THE MISSISSIPPI SONGWRITER'S FESTIVAL
Well, it was a very good time in Ocean Springs Mississippi this weekend. My reason for going over was to practice what I preach in "getting out of the living room." While we get so many people that come to Nashville continuously, I believe there are untold people "out there" that are interested in the craft and art of songwriting and need help in gathering direction in their musical journey. And getting to the festivals are a way to see and meet professional writers doing what they love to do. In addition, the newer and up coming writers and artists tend to gravitate to them, so it is easy to meet people. They are often standing right next to you.
But even more so than that, there is a feeling of "supporting something larger than ourselves. The festivals are expensive to put on and usually just a few volunteers work tirelessly to help pull together something that they love and don't get to do that often. It is really putting your money and effort where your mouth is. So supporting them goes a long way to having them support you.
I had been hearing about the festival for a couple of years. Indeed, once I got there, I realized that a couple of the founding board members had approached me years ago at the Silver Moon, in Perdido Key and asked if I would be interested in doing it if they could get it running. I said yes, but never heard from them. And most of these festivals can be difficult to contact, just due to the logistics of putting things together. Everyone is volunteering, so getting hit writer confirmation, organizing the events, venues. advertisers, lodging,etc. is a daunting task. So a lot of times you just have to go on faith and show up. That is what Tina and I did.
Fortunately, Tina had a lot of built up frequent flyer and hotel points from her dealings with Diebold, so we were able to fly to Pensecola, get a rental car and drive the hour and a half over. Was an incredibly easy trip. And I got to see parts of the country I haven't seen before as I rarely go much past Mobile on my trips to the Coast. The additional lure of the Casinos, over the bridge in Biloxi were extra incentive for her.
But I had NO expectations. I was hoping that some of my friends, who I know from Nashville and Frank Brown, might put in a good word for me and I might get to do a song or two on one of the shows. Well, I kind of exceeded that. The first night, at the "kick off" party, I knew a bunch of the people there, including my good redneck buddy, TOMMY BARNES (Indian Outlaw) and Jim Femino (Just Got started Loving You), who were talking about me to any orginizer who would listen. And they did start asking. But I figured I would pick my spots. Just wanted to relax a bit first. And I wanted to SEE some of the other shows while there. A lot of great writers I don't always get a chance to see.
To make a long story short, the next day when I dropped by the central hotel (The artists and festival staff all stay at one hotel, which is also a golf and country club. Elvis used to stay there in the 50's and 60's so there are Elvis themed stuff all over the place) and immidiately was asked if I wanted to play. The guy doing the logistics, was the guy who approached me all those years ago at the Silver Moon. I thought he was just going to put me in a couple of short slots. They have some people playing two songs in between the main shows. but no, he was putting me in full sets. He just didn't realize it yet. LOL!
The town of OCEAN SPRINGS is a very small, cute village about five miles from the casinos and the beach. It is really sweet looking with little shops and resturants all over. Looks like a real boutique community. The seven venues of the festival (including a couple in Pascagoula,which is 20 miles away) were all very close, so it made it easy to get around and see many shows. And most people did. Wandering in and out of the venues, that were all free to the public. I liked that part.
My first show was at Picasso's, a very nice itialian resturant with a very neat little courtyard. It was very very good food, and the artists were interesting. Starting with a 13 year old girl, who I would meet her momanger and her and talk to her a good deal over the next couple of days. Some local and regional acts and then some of the Nashville big dogs. I was put in with a girl from Gulf Shores that I have met at Frank Brown, and a guy out of New Orleans.
This is when it gets fun. When nobody knows you, they don't really know what to expect and if you are not one of the hit writers, they think you are just some other old guy trying to play his hobby. Writers and artists at these thing break down into a few catagories. The new and young ones coming up trying to play their first 'real gigs", outside of talent contests, open mics, the odd party or karaoke night. There are older people who have been around but have other careers. They take time off for these like vacations. There are local and regional people who play fairly regularly, usually cover giggers. Then there are some pretty decent performers who don't really have any songs,a few "fraternity type" guys and girls who bring in some of their very drunk friends anywhere they play, and then the "big dog" writers, who have been doing this for years. With most of them, are the new and upcoming artists and writers they are working with. Every hit writer has some younger person they are bringing along. That is where the next cuts come from.
On my first round,was the young 20 year old girl and the older 40ish guy, and I don't think they knew what hit them. I came out full bore and since I was the first one, it kind of shocked them that I kind of knew what I was doing. With each song, they kind of struggled to find what to follow with. I love doing that. I am teaching as I go, and showing them that they need to have a lot of material and that their songs need to stand up to the pros are all part of the learning curve. It has happened to me on tons of occassions where you are put in a show with someone that doesn't look the part. Then just blows you off the stage. It is indeed eye opening, especially when they rip out songs you knew but didn't realize they wrote them.
The show, went very well, with even the people in the back of the room, who were there just to eat, paying a lot of attention. Is a lot of fun watching a crowd turn around wondering "what is that?" Gets pretty fun. They are used to having writer/artists as background music, and I don't really do that well.
Toward the end of the set, I noticed my buddies Tommy Barnes and Steve Leslie, who are great writers, standing behind the stage waiting for their turn. It is fun to play for your friends who also don't get to see you very often. Since I was doing a workshop with Steve the next day, I was glad to show off a bit for him too. Sorry, but I do like to do that.
Afterword, the Momanger and the 13 year old approached me and we had a nice discussion. They are working a bit with Pam Tillis, and are talking about coming to Nashville to do one of my tours. Reaching out does work.
We were able to catch a couple of other shows right around the same areas, Tommy and Steve (Who is VERY JAMES TAYLORISH!) my friend Karen Reynolds, who a week ago was in a hospital at death's door and had to perform with an oxygen tank.
One of the big features of this festival is an orginized late night guitar pull at the hotel. And while they have special badges (with a star on it) for the ones invited to the pull, about everyone seems to show up. That is why we killed time going to the EVIL GOLDEN NUGGET to play black jack. Killing time.
Again, the guitar pull was pretty funny in that very few there knew me. There were about thirty five people in this round and it took a while to get around to me. then I whacked them with THING FOR YOU, my big vocal explosion I wrote with Jimbeau, and that woke them up. They told me the next day they were hearing that one down at the casinos in Biloxi. LOL! But the problem with that many people is it takes forever to get back around with so many people playing songs. So I only did the one. Left after a while and when we got back to the hotel found out it was THREE OCKLOCK!!!!! Later I would find out the party broke up at Six AM. So much for my late night adventures!
I'm gonna break this up so it doesn't seem so long.
MAB