I had a chance to see one of our members Steven Gary, great bass player and vocalist in action at Champs in Morgan Hill last Thursday. Steven had a Guitar, Bass and Drum trio going hard at it in the loft at Champs. Despite the fact they were 15 feet above the crowd who was watching the Sharks game, the trio gave it their all and between plays managed to get more than few rounds of applause from a crowd that multitasked watching the game and singing along to some of the more popular songs. I personally thought the venue would have benefited by having the Trio down on the main floor, but apparently the loft is where management wants the bands. 

Just a note of encouragement to get out and support fellow members. We have damn few venues for live local country bands in this area. Venues gauge  bands based on how much additional revenue - ie people the bands are able to generate. If we want to start building the country scene here, we will need to work collectively to help promote these venues and the country bands they bring in.

What I'm loving most about country drumming is the elegance of its simplicity and the absolute requirements to hold the groove. It's a lot like going back to the basics of being a good drummer. I realize that where jazz is built on improvisation and engaging in a musical conversation with the other players, country is really about build a big, deep framework and supporting groove for the guys / gals up front. I spent a lot of time over the last years trying to be really solid in jazz with time. Country clearly is going to take that to a whole new level. It's also making me really respect the whole notion of creating space / quiet in the what I'm doing as a drummer to open space for the music and the story it is trying to tell. Yep, I'm happy and loving the learning opportunity, and grateful to the folks that are gently supporting me as I go through the learning curve. 

It warmed my heart when I received a response to one of my posts from a local band. My post indicated I loved country, but had been playing jazz, and wanted to form a group to learn and play country. There response said, we can't help you much in finding folks to form a band with, however, we practice once a week and our drummer can only make it once every two weeks. If you like to come over and sit in with us to see how things work, It would help us, and would give you a chance to learn. This  is group that has been playing together for a long time. I was grateful and a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to cut it. They were great, very low pressure, lots of encouragement, and clear direction - this is a boom chic, this is a bar room shuffle, this is country waltz in 3. At the end of the 3 hour rehearsal the said I had done really well. I had to ask for feedback on what I could do to improve. The response - be a little louder on the snare and the bass drum. Play much simpler with less fills. Use sticks more. And to top it off they even invited me back. I grinned all the way home. I remember when I first started taking the Jazz improv class at DeAnza College the instructors had to break me of my rock and roll habits. I was told, take your foot of the bass pedal and don't use it for at least the first half of the quarter. And don't play the snare on 2 & 4. In jazz the bass drum is felt not heard unless your using it as an accent. And unless your are playing bules, 2 & 4 are implied in the work you are doing on the snare not expressed, and instead they are placed on the hi hat. Country is clearly going to give me a lot of  new things to "relearn". 

Lessons abound in life. I have posted multiple times to craigslist to find fellow musicians. Each time I have gotten responses, each response and follow up from those have taught me a lesson in being more clear about what my interests are. What type of country is a big one. What level of musician do I want? What are the goals for the group - explicitly. As I looked at posts from others I was surprised at the finer points they were identifying, as important. My lesson is that music and musicians come in all shapes and sizes, and what's clear is what one person is love with another person may absolutely despise. Anyhow I'm grateful for the guidance and recommendations along the way. Perhaps the best one was put together your perfect set list and provide you tube examples of your favorite rendition of the song. - Now that I've done that its like duh - how else would you do it.

Thanks to everyone who has "plugged in".

We are now up to 20 ish folks in about 2 weeks worth of effort. Not bad. Here is the line up:
14 of us sing, and almost all of us have either one or more other instruments that we play.

• Fort Bragg - 1 Peddle Steel
• Concord - 1 Guitar
• Berkeley - 1 Bass
• Walnut Creek-  2 Guitar
• Tracy - 1 Drums
• Livermore - 1 Guitar, 1 Bass
• Pleasanton - 1 Drums
• San Francisco - 1 Vocals - Male, 1 Vocals - Female
• Belmont - Peddle Steel
• Castro Valley - 1 Guitar
• Santa Clara - 1 Vocals
• San Jose - 1 Drums, 1 Guitar, 1 Bass
• Saratoga - 1 Guitar
• Santa Cruz - 1 Guitar, 1 Bass

After being frustrated in finding a quick and easy way to pull together an association and get things going I was able to get a quick dialog going with KRTY's GM, Nate Deaton. Ps - If you haven't had a chance to thank those guys for all they are doing please take a minute and send them an email. They work very hard for their money.

Essentially Nate said they have tried in the past to pull together the local community of country musicians and so far its been challenging. He also felt getting things going from a venue standpoint was a catch 22. He said other than the Saddle Rack and the Rodeo club, there are very few venues for local country bands. Further, the venues that have reached out to him with an interest in local country bands seem to be more interested in New country, and unfortunately there are very few bands playing it that he is aware of. Hence the Catch 22. Nate is slammed during the summer season with all the concerts and events they are supporting, however he has offered to provide what support he can to help us promote local country music as we get into the winter months when his schedule eases up a bit, with the understanding that the bulk of the work will need to come from us.  I let him know I appreciated his offer, and that - assuming I could get something moving from a community and a venue standpoint, I would reach back out.  Thanks Nate and thanks KRTY!

My journey into Bay Area Country Music started about a month ago. Though silicon valley / tech business development guy by day, I play jazz as a drummer at the semi pro / am level. I  have been part of the local scene organized by a really dedicated guy Marty Honda who has built our jazz community over the last years into a strong community with monthly jams and multiple venues to play at.

One day I realized that most of my listening for enjoyment time is spent on Pandora where I have multiple country music channels and to KRTY when I'm in the car. I had an epiphany of sorts which was, "If love this stuff so much, why am I not playing it? So I went to Craigslist, searched for country music, came away surprised by how little I saw out there and then posted my interest in getting something going. As you might guess I wasn't overwhelmed with responses. After a few days I thought . . . hmm maybe its time to to see if I can find country musician's by forming an association. And that is how this got started. I thought if Marty could build the kind of community we have built for Jazz, maybe we can do the same for country.