Heads Up & Ears Wide Open, Gigging with a former Allman Brother Options

[Chris Sellman]

As a free lancing bass player I do a wide variety of gigs. Sure I do have a regular group of musicians & bands that I do the bulk of my work with and I am grateful for that. But as with any working musician, you will try to fill the calendar with any gig you can (within reason) particularly the harder to fill week day gigs. Not to take anything away from the talent that I work with and other gigs I have done, but some really stand out. One particular weekday gig I recently performed on 6/15 comes to mind, jamin’ with Johnny Neel. Here is a brief description from Johnny Neel’s website: “ Johnny Neel is a Grammy nominated keyboard artist formally with the Allman Brothers Band. His song writing credits range from Delbert McClinton, Willie Nelson, Government Mule, Dickey Betts, Joanna Cotten, Carl Weathersby, Colin Ray, Chef Dave Band, Robert Gordon, Smoky Greenwell, Grease Factor, W.I.N.D., and Montgomery Gentry to name just a few. Currently Johnny Neel is performing with Bruce Willis & The Excellarators.” This is a very brief overview. A more thorough view of his respectable career is listed on his website.

http://www.johnnyneel.com/

To make this gig come to fruition came in part by the talented guitarist Kenny Jones presently out of Delaware. I very recently ran into Kenny Jones coming home from a gig in his neck of the woods. He had mentioned that Johnny would be showing up for the open mic night at this joint in DE. Kenny also mentioned that the regular bassist would put his bass down when Johnny would hit the stage to do his thing. So am I flattered to be thrown in with the lions, though if you ever meet Mr. Neel, he is a gentleman. I guess Kenny who is Johnny Neel’s go to tri-state man figured I wouldn’t blow it considering I had previously done three gigs (in a two-day period) with them back in September. That whole situation was interesting considering I was sent the (via the net) MP3's from Nashville in almost the 11th hour. I had to chart the changes for the material very late that night after a gig. This entailed a very long night. Needless to say I was a tad bit sleep deprived the next day. Well it all worked out!

The one occurrence that I will never forget was meeting Johnny Neel for the first time. His back was turned to me, as he was introduced to me by his manager, he breaks the ice by saying, “don’t worry about nothin,’ what we don’t know will make it up.” That seemed to set precedence for things to come in DE. Though with the exception of his show’s finale, in which he stated to the audience and then proceeded to write something on the spot, for the most part the previous gigs were essentially structured around his tunes. Don’t get me wrong, at any given moment you have to be on your toes because Johnny Neel would deviate from the norm whenever he feels it. Time and time again there was really cool music evolving in the moment, though I think I remember him mentioning if he doesn’t remember it another time, it wasn’t worth remembering. One thing is for sure, remembering to take the correct exit to the gig is good idea.

Unfortunately I missed the exit I needed. So on the way to the open mic gig I did need some clarification with directions, so I called the bar, they literally didn’t have time to explain them because they where so busy. Upon arriving at the open mic gig in DE, everything was definitely in full swing. I had to drive around for quite some time to find a spot. When I squeezed myself through the front door, I had to carry my bass over my head. I found some breathing room around the side of the stage. That particular open mic was billed featuring (at some point) Johnny Neel, hence the mayhem. Boy, they love him in Delaware. This is in part because DE is his original home turf. Folks there anxiously waited for his arrival. When Johnny Neel finally arrived and after brief reintroduction by Kenny Jones, the music got underway.

In the case of the open mic DE gig, it would start with no hint of structure, Johnny Neel would hit it and you held by your shirt tales. It would usually evolve into some familiar territory with deep roots, but the dynamics, tempo, and sometimes a medley of who knows what would vary. As Mr. Neel put it, his music is a mixture of “roots rock, blues, southern delta boogie, and New Orleans swamp funk,” though one thing is for sure, it was soulful from start to finish.

There is a picture on the front page of the myspace site:

http://myspace.com/chrissellman