2008 Year in Review

2008 Year in Review

2008: A look back at a Helluva year.........

JANUARY:

We kicked off 2008 by packing up on New Years Day and heading south for a string of shows that would take us to the World Famous Flora-Bama in Perdido Key, Florida, then on to Stapleton, Alabama for a great get together/jam/recording session with Jody Payne at Jody and Vicki's Twin Oaks Ranch. We had a great time and then concluded our little mini-tour down south with two shows in New Orleans with Big Jim, Bilbo and Amy Strain and the whole damn Looziana Wreckin' Crew, I think my head still hurts a whole year later. AYYYEE!! January also brought us some cool accolades as we were featured in the BEST OF CINCINNATI issue of CityBeat Magazine.

FEBRUARY brought the long awaited release of our sixth CD Tales From A Road King, produced and recorded by my great friend Ken Glidewell "Mr.K" at his Clubcar Studio in Hamiltucky, Ohio. The disc was the first that really got the band on track with capturing our sound and direction. Ken was instrumental in steering us down the right path and the disc would go on to be our biggest selling and first to recieve national airplay. It really was like a "new beginning" for us as quoted by Brian Baker in a CityBeat Magazine interview.

Tales From A Road King was released on February 8th at The Madison Theatre in Covington, Kentucky as we shared the bill with Outlaw Country Legend David Allan Coe. The show was really electric as we played our hearts out and asses off to a standing room only SOLD OUT crowd and recieved two encores (not bad for an opening act). The whole evening set the pace for what would turn out to be one helluva ride all year long.

MARCH found us hittin' the road all across the midwest, including one memorable show in particular with Devon Allman and Honeytribe. The Jim Beam and Jagermeister fueled jam went on until the late night hours culminating in a great jam with me and Lucky Chucky joining Devon Allman, bassist Pedro Arevela (of Dicky Betts and Great Southern) and the rest of Honeytribe onstage for a string of jams on classic Allman Brothers tunes. Check out the photos in our slide show by clicking HERE. It was also the night I was offered a job hosting my own TV show on a brand new all biker television station called Live2Ridetv.com. With alot o'Jim Beam and Blue Ribbon and my buddies with a new fancy TV camera, we interviewed Devon Allman and shot footage of our jam together for what would later become my show Motorcycles, Music and Mayhem on Live2Ridetv.com. More on that later in our story.....

APRIL: When the spring rains came and warmed things up, we wound up ridin' around in the rain just to break the cabin fever. We took the Redneck Rock-N-Roll Show back down south for a string of dates in South Louisiana, where the new CD and the new live show recieved a great response. We also played all over Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana including our own sold out show at The 4 Aces in Scottsburg, Indiana. Sadly it would be the last show at this great club as it caught fire and burned down a few weeks later. Everything with the band, from our live shows to CD sales to fan response was clicking like never before when we got the great news that Sirius Satellite Radio's Outlaw Country Channel 63 had added our song Hank To Thank to their playlist. The song was written by my friend Danny Frazier and had always been a crowd favorite and it was really cool to have it be our first song to recieve airplay on Sirius. We want thank Hillbilly Jim's Moonshine Matinee to be the very first to play songs off Tales From A Road King and get the ball rollin' for us.

MAY would prove to be the most bittersweet month of 2008 for us with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. For most of the month, we continued to bust ass, raise hell and play our music loud and proud anywhere we could. On Saturday May 24th, my friend and producer Ken Glidewell got us booked in the headlining band spot at Kings Island for Robbie Knieval's record breaking jump over 24 Coke Zero trucks. We took the stage in front of 64,000 people and tore it up,playing right up until the moment of Robbie's history making jump. We even made appearances on Fox Sports Net and ESPN 2!! We spent the whole day with Ken Glidewell cuttin' up and carryin' on like always, but also making our next moves for the band. We were to start recording a new CD in the next week and were ridin' high that Sirius Satellite Radio had really got on board with us and was playing not only Hank To Thank, but now was burning up King Of Bullshit Mountain, thanks to Mojo Nixon, Dallas Wayne and Elizabeth Cook. When we parted ways with Ken that day, it was nothing but smiles, laughter, high fives and bear hugs. Sadly, it would be our last time spent together. Ken was fatally injured in a motorcycle crash on Memorial Day. I still can't believe it and it stands as the saddest day of my life. I've never known a more genuine , honest and caring soul in this world. He touched so many lives through his music and his personality and just how he lived. I still feel his presence with us everyday as do all who were close to him. He's still up there playin' "Freebird" and steering me in the right direction and I know he always will be. God Bless" Mr.K" Ken Glidewell.

JUNE:.....Still reeling and grieving from the sudden loss of Ken, we did the only thing we know how to do and that's play. And I mean PLAY!!! At times like this our music is the only thing that helps heal us a little bit so we took off across the country to spread the word and try to be "hittin' the note" as The Allman Brothers used to say. We had a run of tour dates up north playing Bike Week in Laconia, New Hampshire at The Broken Spoke. This is America's oldest motorcycle rally. We had great crowds and great weather this year(usually it's pretty rainy and cold). We took advantage of the local seafood house and tore up the biggest lobsters I've ever seen. Next, it was a one night stop in Bennington, Vermont to check out the Starlite Valley Boys and enjoy a rare night off in a strange town with the whole band and crew shuttin' the whole town down. Somehow, no-one got arrested and we made it out of town to play The Harley Rendevous in Upstate New York. This is one of our favorite parties and we finally got to headline this great motorcycle event/concert. The show was really special as we played a nonstop set for over 3 hours to a crowd numbering more than 25,000. We ended our set with two encores and an extended version of One More Ride dedicated in Memory of Ken Glidewell. Definitely one of the best shows and road trips of the year. Hell Yeah!

JULY: Back on the homefront, I was given a great opportunity as I was hired by the folks at Fountain Square in Downtown Cincinnati to book a series of free concerts every Tuesday night all summer long. The concert series was billed as Southern Sounds and I brought in the best in original southern rock, country, blues and cajun acts in the Tri-State. There were stellar performances from Straw Boss, Sonny Moorman, Robin Lacy and Dezydeco, Stagger Lee, Billy Gant and lots more. We even played a couple of shows ourselves. It was really great to bring this style of music to Downtown Cincinnati and see all the different people gettin' together and havin' a great time. I hope we can do it again sometime! July also brought more airplay from Sirius Satellite Radio Outlaw Country, as our song As Good As It Gets began showing up in the playlist. We couldn't believe that they were really playing our CD three cuts deep. It really gave us alot of exposure and led to many more new venues to play not to mention record sales. Plus, it's the station we listen to all the time anyway and it was really cool to be on the same playlist as our heroes like Waylon, Willie, DAC, Cash, Haggard and Billy Joe Shaver. That gets a big hell yeah!

AUGUST: We kicked my birtday month off right (the actual day is August 7th, but bein' a Leo and all, I like to celebrate ALL MONTH) with a hometown concert with David Allen Coe at Annie's in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was also the first filming of Motorcycles, Music and Mayhem, a new show I am hosting on Americas first online TV Network for the Motorcycle Lifestyle featuring ALL ORIGINAL BIKER PROGRAMMING 24-7. We began filming at the DAC show behind the scenes and then got some great footage of the show and the crowd. It was a really exciting month as we went on to play several more shows with David Allen Coe and also played The Madison Theatre with Shooter Jennings and the .357's. We had a killer show as did Shooter and after the show I got to Interview Shooter for an upcoming episode of Motorcycles, Music and Mayhem. (**Note...The interview with Shooter is airing NOW at Live2Ridetv.com on the BARS and BANDS CHANNEL.. check it out!!). Other notable shows for August included the St. Francis DeSales Festival on August 16th with an impromtu tribute to Elvis Presley on the anniversary of his death. Ya just never know when The KING will show up!! Also our final appearance at The Swamp in Louisville, Kentucky before they closed the doors. What a great club, it is sorely missed...

SEPTEMBER: August and September kind of ran together as we set off on a Labor Day road trip to play THUNDER IN THE SAND in Conesville, Iowa. This was a really inspired show and we had really honed our live set to include all of the new material I had written for the next CD as well as something from all of our previous recordings and topped off with a couple jams we worked up just for good measure. We were really coming into ourselves and getting it right this time. It's funny how you can play music and perform live for over 20 years and suddenly everything's brand new again. We were finally back playing together for all the right reasons and it really showed.

From Iowa, we headed up to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Harley Davidson's 105th Anniversary. Throughout the week, people would see concerts by Kid Rock, Sugarland and lots more. We had two shows and on one, we shared the bill with Texas based Wes Jeans Band. We had crossed paths back at The Flora-Bama many times but never actually met. We ended up with Wes and drummer Jack joining us onstage for a killer jam on some good ol' Texas Blues. I interviewed Wes for an upcoming webisode of Motorcycles, Music, and Mayhem. We also interviewd Stateline Choppers, the Budweiser Drag Racing Team and more. Look for all the Milwaukee footage on Live2Ridetv.com.

After all those dates up north, we were in serious need of a l'il southern comfort, so we pointed the bus back down south and made another round, with the whole band and film crew in tow, to the Flora-Bama and then on to New Orleans. We even stopped by to visit with Jody Payne and family and Jody and Chucky were lightin' up them guitars (and a few other things) all night long. Unfotunately we couldn't stay long as we had to get back for the BIG Show at B.A.R. Customs in Lebanon, Ohio with Rumble Club and Wreaking Havoc. We had great weather and a huge turnout that would be followed by an appearance at Aces & Eight's Harley Davidson' Rumble Rally with Jackyl and Jesse James Dupree & Dixie Incorporated. We ended the month with our first show headlining The Madison Theatre in Covington, Kentucky. All in all, it seemed like a blur, but I'm told we had a helluva time!

OCTOBER: When we finally got home, we went back into the studio to begin working on the next CD. We teamed up with my old friend Brian DeBruler at Bright Audio in sleepy little Bright, Indiana. Brian had recorded our first CD, My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, years ago and had worked extensively with Ken Glidewell up until his passing. It was natural to come full circle working together on this next project and everyone could tell from the very start. This was the first CD that we tracked live in the studio with all of us playing together without overdubs or studio musicians. It felt just like playing a show and the whole band was at ease and comfortable and I feel that we captured the true spirit and essence of our music and lifestyle with these recordings. The CD is Titled Can't Tame A Wildcat and will be my first release on SOL records in early 2009. I'm really proud and excited about this whole new project and can't wait to drop it on y'all!!

October also had some shows that should be mentioned as highlights, like the White Trash Bash at The Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky with Hillbilly Speedball, StrawBoss, Kelly Thomas and lots more, as well as the two shows we played for the Hillclimb Nationals in Oregonia, Ohio, the Parker David Kahle Benefit and the Marty Moody Benefit in Louisville, Kentucky. Great shows for great causes and we were glad to be part of them. Thanks to all who helped us help our friends!

NOVEMBER: The highlight of November for me was getting to play two sets at the FRANK BROWN INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL in Perdido Key, Florida. I have tried to get on this prestigious songwriters fest for five years and finally made it! I got to jam with Jody Payne, Bobby Keele and many, many other great songwriters like Sonny Throckmorton, Hank Cochran, T. Graham Brown and Jimbeau Hinson as well as the Mickey Newbury tribute. It was also the maiden voyage of our new PREVOST BUS!! I'll tell ya what, it damn sure rides better than our old green van, hell yeah. We wrapped up the month with a record setting first appearance at the all new Buffalo Harry's in Milford, OH. Over 987 people came through the doors and helped us break 'er in right. I'm told that they sold out of Jim Beam, Jack Daniels ,and Budweiser. I think they might have to stock up before we come back in '09! From there it was on to the Circle City Toy Run in Indianapolis, Indiana. Nearly 1,000 toys were collected and distributed to children through the salvation army by our great friends Bumper, Hamster and the whole crew up Indiana way. Thanks to Hamster and look for his column with the whole story in Ridin' On Magazine!!

DECEMBER: We stuck close to home for the holidaze playing at our favorite honky tonks like Yardbirds Southern BBQ, The Knotty Pine, Shady O'Gradys and Dave's Hideaway. My new show Motorcycles, Music, and Mayhem began airing on Live2Ridetv.com. Tune in to see interviews from the worlds of motorcycling, music and all the mayhem that ensues when we bring 'em together. Also look for Miss Heather's own show on Live2Ridetv.com called Did You Know. In 2009, look for Reverend Bob Rutherford's animated series called That Chaps My Ass!! We finished everything with the new CD Can't Tame A Wildcat and will have it released on SOL Records in early 2009. We also recieved word that Tales From A Road King was listed as one of the Top CD's of 2008 by CityBeat Magazine. We were able to kick back and look in the rearview at a year that was finacially difficult for everbody, but was filled some of the best times we've ever had. We really appreciate everyone's support in letting us continue to make our living playing music. Without y'all we' wouldn't be doin' this, so thanks to everyone who has become our friend, fan or part of our BIG extended family. Y'all are simply the best!

For all the great times we had in 2008, I have this gut feeling that 2009 will be even better. I hope y'all come along for the ride, Raise hell, sling gravel and git amongst it with us cuz it's gonna be a good'n!

See Ya Down the Road....

DALLAS,