I started playing guitar
at the age of 13 because of a blues player I heard
on a station in Chicago on my Hallicrafters short
wave radio. When the weather was right we could
pick up Chicago radio in the Detroit area. One
night I heard a blues guitar player named Louisiana
Red doing some delta style acoustic blues. I knew
that I had to try to do this style of music. I got
a old uke from my cousin with 3 strings on it and
with the help of a Webcor open reel tape recorder
and mike I tried to make the uke sound like
Louisiana Red's guitar. When my dad noticed what I
was trying to do he bought me a new string for the
uke (this didn't help much) because I still didn't
know how to play the uke. It really got some nice
feedback though when I put the tape recorder mike
into the sound hole! Eventually I graduated to a
real guitar, it was a Silvertone acoustic and along
with it I got a guitar chord book and started to
learn how to play guitar. About the same time I met
a guy who was to become a life long friend and
music making partner his name was Bill Anderson.
Bill and I where at about the same level of playing
(both really bad!) However Bill had a friend named
Paul Heins who was a very good guitar player who
had a real electric guitar. Paul helped Bill and me
learn basic blues progressions. After I had been playing
for about two years we decided to try to organize a
group but we couldn't find a drummer or a bass
player. We talked one of our other friends who was
trying to learn guitar into playing bass so Bill
and I pooled our money and bought him a used bass
from a hock shop on Michigan Ave. I traded in my
Webcor tape recorder and Bill traded his dad's
electric drill motor and with a little money we had
a bass player! I called a guy who I knew played
snare drum in the school marching band that owned
his own snare drum but didn't have the rest of the
kit, but least it was a drummer! As time went on we
all improved in our playing and accumulated better
equipment and eventually started playing in bars
and doing private parties and really had a lot of
good times... Personnel: Influences: Setlist
Sample: Equipment:
Rehearsal
Space: Band
Vehicles: Fashion
Statement: Best
Gig: Gig
from
Hell!: Last
Gig:
Check out a couple MP3 samples from
The HomeGrown Band!
Information contributed by Lee Phillips ellwood1@comcast.net
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