Locks of Love Benefit Sunday May 31'st in New Braunfels

We were booked to play down in New Braunfels this coming Sunday at the Locks of Love Benefit at Billy's Ice House. Chad, our lead guitarist, let us know a few weeks back that he wasn't going to make it down because of scheduling conflicts. We said okay and talked Keith Davis, who produced our first album, into jumping in with us. This last week, our bass player Ronnie let us know that work had revoked his vacation because he had to cover another employee's disability time. So then Cody and I planned to have a simple acoustic set for the show. The bad hoodoo continued to jangle around and now Cody has a very serious sinus infection. He has been getting reoccurring sharp pains throughout his head. Apparently the pain is so bad that his whole body spasms and doubles over with the onset of an attack. The MRI he got yesterday showed a nasty infection creeping around in his head throughout the sinus cavities. He's on a gamut of meds prescribed from the good doctor, and hopefully is on his way to an expedient recovery, but nonetheless we had to cancel the show all together. If you're in or around New Braunfels you should most definitely make an appearance at Billy's Ice House on Sunday. The lineup still includes Stephanie Briggs and the Oso, The Dead Rockstars, three other awesome bands, and some special guests who are going to bring the house down. Come out for a great cause and a great show. I am still planning at this point, to head down that way with my girlfriend to see the amazing show and maybe do a little pouting for not being a part of it. Our band has a well packed summer of show dates ahead so missing one will be alright in my book. I feel terrible for Cody for having to miss the fun and struggling through this illness. Send your good thoughts and prayers out to him for strength through the pain, and a good solid recovery.

Pictures from Last Weekend

Well the weekend came and we were on the road playing at Blaine's in San Angelo, and then Ballinger the next day for a music festival. Blaine's was great. We had women dancing on tables and a good rowdy crowd. Ballinger was a short set since we were the only band to get rained on all day. The wind picked up and tried to blow our stuff off stage, which made some tough song transitions. Many thanks to Brian Milson and The Short Road Band as well as Darren Kozelsky's crew, for helping cover our gear while we were trying to finish our set in the shower. I looked over at one point and saw Chad, our lead guitarist, crawl under a blue tarp teepee to change guitars. We were all in good moods though, and we didn't let it ruin things as we enjoyed the rest of the show and festivities. Here are some pics that I remembered to snap along the way.

Somewhere on the highway.

Parked in front of Blaine's for sound check.

Blaine's from the stage.
Ballinger, Curing Cancer Street Dance. It was at the end of a runway between two big airplane hangars. This is right when we got there before sound check.
Darren Kozelsky brought his Prevost bus.
Brian Milson and The Short Road Band played before us. They play a traditional style of Texas Country, and are very very talented. Also they help out other bands when rain threatens electrocution and gear destruction. Great guys in my book.
Then came the rain we played in.

Just like that, we were off stage watching Darren Kozelsky play. The rain hung around for ten minutes after our set, and then was through messing with the good times. This picture is right after we got off stage, and you can still see the majority of the crowd watching from the dry hangar.

After a bit, we decided to head on back to Blaine's to say hi to our friend Brett Crenshaw and his band. They had a great show even though their bass player couldn't make it because he had taken ill. I snuck my way on stage somewhere in their set and played along with them for a couple songs. After such a long day at a music festival i really wasn't in good playing shape though, so I snuck back off stage just as quick. Good trip good times.

Blaine's Pub and The Curing Cancer Dance

The band is jumping on the road this weekend for two shows. The first will be Friday at Blaine's Pub in San Angelo. I don't think we're having a band open up for us, so that means we'll be playing three good hours of music. I have always enjoyed our trips to Blaine's. My only complaint about the venue is how tiny the stage is. Ronnie our bass player has to stand behind me to fit all five of us on the thing. Aside from that, San Angelo State University will be finishing up their finals and hopefully the students will stick around to get rowdy with us. After the show we'll sneak into our favorite motel and maybe this time, just this once, I won't have a crazy lady attack me from the shadows for a beer or meet the motel "security patrol" (dead serious) pacing the halls with his flashlight keeping an eye on us "band types". These are the things that make playing on the road so fun.


A view from the Blaine's stage. Little bit tight for a five piece but always a blast.


Once we wake up, it is off to Ballinger, Texas and the 1'st Annual Curing Cancer Dance. It will be at the Bruce Field Airport of course in Ballinger, and hopefully on one of those big roomy metal stages. The gates open at three and we will be playing on stage around sundown somewhere in the center of the line up. The show goes on until midnight with Zach Edwards headlining the whole event. I like playing the music fest style shows because it gives us a chance to meet with other musicians that may not regularly play in our area. Another great thing about such long line ups in shows like these, is that the crowd that's there when you're on stage is probably in the mood to listen to your music. Shorter line ups usually equate to a late coming crowd getting to the venue just in time to hear whomever is headlining. This show is set up as an all day party so more people will come early to set up camp and check out the bands in the meanwhile. We are playing the show for charity and the proceeds from the event will be going to the American Cancer Society. My girlfriend and I finally replaced our point and shoot digital camera that broke. Hopefully, the follow up post to this weekend will include some great pictures.

My Nifty New Road Case

This is a fairly self explanatory post. As of this month, I have been with The Cody Hughes Davidson Band for a full year. At a recent practice Cody was showing off a road case him and Troy, our sound engineer, had made. It's a cool setup that holds both his Fender electric amp and his SWR Strawberry Blonde acoustic amp in one housing. The entire case is on caster wheels and the front and rear of the case can be removed with latches. This makes setting up a ton easier for Cody's gear. All he has to do is roll it on stage take the front and back off and plug in. The interior is cased in foam fitting the two amps snug in place which makes travel safer for the amps. I was impressed. Recently when the band played in Dallas they came across a used music gear store and bought a smaller road case that was apparently used for holding a ton of vocal mics. The case measured roughly two feet long and a foot and three quarters tall and maybe a foot and a half wide. It was twenty bucks so they picked it up hoping to use it for miscellaneous gear since the interior was foamed and sectioned off into compartments. At the practice session after staring at Cody's set up for a bit, Troy and Cody thought maybe that twenty buck case would make for a great harp player road case. Low and behold, eyeballing the size of the case, it seemed that my amp, pedal board, and harp case could fit fairly easily in the interior with some minor adjustments to the compartments and foam. We went to work after practice, me really just watching and holding stuff, and them drilling out rivets, ripping out wood slats, and making other random innovations. A few hours later, below is what we ended up with. My modified year with the band harp playing road case appreciation present.

Here's the case empty except for a front slot that can hold extra mic cables and backup mics. The gray area in the top of the case comes down and that is where I put my pedal board.

Here's what for the most part fits in the case. My Hohner amp, my pedal board, and my harp case.



It has a handle on the top for lugging around but I plan on putting some small caster wheels on the bottom since it is such an awkward size to carry from the handle. It was a great present from the band and now I don't have to worry about my amp dinging up in the trailer or carrying around my briefcase of harps.

The Rio Show

The concert went well. There was a great deal of people there and for the most part they were paying attention to us. Diamond Rio wouldn't share a stage with us because of their fear of us upstaging them. So, we got our own stage on the exact opposite side of the arena. Our stage although not as great as Rio's, was maybe six feet raised above the floor and around forty feet long. The people working for the society and for the arena were both very accommodating and friendly. We played our first set during the dinner and drinking period. People ate and watched us silently, as we went through an hour and fifteen minutes of good music. There was an auction for charity and then Diamond Rio took the stage. I remember their songs now and that's all I want to say about that. After Rio's hour long set we climbed back out of the RV and set to our stage. I honestly liked the second set a whole lot more, and that may very well be the tasty Michelob Ultras I had on the RV. Also, we fell into a good vibe with one another and lengthened some of our songs as the solos came out. The crowd was leaking out of the arena at this time, but we had a good deal of party goers who hung back and watched us finish our set. It was a whole lot ofmore fun than I expected and we as a band had a wonderful time playing for the American Cancer Society.