Since moving to Lynchburg, I’ve been making a musical transition. Oh, I’m still making and playing music, but my journey has diverged from the path where it began seven years go. Back then, I was just hanging on, struggling with the loss of a son, and my guitar became a means of finding some way forward after a devestating and seemingly senseless tragedy.
I initially thought I wanted to see if I could work-up a setlist that would allow me to get booked into clubs and other venues on the “cover circuit.” Every state and region has one.
What I learned is that if you have enough drive, and you can get on the phone and/or craft a compelling booking pitch, you can play regularly. Or, at least that was my experience in Maine. Before I knew it, I’d moved into playing some clubs in Boston, thanks to making a connection with a small booking agency. My first few years of playing live music, I’d play 60 to 70 gigs a year. That changed when COVID hit.
Then, my wife and I made a monumental decision. Real estate was at its peak in New England. We realized that this was our time for a new adventure and no more winters in the northeast. Off to points south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Lynchburg had affordable housing and it wasn’t a dump like some places that are affordable. But Lynchburg also has been a very hard nut to crack in terms of trying to book shows. I’m not going to belabor the reality that I was initially bitter and then, disappointed in the lack of places to play original music in the city and nearby.
Lynchburg, Virginia, USA downtown skyline.
What that initial experience provided, however, was the chance to really work on my songwriting craft. I’ve been putting out material on a regular basis. Then, putting it out on various streaming platforms, the central one being Spotify.
What has happened over the past two years is that my streams on Spotify have slowly ticked upward. Unlike many of the local musicians who get all the gigs, but have less than 100 monthly streams, my numbers have shot beyond 1,600 monthly streams and continue hitting upward. I attribute this to being willing to “feed the algorithm,” or the “Al Gore Rhythm,” as one of my songs on my new release, Some Singles+ talks about.
Despite enjoying sitting in my music room on the second floor and making music and playing guitar daily, I missed playing live music. Then, I got the idea of possibly putting together a short tour after my day job for Lynchburg City Schools ended. I began plotting an itinerary. Initially, I’d hoped to make it to Morgantown, WV, Pittsburgh, then come back down through Virginia, before heading south from my home base.
What’s eventually transpired is I played my initial show last Saturday in Harrisonburg, a fun college town that has both James Madison University and Eastern Mennononite University. What it also has is an amazing nanobrewery, The Friendly Fermenter, just on the edge of its bustling downtown area. I’d played TFF back in December and I was able to book another engagement.
This time, I put away my acoustic and brought my electric show. I was really happy for this experience and it really properly kicked off my upcoming shows south of Lynchburg.
Here’s a snippet of the Harrisonburg show at The Friendly Fermenter, home of some of Virginia’s best locally-brewed beer.
I am playing as a one-man-band, which means just me. I compensate for this by using a drum pedal, a looper, and I’ve assembled a decent pedal board that helps drive my electric sound. My new Fender Tonemaster, Fender’s modern approximation of the vaunted, vintage Princeton tube amp, is a beast.
An amp is a guitar player’s best friend.
What I know from past experience is playing at home and practicing never can replace playing live. You need to take your music to a live audience, and Harrisonburg allowed me to do that last weekend.
Now, I’m off to Raleigh-Durham, and The Nightrider bar on Friday night. I’ll be playing with a local artist, Uglow. Then, I’ll be heading to Murfreesboro and Nashville next week, and ending this short tour in Huntsville, Alabama.
I hope to do some blogging from the road, so stay tuned. I’d also encourage you to sign-up for my BandsinTown page, so you can get updates when I’m coming to or near your town.
