In hotel lounges and bars across North America, from cheap honkey tonks to upscale joints, you used to find musicians plying their trade. The range in material was about as diverse as the range in quality—country, blues, rock, folk, you could find almost any type of music being played on any night in spots every night of the week.
Some of the bands were young with stars in their eyes; but for the most part they were seasoned pros of the road doing what they loved to do for a few hundred bucks a week if they had a steady gig, or a few bucks and their share of the band beer for a weekend show.
Some of them were good, just as tight and energetic as anything you'd hear anywhere, and it made you wonder why they were still playing in bars. Others, well you wonder how it is they even got that gig, and hope for their sakes they were just having a bad night.
I always wanted them to sound good for their own sakes; maybe as an ex-performer I have a certain empathy for anybody up on stage, but I think part of it is the hope we all have for the underdog. The record companies aren't rushing to hand out contracts to roadhouse rock and roll/blues bands anymore. They don't sell records in large numbers and they're expensive to maintain.
Hip-hop and rap must have seemed like manna from heaven for record moguls. Gone are the days of having to pay freight for a band and all its equipment when it goes on tour. All you need now is to be able to plug in a few microphones and install some computer software into the house system and you're good to go.
What started out as an inexpensive way for musicians to perform and communicate has been latched onto by the record companies as a means to wring more dollars out of their potential market. Gone are the days of the big bands blasting out rowdy, bar room brawl, music that is the life blood of rock and roll.
They might get an occasional CD put out on one of the smaller specialty labels, but their bread and butter is playing live gigs four or five nights a week across North America in bars of various degrees of repute. For every class establishment like the House of Blues, there are 30 where you have to play behind chicken wire so the flying beer bottles don't connect with your head.
For those who saw the original Blues Brothers movie and thought the scene where they played behind wire was a figment of the filmmaker's fancy haven't been in bars near lumber camps where they guys only get paid once every two weeks, and have worked for 14 days straight. Adding alcohol to that mix gives new meaning to the phrase 'putting out fires with gasoline.'
Article comments
1 - Barry Stoller
'The recent interest in Johnny Cash and movies like O Brother, Where Art Thou? has rekindled people's appreciation for the sound of fingers on strings.'
Let's remember the OTHER type of strings, too. The big bands and the orchestras got zapped by the rock outfits you're eulogizing. Replacing 20-piece orchestras comprised of literate musicians with 5-piece bands comprised of untrained teens was another cost-cutter for bars and record companies alike. Unfortunately for art, all labor-saving technologies set in eventually.
2 - Bennett
Well written! Thanks for speaking to this fading bit of our culture.
Yo Barry, when's the last time a 20-piece orchestra (comprised of literate musicians) EVER played in a roadhouse, punk bar, or Haight Street dive?
I remember Santana, Credence, and The Who when they were "bands comprised of untrained teens".
Rock on!
3 - Barry Stoller
Many places now associated with Santana, CCR, Who, etc. were former ballrooms - featuring ballroom orchestras. My point is that cultures move with technologies. (I could care less about your particular set of fave bands, as I'm sure you could care less about mine.)
4 - Joanie
The bands are out there, Richard. You just have to know where to look and you have to be willing to go out to see them.
I'm wonderfully blessed to have many MANY locations around me where I can listen to quality music for a small fee, or sometimes even free.
5 - Greg
That is a great article, and funny enough, it reminds me of my own band which is primarily original, but on a really good night (only a great night), we sometimes launch in to Credence's Born on the Bayou, and our Drummer sings it with absolute heart and soul, riding the wave of life to its fullest....
6 - Greg
www.buzzuniverse.com
7 - Scott Butki
I go every Thursday and Friday nite to Port City Java, a local coffeehouse, where they have open mike nite on Thursday and a performer on Friday.
Invariably some will sing country, some rock, some both.
Its not unusual to hear acoustic covers of everything from Skynard, Cash and Oasis in the same set.
I know it's not a bar but it is free and, to me at least, thrilling and fun.
Keep hope alive.
8 - John
I am trying to find out what ever happened to an awesome bar band that came to Edmonton, AB in the mid to late 80's. They were called "Sweet Lucy" and their album was titled "Taste It" I actually wore the cassette out and have never been able to replace it. The lead singer was awesome! he sounded like a cross between Robert Plant and David Coverdale.
Signed
HELP!
9 - Lori
In reply to John,
I remember Sweet Lucy! I have a couple pictures of and with them. Unfortunately I don't have their tape. If you're on facebook, we have a group "Memories of Rock Central Station and Cheers at the Beverly Crest". I've put up pictures of Sweet Lucy, Electric (which later became the Age of Electric), Smask LA, Slick Toxik, Black Diamond, Big House etc.....
Lori Lynn