What An Experience

Wow! What an experience.  The musicians I met and formed a kinship with were so talented and so open about what they do and how they do it.  So even though I did not win, I learned a lot... about me... about my music.. and about what the IBC considers "Blues". I'll post a few more blogs about those topics later, but for now I wanted to thank all those that helped me get ready.  I feel I did my very best at this competition.  I didn't miss a chord, didn't miss a note on my harp solos and most importantly, didn't miss a word while singing.  Being at the infamous WC Handy Blue's Hall was a treat.  It's one of the oldest Juke Joints around and the history just oozes from the walls.  Memphis in February is cold... I mean cold even for a guy that lives in the mountains.

So what's next?  Well for me it's back to earning a living with  my music.  As spring starts to creep in I'm busy getting ready for a busy calendar of wedding, private and public events through the summer.  This was my first trip to the IBC, but I'm hoping it will not be my last.  I'd like to take the knowledge I gained from the experience and use that to tweak what I do there.  What I learned is I'd be better suited by just being me.  My brand of mountain-music blues would have rocked the place there but I instead chose to do a more modern style of music.  In an old town it turns out that old music works best.  For an old guy  that plays in an old style that's a great thing to learn.

Thanks again to all that supported me.  I do know that I'll "shop around" next year if I compete in contests to represent an association in the IBC.  I learned from my new friends there that many of the affiliates take really,  really good care of their representatives.  The PBPS was great to work with and have been really good to me.  But after hearing the packages some of the guys got to go represent their sponsors I was shocked at the difference.  I'm  lucky to be in a position to pay my own way to go to this special place and that's about what I did... but many of the other solo/duos were put up in hotels for 6 days, flown in, rented equipment and given significant money for "fun".  There were many there like me that got very little money from their sponsors but there were lots of guys that had the time of their lives and were paid very well to do that.  Again, a learning experience for me.