Moe Bandy Show

[Ken Morgan]

Mild rant - if inappropriate, please delete or at least let me know...

Last night, the spousal unit and I went to see Moe Bandy in Odessa. Moe has been a musical hero of mine since...forever, and I fondly remember dancing to his music both live and recorded in dance halls since I was old enough to sneak into them.

Anyhow, Moe and company put on a tremendous show. Music was tight, Moe's voice is as strong as it ever was, etc. But, the place was only 80% full, and mostly old people. The sound guy (a man I know) has no ear at all, has Parkinsons, never did get the guitar in the mains, and a few times chad feedback so bad onstage Moe had to stop and wait for it to subside. The band kept making signals for this or that to get boosted or cut, and it was obvious they never got fixed.

My rant is two-fold: 1) sad that such important music as Moe Bandy's is overlooked to the point that they can't even sell out a 1000 seat venue anymore - I don't know what that says about the future of 'good ol' country music; and 2) sad that acts like Moe can't get anything like a pro sound support when they do come here.

Rant over...All thoughts welcome

BTW - if you EVER get a chance to see him, Moe Bandy's show is well worth the money...and yes, his steel player (didn't catch his name) is a killer, and from what I heard, plays a better fiddle than steel.

[Richard Sinkler]

My rant is two-fold: 1) sad that such important music as Moe Bandy's is overlooked to the point that they can't even sell out a 1000 seat venue anymore - I don't know what that says about the future of 'good ol' country music;

That IS the future of good old country music whether we like it or not. Sad indeed.

[Jerry Overstreet]

Well that's too bad. Moe is a favorite of mine for years. We still do some of his songs. Glad you got to see him live. Must've been a real treat.

My hope is that this style of genuine country music will be rediscovered and once again appreciated by young folks in the near future.

[Jim Hartley]

Ken,

The steel/fiddle player is Robert Rogers. I don't know if I'd say his fiddle playin' is better than his steel playin', both pretty darn good any time I've worked with him.

Sorry to hear about the other issues.

[Leslie Ehrlich]

My rant is... sad that such important music as Moe Bandy's is overlooked to the point that they can't even sell out a 1000 seat venue anymore - I don't know what that says about the future of 'good ol' country music.

If you enjoyed listening to Moe sing, that's all that matters. Don't worry about how many people showed up or how popular the music is.

[Ken Morgan]

Oh, we enjoyed the show, alright! Nothing's gonna change the family's love for the genre, and we both are gonna support it (and I'm gonna play it) until physically unable to do so.

Just fussing - much like Western Swing, honky-tonk music is a part of who we are. Lots of us grew up listening/playing this stuff, and this music really is the soundtrack to our lives. Just hate to see it fading away.

[Dave Hopping]

IMO the reason western swing/honky tonk is so durable is that it sounds REALLY good live.Maybe it's the big band-dance band DNA that comes to us courtesy of Bob Wills and others,but it's strong music,easy to play,easy to dance to,with lyrical content relating to very basic human themes.Not so much irony,not so much anger at supposed oppression,not so much pre-post-pop-house-metal-emo-mosh-Euro-shoegaze labeling.Just good fun for the players and the dancers,and a solid bottom line for the bars and the dance-halls.And musicians who grew to prefer real cowboy music to the cosmic cowboy variety.As was sung in another genre "ain't nothin' like the real thing,baby".

I still believe that the (unfortunately real)decline in what is still a vital and exuberant genre,has much to do with artificially imposed circumstances entirely outside the music.Like Ken,I'll go on enjoying it and playing it as much as I can for as long as I can.

[Leslie Ehrlich]

Oh, we enjoyed the show, alright! Nothing's gonna change the family's love for the genre, and we both are gonna support it (and I'm gonna play it) until physically unable to do so.

Just fussing - much like Western Swing, honky-tonk music is a part of who we are. Lots of us grew up listening/playing this stuff, and this music really is the soundtrack to our lives. Just hate to see it fading away.

Hey, I grew up with it too. My parents exposed me to the music at a very young age and even though I'm a rock guitarist I still like listening to some of the old country stuff. I don't think it'll ever go away.

[Ken Morgan]

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong. I enjoy (and play) everything from Hendrix to Shamblin, Hank Thompson to Paco de Lucia, and have been musically influenced by all of them. Gets kind of weird when I whip out a Roy Nichols lick during a Pink Floyd tune

The distressing thing is back when, those players were out there taking risks, putting it on the line, playing things NO ONE had heard or dared to play before. Good honky tonk still does this (IMO) but people in general today don't seem to want to recognize that...

Listen closely, and you'll hear tons of those licks in the Eagles, Poco, Buffalo Springfield, countless others, sometimes ripped note for note - but put a hat on it and a fiddle, and its branded as goober-worthy...

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<sigh>>>>>>>>>>>>>

But its all good, and I'm still in fuss mode - doing some mop up vox tracking for a CCM project running way long, and auto-tune, beat detective, and drum replacement are the real stars of this show

[Carl Houtz]

Jim,

The last time I talked to John Clark, he was playing the fiddle and steel for Moe Bandy in the fall of 2010. When did Robert Rogers start playing for Moe? That was a big surprise, I didn't know John Clark was no longer playing for Moe.

[Jim Hartley]

Carl,

Don't remember exactly, seems like it was about this time last year though.

[Larry King]

If you or anyone else thinks it was bad for the audience , try putting yourself in the band's place......or better yet , in Moe's . Sound men can make you or break you . His shows in Branson come off without a flaw and I'm sure it was disappointing for Moe but it sounds like he was the consumate pro and delivered as best he could .

[Ken Morgan]

He was the consummate pro to be sure. I don't think it rattled him too badly. Some years ago, Ralph Stanley and his band came through here, and there was a monitor feedback blast on stage so intense it literally took Mr Stanley to his knees. At another venue a few months earlier, Eric Johnson (famed gtr player) was playing an outdoor gig at which the police shut him down for excessive volume b/c the local sound man decided to exceed the well established decibel levels.

We also saw Gene Watson/Ray Price together in a recently completed $86M (!!!) performing arts center here - the mix was bad enough that the older couple sitting next to use complained the couldn't hear anything but bass and steel guitar (sorry guys), and could not understand a single word being sung by either performer. You just cannot make this stuff up.

Sadly, this is what most every act that comes through the Basin gets, that doesn't travel with their own sound or at least sound guy...

Sigh...its not to say the talent is not there - its to say the talent is often not heard over the roar of the distractions. I wish for simpler, less loud times, really...focus on the music and the show, and not so much the 'in your face' approach to them

[Jim Park]

What I can't understand is HOW do these sound guys keep getting called when they do such a poor job???? maybe interns?? who knows??? but I have witnessed the same thing time and time again I dunno!!!!!

[Ron Page]

They're using the same guys who ran the Bell & Howell projectors back when these venues were movie theaters.

[Ken Morgan]

Hee... sometime I think the problems are in translation. It doesn't take too much production for this style of music, but a lot of the sound guys are of the mindset that all music MUST have modern production techniques to be viable. Vocals below snare, compressed to death, subs blasting, etc...Others don't check the sound from anywhere except from their seat, which may or may not represent an accurate sonic picture of most listening positions...others simply have no concept of how to mix a cake, much less a band of any sort.

Remember the modern thought process: If it doesn't sound right, and just turning everything up doesn't work, put something digital and distorted on it; if that doesn't fix it, its the band/venue/audience's fault, certainly not mine.

(Given my druthers, I'd rather have an old guy with a couple of Altec A7s and a tube board running FOH than a tattoo'd dude with a digital board, an iPad, and no ear...my druthers don't count much as a consumer though)

[Barry Blackwood]

(Given my druthers, I'd rather have an old guy with a couple of Altec A7s and a tube board running FOH than a tattoo'd dude with a digital board, an iPad, and no ear...

Well said, Ken! The tattoo'd dudes belong in soundman hell running a Shure Vocal Master or better yet, a Bogen.