How About You????

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 21 Oct 2002 6:18 pm

With the country music industry placing so much emphasis today on the young, lean, sweet faced beauties displaying great cleveage and bared navel, often with a chunck of steal penetrating it........I got to wondering:

How many of you steel guitarists here on the Forum truly believe (or even suspect) that you didn't get the picking job you really and truly wanted simply because you were just another pretty face in the vast crowd of warblers???? Or, you had facial hair? Or, you were vertically challenged?
Or, any of the other reasons that had little or no affect on your musical talents or playing expertise? Were YOU discriminated against?

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 21 Oct 2002 8:17 pm

My age has been a factor before..mainly when was a younger steel player..

I am 34 today...

TH

PS: Today I am 34 - it is NOT my birthday...

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Tim Harr - Carter D-10 8 & 9 - Troy Cook & the Long Haul Band
[This message was edited by Tim Harr on 21 October 2002 at 09:18 PM.]

Mike Weirauch · Post by **Mike Weirauch** » 21 Oct 2002 8:41 pm

I am 34 today...

Today I am 34 - it is NOT my birthday

That's OK, Smiley will still play
Happy Birthday" for you, just ask Jimmie Crawford.

John Cadeau · Post by **John Cadeau** » 21 Oct 2002 10:11 pm

Well I don't know if I never got a job because of how I look, but I should fit in real good now. My cleavage is a little better now, and when I sit down at my steel guitar my navel is bare 'cause my t-shirt won't fit over my ample gut. Of course the hair on my head is thinning quite a bit, but by gosh I sure got a lot of new growth on my back, and in my ears.
John

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 22 Oct 2002 1:29 am

I think there is no doubt age is a factor and your appearance be it weight or otherwise would have to come into play. I think the artists that have more control over their band members like Alan Jackson or George Strait tend to have some older players partly because they may play better or because the artist are older themselves. The younger guys would feel more comfortable with younger guys in the band I think. I mean how many acts whether it be well known or not have a big mixture of ages on the bandstand? Guys like Steve Wariner and Vince Gill who are real pickers in their own right tend to look past the age factor and more at the talent of an older sideman I would think or at least that's what I've observed. I'm not sure the non-picker front men would choose a more talented older sideman opposed to a younger one that didn't have as much talent or experience. I can't say I've been discriminated against because I don't audition or go out for any artist gigs. I play enough to suit me and like sleeping in my own bed.

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 22 Oct 2002 2:39 am

A bandleader I knew had to make a choice between hiring me, Joaquin Murphey, Noel Boggs, Jerry Byrd or Alvino Rey. He didn't hire me. I jusk KNOW it was age/appearance discrimination.

Roy

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 22 Oct 2002 4:09 am

John : I'll pass on a neat trick I tried about the thinning hair thing : let your eye brows grow out and comb them back over your head !! Works great but there is one draw back --- I caught hay fever one summer and danged near flogged myself to death !!
And - being perfectly honest about it all--I couldn't notice where it helped me land any gigs either. -

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 22 Oct 2002 5:27 am

Roy......I understand because I've also suffered from that kind of discrimination. I sure wish I was better-looking so I could get more of those "good" jobs!

www.genejones.com

Roy Ayres · Post by **Roy Ayres** » 22 Oct 2002 5:56 am

Gene:

this is out of place for this thread, but I saw on another thread somewhere where you had a dog named Django. I had a Toy Manchester I had named on his registration papers "The Earl of Joaquin." (After Earl Joaquin Murphey.) When I had the opportunity to hang out with Murph for a few months in about 1951, I told him about it. It seemed to please him.

Roy

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 22 Oct 2002 7:41 am

Roy...

I have a good story about the "demise" of Django (the dog) but it doesn't fit in this thread so I'll find a place for it somewhere later!

Ray... my apology for this intrusion on your theme topic. www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 22 October 2002 at 08:44 AM.]

Joe Miraglia · Post by **Joe Miraglia** » 22 Oct 2002 8:26 am

Ray- What were thoughts on this 30 years ago? All ages get their turn. The band I'm working with range in age from 24 to 63. Guess who is 63?

Smiley Roberts · Post by **Smiley Roberts** » 22 Oct 2002 9:33 am

Nineteen yrs. ago,Jeanne Pruett was looking for a steel player. I called her "band leader" who,I think, was her son. In the process of giving him my "track record",he said,"By the way,how old are you?" I replied, "45". HE replied,"Oh,Jeanne's not hiring anyone over 30 anymore." Now,I was born in Feb. of '38. Jeanne was born in Jan. of '37, or,at least,so the "Encyclopedia Of Country Music" states. (y'all know how "press releases" lie.) It don't take no "genius" to figure that she's "older than dirt"!! (That would make me,at least,as OLD as dirt,right??) Anyway,that's my story,& I'm stickin' to it.

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<pre> ~ ~
©¿© It don't mean a thang,
mm if it ain't got that twang.
www.ntsga.com</pre>

John Steele (deceased) · Post by **John Steele (deceased)** » 22 Oct 2002 10:38 am

Maybe this is a dumb thought, but perhaps that's contributing to the scarcity of steel in road bands.
Although there are some fine young steelers, it seems those extra years are required to produce a refined instrumentalist. Unless you started as a youth, by the time you've learned to handle the instrument, you're too old to be seen on stage ?
-John

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 22 Oct 2002 7:03 pm

Gene...........NO PROBLEM!

Joe...........How many guess do I get?

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 22 Oct 2002 8:57 pm

John,
It's kind of like the boxing ring. Once you learn the ropes you're too old to fight.

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 23 Oct 2002 2:40 am

Isn't the "looks" thing a result of the advent of music videos? Before they came around, you didn't really get to see what the performers looked like.
I saw a story about the band the Blues Travelers, whose members were so un-photogenic the record company made them use stand-in actors for their video!
So, I guess looks are part of the requiremnets today, like it or not.

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 23 Oct 2002 7:12 am

I often wonder if my beauty is a blessing or a curse.

[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 23 October 2002 at 08:14 AM.]

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 23 Oct 2002 12:28 pm

I'm 47 years old, and I've got AWESOME cleavage!!Just ask the drummer

autry andress · Post by **autry andress** » 23 Oct 2002 12:34 pm

As the old Country Song goes: Time Changes Every Thing.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 23 Oct 2002 3:44 pm

Bob, is that a picture of Clint Knotts, or Don Eastwood?

www.genejones.com

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 23 Oct 2002 7:43 pm

For a moment there, I tho't it might have been Clint Westwood!?