My good friend Rick Steiner, of The DeVilles, also introduced me to Jesse Warburton, aka \u201cBrother Music\u201d in the mid 90\u2019s. Jesse is a hell of a blues man. Rick and I did a few shows with Jesse around Sandpoint and I remember the 3 of us playing a couple of times in the lodge at Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort. I didn\u2019t know the material all that well and I remember some guys looking at me with disgust one night when I played \u201cGoing Down\u201d by Freddy King in a very fast 4\/4 time. I didn’t know it was to be played in half time. What\u2019s weirder than that is my band mates didn\u2019t tell me. Might have been on purpose. haha. That explains it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there was the time I played with Jesse in Big Fork, Montana without Rick. It was Jesse and I, and a keyboard player I met for the first time that night and never saw again. What I especially liked about the weekend was that my dad was living in Big Fork at the time, not far from where we were playing, and so I was able to stay at his place. The actual \u201cdowntown\u201d area of Bigfork is a very small, artsy 2 blocks of art galleries and restaurants on the north end of Flathead Lake and it was a short walk to the downtown venue from my dads place. That was cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All I remember, music wise, was that I was basically improvising all night. That\u2019s work. Let me tell you. But, I will never forget a young boy of maybe 11 or 12 approached me during a break with a look of awe on his face and then enthusiastically asked me, \u201cWhere are you going from here?\u201d Like we were \u201con tour\u201d or something. To which I said, \u201cI\u2019m going home.\u201d He responded in somewhat disbelief and disappointment. He didn\u2019t seem to believe me at first, but I explained that I lived relatively close by and I was just here for the night. I suppose I should have made up a better story, but that\u2019s not my style. I just wanted to play and go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funny thing, music. Playing like I do and really quite happy just to be going home from here after a night of hard work pulling everything out of thin air\u2026 and selling it. But to a young man like that the prospect of bands and music is mysterious and exciting. Just like it was to me at that age I suppose. But now I know how the sausage is made. And it\u2019s really not that big of a deal. Besides, I\u2019ve got a wife and baby waiting for me at home. This is my job. Not glamorous. If not for the money, I wouldn\u2019t do it. I\u2019ll bet you\u2019ve never heard a musician say that. More musicians should say that. We\u2019d make more money and weed out the mediocre hobbyists who play for free. How would you like it if someone routinely did your job for free?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway\u2026 what do you think? Should I have come up with a better story for that young man? Naw. The truth is always best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have NO pictures of any of this experience. And maybe a cassette tape here somewhere. I\u2019m looking for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My good friend Rick Steiner, of The DeVilles, also introduced me to Jesse Warburton, aka \u201cBrother Music\u201d in the mid 90\u2019s. Jesse is a hell of a blues man. Rick and I did a few shows with Jesse around Sandpoint and I remember the 3 of us playing a couple of times in the lodge … <\/p>\n