East Lonesome Drifters drift North

[jonshack]

We're hitting the road for three weekend warrior gigs at the beginning of feb:
Thu 1st February--Hobos Retreat, Bury
Fri 2nd February--John O' Gaunt, Lancaster
Sat 3rd February-- Glasgow, Grand Ole Opry

I'm always up for a steel guitar chat so please pop along and say hello. First time we've played Glasgow's Opry and any support from the Scottish contingent most gratefully appreciated!

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Your in for a great time up there Jon, you cannot get a better welcome anywhere in the UK to compare with Glasgow ...

[Danny Mitchell]

Bummer, I'm in Peterborough that weekend
Sorry Jonathan, I was looking forward to coming along and meeting you. You'll have a good time at the opry it's a great room to play.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Danny if your in Peterborough (24 miles north of me) don't forget to pop in here for tea and biscuits (all we got left now the Baily's is gone )

[Danny Mitchell]

John, I'm afraid to say I'll be drinking and not driving. I'm down for a bit of a family do be afraid. Thank you kindly for the invitation though.

[jonshack]

Sorry to miss you Danny, maybe next time!

[Nick Bidmade]

Put Newcastle on the list next time,John!
Hope to be seeing Matt on 4 Feb. Too few steelers pass through this city.
Hope the gigs go well.

[jonshack]

This was a bit of a milestone for my little band I must say. We've been wanting to play Glasgow's Opry for ages. We had a great time and a warm reception. It was difficult to gauge the reaction entirely, I could be wrong but I got the impression the audience were more used to 80's/90's/modern country and everything we do is older than that or original. But I think the dancers had fun and anyway the band is somewhat second fiddle to the bingo, gunslinging, raffle and birthday shout outs. I got to have an all-too-brief chat with Billy Murdoch - sorry Billy, we spent most of the time in a back stage panic changing setlists, always a mistake Anyway, lovely to meet you and the other folks, the whole thing was a blast.

The other CMC we played was a complete contrast (in a good way). The Hobo's retreat, Heywood, Bury. Smaller, no dancing, a listening club, everyone hanging on each note - which is not what we're used to at all. The audience was so knowledgable about old school country & western it was difficult to impress them but they really warmed to us and we had a lot of lovely feedback. We sold 17 CD's! That, I must say, is 17 more than we sold at the Opry I can't recommend this place enough. A couple of steel players were in the audience and introduced themselves beforehand. They didn't stick around afterwards which I tried not to take personally

As a point of interest, these are the only two CMC's we've ever heard back from. Mostly we are met with a stoney silence when applying for gigs. I guess they have their roster of bands and they stick to it. Yes, we're from London ( ) and don't entirely fit in with the cabaret band sound/image, or do line dancing songs, so I get that. But it was good to know we could go over well with a hardcore country audience.

See you down the road
Jonathan