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well hello friends and welcome to the true tone Lounge today's guest is Joe Fick he's our second base player on the
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show and uh we're going to do better about this but Joe is one of the best
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you know kind of old school rockabilly country upright based players he is a
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veteran of the Don Kelly band and is of course the band leader of its kind of offshoot or the child of it which is
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Kelly's Heroes which plays wday through Saturday night at Robert's Western World
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from 6:30 to 10:00 right he's also of course was with the
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Dempsy and he's been involved in movies like Walk the Line and baz lurman Elvis
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and excited for you to be here Joe you know the whole story already yeah what is there to do okay good night everybody
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no so let's I'm always interested as to when did music become interesting to you
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when do you can you remember that moment when you heard something as a kid or or something like that where it became you
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know yeah I think uh I think I'm like most you know people that I grew I was
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born in 76 was a kid of the 80s and you know listened to pop radio like I think
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most kids did and we got MTV in 1988 so that was definitely a game changer
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um I think I think I had kind of a unique upbringing in that my older brother and sister were
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involved in the um uh we had a great uh music program in the public schools and
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they were they started on violin and Viola they were few years older than I am they were in fifth and sixth grade and and I was in kindergarten so they
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were doing classical music Suzuki method and uh I told my mom I was like man I I
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want to do that too I want to take violin lessons or whatever and so I did
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that for a couple years and absolutely hated it I don't know why I decided that that would be a good thing but um I just
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I just remember loving music I remember getting a copy of um Michael Jackson's Thriller when it first came out being
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like this is amazing and um we also had a copy of uh herb Albert's rise in the
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family for some reason and and that music really stuck with me it was like herb alpert's shot at a disco record
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and that was like some of the First music I remember hearing as a kid kind of the R&B thing um but then I have this
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classical music background and so I did I did the Suzuki method on the violin for gosh I guess about three years and
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and if you're not familiar with that that's that's it's kind of like an ear Training Method when you're right five
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six years old I mean you can't really read words much less music so they teach you how to pick out Melodies and
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positioning and and how to play how to play Tunes twinkle twinkle Go tell Aunt roie that kind of thing and I learned
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all of book one by memory and then by the time I got to second grade they wanted me to go back and like Teach me
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how to read book one and then by then I was out I was like I don't want to do this anymore yeah yeah so and then you
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know by the time I got to where my brother and sister were when I was in fifth grade I started on the cello and I
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played that all um all throughout Junior High in high school and uh but then you you know the
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rock and roll bug bit me I'm from Tacoma Washington so by the late 80s early '90s
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there's this whole musical Revolution going on in my backyard in Seattle and
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I'm a teenager exactly yeah and so um me and my best buddy Brad burad all who I
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would start the rockabilly the Dempsey with we started a garage band you know like everybody else and we did that for
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a couple years we were both guitar players and of course like most bass players start out as guitar players and
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it's like well we need a bass player in the band yeah and he's a better guitar player so I'm like I guess I'll be the
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Basse player so I ended up getting a an electric base played that for a couple
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years with a pick and um got kind of burned out on that we did all the Battle
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of the Bands kind of things and and um you know it kind of felt competitive we
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had all these other bands in our high school and at that point we were just sort of like man let's just have fun and
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and my buddy Brad was he so my family was a classical and jazz family he his
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family was like Elvis and Hank Williams and so I would spend half the time at his house you know hanging out and I'm
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hearing Elvis hearing all this old rock and roll he's has he has Elvis pictures
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all over his wall and I I thought man why don't we start like a rockabilly band that'd be really fun I was like
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I've always loved the sound of the walking bass you know I grew up you know one of the other styles of music I love
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when I was growing up was was Jazz we had had a great jazz station in Tacoma Washington kplu 885 and when it was our
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NPR station when when they weren't reporting the news they were playing jazz All Around the Clock which is like
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not something you really hear much anymore right like like a full station that's just devoted to Jazz anyway so I
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got you know I I I got accustomed to here in that walking base and I always love that and I kind of put two and two
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together I was like man if I if I could get an upright base we could put a rockabilly band together you know you
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Brad you could you could be the Elvis guy and and I'll be Bill black yeah you know and so that's kind of that's kind
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of how I I mean whether it was a good idea or not because I didn't know anything about it I just thought it it
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would be a cool idea you know I I love that old stuff I love swing I love love the rockabilly sound and so here I am
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you know many years later yeah so the name the dimmies I mean where did that come from that's our eighth grade
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English teacher okay Howard Dempsey and like Leonard skinnard yeah exactly we
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would we uh me my my buddy Brad and and our first drummer Mike Moffett we would
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all do impressions of this guy and everybody thought it was hilarious I he just really kind of he's a great teacher
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but just really stiff and and uh you know he would do this thing where he would he would be looking at a student
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he'd say what is the you know tell me the verb in this sentence and he he'd look at a student and he'd look at you
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and You' go Zach just like scare the crap at of you know yeah and so anyway we would do
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these impressions of the guy and everybody's like man you guys should call your band The Dempsey and you know so like anything it starts out as a joke
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at first and it's like it's kind of a cool name like it's not too serious sounding yeah what about P you know you
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because the the transition from electric base to Upright yeah is you know did you have help in that or did I guess you
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already had had played cello so at least we're somewhat familiar with this type of playing but it's it's not even
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compare it's when I made the transition I thought I picked that thing up and I I
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was just like oh there's got to be an easier way to do this I was like does anybody play with a pick you know I thought maybe like is there an upright
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player out there but it was just one of those things where for a couple of gigs I would bring both I would bring the
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upright and I would bring the electric yeah and I and I realized man I'm never going to get better on this instrument
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if I keep bringing the electric because it'll always be easier just to be like I'm gonna play this for a couple songs and set it down and then do this and and
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so I I just started forcing myself I said this this thing's staying home yeah and we would I mean the only gigs we
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could get when we we'd put this band together when we were about 16 and so we would we would play either coffee shops
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or the local farmers market every Thursday and so no amps just bring we
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had like like a acoustic guitar a little drum kit like two-piece drum kit with a
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brushes yeah and an upright base and I mean about an hour in I was getting the
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Johnson and Johnson coach tape wrapping my fingers cuz I had big blood blisters and I had no idea that I had no idea
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about about gut strings I had no idea about having a base set up with decent action I'm just just playing like like
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in tears just like this is just terrible but I'm like I'm going to do this I'm I'm going to get this and you know
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eventually you know four or five years into it I discovered gut strings I you you know you talk to more bass players
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you figure out what they're using well that was one the thing I was going to ask you is about did you did you ever have any kind of lessons or any kind of
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instruction of any type whether it was like a video or anything or did you man no cuz this was like I would say this is
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probably like 1994 95 early for the internet such no
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YouTube I wasn't old enough to get into a bar to go see like a rockabilly band I
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didn't even realize there was a term called rockabilly I was just like we play we play 50s classic rock and roll
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or whatever so you know cuz there's lots of idios andc you know Styles you know when it
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like rockabilly B and so like you know you're hearing this kind of thing and maybe you saw some clips of Elvis or
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whoever that's it you know yeah but still I mean how did did you just you
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know just keep moving your hands around until you were able to find out a way to make those kind of sounds or so the G I
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think the game changer for me was was when when of my buddy Brad was like Hey
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man like cuz I was just playing like just walking to picado baselines and and
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he said you know you should really like you should really do the slap Bas thing like Bill black yeah I was like slap Bas
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what are you talking about he's like he's like those he's like that clicking sound that you hear on all those Sun Records yeah he's like that's the bass
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and and and we would argue about it I was like that's that's the drums man he's like he's like no I'm telling you it's the bass and he would even show me
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the credits on the record and there's like no drummer it was like Elvis Scotty Mo on electric bill black on base yeah
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no drums and I'm like that's got to be a misprint yeah and so well lucky for me
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he he was such an Elvis geek that he had all this old he had all the all the old
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Elvis footage so Elvis's like breakout year 56 he went on and did all these television appearances so he went on
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like Ed Sullivan he went on the dorsy brothers stage show you went on Milton Burl Steve Allen and he had all those
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and so we would watch all those television appearances and if you look over Elvis's his left shoulder there's
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Bill black and he's he's doing this like you know cut time two four slap base
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thing and I'm just like you know most guys are looking at Elvis going man that guy's I'm looking at a bass player going man that guy is amazing like Not only
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was he have this cool slap technique that I've never seen before because I'm coming from like an orchestra background
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um but he's also it's also kind of a kind of a comedian yeah and and and if
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you really dig into like Elvis's Roots you realize that bill Black's you know
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Bill Black's kind of egging Elvis on was a lot that had a lot to do with Elvis coming out of his shell and you can see
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that in those television appearances that you know Elvis is clown around but his bill Black's over there in the corner just going come on man come on
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you know do it yeah yeah you're right yeah there there are and that's what I I that's what I was like I want to model
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myself after this guy this is amazing so where did the style come from you know the you know who who developed it well I
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mean there's a I think it goes back to New Orleans Jazz um there's a couple of
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couple of guys there's guy named uh Bill Johnson uh there's a guy named pops
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Foster there's a guy named Steve Brown um there was a guy named Wellman bro who
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played with uh Duke Ellington and if you go back and you listen to all those early recordings from the 20s you can
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hear that style and and it's it's a different style the style that Elvis
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like that bill blackies with Elvis's like what they call like a triple slap where you pull the string and then you
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like you slap back twice on the board well the original slap was was just like what they call like a snap where they're
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just snapping the string so it's just aink dink but there but the but the
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string is actually coming off the board and then slapping back on its own without any hand slap back on the board
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the hand slap would come later yeah and and you can get it and then it's it gets actually pretty complicated over time
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but so the Jazz the the orange Jazz thing and then you know you hear it a
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little bit in early Bluegrass and in Western swing right um and then even guys like Willie Dixon I mean he really
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made it pretty elaborate in the 40s and 50s in Blues in blues exactly and then
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Bill black of course you know I mean it almost was like it's Bill black was almost like the last kiss at slap base I
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mean you don't really hear it much after 1960 you know yeah I mean you would hear it you would hear it there's a famous um
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there's a famous recording that Elvis made in I think' 67 or' 68 uh the song
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called US mail with Jerry Reed yeah and or Jerry re wrote it and uh Bob Moore
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actually has a slap Bas solo on on that but and that's the only song actually Elvis had that had a slap base solo on
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it of all the songs he did that had slap base yeah but I mean that's pretty much the kind of died after the 50s you know
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yeah and so I mean I guess Bill black was was kind of the the person that most
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people would be aware of you know with with that Style and what where did he get it from I mean so what styles of
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music was Bill black playing I mean he was I guess he was playing some Western swing in in country and and you this
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early rock and roll kind of stuff I mean all all the above or there's a um so if
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you look at like I had this Sun Records box set that I got when I was uh like
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right after I graduated high school and and it's kind of like has like it's a three dis set it's like the
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blues um and then it's like the hill Billy that leads up to the rockabilly and then it's kind of the post
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rockabilly rock and roll and and and the middle section which is like that that like 53 54 era where it kind of leads up
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to Elvis is really interesting because you have Scotty Moore and Bill Black in
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a band called I think it's called Doug Poindexter and the Starlight Wranglers yes and it's like just your prototypical
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I mean they they look like they could have been in Nashville if you look at the the promotional shots and they're
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all wearing western shirts Bill Black's wearing like your typical kind of clown outfit where he's like wearing
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suspenders and cut off pants and I think he might even have like a tooth blacked out or something you know because the bass player was supposedly the clown
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right and but my guess is um my guess is
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they're prox living in Memphis their proximity to Nashville I'm sure they're hearing the Grand old Opry I'm sure that
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country music to a degree is is is on the outskirts of town in Memphis and so
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I'm sure it was just probably like like when we listen to the radio now like oh that's that sound you know it wasn't it
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wouldn't be completely unheard of to hear that slap based sound and if you look at Elvis's you know his first
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single that's all right Mama if you listen to the the CR up version that's got slap base on it so I mean it's not a
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stretch that that if you were an upright bass player in say 1953 in Memphis that
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you would probably know that style yeah you know and if you were in Texas you probably knew that style and if you were
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in Nashville you know it wasn't probably totally foreign to you yeah okay so I
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know we took a you know a little bit of a rabbit Trail let's let's get back to the Dempsey sure and uh
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because you know at some point y'all get y'all get to Memphis and there's all these other things so so so get us get
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us to Memphis and Elvis and all that okay so in Tacoma Seattle this is like the mid 90s we
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were we were having a little bit of success being like a rockabilly band we were realizing that there was this whole
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like kind of underground scene happening and quickly that swing movement if you
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remember that was happening in the mid90s or late 90s Brian Setzer and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and yeah there were a
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couple Jerry Po and daddy anybody had a daddy movies yeah swingers that had that music
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in it and BR549 was coming out of Nashville and they were sort of that kind of I hate to use the term retro
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because it it it it kind of dumbs it down so much but but I mean a lot of people were just there was experiencing
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this Rev let's just say that yeah and so we were we were like wow there's other people
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like us you I mean we're from Tacoma I mean there's there's like nothing going on down there you know Seattle's a little cooler a little hipper you know
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and so we're starting to play on these bills with you know like we saw like I don't know if any of these names would
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mean anything to you but like Big Sandy and the fly fly right boys abely the Dave and D combo um there was a band
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called Ray condo and the Ricochet is out of Canada they were great they were doing everything from
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rockabilly to Western swing to to blueg Grass to Blues they could do it all and do it all convincingly and so we were
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just seeing all of this um around the same time um my guitar player Brad he he
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had submitted our demo tape you remember those demo tapes I remember those we made a we made a four song demo tape
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that had that had um like I think three Elva songs on it and a Buddy Holly song and he he gave it to uh this like Elvis
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fan club in Memphis they put on these shows every year in Memphis called this this particular um promoter put on the
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show called good rocking a night and they have it every year in El during Elvis tribute week um in August and so
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long story short we got a chance to to come down there and open this show for Carl Perkins and Carl Perkins was Yeah
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Carl Perkins was going to be the headliner and they were G to have a few other acts in between and we were going to come down and do like 30 minutes and
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so we we didn't get paid much but but we like we gigged and saved up all our money got plane tickets got hotels flew
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the big base down there and we did this opening slot for Carl Perkins well in
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the crowd that night um there were a couple of people kind of higher ups from Elvis Presley Enterprises now they're
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the people that that uh run graceand that do like the trademarking do all the
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merchandising and they said man you guys are great like we we we're like 19 years old you know and we're not impersonators
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which I think think that's what they likeed yes we weren't no jumpsuit they the person thing has really come a long
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way like they don't they don't frown upon it so much but back in the '90s they were very protective of the Elvis
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image and they said we like what you do you guys are like a rockabilly band kind
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of all a stray cats but you lean heavily on Elvis and we we want to work with you
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guys we we have some more events coming up we have a nightclub getting ready to open up on Beal Street in 1997 if you
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remember like in the '90s like every was getting into the nightclub game like yes
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Hollywood and so they they were going to take their turn at at doing that they were going to have like BB Kings M so
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they had this they opened this nightclub on Beal Street it was like at the corner of second Beal caddy corner to BB's it's
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like two blocks from the peab body two blocks from the Mississippi was like prime prime real estate we're going to
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we're going to open this club and you know maybe you guys can come play or something so about a year later we went
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and did the Grand Opening and and shortly after they basically said like
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we want you guys to to move here and like play three or four nights a week at this club we like you don't have like we
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don't have a band in Memphis that can do this yeah I mean and they were like well no not really they're like you'd be
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really you'd really be surprised like the rockabilly thing isn't of all places isn't really happening in Memphis so we
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moved we just and we we got like a we got like a year-long contract and like
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one year turn turned into like six I mean they ended up closing in 03 but I I mean we ended up staying for I ended up
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staying for 12 years in Memphis from 98 to end of 09 right before I moved here
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wow and it was like we became I mean we weren't looking to like
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make it big or anything what you what are you going to do in Memphis right yeah it just we just wanted to work and we work five nights a week we we would
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tour we recorded like a couple of Records you know um cool things like
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Walked the Line you know came about you know just little things here and there would pop up but we mostly just played every night you know highlights you I
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mean you mentioned walk the line but give us some highlights of like some maybe some of the people you got to play
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with or meet or or living in Memphis Yeah well being in that world we we were
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always kind of we were always involved with the Elvis events which was like amazing because we got to meet you know
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got to beet well we did a we did a we did like this virtual Elvis thing at um at the at the pyramid and in the FedEx
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forum where they put they put Elvis up on the screen and they they did like the
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whole they did his whole like every every live performance pretty much he'd ever done so they had the TCB band there
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so it was like James and Ronnie Tut Jerry cheff and so and we were involved in the 50s portion so we played with DJ
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Fontana and you know he was he played drums and here we are miming along to Elvis on the screen while he sings I
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think we did like Shake en roll from the um from the dorsy brothers stage show
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and this is all the stuff that we were watching 10 years prior to learn how to play this and here we are playing this
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you know with the surviving guys with the surviving guys right and uh yeah and
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then um let's see who else uh Paul burles um from the rock and roll Trio um
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he was um he was a big he was a big part of us he would show up all the time at
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at Elvis's club and sit in with us and we even got him on one of our album covers we recorded an album called
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drinking songs for your grandparents and he's on the album cover like holding the Zer like we're behind him playing and it
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was kind of a takeoff on a on an old Homer and jro record that that we saw and Y um but yeah Scotty Moore DJ
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Fontana um and then we would play those guys in Walk the Line yeah tell tell
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tell us how that came out of course Walk the Line with the you know the the Johnny Cash you know kind of buop
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came after he passed away well honestly when we heard that they were getting
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ready to make a movie about Johnny Cash we were like oh man this is going to be
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terrible like like you know I mean our our thought was like you know what are they got Tom Cruz to play him you know
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we had no idea what I I just you know I couldn't picture it you know somebody so
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iconic as cash it's like I just don't know how you would pull that off but the more the more we heard what they were
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going to do they were coming to Memphis to shoot it they wanted it to be as authentic as they could and then when we
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heard about Walken Phoenix I was like man that's actually that's actually really good
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because at the time he wasn't like a huge actor he was he was he had some parts and I think he was I think he'd
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been in Gladiator but he was still a supporting actor you know in a lot of these movies and I thought man I think
24:22
that could really work you know well the next thing I know we're getting a call from our booking agent saying hey you
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guys need to go down an audition for this movie he goes we're getting some calls here at the office that they're wanting to they represented a lot of
24:35
groups around Memphis they're getting some calls around the office that um you know we we need some local Memphis
24:42
musicians that'll that'll kind of supplement in the movie because they had guys that were going to play Johnny's
24:48
band and they said but just go down on audition we were like okay let's go down so we went down and we did like two or
24:55
three we did like a screen test where you stand in front of the camera and just say your name and you know fill out some paperwork and then the next one was
25:01
like bring your instruments and come come play and so we we went down there
25:07
not knowing that they had already cast Johnny's band so we we auditioned with folson prison yeah and the casting
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director she was like man that was really good she's like the good news is
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I I like what you're doing the bad news is we've already cast Johnny's ban but she said we are looking for guys to play
25:27
Elvis's band there's going to be a Jerry Le Lewis there's going to be a I think there's a Roy orberson in the movie yeah
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um and we need all we need these we know like I said we need supplemental musicians my drummer at the time he was
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like man he's like he's like he's like if you don't mind me saying so he's like we we we know Scotty Mo and DJ and we we
25:45
worked at the Elvis club for years like we've studied these guys like like I
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think we could do a really convincing job he's like he's like I don't know if you have any control over it but you could you put us all in the same band
25:57
because I think we would do a really good job cuz they had already had a guy cast as Elis this guy Tyler Hilton yeah
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and so the next thing we know we're at we're now we're at one more audition we're with the kid playing Elvis and the
26:10
director's there and so we go through a couple of songs like that's all right Mama and I think no cow Boo's Boogie and
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we know we we know how to do this you know we just miming along to it these tracks have already been cut yeah TBO and Bernette did the soundtrack and um
26:24
the director walks up and he's like okay guys that was great u i just need you guys to go down and and get you know fit
26:30
for outfits we're like wait wait wait wait wait we got the part and he's like yeah nobody he's like nobody told
26:36
you so we were like the we were like the last to know you know and but I mean it
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was it was like it was a dream come true because we' we'd W you know we' studied that stuff and just you know so so so
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actually be on a movie set and try to do this as convincing as we could was just it such an honor yeah
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[Music]
27:27
so you're in the in the movie M what happens next well um honestly for the next let's
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see the movie came out in 05 um for the next I guess like four or
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five years we just we just hit we hit it hard you know touring and we had we had a couple of
27:46
Records out and we uh I think like most bands you know it kind of ran its course but I
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mean I will say this we for some guys that started when they're about 16
27:59
and the band lasted almost 15 years to the day and that's pretty incredible for
28:05
that's amazing yeah um I think by by the end of uh by the middle end of ' 09 we
28:10
were like everybody was starting to you know we were all in our early 30s and I think directionally everybody's starting
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to feel like they wanted to do different things and I had always had it in the back of my mind because the dsei we we'd
28:22
spent a lot of time on the road and and a lot of it was actually here in Nashville and we we there was a club on
28:28
Lower Broadway that we would play once a month across the street from Roberts um we would come up one weekend a month for
28:34
almost eight years in play so I was pretty familiar with Nashville and and
28:40
Lower Broadway and and and Roberts and so it always been kind of in the back of
28:45
my mind well you know if it doesn't work out in Memphis I I would love to go to Nashville yeah and um so it wasn't it
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wasn't it wasn't a stretch for me when when the thing ran its course in Memphis that I was like you know I think I'm
28:59
going to give it a shot you know and and honestly i' I'd been there's not a lot of um there wasn't a lot of what we were
29:06
doing in Memphis there were more there were a lot more musicians in Nashville that were kind of um on the same
29:13
wavelength that I was you know the hillbilly rockabilly you know country thing yeah so what year did you move to
29:21
Nashville um well I was fortunate enough to start kind of coming up once a week in in 2009 right and I would do that and
29:29
I so by 2010 I was here like January 2010 I was here and uh played with a guy
29:36
named Travis man for a little while he he actually played Friday and Saturday nights at um across the street from
29:42
Roberts at the Full Moon Saloon that was kind of my first gig and yeah um I picked up a couple of shifts at Roberts
29:48
on The Late Shift and actually we would Travis had we would do the Wednesday night shift After Dawn um we would do
29:55
the 10 to two over at Roberts and so you know I'd already I'd already was familiar with Dawn and and so when did
30:03
you first see Dawn for the first time okay so so let's go back a little bit okay so in 1998 when when actually in
30:12
1997 um one of the when we did the grand opening of of Elvis Presley's Memphis
30:18
the nightclub in Memphis we' heard about BR 5 for9 in Roberts Western World and
30:24
we wanted like we were like we got to go check this place out like this this this Western Store SLB bar where they got
30:31
boots on the wall and I had that live record and I look you know listen to the BR549 live record a million times and
30:38
looking at all the pictures inside and I was like I got to see this place so so me and my band members we rented a car
30:43
we were only 20 and we drove all the way to Nashville parked off a lower BR walked
30:49
all the way up to Roberts stood outside and got in the car and drove all the way back to Memphis just so we could see
30:56
Robert so we drove 6 hours they wouldn't even let us in and then about a year later after we moved to
31:03
Memphis we came up here to do some like shopping we wanted to like buy western shirts you know yeah and you can't you
31:09
can't find that thing in Memphis so we we came up here and went to KDK and all these places and we were like man we got
31:15
to go to Roberts we got to go to Roberts because we want to see where be 5 for9 got their start so we went down
31:20
there and there's this band setting up what what's this and they launch into
31:27
this first song I think I think it was like working man blues or something like that and it's Johnny Highland and Don
31:32
Kelly and uh I'm just like well I'd never heard guitar playing like that I
31:37
mean my you know my knowledge of like great guitar playing was like Brian czer you know what I mean I was coming from that he's a great player yeah that yeah
31:44
but I mean i' never heard that kind of hybrid style and and so I mean
31:49
immediately we were like we bought the CD and like from that point on we were we were coming up to Nashville like once
31:56
a month to check out Dawn and then the next thing I know Dave Rose in the band and and because Don Don had an electric
32:02
bass player Nam Ron lutri in the band and and he was great uh but I was an upright player so you know it was just
32:08
like next thing I know Dave's in the band I'm like what Dave's taking these solos and he's had this whole this whole
32:15
new Dynamic to the group and just super tasteful too he's not like you know my
32:22
whole thing was like slap the whole time and just you know bulldoze my way through everything and Dave was just
32:27
like so tasty ful and picked his spots and and had a great finger style as a
32:32
and also a great slap style and yeah so I would say like 98 99 is when when Don
32:38
came on my radar and I was just like we were obsessed we were just like every time we were in Nashville like let's go
32:43
check out let's go check out Don and then we saw some of the subs that we saw Kenny Von play with him once and we saw
32:50
James Mitchell play with him um and then the next thing I know there's this guy got three trap and you know my buddy
32:58
Brad he went down early he like he's like you got to go check he's like Don's got another one man he's like he's got this guy named guthy trap I'm like what
33:03
I like I thought Johnny was just this one of one kind of like you know and then to find out that there's just all
33:09
these guys hanging around Nashville and Don's just picking them up and plucking
33:15
up the best one and yeah and and and and and finding the best parts out of all of
33:20
them and knowing how to Showcase it yeah you know it's just anyway yeah so you
33:26
you moved so this is 2009 2010 you moved to Nashville and you're
33:32
playing with you're playing with Travis man and stuff like that and you're also kind of you know still kind of checking
33:38
out you know Don Kelly and other things and so what's what's happening next uh
33:44
well I got a uh I mean Dave Row was my buddy so I was I would always go in and
33:49
say hello and and JD who you know we talked about that earlier JD um pretty
33:56
much he's the reason think you know that I I've got the gig you know I mean he kind of put a good word in for me and
34:03
yeah and so we would talk about this earlier but when when Jade Jade I'm about I'm about 10 years older than JD
34:09
and when JD was a kid you know most parents will say like hey uh where do you want to go on vacation this summer
34:15
like you know Six Flags or Disneyland or well JD being the the music nerd that we
34:22
that he is he was like his two favorite things as a kid were Elvis and The Blues
34:27
Brothers movie yeah and he's like I want to go to Memphis and so he his parents
34:32
take him to Memphis and he came to the club that I was working at I don't remember this yeah but in 1998 or 99 and
34:41
he remembers being like 12 years old and seen the Dempsey play well about 10
34:47
years later we walk into Roberts well who's who's the new guy in Don's band oh it's this guy JD Simo he's wearing this
34:52
like purple Manuel suit and and he's got long hair and he's like this we're like
34:58
man this guy's great this is like a whole new it's like this is rock and roll man this is you know but he's playing country yeah and JD looks over
35:06
and me and Brad are standing off to the side of the to the stage and he's like Dempsey yeah and we're like yeah uh
35:14
you're great man who are you and we strike up this friendship so when we would come up there on the weekends to
35:20
play across the street JD would call us up during the day and he'd be like hey what are you guys doing man you guys want to go hang out and so we would go
35:27
have lunch and he'd take us to his house show us all his guitars and him and Brad would swap licks and stuff and they were
35:35
both El we're all Elvis fans so we just trade funny Elvis stories well when Dave was getting ready to to leave Dawn uh JD
35:43
was like he called me and he's like hey man he's like you need to call Don right now I was like wow what's up he's like
35:49
well he's like Dave put it in his month's notice and and you know he's
35:55
like you need call Don just call Don yeah I'm like what do you think I got a shot of this or what's going on here I
36:00
was like you know I'd sub for Dave a couple times you know but it it wasn't
36:06
very yeah I I I didn't think I did a great job I just was kind of hanging on by by by a thread but I called Don I
36:13
said hey you know um Don I said I I heard Dave's leaving the band I said you
36:18
know put my name in the Hat and so Dave's last gig with Don uh was February
36:26
I remember this cuz it was know getting the Don Kelly gig was a big deal for me so February 26 was a Saturday and it was
36:32
Johnny Cash's birthday and that was Dave's last gig with the band and I remember going and watching him play
36:38
that night because I knew and he was my favorite and uh don I think maybe the
36:45
next day I saw him at Robertson he goes hey what are you doing next week and I was like nothing I didn't have any six
36:50
to 10 all my gigs were 10 to twos down there he's like well won you come play I was like okay
36:58
and uh I was like okay and and so I it just kind of was that thing where it was
37:04
like I played for that week and then he was like yeah what are you doing next week I was like nothing and so like I
37:10
had a couple of Road gigs that I still had to do because I'd made commitments but I was like Don if you need me I'm
37:17
your guy yeah and JD was in the band and I mean this was like so this is a dream
37:23
band this was like you know Arty lenov on drums who was Don's drummer for like
37:28
30 years already and JD Simo who I was already good buddies with and we got
37:33
along great um and Dawn who was just Dawn yeah and and I'm I'm just like this
37:42
is the band I've been watching for 10 years going this is a m this is musicianship to me you know this is this
37:48
is I would love to be in a band like this here I am in a band like this now so JD Simo was telling me the other
37:55
night that when Dave Row was was leaving the band that JD had put your name in the in the pot but that uh don was just
38:04
kind of you know hesitant and so JD had to keep arm twisting him to go over
38:10
across the street to see you play and then after seeing you play that's when you know that that helped things then I
38:16
guess you called him and such and and and then you're in the band well the way I remember it was that was that um Don
38:23
come Don come by see Don tells it different I yeah I Don came many years
38:29
prior to that to to the club across the street and saw the Dempsey play but I don't I don't think he was I don't think
38:34
he was impressed or doesn't remember it or but I remember it being Kenny Von uh
38:40
uh ELO gardano who is one of Don's old upright players great player and and Arty and they came over and watched us
38:46
play and I remember the minute they walked in the door three of us were like oh God yeah you know like we got to play
38:52
in front of these guys and anyway but I think if jie tells it that way then then
38:59
maybe that's it yeah yeah but I just remember I just remember JD saying to me
39:05
like you got to call you got to call him because he goes he goes you know he goes Don could be totally hot one day about
39:11
this and not the next and he goes you got to catch him while you're while while it's in his head yeah and he's
39:17
like so so stay on top of this and I and I but I felt but I felt weird about being like hey man you know like I'm
39:24
just not that kind of person I just would rather be I'd rather somebody want me in the band than than to be like
39:29
twisting their arm and and plus I was so new in town that I I really didn't know how it worked so tell me how you changed
39:37
as a Player working with Dawn that's a good question
39:44
because I thought that I was a pretty decent player when I got there yeah but
39:49
and I and I thought like well I was like well Don's got a lot of fast songs I can play fast but man there's a there's a
39:56
difference between between like fast and hard and and like I could
40:01
play fast like quietly but man there's there's a I don't know if that makes
40:06
sense but there's there's an intensity and a and a volume with da that I
40:12
remember the very first time subbing for da both Don and Arty were saying hey man can you turn up a little bit and because
40:19
I literally couldn't get my base to stop feeding back I'm just I'm like trying to wrestle a Grizz grizzly bear over there trying to get the thing from ringing I'm
40:25
trying to I'm playing songs that I never play and and Don's I mean Dawn plays
40:31
things very on top you know but not rushing and my thing was like I rush and
40:37
so he's over there like yeah I want this I want this hard and intense but don't rush so he's over there chopping you
40:43
know to let me know that like you're pushing don't push and I'm like oh okay so you know I thought I had it all
40:50
figured out till I got in that band and then there's an intensity to the way those guys play uh and it's not you know
40:59
the guitar player gets to play a lot but the bass player the way Don likes his Rhythm Section is is you know that that
41:05
that's the unique you've had a lot of his guitar players on this show yeah but I but my perspective the way the way Don
41:12
likes his Rhythm Section is is actually fairly simple but but like pronounced
41:18
and you know to the point and when I when I got to town I always said the two
41:24
base players I want to play like are d and Don Kelly because Don had a Sunday
41:30
night band that he would play bass on his Sunday Night band was great he he had a he had a late ship that he would
41:36
play and he had a fiddle player Josh Hedley and he had a guy named Porter mccl who you need to get on the show
41:42
he's just a character yeah and he had a guy he was either Jerry row or John Radford on drums and Don would play bass
41:50
and Don is just like a Bare Bones meat and potatoes two four or just walking
41:56
nothing and and a little bit of little bit of funkiness sometimes if it called for it but but he was so intentional
42:02
with the way he played and and hard and I remember thinking like if I could slap
42:07
like Dave Row uh and and have and be tasteful like Dave Row but but have that
42:13
that intention like Dawn I would be happy you know and so I mo i Tred to model myself after those two guys I
42:20
don't know if I've if I've hit the mark or if it's like gone off in another Direction but in 2011 2012 that's like
42:27
that was my intention and uh I don't know if I got off the tracks here a little bit with this but no no no that was that was
42:33
perfect yeah so you because I imagine it has to be because I think you know as a
42:40
guitar player that's interviewed a lot of guitar players I've focused so much on the guitar players even even when
42:46
going to see him live I mean I remember seeing like I remember knowing JD and
42:52
knowing what he played like and then going to see him after a couple months of playing and the hugee difference or
42:59
Daniel Donado who was like he was like you know a kid and and all of a sudden
43:04
in less than a year he was a completely different player oh absolutely yeah I mean he he had made these huge strides
43:10
so but I'm sure the same thing happens with you know everyone else that that that joins the band because it's either
43:16
you cut the mustard or you're going to get kicked out yeah but what are some other areas in which because you talked
43:23
about how and JD talked about this a little bit last night in that Don kind
43:29
of tried to rope him into kind of being you know more of kind of a partner kind
43:34
of thing and you know and I you know use that term you know uh uh gently but uh
43:41
but that he really didn't want to do it because JD was already thinking about going off on doing other stuff and so
43:49
but it sounded like he started kind of coming alongside you in also not just the playing part but also in in some of
43:56
the business aspects of it well it's funny cuz when I when I first started
44:02
playing with Dawn JD was actually the guy that would pass the tip jug yeah and
44:07
I I remember JD coming back one night after passing the tip jug and he was like so frustrated and he was like he
44:13
looks at me he goes hey man you want to do this I was like do you want me to he's like he's like yeah he's like he's
44:19
like I hate doing this I was like okay and I had already been like you know I was playing with other groups down there
44:25
and that that was kind of like I enjoyed it because I liked getting out there and talking to people and and I thought like
44:31
you know you'd watch you'd watch people pass a tip jug and they would like gloss over big groups of people like hey man you missed that you know we're all down
44:37
there to try to eek out a living yeah and I think I think so when I started
44:43
passing the tip J I think Don realized like oh th you know this guy's kind of the face of this band now you know he's
44:49
he's he's a nice guy he goes out he shakes hands with people and and U you know I think maybe the money went up a
44:55
little bit and so he's like he's like Joe he's like whatever you're passing The Jug and and uh I remember going to
45:02
New Orleans one time with my wife and we saw these guys on the street like they were you know they were like musicians
45:08
they were like pedaling CDs and they had all this you know they had this all this banter and I kind of picked up a little
45:13
bit of that and I'm like man maybe this is what we need to do you know I mean I mean we're down here we are working for
45:19
tips and we're selling CDs so I was like man any little bit of this that we can that we can use so I mean I think when
45:25
you when you talk about the business side of it you know and I think too like
45:31
the band was JD changed that band in
45:36
that the you know in before it was just a band of musicians you know and they
45:41
were and I mean they were entertainers but Don was the Entertainer yes you know before that it was like virtu virtuoso
45:49
guitar player got three trap and it was like Johnny Highland but JD brought this exactly JD brought this like extra
45:55
element of show yes and I think that Don I think Don realized man this is the
46:01
direct this is the things are changing down here on Broadway you know and I think maybe when I came along it was
46:07
like you know cuz I was coming from the Dempsey and we were like 100% show band probably more probably more so than we
46:13
needed to be you know what I mean it was like really over the top and so don don
46:19
managed to get a little bit of that out of me you know he he definitely wrangled me he's like H you need to kind of calm
46:25
that down okay this is right you know he makes me you know I had a song called the auctioneer
46:31
and that was like he realized like this okay this is your tune this is our tip jug song this is like your show song
46:37
like we're going to use this this is going to be the new this will be the ghost riders for the first set or whatever you know and and so sometimes I
46:46
think that's probably why I got the gig was because of that tune you know it's not that I did it that tune but I could just play it super fast you know yeah
46:52
and crowd you know so and I think that's you say the business as aspect of it I
46:59
think that's probably just maybe what I brought to it was a couple of tunes the tip jug but also the yes it's Show
47:08
Business yeah and I and I think you can just have a bunch of guys just wailing
47:15
but then if they can whail and they put on a show so that people that aren't
47:22
musicians can dig it also and really get engaged when they see you know do some of the old tricks like
47:29
getting on the bass and all you know just all all those things playing guitar behind your head all riding it like a p
47:36
all that all that stuff it's like it's show business I almost felt bad about bringing some of that stuff cuz I had
47:42
been i' had been such a fan of the band and the musicianship that I was like I
47:48
mean JD is the first guy to really kind of break the fourth wall and be like this is you know this is it and and we
47:55
love him for it and and but I almost felt bad I was like God am I you know do we need another guy doing that but like
48:00
Don's like absolutely you know this is what we're doing now you know and and so
48:06
yeah and you're you're not just appealing to musicians I mean I think that's you know and and you know as
48:14
downtown Nashville has changed yeah you know you've it's had to change you know
48:19
the bands have had to change with it where you can't just kind of do what you did what you did before and so it's like
48:25
this this audience is different and so this audience is not a bunch of people that are going to be so blown away by
48:32
just somebody standing there they're not going to be blown away by red volkart as much as I'm going to be blown away by Red volkart you are too but it's like
48:39
they need more than that they need they need a show well Don used to always say that about Guthrie he would say he'd say
48:45
you know the thing about Guthrie is that even Joe Blow knows he's a good guitar player yeah you know yeah uh and and
48:52
then some of those guys are like guitar player guitar players yeah you know yeah um and it's not to take anything away
48:58
from him cuz I mean I I love all those guys yeah you know but yeah but JD I
49:03
mean he Chang he changed it yeah I mean you asked Luke you ask Daniel I mean they were all they they all loved that
49:12
they love the chops of it but they loved the and the it yeah the Ghost Rider was
49:17
kind of the tune that was the tune that all of a sudden it went into this whole you know psychedelic freak out you know
49:23
turn the fuzz on whatever it is you know just going you doing all over whether it's a good thing or not yeah know yeah
49:29
no it it is great so I guess we need to talk about you know you know Don you
49:37
know I guess you know Don leaving the band and how you kind of transitioned it
49:43
into Kelly's Heroes and you kind of became kind of the leader of it and such and talk about that so so Kelly's Heroes
49:50
Don was always while I was in Don's I was in Don's band for for nine years and two two months
49:57
sorry nine years and two weeks yeah cuz it was like I joined in March like first week in March of 2011 and then Co in
50:05
March 14th 2020 was our last gig with Dawn and I always said gosh if I can make it the four years with like like G
50:12
three and Johnny I'll be happy yeah well I ended up going yeah I ended up going like nine and U kind and be basically
50:19
being like Don's partner you know once already retired in 2015 you know I kind of became his right-hand man and and um
50:27
but Don had always been encouraged me he's like he's like he's like you need to start your own little band on the
50:33
side and so on Tuesday nights I had this band across street at the Full Moon Saloon um it was it it was uh started
50:40
with David Graham and the eso brothers and then he got busy so I put together this band called Kelly's Heroes just as
50:46
a joke because I was playing with Don Kelly it was me and Porter okay and I John Radford was the first drummer and
50:51
so we would just play Tuesday nights to nobody over there A lot of the same material and and that band would pop up
50:58
from time to time whenever I needed to throw a band together that would be the band Kelly's Heroes because everybody knew I played with Dawn right and so
51:06
when when covid happened Don was I guess he was about 72 or 73 and he's in that
51:13
age demographic that they said man you got to be careful like you know people
51:18
that you got to stay home and all that and you know we all locked down for about two and a half months and starting
51:23
about June of 2020 Roberts opened back up you know on a very limited schedule and I had called Dawn every day
51:30
I'm like man are you going to come back to work I was like you know please don't please don't leave me down here by
51:36
myself you know I don't want you know I don't want to have to step into these shoes and so the the the in the original
51:43
incarnation of of that was me and David Graham Luke and Billy van bed our
51:49
drummer and and D so David and I did all the singing We had two guitars because we wanted to be a two guitar band and
51:57
David started to get busy again with his band go out on the road and so it was
52:03
like well I guess we're a trio do we do we try to find a fourth yeah you know
52:09
but then it was like me Luke and Bill we're like the only guys that really kind of understand how to play these Tunes the way we want to do it and Luke
52:17
was enjoying the trio and he was saying man you know this is really challenging for me to have to play Rhythm yeah and
52:25
Lead and so we basically Jesse Lee Jones God
52:32
bless him he said man you guys just he goes just keep playing he's like just he goes I want you guys to have those
52:38
shifts he's like you know he goes there's a lot of lot of bands here that that want this shift and then that could probably do it he's like but you
52:45
guys you know you guys are carrying on this sound and this tradition yeah and and and I want to say that in no way did
52:52
I ever feel like I was trying to be on or trying to step into his shoes because
52:58
Don's a one of one there'll never be another yes Don Kelly you know I don't I
53:04
don't have that knack for finding guitar players I don't I don't he's you know he's kind of like Miles Davis he's just
53:10
a he's just one of those like rough kind of guys he can get away with saying things to certain people that nobody
53:18
else can and and so Kelly's Heroes to me is the remaining guys of last of DA's
53:25
last band and we all want to be there we're all Brothers we all get along
53:30
really well and it's a band you know I mean I am technically the band leader
53:36
because it got dropped in my lap you know but I I've you know everybody in
53:42
the band sings everybody you know everybody gets a chance to talk on the microphone I mean I'm I sort of front the thing but you know it's a very much
53:49
you know and you don't see that a lot in Nashville and that's kind of what I wanted I kind of wanted to have you know you don't see a lot of bands that
53:56
continue to be the same members you know and fingers crossed we we continue to be the same members you know because it's
54:03
it's something special I hear that all the time on Lower Broadway people come and they're like like man like we've
54:08
gone up and down the street but you guys are really like there's really nothing like you guys yeah you know and I think
54:14
that's just from keeping the keeping that core unit together you know we work enough to keep it together and and we
54:21
try to change the material up enough you know not it's not the exact same set every night I mean there is someu we
54:26
lean on at at certain times of the night that you know works but we try to keep it interesting for each other and so
54:34
yeah that's where Kelly's Heroes is right now five years into it you know how do you feel the band has changed
54:40
from you know because I think you've done a couple of reunion shows with Don
54:45
including a big one where of course you had a lot of the the alumnus come out and youall played on the street which was fantastic but how do you feel like
54:53
how do you feel that the band has changed with Don leaving so we've we've tried our hardest
54:59
to keep all of that material that he did in the set and and not just because we
55:05
feel like we we should but it's because it's like we love playing it it's like some some some of those songs seriously
55:12
never get old you know I mean we played them a million times and I'm like I still love calling some of these songs I
55:18
think we you really notice it when Don comes back and plays with us because his
55:23
the way he plays flat top I mean nobody plays flat top top like Dawn I mean he has this sense of Rhythm that is just so
55:30
specific to him and his personality and I mean he just inserts himself in there
55:37
you know like hey this is where it's at right here guys you know you y'all may be your own band but when I'm here this
55:43
is where this is it it's right here and that's great cuz I mean that it for me
55:50
it makes me it makes me really play better and I like I mean when he's there he comes in spots for maybe like three
55:56
or four times a year I like just playing bass sometimes I like not having to call
56:02
the songs and and sing you know 50% of the material or whatever I got the other
56:07
guys singing now so it's not so taxing vocally but but it's it's really nice to have him come back and I
56:14
mean he's he's just no there's nobody like
56:20
him as an Entertainer as a as a as a band leader I mean red says he's the
56:25
best band leader that Nashville ever had and and well all the guys yeah he really
56:30
is um to to watch it to watch it from the audience and to actually be on stage
56:36
it's like surreal I watched it for 10 years at least and then the very first
56:41
time I ever sub with Dawn I'm like standing there looking at him going oh whoa and I just felt like got run over
56:47
by a freight train when we launched into the first song just trying to keep up and it's still like that when he comes
56:53
back he's just he's so assertive the way he plays
56:58
yeah how did you get involved in baz lurman Elvis movie JD yeah yeah so and I
57:05
didn't realize it until I got to the session I you know you know the Imposter
57:11
syndrome thing you know it's like something it's like the same thing I thought when I joined Don's band I got
57:17
this i got this call like Hey we're we're doing this Elvis movie and we want you to come down and play on this
57:23
soundtrack but there was there not not a lot of information was given because they were trying to keep it really under
57:29
wrapped like they didn't want anything to get out so this was um this was 2019
57:35
and JD and I we kind of hadn't talked in a really long time you know he was off
57:40
doing Simo and I think the only I think the only I think I kept up with him from probably on this show you know what I
57:46
mean I was like oh that's what he he's doing these days but we didn't had seen each other really long time and so I I get this session and um what's the big
57:54
one is it Studio B or Studio A the I think it's Studio B okay Studio B so
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get this call to do these like preliminary sessions down at Studio B
58:05
and for this Elvis movie so he says the guy the guy that's instructing me through text message he's like he's like
58:11
learn these Elvis songs as close to the record as you can and I'd already been playing all these Elvis songs but I was
58:16
like literally trying to write down like every note bill black played and like that's all right Mama or whatever songs
58:22
we were doing so so I'd be ready for the session well I get there the session I walk in there's JD and I'm like hey dude
58:30
what's going on man how are you doing like had seen him in years yeah and we get to talk in and and I'm really
58:37
nervous because I JD's like he's a pretty season session guy and and he's
58:43
you know he's just such a talented guy and and i' been on sessions with him before where like he Nails it on the
58:49
first take and I'm like hey can I go punch that in and I keep you know I'm not that guy but we get there and and um
58:58
Brandy carlile's drummer I'm drawing a blank on his name he's the drummer and uh piano player there's another bass
59:05
player there it's going to do the electric parts but he's kind of laying out and JD and so we go through all of this material all this material and I'm
59:11
like this isn't this okay this is I can do this I can do this um and then um I
59:18
get a call a couple months later that said that said okay want you come down and do the master session so I was like
59:24
okay I made it I made it to the master session so went and did like two or three more days of of uh tracking and
59:31
that was with Dave Cobb and I'm an idiot I had no idea who Dave
59:36
Cobb was you know I'm in my own little Don Kelly world doing my thing every night and yeah and uh you know come to
59:43
find out he's like the hottest guy at the time and still is and and uh one
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thing I remember about the way he he's just he was perfect for that because if
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you're going to capture those early Elvis songs you got to do it live and we did we cut
1:00:00
all that stuff as live and as raw as we could and he didn't push us to do like 20 or 30 ticks it was like three ticks
1:00:08
and I remember one time we were doing we were cutting that song Heartbreak Hotel and he he kept saying hey guys it's it's
1:00:15
um it's it's I don't know we either playing it too fast or too slow he comes
1:00:21
out and he and he he stops the session and he he like sets up all these shot glasses and he pours us all like a shot
1:00:27
of tequila we all just did a shot of tequila and he's like all right now
1:00:32
let's let's cut the song and I think we did like one more take and it was like that's how I want it perfect and so yeah anyway so Co kind of
1:00:42
made the whole production of Elvis take longer and longer and longer it didn't come out till
1:00:48
2022 and so for three years I'm like thinking man I sure hope I didn't get
1:00:54
Nashville like replaced because I kept thinking like man I just know Dave Rose is gonna come in and probably you know
1:01:00
Dave's the guy Dave's the guy and I and I saw like a preview for the movie and and I told my wife I was like that c
1:01:07
doesn't sound like me in there and I remember texting JD and I'm like well the movie comes out tomorrow are you
1:01:13
excited you going to see it and I kind of subtly hinted it I was like well I hope I made the cut and he's like he's like oh you're in there man and I I
1:01:20
waited till the very last bit of the credits to to finally see my name in there I'm like okay cuz I didn't you
1:01:26
know I wasn't going and bragging to people that like hey I'm in the new Elvis movie you know you just never know like if you're right same with Walk the
1:01:33
Line I didn't know if we were going to hit like The Cutting Room floor yeah be seen at all yeah yeah well that's you
1:01:43
yeah it was great to to get involved in that being an Elvis fan and some the dimsey and everything kind of being able
1:01:48
to take that uh and come full circle with with JD and and you know I me he was the
1:01:53
reason you know when I first got to town he was the reason I was in Dawn's band and then you know next another cool thing happens and yeah so because we
1:02:00
have you here and we're a bunch of stupid guitar players right so I want you to kind of give us the basics of
1:02:07
your style of of of this you know this rockabelly slap style hillbilly upright
1:02:13
Base plane okay well uh for me uh it kind of starts with Elvis like we talked
1:02:19
about earlier I mean the I think the first slap I Learned was
1:02:26
they call that a triple slap um which is basically where you're uh pulling the string slapping twice so you're counting
1:02:34
you count the first pluck as a slap so that makes it three um then of course you you have um like your and that's
1:02:42
almost like like a snare hit if something like it's it sounds yeah yeah when you and and and cool enough when
1:02:49
you have a like a trio like Elvis did like the drumless trio yeah you have
1:02:55
this going on with with the flat top so you have the CH and then you have the you know like the Travis picking thing
1:03:00
and then you have this so it almost sounds like a whole drum kit yeah yeah so you know you can understand why I
1:03:05
thought when I was listening to the son records as a kid I'm like that's the drums man yeah there's drums on there yeah I'm not supposed to do that sound
1:03:12
exactly doing this yeah yeah so keep going okay so um so that's the first one
1:03:18
I learned um actually I the very first one I Learned was more of an abbreviated version of it which is just it was I was
1:03:24
thinking to keep time cuz I was trying to play in two right so I'm
1:03:30
like right and then that's where the that's where that comes in uh you
1:03:36
have your walking line um so you can you can do your your single slap which is
1:03:41
just you pull so normal bass line would be like normal walking line
1:03:46
just then you can you can add the single slap which is just you're just snapping the string each
1:03:52
time excuse me then you can add slaps in between which
1:03:59
would make it kind of like your um rock around the clock you [Music]
1:04:06
know and that's slowly that's just I call it like a like a flat tire
1:04:13
yeah so when I think about you know simplistically when I think about any
1:04:18
song I think is it in is it in two or is it in Walking you know is it or is it
1:04:24
like a slow shuffle same thing and what about when you take some
1:04:30
like of these solos well that's uh so that's kind of where the Dave of row thing comes in um
1:04:38
when I would watch him play with Dawn I mean I was like he he has like he
1:04:45
has a couple of like davo isms that I still use to this day um he always his solos seem to me always were over like a
1:04:52
TW beat either a Bluegrass or like Johnny Cash feel so he might do something like
1:04:58
[Music] um kind of like a slow triplet kind of
1:05:05
feel or he do [Music]
1:05:10
like you know and that's like that involves that using the Palm heel here where you kind of dig
1:05:19
in that was actually um the guy that Dave so the The Story Goes that that
1:05:24
Johnny Cash gave gave Dave um a check I can't remember the amount of money he
1:05:30
said when he got the gig he said go take lessons because he he kind of faked his
1:05:36
way into the gig he said like like I don't really know what I'm doing but Johnny liked him and Johnny appreciated
1:05:42
the fact that he just threw himself in this uncomfortable situation and so so he said go take lessons and he gave Dave
1:05:49
a couple in names to take lessons from one one was a guy named Kevin Smith who's now plays for Willie Nelson great
1:05:55
slab based player and back in the 90s Kevin was pretty much the guy he kind of set the standard and Kevin had this um
1:06:02
he didn't invent it but he definitely popularized it's called like a like a drag triplet and you use the Palm heel
1:06:09
of your hand like that and that's one of those ones where
1:06:14
I was like I had to figure out how to do this before the internet so it's like I saw a guy at a I was on a bill with
1:06:20
another band and the guy knew how to do that and I you know after the show was over like hey come here show me how to do that man and so you know he's like
1:06:26
well you just you start here you bounce here and then you grab here
1:06:31
[Music] so and Dave you know Dave used that all
1:06:37
the time you [Music]
1:06:49
know that's fantastic well than thanks man I love it well Joe I really appreciate you uh
1:06:57
you know coming down here you know tell telling us your tale and and especially you know showing us a bit about of us
1:07:04
stupid guitar players about about hillbilly rockabilly upright Bas now you
1:07:09
actually have a lesson some some videos out out there tell us how if people are
1:07:14
interested in that so it's a course uh on Discover double base that's the name of the company it's an online course and
1:07:20
uh it's called slap that base and it's almost four hours
1:07:26
um I don't do I don't do too much of a of a of a dive into the left hand cuz I
1:07:31
don't have much of a good left hand but the right hand is what the course really concentrate on that's the slap technique
1:07:37
and it takes you literally from beginner like single slap you know to to double
1:07:43
slap goes through all the I've kind of broken into three sections so you go through all the slaps and then we get
1:07:49
into kind of what I call the the extensions or the embellishments that's kind of what we're talking about with the
1:07:56
that like drag triplet kind of the ornamental plane and then the the last half of it is uh solo technique so
1:08:03
creating like like I just showed you right there and um uh kind of go through
1:08:08
bunch of different styles so we talk a little bit about jazz we talk a little bit about rockabilly we talk about um
1:08:15
some of the the Nashville slap based players like Joe zenin and Bob Moore um
1:08:21
we talked a little bit about some of the jazz-based players that that used that technique um and uh and then Kelly's
1:08:29
Heroes was on it too so they helped me with the musical examples and it's a great course it's honestly anybody that
1:08:34
it's from beginner to uh Advanced I guess who who is the uh the Chicago
1:08:41
Blues Basse player that you talked about that used some some slap in his oh Willie Dixon how how would Willie Dixon
1:08:48
use it well Willie had a a slap actually called the it's now it's called the Willie Dixon quadruplet yeah and and so
1:08:56
a quadruplet you can it's what it sounds like it's four you can go
1:09:02
right I think Milt Hinton did it that way or or you can Curve Your Hand like this you can
1:09:08
go so you can go now the way Willie did it was he
1:09:15
would he would do like he would do like this slap he'd go [Music]
1:09:26
it's early here let me try it again okay so he would he would put
1:09:31
together how do I he would put together two double slaps in order to do that you can hear that all throughout if you
1:09:38
listen to a lot of that old Memphis slim Willie Dixon stuff you hear that lick all the
1:09:43
[Music] time and then he'd do
1:09:48
like I do that and gosh what else did he do yeah he's he's a very unique player
1:09:54
and and I was always musical with too which I like yeah thank you for showing us that so of course people need to go
1:10:00
see if if you come to Nashville for any reason you need to go see Kelly's Heroes
1:10:06
I think so Wednesday through Saturday night 6:30 to 10 p.m. no matter what go
1:10:14
to Robert's Western World and see Kelly's hero see Joe Fick thank you so
1:10:19
much and we'll see you next time bye-bye