Still Workin' On It: Some Nights Chicken...
remaining Texas shows in Austin, San Antonio, Johnson City, and Victoria, and New Braunfels will all be listed below with links…
Warning: there’s going to be some honest depictions of the ups and downs of getting back into gigs for a 49 year old touring musician who’s solo career is only about 6 years old. Keep in mind I LOVE what I do, and am so grateful this is the life I chose. I would not trade any of it. So I’ve been here since Tuesday – just one week. Many of you enjoy hearing about the ever-changing daily routines, so that’s what you are going to get. Maybe a bit of a play-by-play of my first week on this three week tour, (with a four day jaunt over to Columbus, OH to see my family in the middle).
“Don’t over-saturate the market”
I’ve been coming to Texas quite a bit since the lockdowns started to ease up. So I decided one band gig in Austin and one solo gig under my own name would suffice. This first week were the four band gigs for this run, and I was lucky to put together a stellar band. I mean stellar. I even (for the first time ever) brought an electric piano to play (terrifying really) and tried out a bunch of new material.
My first hurdle came on Sunday when my graciously accepting bass player G. Pat Harris, who relocated to Michigan pre-pandemic and was planning on flying down for the gigs, got COVID from one of his kids, and had to bow out (3 days before the first gig!). I was really looking forward to playing with him, he apologized profusely and every tried to slide me some $ which I absolutely returned. He’s a pro, so he helped me on my frantic search to find a bass player who could learn 30 songs in 3 days, play a whole slew of styles, and travel to 4 gigs in a row. I made about ten calls to great bass players I knew of in Austin. No luck. Then G. Pat got hold of Aaron Lack from the Austin Federation of Musicians (Local #433 - the union) and he suggested a young man named Nick Davis. Nick had moved to town during the lockdowns, and wasn’t playing with a ton of bands yet. Mostly he was playing straight ahead jazz and background music gigs. Nick is 26 years young.
This guy absolutely knocked it out of the park. That’s the thing about Austin, I ran through 10 bass players I knew could do it, but was relatively sure there was no way any of them could do all four gigs. I took a chance on Nick, trusting the word of the big kahuna at the musicians union and my stranded in Michigan with COVID bass player buddy G. Pat that Nick would do a great job, and he did!
And another thing; he was also a joy to be around and a fun addition to our crew.
So Wednesday was Round Rock, Thursday was San Marcos, both fantastic shows with huge crowds. I would have come to Texas just to do those 2 gigs. I look forward all year to those two concert series. I’m grateful they keep asking me back!
This band, who I was so lucky to get for these gigs, was - inspiring. At every turn.
“No TV’s on during the performance”
Then came Friday night. “We earned it.” Let me tell you how.
3 1/2 hour drive, then check into a questionably dirty hotel provided by the club. With a smaller guarantee (we didn’t play for the door) I took just Brian Mendes the drummer and Nick to San Angelo, which has a reputation for “why the hell would you go play there,” but my agent found me a Friday gig and I took it to try it out. I will always try a club or venue - once.
My contract on shows specifically says, “no tv’s on in the club/venue while Jeff is performing.” Well they skipped that part and I didn’t bother saying anything. On top of this, and despite the fact that both Brian and Nick are African-American, a woman danced down in front of the show almost the entire time, enthralled and enjoying what we were playing, whilst donning a t-shirt that read “ALL RIFLES MATTER” with a giant AR-15 in the middle of the words. The insensitivity and dumbfounding dumbassery of her shirt, in front of my musical cohorts, a mere 197 miles from Uvalde and the recent scene of yet another mass shooting, she danced ironically and obliviously.
The staff paid almost no attention to us. Barely said a word to me. I tried to bridge the gap, and go out of my way. I wasn’t getting anywhere.
Like Ray Wylie used to tell me, “some nights chicken, some nights feathers.”
On the bright side, Jeska Forsyth opened up, and did a bang-up set. Being a hometown gal she brought out some extremely nice folks for us to play for that never would have known to come see me. We won over a few locals as the back of the bar yelled with delight over whatever they were watching on television while we played. A Wimberley DJ sent an old buddy of his, who introduced himself before the show and brought another person with him. He was a delight. So was our sound technician. I don’t know how it sounded out front, but it sounded great onstage. And we had two local musicians supply the backline of a bass amp and a drum kit, which made travel, and expenses, a little more tolerable. That is so nice of them! We had fun playing. I did what we guitar players call “stretching out” and took long self-indulgent guitar solos and played songs that I hardly ever played, teaching Nick on the spot. What pros Brian and Nick are. It was Nick’s first gig in Texas outside of Austin, and boy-howdy did he get a good one! Before the show, I didn’t bother even getting my merchandise out of the car. I knew we would want to get out of there quick.
I consider myself a warrior when it comes to questionable gigs. It’s pretty hard to really get me down, or for me to turn around and leave a gig. I know I can always try to win a music-lover over or two. Challenge accepted. I even appreciate the club owner for giving us a shot. I met some great people, and hope I get the chance to play for them again.
“Back in the high life again”
Saturday night was back in Austin with the 5 piece. Cari Hutson singing duets and backing me up on vocals, is a dream. What one singer could cover both the Ruthie Foster and Patty Griffin parts on my albums? Due to weather conditions and a forecast of 107° Fahrenheit, we decided to move our show indoors, and limit the audience from 80 to about 32 and change (first come first serve on that). We also played semi-acoustic. Meaning Scrappy and I played acoustic guitars, Nick played upright bass, and we all sat down to play in a living room in front of chairs asnd couches. Brian brought a very small drum kit and played with “blast sticks,” which are sticks that are made of small, tied together dowel rods, and they allow drummers to play at lower volumes.
If you have never been to a house concert, it is a beautiful and wonderful break from night clubs and venues. The audience is almost always there to listen, they often buy a fair amount of merchandise, and it’s little or no cost to the host(s) and the musicians get ALL the money from the door and tips, without having to pay a percentage for sound, administration, bar, etc. etc. etc.
It was a really special gig, with a particularly “Austin” audience. I don’t know how to explain it to you, but that’s what they were. This show I actually put on my Facebook page and we live-streamed it, but for whatever reason, it got little or no attention with ole Zuckerberg’s algorithms. I’ll put the link here if anyone wants to see it!
Musically, playing these same songs in a more stripped-down or “unplugged” setting, breathed a life into these tunes I didn’t expect. Scrappy commented in the middle set break that I should consider making my next album this way. I really am considering it.
The hosts of “Sessions On Mary,” John and Carol Loughran, are about as music-supporting and beautiful of humans as any two can be. They set you up in their home, and invite people to enjoy music with them. They are doing it for the musicians, but for their love of music as well. Check out the show above…
“3-gig Sunday”
It’s really not that odd for an Austin musician, front person or accompanist, to play three gigs in a day. It happens often. There are so many gigs to play, and so many Austin residents who want to see that much music.
First I played at/for the Center For Spiritual Living, a sort of Unitarian Universalist group that hires local musicians. I love these folks and the message they promote.
Then I played a solo corporate gig at the JW Marriot downtown Austin for the Institute of Management Accountants. During the lockdowns, Blackfret (an organization every Austin music lover knows about) and a really cool guy named Greg Carter, put together Happy Hour Concerts online, on the Zoom platform, with 3 or more virtual performers for various businesses that wanted to do something nice for their employees and to stay connected. It made us a few bucks, and lifted some spirits. I was one of the three musicians who played for said Institute, and so when they came to Austin for a convention, they hired me to come and play!
I played solo on a stage in front of a bunch of displays and booths and was mostly background music, but was recognized and it was all in all pretty fun.
At 630pm I ended the solo set and high-tailed it over to The Saxon Pub, to play with the band that just won’t fire me even though I moved all the way to Vancouver Island, The Resentments.
Someday I’ll tell you more about them but suffice to say, at The Saxon and with The Resentments I truly feel “at home” on stage. If you are ever in Austin on a Sunday night, you should go. Miles Zuniga, one of our core members, was out of town with his band Fastball, but the rest of us played our hearts out from 730-10pm.
Oh, and today I spent 8 1/2 hours in the studio with an artist named Casey Baker playing a slew of instruments and singing on her recordings. She is putting together a mammoth 50 song record to be released later this year. Tomorrow I get to go back and do it again, then the solo gigs start up Wednesday with a song swap in New Braunfels.
If you can’t tell, I love every minute of this. Even the rough stuff (and I still need a manager). I work hard, but it is entirely worth it. I played for a TON of people and made a great many new fans last week. Even if one night was, “feathers.”
Don’t forget to sign up at patreon.com/jeffplankenhorn for new music from me every month!
Here’s what’s next…
Really enjoyed reading this, Jeff. I was hoping to get to a couple of your Texas gigs, but work isn't sending me back down until July, so I'm appreciative for the Sessions link! Thank you for sharing the ups and downs of the music life with us.
Good blogpost today. Thanks for posting the gig tape. It was a stellar show and I agree, the next album should be an unplugged one. Much as I love your wired gigs with The Resentments et al., you shine acoustically. May your life have more chickens than feathers!