LOL, guess we'll have to cover some appropriate songs, besides "Folsom Prison Blues!"
We played at a local Elks lodge here back in August of last year. We were really expecting about the same thing, but holy crap, it was a packed house. They booked us for a November gig before we were even finished playing, and we've got two coming up this year. We're hoping it will lead to some other shows down the road.
I guess it goes to show that you never know what kind of crowd you're going to have. Not knowing a lot about the Lodge, we expected a bunch of 80-something guys sitting around. It turned out to be one of our best crowds, a very diverse mix of people and ages.
The funny thing about playing out, though, is how surprising a crowd can be. We can't get a good, solid following in our home town of Greensboro, NC. But if we travel 30 miles west to Winston-Salem and the surrounding areas, we have people coming back to see us multiple times. Some of these connections have led to other gigs, but at the very least, it's nice to see people enjoying what we do and wanting to see more.
I'm coming up on four years in this band, my first band experience. There's not a show that we play that doesn't surprise me in some way. I can't imagine ever getting tired of that feeling.
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Shawn.