Twenty-five years ago, the primary focus of my life was to create music. As a singer/guitarist and audio engineer, I had a full studio stuffed into my little apartment. An array of guitars and amps littered my bedroom, along with effects pedals, reel-to-reel machines, a church organ, an upright piano (bought from Goodwill), and a few vintage drum kits to boot. There was hardly room for a bed.
These days less is certainly more. And technology has come a long way to help facilitate a more minimalist approach when it comes to the number of instruments required to make music.
However, during the pandemic I returned to creating music and picked up a pair of drumsticks for the first time in over two decades. I overcame my trepidation and embraced the therapeutic benefits of drumming — as well as all the shit to carry that comes with the fun of percussion.
As the song goes, now I’m the drummer in a rock’n’roll band.
If you’re in Austin this weekend, come see me perform classic country/blues/rock’n’roll at the strangely-named Hairy Man Festival. And if you’d like to learn of more upcoming gigs along these lines, feel free to join the Austin Prairie Dogs mailing list at austinprairiedogs.com.
