Hobostubs Ashlock
1581 posts
Nov 06, 2011
2:13 PM
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Last night I started a discussion with a good musician about our age 44,and About a friend of ours ,Who Just got sighned to a national label,and did a small spot in a cheap movie,And just played whats thought of as the best club in the Tulsa music scene last night,I actually was in the band for 3 gigs,But sence then he has rebuilt his band and moved to Tulsa,There doing real good.He has the look writes good catchy songs,progressive acoustic coffeehouse college type music,and is only 25.My friends opion was that me,him or anybody else our age,Is to old to seriuosly consider music besides the recording we do around the house or at a local bar,Now im not going to quit my day job,(although I dont have a job so I guess I could ;-)But I said Yea you are probelly to old;-)Well because he writes and plays heavy metal ballads,In the style of the 90;s But A blues player over 40 can still be a popular musician,I was wondering what do other musicians think about being middle age and playing music?And also about being a blues musician or Bluesy musician ;-) In the older years
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Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2011 2:37 PM
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Joe_L
1594 posts
Nov 06, 2011
2:26 PM
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In the past year or so, we've lost Pinetop Perkins, Willie 'Big Eyes Smith, Honeyboy Edwards, LV Banks, Calvin Jones and a multitude of other great Blues men and women. Most of them were older than 70. I would say that most true Blues artists don't achieve much recognition until they are older.
If you're under 40 in the blues world, you're usually still considered a kid. Working with and studying under the previous generation of artists tends to be considered beneficial. Longevity tends to give person some street cred, too.
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The Blues Photo Gallery
Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2011 2:28 PM
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1582 posts
Nov 06, 2011
2:34 PM
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Thanks Joe L
That how I thought I said heck even country can be played by the older players without being to old I was thinking,But he only likes Metal and Metal ballads and he writes and records good ones,But I cant get him to even consider the blues,Need less to say we hardly jam,;-)But he seems to like to think hes to old to consider more than playing in his home studio.And he says its cause of his age.
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Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2011 2:35 PM
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Harpyharry
17 posts
Nov 06, 2011
2:48 PM
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Age is a state of mind.
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1583 posts
Nov 06, 2011
2:58 PM
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I keep telling my Body that but it dosent want to listen;-)
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Hobostubs
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lor
25 posts
Nov 06, 2011
4:52 PM
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Listen to me brotha'
Don' make'a me holla'
The mo' years you see
The bluea' you be!
Ain't nothin' bout age
It's all about sage
The mo' years you see
The wisea' you be!
Yo body gits tired
From job you be fired
They gits'em a youngn'
He comes on a'fightn
You see the future
An know it ain't certain
They feel they're sure
And pull you the curtain.
Listen to me brotha'
Don' make'a me holla'
The mo' years you see
The bluea' you be!
So play yo' sweet harp
Make it flat make it sharp
But don' you forget
Yo' been where they goin'
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1584 posts
Nov 06, 2011
4:56 PM
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cool Lor ;-)
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Hobostubs
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jbone
679 posts
Nov 06, 2011
5:13 PM
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well i'm 56 and the cd we just put out is gone to Memphis for competition as best self produced cd from our area. if it wins i guess i'll sell off the rockin chair, give away the cat, and go o tour.
KIDDING!
i made a commitment to myself in my 40's that i would from then on ALWAYS do music one way or another. if we could make a living at it i'd quit my job right now.
regardless of that i am committed to use the talent i was given to spread joy and coolness every place i can. our plan is to get a little rv when i retire and book every joint we can across the nation and do little tours.
you do what your heart tells you.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000386839482
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easyreeder
18 posts
Nov 06, 2011
5:47 PM
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In 1975 I was in college in San Diego and walked unknowingly in to the San Diego Folk Festival, which was being held in the student union. Among others I sat down and listened to was Elizabeth Cotten, who I had never heard of at the time. She floored me. She was about 80 years old and played a right-handed acoustic guitar left handed. Even at 80 she played so beautifully and fluidly. I've since read that she had given up performing for a many years before being hired as a maid by the Seeger family and consequently "re-discovered". In her 60's she started her recording career and toured into her 80's.
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KingoBad
977 posts
Nov 06, 2011
5:56 PM
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It's bullshit. You keep rockin' Hobostubs!
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Danny
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waltertore
1625 posts
Nov 06, 2011
6:14 PM
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I will never be a bluesman. I just don't feel it is me. I spent a lot of my life in it, but it never really feels right to call myself one. I am just me. These things are just titles to catagorize. Let the universe guide you and you will find yourself playing the music that turns you on without concerns if others dig it or not. You will be not only happy, but a satified artist too :-) Walter
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
2,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
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Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2011 6:17 PM
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shadoe42
66 posts
Nov 06, 2011
7:29 PM
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Out of curiousty what is the name of the band and what club?
And if 44 is to old to be into music my band and I are in trouble. One of us is 44 and a couple others are in between 40 and 44 :)
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The Musical Blades
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Jehosaphat
120 posts
Nov 06, 2011
7:54 PM
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I was 42 before i joined my First band..had never even been on a stage before.
Some of the guys from that band are still in it and playing in their 60s'.(same tunes too ,kidding ;-))
You're never too old
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BronzeWailer
315 posts
Nov 06, 2011
8:02 PM
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I turned 50 this year and recently played my first paid gig. I hope I'll be pretty good after I've been doing this for 10 or 20 years...
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garry
139 posts
Nov 06, 2011
8:21 PM
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i didn't start until i was 47. got no intention of stopping.
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didjcripey
153 posts
Nov 06, 2011
8:38 PM
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Sounds like the kid wouldn't know shit from shoeshine. Blues is about life, and experience. At 25, though you think you know it all, you got a long way to go.
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Lucky Lester
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Steamrollin Stan
162 posts
Nov 06, 2011
8:45 PM
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I'm 58 this month, i agree with didjcripey and others, if i had a computor and access to all these fabulous sites when the net came in i'de be up there wailin away, atm i'm learning, and having fun,"its never too late to be what you might have been".
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Piro39
7 posts
Nov 06, 2011
8:47 PM
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This conversation is very amusing. I will be 72 years old on Dec 26 and I am still playing the blues and get better at it the older I get. Music feeds my soul and that's the only reason I play. I saw Little Walter in the 50's and have never recovered from that experience.
Paul Shapiro " The King of the Delta Jews" Santa Fe, New Mexico originally from Boston.
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Honkin On Bobo
830 posts
Nov 06, 2011
9:24 PM
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well i dont know
but i been told
you never slow down
you never grow old
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1586 posts
Nov 06, 2011
10:22 PM
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thanks guys,
yea It wasnt the 25 year old saying anything,he was playing a gig at the time of the conversation it was my best friend that is 45 and I turned 44 this week,At times I think,He uses the exscuse so he wont get disapointed,He has a ton of music equipment,and studio equipment,And makes excellent recording,But he never post them hardly,they never seem good enough for him after spending days on just 1 song,And his recording skill are pretty good.but he says he doenst want to leave a bad 1st impression with a so so recording,And he hasnt played live in years.I think he just saying the age thing to help him deal with ,the band I mentioned succes,The 25 year old Is named David Castro from the David Castro band Hes super motivated and has a head on his shoulder for music that is 20 years above his age,And a optomitic player,He makes me jealous;-) I played the gigs with him in Tulsa and OKC and Talequae,about 3 years ago But I had only been playing harp 3 months so I understand why I got cut ,sence then he has cut the drummer,the lead gutarist and bass player moved to tulsa and rebuilt got in with a local talent agency,then I just heard he got picked up with a national one,And did a shoot as a extra in a christmas movie filmed this week,He got what it takesin talent excellent frontman with the crowd Handsome with the ladies and I really dig his music,Yes im jealous,;-)the club he played was SoCo's sports bar and grill,I also talked to the ex guitarist to the old band last night cause he has put together another band and was at local bar here last night,said thats The premiere gig in tulsa rigth now cuase I guees it pays great and has alot of people with money that go there,I dont know myself,But thats what he was saying,
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Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Nov 06, 2011 10:42 PM
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1588 posts
Nov 06, 2011
11:35 PM
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Yea Walter Im not a bluesman myself ,I know that,Thats another discussion,I had last night with 2 musicians,I said I dont know the heads to blues standards as a good blues harpman should,or guitar either,Im a bluesy songwriter,I try to use that as my genre if it will let me,cause My stuff is bluesy but not the blues as to what is considered being a blues player and what i understand of the subject ,But hey I wouldnt have it any other way I love the term bluesy type rather than Blues and the description,leaves me more options to play what I feel;-)
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Hobostubs
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MrVerylongusername
2033 posts
Nov 07, 2011
1:43 AM
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If you're talking about about mainstream genres - the kind that make the big money - then your mate's right. The record labels want you as young as possible: they know that 9 out of 10 acts are going last just a few years. The Michael Jackson's and Madonna's of this world are few and far between, so they want to sign acts that are young to maximise their marketable life.
Kids are swayed by image far more than more mature audiences and I don't know many teens and preteens who are going to idolise a middle aged man (with the exception of the superstars like MJ).
Blues however (and folk and jazz and increasingly 'classic' rock) have a totally different audience: less interested in image and more in the music. I think in those genres, maturity, as many folk above have said, can actually be something that lends more credibility to a musician.
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2011 2:01 AM
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arnenym
7 posts
Nov 07, 2011
2:39 AM
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How could 44 years be to old when you play a music style who is older than that?
A 25 year old boy have to be raised on blues music 10 hours a day to get the same roots as you got in this music.
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Chickenthief
166 posts
Nov 07, 2011
6:12 AM
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All your life you're gonna be too old, too young, too stupid, too untalented, too inexperienced, fat, and ugly,.. and while having only a marginal potential for improvement... at least according to the sidewalk apparatchiks whose only hope it is that you would see the truth.
The people whose job it is to go around making reflexive judgements like this are about as deep and wide as a puddle of pee.
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HarpNinja
1850 posts
Nov 07, 2011
6:46 AM
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Otis Taylor...retired out of music for a good number of years and really only started taking it serious recently. He is a lot older than 45. ;)
My friend, Sena Erhardt got signed to Blind Pig a few months ago. She is around 30 and part of a great band (with her dad on guitar, who I actually know better). Her dad is two years from retiring from his day job...so he is well into his 50's and touring regionally and nationally now. He isn't tool old either, lol.
Truth be told, he was offered a full-time gig in his 20's to tour with Luther Allison (I think that's who it was), but turned it down to be with is family. Anyways, it couldn't have happened to a nicer family - what is going on now.
You have a much better shot in a market like Blues to be successful at an older age than pop music or other such genres.
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Mike
Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas
VHT Special 6 Mods
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groyster1
1556 posts
Nov 07, 2011
11:16 AM
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some bluesman survive into old age,some dont-I saw willie dixon live on vanderbilt campus in 1980-he said "the blues are the facts of life" at 61 years of age I have no reason to doubt that bit of wisdom
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1589 posts
Nov 07, 2011
1:31 PM
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thanks guys on the thoughts of the subject
Yea i just want to play music and my only goal is to become a better musician,at what ever I play or instrument Im using.Im just so happy that I love music that is timeless,I allways had a spot for blues as a teenager but most part was Heavy metal,Now I cant listen to Heavy meatal and not feel old,Im not into it like most my friends in my age group are,It sounds old,Now give me some post war blues,or even a modern coffee shop duet and I feel great,Im so glad Im not stuck in that box of thinking that alot of my friends and musicians of the same age are.I do believe music is for life,as long as you practice and play and leave a open mind;-)
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Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2011 1:31 PM
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nacoran
4867 posts
Nov 07, 2011
2:45 PM
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Hobo, call your friend out on the 'no second chances to make a good first impression'. You can put a video on YouTube without identifying yourself to the public. If the first one fails, regroup and try again with a new band name. You can always take it down and pretend it never happened if it goes badly and you still manage to get famous later. :) Feedback is such an important part of music that not putting yourself out there holds you back.
As for age, I'm the 'old man' in our group. I just turned 40 last month. Unless you are trying to sell a sex symbol image doing teenybopper music I don't think age is that important. Age can weaken your voice or make your fingers not as quick on a guitar, but as long as you keep exposing yourself to new musical ideas the tricks you learn should keep you moving forward as a performer.
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Nate
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1590 posts
Nov 07, 2011
3:12 PM
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He has some stuff on reverbnation 3 songs I think,and a few on Acid planet,there under hidden replication,But he will record 5O that never get put up,he wont try to promote it either,He wants to get pro tools and sell his Boss 16 track ,I bought his 8 track and thats what got me into recording but,He is the type that he wants the next piece of nice equipment to put his music out,Im like heck just work with what you got,Heck Im digging the sounds of homemade stuff just loving it,He wants the best,We have recorded a few times for fun,but he wont ever post or let me do it,cause we were drinking or he doesnt want someone to hear it till its finished ect,I gave up on jamming with him much,You know me if I feel like recording Ill do it and throw it out there mistakes and all,But i can see his point to,,But Hidden replication on reverbnation he has 3 songs I think
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Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Nov 07, 2011 3:14 PM
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rbeetsme
446 posts
Nov 07, 2011
7:55 PM
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I agree with Walter, I'd call myself a harmonca player who sometimes plays blues. I play all sorts of tunes, not just blue. Of course my friends will tell you, if you didn't have the blues before I started playing, you will after!
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Rubes
443 posts
Nov 08, 2011
1:23 AM
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It's funny these days you know, look how even in sports like surfing the average age of world champs has gone up ( thanx to your (U.S.) man Kelly Slater and others). I draw this analogy cos I think these days I'm surfing better than ever at 47!!! This thanks to better gear and smarter determination.Same roughly applies to many areas of human endeavour, us older types get the best of both worlds....experience and new technology.
Keep on shredding Stubbsy!!!!!!!!!!!!
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One of Rubes's bands, DadsinSpace-MySpace
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gritsncatfish
27 posts
Nov 08, 2011
1:23 PM
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If this was about a Rock or Top 40 Pop band, then yeah...maybe that is a younger man's game. But, look at some of the best bluesmen - they're all old dudes. Everyone in my blues band is mid 50's. Yeah, we might move a little slower, but we can lay down some greasy gut bucket blues with the best of em.
Last Edited by on Nov 08, 2011 1:36 PM
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rbeetsme
447 posts
Nov 08, 2011
4:04 PM
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Grits, boy, I sure wouldn't want to clean up the stage after you guys play.
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rbeetsme
448 posts
Nov 08, 2011
4:04 PM
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Grits, boy, I sure wouldn't want to clean up the stage after you guys play.
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1591 posts
Nov 08, 2011
4:26 PM
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I just ate fried fish and fried tators a OKie speciality I didnt have no grits though,And the fish wasnt catfish although I do love fried catfish
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Hobostubs
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Miles Dewar
1155 posts
Nov 08, 2011
6:44 PM
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There certainly is Not a musician age limit. My firm belief is that Nobody who gets into music should expect much in return. That doesn't mean don't try, but we are likely not going to have Junior Wells' success.
____________________________
@Hobostubs,
Are you translating your posts? The format and spacing is Killing me. ;)
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Miles Dewar
1158 posts
Nov 08, 2011
9:44 PM
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Actually, the correct structure would be "I ain't gots no learnin'." lol ;)
Peggy Hill is my pinup girl.
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