Deja Vu all over again

I love that saying by Yogi Berra. It is both amusing and accurate, as it repeats the meaning of the first part. It is a little appropriate for me right now because of my performing situation. Around 1996 David decided to stop performing, and did not perform with me for about 2 years. This year he has made the decision to retire from performing and has been telling me of the plan all year. As it stands we have a few more performances together, concluding with the Oct. 16th show at Unicoi State Park.

I will miss him standing on stage beside me. I will miss his help in creating a good performance. I will miss his excellent musicianship and instrumental ability. I will miss having him to share a rundown of how the show went. I do thank him for all years and time we have spent to get as far as we have. Thank him for his drive to be as good as possible before putting anything in the show. Thank him for pulling me above what I might have first thought possible. I have enjoyed the friendship, the comraderie, and all the music. Thank you David for 38 years along this musical road.

We started on this musical journey together in 1972. Practicing in my parents basement for a couple of years. Then getting with some other friends and beginning to perform as the Blood Mountain Boys in 1974. Later we were in a trio with Jimmy Waters called the Morningstar String Ensemble. Then around 1983 we began performing as a duo, which we continued until now, except for a couple of years in the late 1990's as I said before.

I have a job in front of me to get my shows back to a suitable level as a solo act. That requires choosing material, working on instruments and arrangements, learning new songs, writing new songs, and being ready to entertain an audience and keep them involved. I look forward to this in many ways and there are things I enjoy about performing solo. It is easy to get together to practice. If presented with an offer to play, I need only check my family's calendar for availability. I can do whatever music I feel lead to play. There are definitely more limitations to performing alone, but there are also some opportunities that go along with that. One opportunity I may work on is to travel more widely to perform. I enjoy traveling and seeing other parts of the country and world a little more than David does. So, I may work toward having some small tours at times, at least try to have enough programs to pay for some gas and maybe a camping spot.

That said, I will always welcome the opportunity to perform with David (Buck) at anytime in the future. I do not know what tomorrow will hold. I was certainly surprised last year when I had a stroke. I was blessed that it did not affect me more than it did. I do know that it has affected me though. I see that more now than I did at the time it happened. Often before when I was playing solo, I would look up in the middle of a show and see David sitting in the audience. I hope he will surprise me that way again. I appreciated his support, and the chance to do some picking together after a show as well. While we were not performing together, he was continuing to practice, and even to play at his church on occasion.

You can never have too many friends. And a good friend is not easy to come by. I have always considered David a good friend, above everything else. And that is a very good thing.

So as I begin down this road again, I hope you will watch for me and come out to encourage me, and if needed, to make some constructive comments for improvements to make. The last time I was playing solo, I started a newsletter which I named Nelson's Notes (yes that is the name of this blog now). I may see if I can make an electronic newsletter to send out now. The newsletter was a way for me to communicate things I found interesting, as well as sharing thoughts of what was on my mind, as well as interesting stories, jokes, and other things that caught my fancy.

Already, I have 2 programs for this fall as a solo act. One in September and one in November. Starting to work on next year also. I have a MySpace account already set up, though I need to add some more content, esp. music. Next I need to set up a solo website. I am searching that out now and hope to have it underway very soon. Until then you can keep an eye on our http://www.buckandnelson.com/ site for updates. I will do my best to continue to send out some e-mail blasts as well. Now, as I so often say in these posts, I will see you down the road. Be sure to stop by and say hello.

Nelson