Back To The Bars

Friday night the band played at Willy Jak's in Metropolis. We had a great time! Bridget and I used to go to the place a lot when I lived in Paducah because the atmosphere was nice and laid back and the food was great, especially the delicious jumbo shrimp and half pound hamburgers that were fantastic! It's still great! A good time was had by all.

Musically, more and more bands, which have thrived on the festival and casino circuits for the past decade or more, are headed back to the bars. It's the economy. I was talking to a friend of mine recently who's played and toured full time all his life and he was lamenting how his band had such a hard time last year. The worst ever. It doesn't look like it'll get better any time soon. Festivals are cutting back. Casino's are cutting back too. Gamblers don't have as much money to lose as they did a year or two ago! Many bars are still doing good though. Maybe more people are saving money by dropping $5 for some good live entertainment locally, than spending ten times that or more to hear bigger name entertainers. You best believe, many of those bigger name entertainers are feeling the slowdown too.

I've noticed in Paducah, more and more of the bands playing in the local clubs are from Nashville, TN. That's how bad the musical economy is now in the Music City. My buddy was telling me about the scores of Nashville cats (guitarists, bassists, etc) who used to tour with mid to upper-level country artist are now calling him, begging for gigs. Those with the big dreams are still coming to Nashville from around the country to be discovered, but to make enough money to cover a few meals, they're easing out of town by one to two hundred miles.

Most of them are really good, while others are not so good. I hope it doesn't get to the point that they're taking away gigs from our local bands, many of whom are also very good, very talented, very unique and very dedicated to our local clubs and audience.