Passes & Picks

So I think it’s fair that if there’s one thing Ray and I have learned since starting this blog, is that it can be a lot of work for just two guys to keep up with while we’re on the road playing! We initially thought this was the perfect thing as we could post updates between shows, from the bus, on our iPhones or iPads, from anywhere really. Yeah, not so much! It’s been a crazy, great summer, but when I just looked at when I last posted a story I was completely embarrassed! Four months, ouch!

So much has happened over the last few months, for us and in the industry, that there is no way we’re ever going to be able to catch up! So we’ve decided to pick up right where we left off and try to once again bring you the most interesting and relevant stories we can find for all you gigging musicians out there who have been so supportive of the site. We were gigging during Summer NAMM so missed that, but are planning to go to Anaheim again this year, so start thinking now about anything particular you want us to check out for you. We may even have a few gems from the last winter NAMM we can share here sometime soon!

Kenny & the boys

As for Ray and I, we spent most of the summer gigging and we plan to bring you a few stories stories and more importantly, some great backstage pictures from many of those shows. I have collected picks for many years and picked up some great ones over the summer I’ll share here too. May even give a few away at some point! We were very fortunate this year to do a lot of headlining shows as well as open for some of our favorite artists including Alan Jackson, Dierks Bentley, Gloriana, Phil Vassar, Dwight Yoakam, Sunny Sweeney, David Nail, Steve Azar, and my personal favorite, Kenny Rogers. That’s right, Kenny Rogers! I had several people (including Phil Vassar) tell me that Kenny is the greatest guy in our business, and they were absolutely right. He gave us his motorhome to use as our dressing room, moved his Meet & Greet so it wouldn’t conflict with our time on stage, and made sure there was time to meet the band and take a few pictures. An amazing experience and one we won’t soon forget!

'57 Les Paul Custom

On a personal level, this summer was a great one for me. One of the highlights of my career was being signed to an endorsement deal with Gibson Guitars! Now it’s obvious that they’ve lowered their standards to an unprecedented level for me to be included, but a very special Thank You to Jenny, Danny and everyone there for this opportunity. They even loaned me a beautiful ’57 Reissue Black Beauty to play for the summer! Sadly is has gone back to Gibson, but that may end up being the next guitar in the collection! It really was a beauty!

And I got home late one night from being on the road, and there in the garage was a big box from Mesa Boogie with their new Royal Atlantic amp inside! What a treat. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and will be writing a review and updates here for you to check out. So far I love it, different from my Lone Star Special, but very cool tones. Thanks to Tim, Mike and everyone there for their continued support.

I was also fortunate enough to meet some great guitar players and make some new friends, guys like Jeff “J-Dawg” Smith (Phil Vassar), Brian Layson (Dierks Bentley), Eddie Perez (Dwight Yoakam) and Delaney Jackson (Mark Chesnutt). Not only great players, but really nice guys as well. Look forward to keeping in touch and meeting up with all of them again sometime soon.

So we’re back! Thanks for sticking with us during the summer and we look forward to bringing you all kinds of interesting things moving forward. As always, let us know if you have any questions or there’s anything you’d like us to address.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Paul & Ray