Growing Up Bass Player

The duo

Bob and I spent a lot of time together in his home recording studio. From that we formed a 2 piece band and played a number of jobs when Sundown was not playing. Unlike Bob and I the two Kenny’s got more grief than support from their spouses. This meant that occasionally Sundown had to take time off so they could do things on the weekend with there families. It was those occasional weekends that Bob and I did our Duo thing.

Of course Bob played guitar and I played bass. We worked with an electronic drummer. He was good to work with because he kept time perfectly, never complained and at the end of the night we didn’t have to pay him.

With that said, I must add that I did not really enjoy the electronic drummer. I feel that in some ways it helped my bass playing. It did improve my timing, but a drum machine, no matter how perfect it can be, it cannot provide the feeling, the groove, a live drummer. It always made me feel like the music was too structured, there was no emotion to the music. For me that is what music is about. The song writer and the musician come together to create an emotional response from the listeners.

We did have fun though; we played everything from old country song, to Lynyrd Skynyrd and even our own version of the Eagles’ Hotel California. Playing in a duo you can have more interaction with the audience. We play one job in a small town where there was only about 20 people. Those 20 people were there when we arrived and they stay until we left, 5 hours later. They thought we were super stars. A great time was had by all. What emotion the drum machine missed, a few shots of Jack Daniels took care of. We were about 80 miles from home and had just a "wee" bit of trouble driving home. The trip took a little longer than usual to get home (had to stop several time and walk around the van a few time (just checking the tires you know)) but we made it safe and sound.

Yes I did say van, remember this was the 70’s. I owned a 74 Chevy van, white with a red strip down the side and murals on both sides. The interior was red shag carpet. It was brand new and pretty cool for the time.

The Duo Continues