Singer in a Rock & Roll Band

I made the very scary move from bassist to bassist/singer this month. I also did my 1st solo gig (acoustic guitar and vocals). These gigs proved two things (1) I have become a good enough player that I can just think about vocals while performing and (2) That I need to train my voice in order to get though more than a dozen songs.

Found a spray called vocal-eze that I will use next time. I was hoping it would make me sound better, but I think it just makes my throat stay coated.

Got a good suggestion from my wife (sing from your gut or you will sound like you are immitating your brother) and good feedback from Mark Scarbrough (you sound the best you ever have 'cause you pushed your voice instead of singing from your head/nose) I think they were making the same point, although I am a big fan of Adam's nasal singing style.

New Music (and some from my youth)

Marc Olsen - The Salvation Blues - Beautiful and sad and very personal record. Good news it there are great songs here too.

Elvis Costello -Momofuku - Costello's best since Spike. (Meaning that he is guilty of trying too hard post 1988, this CD he is in the moment, a very good thing)

Steve Windwood - Nine Lives - Forget that the 1980's happened. Steve sounds like the Steve Windwood of Traffic with some late 1970's world music mixed in.

Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch (feat. Tom Petty & Mike Campbell) Recorded live in the studio in a three week session. Scare Easy should have been a #1 hit for them.

John Mellencamp - Life Death Hope & Freedom - T-Bone Burnette kicked him into gear to do a record of originals that sound like his blues covers Cd from a few years back


..........and from the way back collection:

Blondie - Parallel Lines (30 years later it remains one of the great pop-rock-punk records)

Huey Lewis & The News - Sports I needed to hear Heart & Soul, so I downloaded the whole thing, great tunes, super slick, more soul / r&b that I remembered, and a great Honkey Tonk Blues as the last track

Frank Zappa - You Can't Do This On Stage Anymore (Vol 1-6) , The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life, Broadway The Hard Way (ok, maybe 20 hours of live Zappa is more that you can digest in one lifetime, but for the brave, this is some great stuff. Live in NY and Baby Snakes might be his BEST live recordings, but I've played them to where I know every note by now.

Solo acoustic this Thursday

My first ever acoustic solo show.

Sort of

I've enlisted my brother Adam to sit in for the 1st set for some moral support.

The Details:

When: Thursday, August 7th from 8:00pm-11:45pm
Where: Firebird Rotisserie and Sports Bar
4719 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338
(770-804-8288)