Red-letter

Tonight I played a set at Canal Street Tavern, a local Dayton club. I played these songs as follows:

"Old Kentucky Home" - Randy Newman
"The Christian Life" - Louvin Brothers
"Cocaine Blues"
"That's the Way the World Goes 'Round" - John Prine
a song I wrote recently about desiring a girl who listens to country music
"Me Oh Me, My Oh My" - Matt Hobbs
"Waitin' Around to Die" - Townes Van Zandt
"Black Jack Woman" - Townes Van Zandt
"Hot Burrito #1" - Gram Parsons
"Life of Wine and Roses" - Merle Haggard's first big hit
"Lazy Days' -Gram Parsons

It went really well, I felt really good about it. There is a guy named Rich who goes to all of the shows in the Dayton area for the past 4 years. He always really likes what I do, he becomes really engaged. This is very encouraging.

What's really cool about Canal Street is that it is a longstanding venue run by dedicated people. Townes Van Zandt played there in the 80's and this lady named Sharon, who's really great, said she spent all night drinking Jack Daniel's with him. I try to pay my dues, they are always there to pay. I uploaded a song on soundcloud.com tonight by Randy Newman, next will be more by me, ones or ones I'll be working on. I'm going to try to network to find other artists in a similar vein. Here is the link.

http://soundcloud.com/matthobbs/sail-away

A guy named Chris Yakopic played tonight and he is an outstanding blues player, few and far between. Technically he is the best I've ever seen. He mentioned tonight that he has come in second place in major blues competitions, which made a lot of sense to me. What else could motivate a person to be such a skilled blues musician? Regardless, I'm glad he played after me (tough act to follow) he played the best set I've ever seen him perform. I respect him a great deal and always try to mention that I could learn a lot from him. I hope to play as many shows as possible this year and develop a solid reputation where people take notice. I have a good idea what I want to accomplish. The record will be the most important thing naturally. I would really like to get a group together, a hot band if you will. Quite possibly take music theory classes next quarter. Until next time.

Matt