticked away slowly Friday and I was hoping to beat everyone there and get my gear set up and order some dinner.
It was around 6.30 when I arrived and Greg Smith was right behind me and as I set up my gear, he told me that Kevin Light wasn’t coming tonight. What? No bass player? Greg said Kevin had double-booked a job with another band (a country band called Black Hat) and emailed Reagan on Wednesday notifying us at late notice about the situation.
Hmmm. That was strange and obviously a little discouraging, but he explained Jason (the banjo player) was going to play bass tonight. I was thinking – this guy makes me sick with all of his talent!
Reagan showed up in a pair of leather pants and a new hot pink western shirt that had guitars on each shoulder and a Cadillac on the back. She seemed to be in good spirits despite the incident with Kevin and we’ll see how that plays out in the next few weeks as we get ready to tour.
Our fiddlin’ friend Kevin Jackson was joining us on stage again tonight. I always look forward to playing music with him as his melody and humor are always welcome. He shares many stories about the local bluegrass scene and always delivers insight and jokes that make our performances together even more enjoyable.
We had dinner, ran the sound check and were kicked off the first song around 9.30 and the club was half-full. That’s a good night for The Vinyard and everyone in the audience seemed to be there for the show because they didn’t leave. Rick and Lester – some of our diehard fans were in the audience tonight as well as several new faces that are part of the Bristol scene.
The Vinyard has finally put up some stage lights which makes a big difference – it seemed more like a stage now, since the last time, we were playing under flour-scent lights and there’s nothing showy about that drab lighting.
Despite our missing bassist, Jason blew me away with his accuracy on his parts and Greg and Kevin were a delight to perform with as we shared solos from song to song.
After the first set, we shared a few tequila shots with Kevin and he started telling his jokes. ‘If Eve wore a fig leaf – what did Adam wear?” We looked at him puzzled and he blurted out – ‘He wore a hole through it.’ This guys a hoot and we laughed for several minutes from a battery of other funny stories.
Between the laughter, we talked outside about ‘playing in the shadows.’ I never really thought about it, but when we were discussing Jason’s performance on bass with such short notice, we both agreed that our jobs were a little easier. He described us both as people who ‘play in the shadows’ and he’s right.
It’s important that are parts are evident in the music, but as melodic players we can sneak in and sneak out of the music. Playing the right notes are important, but we can hide. The drummer, bass and lead vocalist are out front – all of the time.
The great thing about The Vinyard is the audience comes to listen. They have a bar separate from the stage and pool tables too, but the crowds there seem intent on watching the performers and that’s always a treat, especially after some of the wallpaper gigs we play where no-one applauds.
This was a good crowd tonight and we played til 12.30 before we turned on the lights and began the take-down. The band sounded good too, despite the snafu with the bass player. Jason was awesome, Kevin was a pleasure and the other guys responded to the situation with complete confidence and so we move on.
This coming week will be busy too. With a rehearsal on Tuesday, we play in Knoxville for three performances on Wednesday – a live radio show, a record store and a late night gig at Preservation Pub.
On Friday, we’re packing our gear and traveling to Winston Salem and on to Black Mountain, North Carolina on Saturday. It should be an exciting week too and I look forward to the new stages and experiences along the way.
Here are some photos from The Vinyard Gig this past weekend.