The British Steelies Society

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!

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.

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.

Sorry to miss you Danny, maybe next time!

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.

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