Rumors Jam 6/25/17

Terry McDowell Presents The Rumors Jam

Songs:

I Shot The Sheriff
I'm Going To Move To The Outskirts Of Town

With:

Mike Clair-Guitar
Tommy Bruner-Lead Vocals and lead/slide guitar
Jeremiah Murphy-Bass
R.Smith-Drums

Upon that, I been drafted into a new band featuring fellow jammers Mark Randolph, Belinda James, Tim Slaymaker and Larry Alexman  who has his own space and drumset for me to pound on.  Which means I don't have to haul my drums anywhere.  He lives on Northview Drive in Marion, about six blocks away from my folks house.  And it's easy to get to.  We basically worked on some of the songs that we do at acoustic jams, plus some interesting stuff (Beds Are Burning).  I think this might have some sort of band potential of playing places although the guys are not too keen of doing bars all the time. After all, we all over 50 I think.  This should not hamper anything planned with Julie or get in the way of recording the drum tracks to Logic And Lies.

For the Rumors Jam, a packed house and plenty of drummers but Terry was gracious enough to pencil me in toward the end which for the first time I attempted to do a reggae styled version of I Shot The Sheriff.  Since I wore my Bob Marley T Shirt they thought they should do it that way.  It actually went very well and Mark Randolph managed to document that performance.  The other song was a more bluesy take on the Louis Jordan chestnut I'm Going To move To The Outskirts Of Town.  Belinda and Mark did a couple songs earlier on, one with Trevor on drums and another featuring the eccentric Bill Brown on drums.

Having Tommy Bruner and Mike Clair on stage and also the great bass playing of Jeremiah Murphy made it possible that I Shot The Sheriff turned out great for a first time playing it in that style. Great musicians will make me sound that much better.  Thank you guys.

From T.B.

 I enjoy co-hosting jams and here's why. My main money gig is a classic pop show band that's been very successful. I enjoy playing the songs, I enjoy the travel and the money is good, enough to pay for recording and releasing my own CDs. But it's a show, a product, and I know the show, so well I could do it in my sleep with my eyes closed. The jams are what keep me in touch with improvisation, thinking on my feet and adapting to playing with people I don't play with on a regular basis and sometimes music I'm not used to playing. To me that is well worth taking less pay for than I would make at my regular gig, because the things I mentioned are the life blood of any guitarist who doesn't want to become sterile.