Yep, Looks like I'm gonna be Jessie's new guitar player.  I'm honored to be a part of her project and I'm looking forward to playing shows and hopefully getting to write some material for her.  I gotta get an amp though and a decent delay.  I've got the hook up on what I want I just gotta get the money together.  She's getting her album printed last I heard and it should be ready for a fall release.  I've been lucky enough to hear some tracks.  AWESOME!!!  I got to finish learning her songs this week and do a rehearsal this weekend.

On a separate note, "Joe the Snappin Turtle" is getting a face lift.  I'm getting the drum tracks from the original recording sent to me as wave files.  Gonna re-record everything else and release it hopefully before the end of the year with a song called "it's alright " on a single.  I may try to do a mixture of home studio and professional studio for this release to test the waters on wheather or not I want to invest in a full home studio. 

I just realized I didn't write a blog for the last show on my little midwest tour.  Robbie and I got to the Mishawaka, IN and loaded in @ around 3pm.  We got to hang out with The August who were headlining the show.  I AM BAND was also playing though one of their players was really late and they were worried for a minute.  Brad, The promoter/booker for the tour, was great.  The sound was full and clear even though we ran through the house system.  Most people don't really have a frame of reference for what I do so it was a nice change to have a sound guy who was attentive and open minded.  I got to see some friends that I hadn't seen since high school, (I grew up in Mishawaka, IN).  We played a stellar show.  I even through in a spoken word piece on a whim.  Mostly it was a attentive crowd accept for the few people eating dinner and talking.  I AM BAND took the stage after us and did a really modern pop rock style set.  I liked it a bunch.  The August had some really tight players and some great songs.  Their bass player talked to me for a while commenting on my different right hand techniques.  The guitar player though was really cool.  We talked approach, buisness philosophy, songwriting, and gear.  He had some great insights as a working player and as a brand.  All in all a really fun show. Turn out was a little weaker that Brad's norm but everyone can't be "on" everyday. 

The trip home went fast. Well, for me because I slept through most of it.  We drove straight through and were really happy for the mild weather.  The car had no problems dispite it age and rusted appearence.  We came home tired but with a little scatch in the end for both of us to pay bills and get a couple of new toys. Awesome.

      I always love playing the Livery.  It's a brewhouse and music venue.  The cool thing about this gig was that there was an art festival happening all afternoon in the downtown area, so people straggled in from that and really filled out the crowd.   We played to a full house and rocked it!  We don't usually need a sound engineer (Thanks to Kyle Harris, and Bose) but the engineer came out to the show just to check out the PA that we were using.  He told us "this crowd hasn't demanded an encore in over a year!"  I think that says alot, and we got a big boost of confidence from it.  We played two full sets.  I got to play some stuff that I hadn't played out in a few months.  It was great!  People are really enjoying Robbie too.  He got to play a couple solos and was really on it all night.   On the up/down side we sold out of CD's.  We were supposed to have more delivered on Thursday before the show but there was a problem in shipping so now we'll have to play tonight and tomorrow with out CD''s!!!   We have the download cards and I'll be able to ship cd's out to people but it's not near the same and it will likely result in lost sales because of it.  BLAH! 
     We also had a private show 2 nights before on Wednesday.  Another huge storm/tornado came in and nearly had us crapping ourselves.  We saw lightning hit a tree on the side of the road right near us.  I was glad to be insulated by rubber tires. This is the second storm of the tour so far.  It was a small group for a party and my voice was feeling over worked from singing everyday.  It really turned out great though.  Everyone was having a great time and we left with one HELL of a tip.  Me and Robbie both got to rest on Thursday. 

The Acorn Theater is my favorite venue in the country.  I wish I could have gotten some picture of the inside but alas my camera phone couldn't handle it.  We freakin rocked it!  Robbie was really on, a little exploritive, and risk taking.  We got to see this AWESOME cello player named Josh McClain.  He was super creative as a player and an arranger.  I'm hoping to convince him that DFW needs to be his new home cause me and Robbie both really want to play with him.  My poet friend Rebecca was also there.  She really gave a million percent . Lets see so much happened it hard to recal it all. One thing is that we finally got to utilize robbie's new setup markers.  At the last gig we spent a little extra time marking his hardware and his drum rug so that we could setup in a flash.  It really paid off.  Full drum changeover took about 7 mins.  Rebecca helped sell merch and collect emails.   My mom showed up with my grandma, grandpa, and my aunt Nita.  I hadn't gotten to see them really yet because we've been so busy.  She made peanut butter cookies for Robbie and me.  Nothing like fresh peanut butter cookies to make everyone smile.  I also bought some bottled water from a kids lemonade stand setup outside.  We did extremely well on merch sales.  I am almost out of CD's but luckily there is another shipment coming up tomorrow so I only need to make it through the gig tonight.  This weekend is really busy with gigs so I'll have to watch my voice.  It's gonna be tough but I'm confident I'll pull through it.  hmmm I should write a blog about vocal upkeep on the road.  Like a tips and tricks kind of thing maybe.  Anyway, we've got a date in October to come back to the Acorn.  I'll need to plan that tour as soon as I get back. I can't wait to play a nice long set at my favorite venue ever.  Thanks to Dave and Kim(owners) for everything. 

This was an awesome little open mic.  Usually open mics have very sparse talents but this night was awesome!  They had this old comedian that I could barely understand but he still had a great presence.  The band I'm sharing the bill with on Sunday was there doing a somewhat acoustic version of thier sound.  Venitia Sekema was an excellent host and a jewel on stage playing with several different groups throughout the night.  There was alot of cool old folk music happening there.  There was even a pre jam that was happening when we first got there.  The highlight of the evening was a poet.  THAT"S RIGHT! A POET!!!  She read near the end.  I won't even try to explain how inspiring, emotive, and thought provoking her set was.  I simply cannot put it into words as I am totally speachless.  I'll get to see her perform tonight also and I am so looking forward to it.  Robbie actually did some mingling.  It was kind of cool to see.  Usually he is a bit reclusive, preferring to keep up with the blogs that he "religiously" follows.  Anyway, great night of art and of promotion for my show that I'll be playing at that same venue this Friday. 

   Me and Robbie Hamilton(drummer/percussionist) drove about 20 hours straight through on Thursday and into Friday morning. For all who thought my old van wouldn't make it. HUMBUG NAYSAYERS! We arrived and got unpacked and moved in to this little house. We have the house to ourselves and can come and go as we please which is definitely a cushy deal. After sleeping in till about 3pm my dad came over and offered to buy me a new outfit. Got new shoes a couple of pairs of jeans and a Dickie's shirt.

    Pretty boring and typical up until me and Robbie where on the way to the gig in Plymouth, IN. Plymouth is a pretty small town about an hour from where we are staying. On the way this AWFUL storm came out of nowhere. Blowing monstrous rain in completely horizontally and trying to tip the van over. We could barely see even with the windshield wipers going as fast as they could. Flash flooding, thunder that would make a Vulcan shit his pants, and lightning that blinded us a couple of times. We made it to Plymouth and the towns rotating siren was blaring and painful. We got inside of the venue and watched as boxes and all sorts of trash floated down the street. It was like a river between the sidewalks. I realized I left my phone in the car and ran out to get it. Soaked in a nanosecond I got my phone then abruptly dropped it in the flowing river that was the street. I chased it for about 30 feet and when I picked it up got a text. I was surprised it was still working having been completely immersed. I put it in my pocket and ran back inside to dry off. The people inside said that a tornado had been spotted in town but were totally relaxed as they talked about it. About 40 min later the storm dissipated just as fast as it started. I looked at my phone and it was totally fried! Crap, now I have to get a new phone again.(the last one I dropped in a pool.) We loaded in to a really nice venue. It had a big stage and a nice atmosphere(well at that time). We feared that the storm would cause a poor turn out. Quite the opposite happened though. A good 100 people showed up for the show. Unfortunately the crowds is this bar have been conditioned for dance cover bands and were not ready for what we do. They really liked the few dance-y songs that we do but otherwise were more interested in talking. LOUDLY! I've been to gigs like this before and mostly you just get through the night and collect your cash at the end. This crowd was so loud that even during the loud parts of the loud songs I could hear them. I felt like I had to keep singing louder and eventually I hurt myself. My voice was tired and the spirit in the room was odd and abrasive. I wasn't outwardly upset but I was disappointing. Robbie took it much better. The good part was that we got paid more than what we were guaranteed, almost double! This basically covered the cost of trip up and I felt good about the night again.

    Driving back to the little house we stay in was interesting. Fallen trees and power lines, some of the trees fell on houses and destroyed them. We saw one completely uprooted and laying in another tree that was buckling and broken from the weight. We get to the house and no surprise NO POWER. What an odd day. Overall it turned out good but I would have never guessed that this would be the scenario. Pictures to come soon.

Okay, So I was going on my first tour. It was a tour through Texas with my great friend Betsy Badwater. (www.myspace.com/betsybadwater) The only problem was that the electronics in my now 9 string Taylor were crapping out on me, as they seem to do once or twice a year because of the way I constantly push it to the limit. So in preparation for this tour and for legs that were to follow I needed to source the electronics. I called Taylor guitars to see how I could purchase some and I told them about my problem. Not only did they offer to help get me the electronics, which were not sold separately at the time, but they gave me some kind of endorsement. First they sent me a a FREE set of the electronics system(worth about $500) and then later on when I cracked the top they offered to fix it no charge. Without this help I would have been dead in the water. So shipped my guitar to them to get worked on and I guess it made a bit of a ruckus at the repair shop. They even called in Bob Taylor (the owner) to come check it out. I can just imagine them working on my beat up yet not so old instrument wondering WTF? Anyway, I got the guitar back and they did a fantastic job of getting it up and running again. Everything was awesome! I had what felt to me like a new guitar, A little cred, and I felt validated as an artist. One month later I was in Ft. Wayne IN and I picked up the new Wood and Steel magazine. It's a monthly magazine that Taylor puts out for its players and potential customers. There was this picture.



If you look really closely, that is a nine string headstock! I was shocked. I tried to email and call the artist relations people but they would not respond. I thought, man this is shitty they are gonna steal my idea and write me off like they never knew me. But my emails to them were exited about the new product and not shitty at all. Remember they just helped me out and did a big favor for me. In my head though I imagined some lawyer telling them not to respond and that I would never be able to afford to fight them over it. I thought that cause well, he'd be right.
A month later these photos emerged from Taylor's myspace page. Compare to my previous blog.



If you go to their myspace page you'll see my comments and how positive they were. I felt alot better that they changed the design some. Bigger body, headstock configuration was different, but the best part was that they doubled a different string set. My guitar has the bottom three doubled up like a twelve string. this one skipped the high E string and doubled up the D string instead. I though it was cool but I was pretty sure it wouldn't be able to do what mine did. I need the bottom three string to be free of extras strings so that I can use my slap bass techniques effectively and efficiently. Alas though I was now not gonna be the only one with a Taylor 9 string.
After I did more research I found out that there have been lots of different 9 strings in the past. One by Alvarez acoustic in the 80's and some other electrics going back as far as the 60's. These were setup more like mine with the bottom three doubled. I had no idea! I thought I came up with something really special and different but really this type of thing had been around, mostly underground, for a while. So I thought alright fair enough, good for them and good for me. I was glad then that I didn't write any nasty emails. All was good. I got to play one of these, and I felt even better. My guitar is strung baritone and the setup was different enough. I'm still cool, and weird. I thought.
Then this came out.



An 8 string BARITONE!!!

This guitar is alot closer to what my guitar sounds like. Not only that but it was the exactly how I described my idea for a custom guitar to them. They did change one thing though, and actually made it better for most players. For a strummer and regular finger picker this is so much better of a design. For me though it's still not quite right.

Overall I'm glad that Taylor came out with these guitars, people still awe at my weird creation and I still have a repair endorsement with Taylor. I've had my ups and downs as far as how I've felt about this but, progress is progress period. I feel lucky to have inspired even a few ideas for this wonderful guitar manufacturer.

I will be purchasing the 6 string version of this guitar and modifying it to fit my particular preferences and style.

Peace,
D. Anson Brody

       Well, I started on upright bass and then moved onto electric.  I studied Stanley Clark, Victor Wooten, Jaco, Flea, etc...So alot of my guitar style comes from advanced bass skills.  I was selling guitars at a music shop. I showed a customer an acoustic guitar but I played it slap pop style like a bass. The customer dug it, but one of the other employees pulled me aside and said, ‘You can't play guitar like that!’, which was the WRONG thing to say to me! I started practicing and honing my technique right there in that shop until my boss loaned me his Gibson J150 to practice on. I tuned it to C and started wailing, a little too hard maybe. When I gave the guitar back it was probably more superglue than wood".


     














       The next step after the Gibson tuned low was an Alvarez dreadnought.  It had this huge neck, which I totally dug.  I had it in layaway at that same music store because I knew I'd have to get a guitar of my own sooner or later.  While it was in layaway this curiuos guitar came in.  It was a Martin Roger Mcguinn model.  It had a seventh string on it, but it wasn't like the 7 string electrics that we had(which had a low b string added) it had an octave string paired on the G string.  I thought this was awesome!  So when I got my guitar out of layaway I added a seventh string to it.  I just had it stick out of the top of the head stock.  Everyone thought I was crazy.  After a while of beating on that guitar I put a Taylor 410ce limited dreadnought in layaway.  When I got the Taylor out I gave the Alvarez to a friend who was in dire need of a decent axe.  As far as I know SuZanne Kimbrell still owns and plays that guitar regularly.

SuZanne Kimbrell playing my old Alvarez.  It's in good hands.  www.myspace.com/suzannekimbrell

       After I got the Taylor out of layaway, first day I put a seventh string on it.  The guys at the shop just shook thier heads because it made the guitar worthless on the resale market.  I told them I didn't want to sell it.  They said " you just ruined a great guitar, most people never get a guitar that nice and your drilling holes in it and beating it to death on day one! "  I ignored them and gigged along with the guitar for about six months like that.  After a while I noticed I didn't quite have the tension I wanted on the lowest string, even with huge gauge strings.  I remembered a Fodera bass headstock design were the low B string extended to the top end of the headstock to give it more tension and a tighter sound.  I tried it.  It helped but I was looking for something more drastic.  I needed it alot tigher and I didn't want a bigger string because it just got too muddy sounding.  I put a hole in the heel block at the butt end of the guitar next to the input jack.  I strung the lowest string though the bottom of the instrument and up through where the endpin hole is.  So now my lowest string is as long as the guitar is and at the tension I need. 

Here you can see the ball end of my lowest string and my permanent strap locks

     Not to long after that I thought  "what would this guitar sound like if I added the chorus strings to the two bottom strings?"  I figured if I didn't like it, no big deal.  I could just undo it and be left with just a couple of extra holes.  I mean the guitar was already too modified to ever sell.  And the top had already seen a couple of cracks (that were repaired of course)  I added the two extra string and started using slightly lighter gauges on those bottom strings so that they wouldn't be too loud.  My 9 string baritone was born!  Since then I've done some other minor modifications like adding a graphite nut to keep the strings from getting caught up.  I added a couple of coins with holes in them as permanent strap locks.  I drilled two more holes in the but end of the guitar to mount my capos(cuz the headstock was full), and I changed the lowest strings tuner to a bass tuner.  My sting gauges are .080,.065,.045,.030,.012p,.018p(x2),.014p(x2)

Current headstock layout
Front View
A 1/16" allen wrench separates the string as they come out of the bridge pin holes.  You can kinda see it here.

too be continued.......

well in the distance I can still see those carnival lights
the sky was black, the moon was green
it was me and a shovel and a friend of mine
and can of gasoline

well I had to tell someone
and so I told Gary the geek
Oh but he told the dogboy
who always had that bone to pick with me
and when it got to big Hilda awe you should have heard that fat lady scream

I brought that whole circus down
the night I killed Bubbles the clown

Now ringmaster Charlie
was headed forthe border that day
awe but they caught him south of Austin
hauled him in and put him in chains
now he's drivin them rail spikes
and hear he still curses my name

now pinhead's in the pen the flyin frenchman's in the ground
he hung himself from the trapise when the law came sniffin round
they found a trailor in the woods, but not a shred of the remains
just the wall all covered in blood, and grease paint

I saw that prosacuter droolin just describing the scene
and that whole court went kangaroo and nobody got away clean
well,
nobody but me!
now I don't expect you to ever understand
so I'll take that truth to my grave
but see under that makeup he was a different man
and I think it's better this way

2am
time to go home
I pack up my guitar
she's the only one I can hold
Kiss the barflies
say"goodnight love"
get in the car and just drive
but I'm going nowhere
going nowhere
60 miles an hour

I call up my mama
we talk about life and love
and the things that could make us cry on demand
she said "I worry about you David"
"you eating OK?"
I said "I guess"

And for a while I sing with the radio
now I'm praying to God oh I plead my soul
Oh man, oh man, oh man
it just feels like I'm going nowhere
going nowhere just as fast as I can get there

6am
and partially broken
because in my tears my face has soaken
and I'm so tired now
but that sun on the horizon reminds me to keep pressing on
keep pressing on