a stellar tune from his forthcoming album called “She Looked Just Like Marilyn Monroe.”
The Silver Travis Band boys were up next, with keyboard man Brad Durden handling the lion’s share of lead vocals. Lead singer Rick Cash was unable to attend, due to health issues. The band came out of the chute kick- ing with “Long Gone,” followed by “Too Late.” Mike Satterfield and Joey Parrish locked in to provide a solid foundation, with John Gillie on rhythm guitar, Brad on keys and Calvert blazing across the fretboard of his Stratocaster.
The band tore through a one hour set that included their song “Chain Gang.” It had been a while since I had sat and listened to the band live, an I was blown away. On this song, I was reminded of why Joey Parrish is such a great bass player. He works out on those two lowest bass strings, the E and the A, and the bottom end on this song sounded like ZZ Top.
Silver Travis kept it hopping with “Wishing Well,” a cover of Marshall Tucker’s “This ol’ Cowboy,” and Randall taking lead vocals on the classic “Crossroads.” The audience enjoyed every minute, and the applause brought them back to the stage for an encore of the John Gillie penned song, “Southern Poet.”
After a short break for a live auction, it was time for me and The Hash-a-Plenty Allstars to knock out a few songs. This group included myself, Donnie Winters, Mike Satterfield and Joey Parrish. We did some songs from my past catalog, including “Stone Houses” and “I Want Paris Hilton to Be My Friend.” We also had fun with Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” the timeless “Folsom Prison Blues,” Shaver’s “Georgia On a Fast Train,” and Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.” Oh, and me and Satterfield did a little Bruce Springsteen rap number. Don’t ask.
Billy Eli took the stage, backed by all four of us, and it was a blast. Eli kicked it off with some Townes Van Zant before delivering the goods on his own tunes “Here I Go, I’m Gone” and “Hey Maria.” He delivered a very nice version of Waylon’s hit, “Just to Satisfy You,” and returned to his originals with “Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman.”
During the next hour, Billy sang more origi-
Randall
nals like Baby It’ll Be Alright,” along with covers that included The Amazing Rhythm Aces’ “The End is Not in Sight,” and a Tex- Mex version of “Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone,” as well as tunes made popular by the Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, and J.J. Cale. The group split up vocal duties on the Toy Caldwell song “Can’t You See,” with Donnie Winters once again picking some amazing country rock lead guitar on his gui- tar, which once survived a fire and was later dubbed “Ol’ Smokey.”
Before we knew it, the show was over. However, musical friendships had been
32
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74