Who is gigging?

[M Sarad]

I’ll start.
I’m in two bands, The Huckleberries, named after my dog, Huckleberry, play a mix of country, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones from the mid 60s, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Ry Cooder, Hot Tuna, Buddy Holly, Bob Wills, a wild and eclectic mix. A four piece with guitar, pedal steel, bass, and drums, we have played the annual neighborhood 4th of July parade for 6 years, the Kern County Museum Flea Market, Cafe Smitten, Bakersfield Marathon, and we are waiting to see if we get to open for Sierra Hull in October. I use my MIM Butterscotch Tele and Victoria Tweed Deluxe with a BOSS ‘63 Fender Reverb pedal. I bought the Tele from AGF classified and put Harmonic Design Vintage Plus pickups on it. It twangs, barks, spits fire, and makes a bold statement. The drummer and I have been playing together since college in the mid 70s

The second band is the RiffKats, a blues band with keys, guitar, bass, drums, and a powerful singer. My brother came up with the name. Since we practice at his house, I don’t complain.... much. He has a Hammond B2 and Leslie 122 for practice, switching to a Porta B and smaller Leslie for gigs. We just recorded a five song demo in a local studio. I use the Tele, my PRS Double Cut Gold Top with Soap Bars, SG with Throbak PAFs, Brondel Strat, Melody Maker with vintage TTop PAFs, 1930s NIOMA Lap steel into either a Fender Blackface 1980 Handwired Deluxe Reverb or a PRS H series 50 watt head into a 12” speaker. Sometimes I use a ZenDrive. We are rehearsing weekly and applying for various festivals and openings in SoCal. Our set list is a wide mix of songs from Taj Mahal, Howlin’ Wolf, Paul Butterfield, Johnny Winter, Blues Image, Elmore James, Robert Johnson, The Meters, Freddie, Albert, and BB King. We are writing our own as well.

[roylor4]

I gig with my wife as a duo 95+% of the time. We occasionally have a friend sit in on electric sets playing both rhythm and leads. We are called "The Aldermans" - it's our last name and I obviously have zero imagination.

We play everything from acoustic Bob Segar and Charlie Daniels to AC/DC, the Kinks and Muddy Waters.

We play a few bar gigs a month from 2-3 hours and play about 100 retirement home gigs a year. Some of these truly suck, but some of them are truly awesome too.

[jdmulli]

Music is pretty much my only hobby, and my wife and I don't have children -- I gig a pretty good bit.

1) Sugar Truck -- We are a female vocalist fronted country/rock cover band. We gig with a full band twice a month.

2) Sugar Truck Acoustic -- Just me and the vocalist from the previous band. We gig about once a month.

3) Creek Chubs -- 4 piece. We do 90's, 00's, and some classic rock. We are still practicing but plan on gigging by October/November.

4) Creek Chubs Acoustic -- Me and the singer play at Farmer's Markets, Restraunts, etc... about once or twice a month

5) A good friend of mine is a singer songwriter in Mobile, AL. We get together (I live in Huntsville) about once a quarter and play somewhere in the middle. Also, he does small little tours about a week long a few times a year, and I try to participate in those (if I have the PTO from my real job). His band is really good. It's always a great time.

6) I accompany my wife's vocals at church on Sunday.

[Shades of Blue]

I played for 6 years with my father in law in a southern gospel group. He tragically passed, but I tried to stick with it by joining a contemporary church group. That only lasted a year, and I only play with family now. My daughter is an up and coming violinist and guitar player at the young age of 7, and she is pretty darn good! Very proud of her. If she sticks with it, she will be better than me by 10!

[M Sarad]

Looking good.

My brother, Mike, also plays in a Worship Band on Sundays.

[Silly Moustache]

Apart from mc'ing and playing two 15-20 sets twice a month, I've not been on the "scene" much since my cancer business in 2017.

It took me a good year to get my voice back, and this year has given me challenges with my hands.

However, last Wednesday I went to a club that I used to appear at regularly, and I was treated like royalty, partly because old frinds of mine who were booked had to cancel and so whilst expecting to just do a floor spot, I was asked to effectively do the gig!

I am to be booked next year, either as a solo or with "the boys" is still to be decided.

I love playing as the trio, but there is a certain "liberty" to performing solo.

Next week I'm doing a full guest gig - 50 minutes, which I'm looking forward to, but as I discovered last week, I was a little nervous .. it's been a long time!

[slopeshoulder]

I play at least one night a week with a couple of different acoustic duos at various waterting holes, live houses and festivals in Okinawa, Japan. I am one half of "Double D"-Don and Doug and one half of "Full Circle". Double D does some Americana type stuff and has a good bit of original music. Full Circle are acoustic chestnuts from the 60's-90's. Always a good time.

[Dru Edwards]

I used to gig but I travel for work so it's too difficult to be in a band. I'd like to get back into it though.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

I’ll start.
I’m in two bands, The Huckleberries, named after my dog, Huckleberry, play a mix of country, Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones from the mid 60s, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Ry Cooder, Hot Tuna, Buddy Holly, Bob Wills, a wild and eclectic mix. A four piece with guitar, pedal steel, bass, and drums, we have played the annual neighborhood 4th of July parade for 6 years, the Kern County Museum Flea Market, Cafe Smitten, Bakersfield Marathon, and we are waiting to see if we get to open for Sierra Hull in October. I use my MIM Butterscotch Tele and Victoria Tweed Deluxe with a BOSS ‘63 Fender Reverb pedal. I bought the Tele from AGF classified and put Harmonic Design Vintage Plus pickups on it. It twangs, barks, spits fire, and makes a bold statement. The drummer and I have been playing together since college in the mid 70s

The second band is the RiffKats, a blues band with keys, guitar, bass, drums, and a powerful singer. My brother came up with the name. Since we practice at his house, I don’t complain.... much. He has a Hammond B2 and Leslie 122 for practice, switching to a Porta B and smaller Leslie for gigs. We just recorded a five song demo in a local studio. I use the Tele, my PRS Double Cut Gold Top with Soap Bars, SG with Throbak PAFs, Brondel Strat, Melody Maker with vintage TTop PAFs, 1930s NIOMA Lap steel into either a Fender Blackface 1980 Handwired Deluxe Reverb or a PRS H series 50 watt head into a 12” speaker. Sometimes I use a ZenDrive. We are rehearsing weekly and applying for various festivals and openings in SoCal. Our set list is a wide mix of songs from Taj Mahal, Howlin’ Wolf, Paul Butterfield, Johnny Winter, Blues Image, Elmore James, Robert Johnson, The Meters, Freddie, Albert, and BB King. We are writing our own as well.

That's impressive. Sounds like a full time endeavor.
If I were in a band I would definitely be playing a lot of Stones from the mid 60s. Just curious if you are doing their originals or some of their great covers from that era. The Stones were an outstanding cover band during that period imo. Tunes like Little Red Rooster, Have Mercy, Talkin' Bout you, She Said Yeah. So many others. Those were the tunes that got me into guitar playing in the first place.
Just the other day I was flagged down by a group of teenage kids at our local transfer station who were conducting a benefit car wash. Just as I rolled down the window to talk to them, "Talking 'Bout You" came on the CD I was playing. Whoah did they like that!!!
It was a reaction that made me think there is something in that music that is missing from their own set lists and that they were craving for.
Anyway, it's nice to hear that these tunes are still getting air play in bands across the country.

[Bob Womack]

I'm still doing my sessions schtick. I produce, record, write, and play guitar and synth for sessions. The material is highly varied but a good bit of it goes into scores for film and video. It's low profile but highly rewarding.

Bob

[MaurysMusic]

I play solo acoustic once a month. My acoustic duo works 3-5 times a month on average. About 8-9 times year we get to bring our bassist & drummer and for those gigs I play a 50/50 mix of acoustic and electric.

I always have my Martin OM-28V with Trance Audio Amulet M. For the electric tunes I play a Fender SSS Strat and a short scale Reverend with humbuckers or Revtrons. We use a Bose L1 as a PA for most dates.

[Marley]

I'm gigging and jamming with the same band. I've been in four previous bands in my life and all were original music bands. This one is pretty much all Sublime songs with a few Peter Tosh, Pepper, Dead tunes and some jamming mixed in. It's the first time in my life that I'm trying to learn cover songs as opposed to simply writing my own. It's the most fun I've had in any band. Practicing used to be work as we were always trying to perfect this or that or work on original songs. Now I view practicing in the same manner as playing a round of golf or going fishing, it's just fun, relaxing and such great feeling to just jam and create music. We play approx. 2 shows a year as we don't feel the general public could tolerate any more or our wives as the practices get much more frequent closer to show time.

[The Kid!]

Full time for the last 8 years. Mostly acoustic solo work, but I also do duo, trio, band, and session work. Between 250 and 300 gigs per year. Closer to 250 this year.

[Mooh]

I play guitar in a duo with a fine violinist, old time, swing, celtic, sometimes some light classical. We only play about half a dozen times a year, though we used to play a couple of times a month at least. Once in a rare while we play with others, but 95% of the time we're a duo. Always practice at my place as my lesson studio doubles as a well equipped practice space. The violinist has added tracks to my recordings.

A former duo I had with an anglo concertina player is back practicing after a long hiatus. Tentatively considering gigging again. Celtoid tunes only. The concertina player has added tracks to my recordings.

Two years ago I quit a blues/rock cover band and a contemporary Irish singer-songwriter cover band, both of which gigged regularly. I need the time to record and work on other projects. To my surprise the blue/rock band folded...I figured they'd replace me and carry on...I mean, guitar players are a dime a dozen. We played a reunion gig after the bass player unexpectedly died, and the show felt good, but the when it's over it's over. The Irish styled band did carry on but has had several personnel changes that look to me like they are struggling. I've remained friends with all my former bandmates, awesome folks.

I started to jam with a bass player last year, hoping it might turn into something, but progress has been very slow. Acoustic folk/blues mostly, with me singing.

[Steve DeRosa]

My wife and I have been on-and-off performing partners since 1967, mostly music ministry/CCM/P&W - still perform as a duo on a limited basis (got a gig coming up in two weeks). Also met up with some folks at the local senior center uke group who sang/played other instruments and put together a rock/country/folk, acoustic/electric band; had to take a couple months off due to a family emergency, but been playing out every 4-6 weeks on average since we started in September '17 - did our first TV show at the end of April, got a possible Christmas special in the works...