Mr. Mischo played a joint locally here last night with Unseen Eye, some friends from Hot Springs, and it was a really fine night. Before RJ even took the stage, we made eye contact and he came by and said hello, so Jolene and I got to introduce ourselves. And as Jo says, that's rare. Most times you have to seek out a star and introduce yourself. So right off the bat it was cool just being there and meeting him. Band kicked off and warmed up; after a few songs RJ took center stage and got some attention. If you have not gotten to see or hear him you owe it to yourself to make the effort. His playing is masterful. Smooth, Just right. He is also a real master of dynamics and cuing the band on starts, stop, fades, all the good stuff. Halfway through the set he grabbed his Silvertone guitar and played on a few things as well. While harp and vocals are his strong points- he's been doing those for a long time- I can see his guitar work as a pleasing addition to his trick bag. Jolene sat up and took notice when he had the guitar on as well. She gave him very good marks.
On break I got to chat with him for a few minutes and that was very cool. He's a real down to earth guy, no pretensions or attitudes, just regular folks. We talked harps, amps, mics, all that stuff. Not wanting to be a hog I told him I would get out of the way, and before I left stage he told me to grab a couple harps, he'd bring me up later? Having never heard me play I thought that was a very nice gesture. Unseen Eye has had a friend of mine on harp and some vocals for a while, Jason Wilmon, another really nice cat. In fact he mastered Jo's and my last cd just because he liked us that much! He- and Unseen Eye- were the house band for our cd release party in 2011 and we had just almost too much fun with these guys. Their current lineup is Lee Williams, drums and vocs, Heather Cross, bass/vocs, "Chicken" James Doris, keys/vocs, Chad Carter, guitar/vocs, and Jason wilmon, harp/vocs.
Third set, most of the way through the night, RJ told me to come on up, and had Jason on stage as well. He got things started on a Mojo Workin' kind of shuffle and we began passing a mic around. Halfway through, another harp bud, Jeff Teague, ended up on stage with us as well. Kind of a harp free-for-all! We all took turnarounds and we all had a great time and nobody hogged the mic or stepped on each other. RJ, Jason, and Jeff were all doing 2nd position in A while I alternated in 3rd between a low D and a middle D. We did two songs that way and it was one of those coolest of moments. I've got RJ's latest cd, Knowledge You Can't Get in College, which will be on the player shortly.
That was one of those really cool nights. RJ and Unseen Eye were great and I felt very much at home both on and off stage.
When you get a chance check out RJ. Total pro and nice about it!
RJ and I have hung out at SPAH a couple of times, but recently tuaght and played together at a clinic in Houston. We went to dinner as well. He's a great guy and a fantastic player and singer. His harp playing really has no fat on it, he plays just what is needed to get his point across.
RJ is a great musician and a great guy. He's always generous about getting other players up with him. I know I posted this a while back but here's a video of him with me joining him a few years ago. We started to trade licks at about 2:40 in the video. Fun!
