Thomas Oliver's blog

jamming with skillett lickers

Mon, 22 May 2006 21:02:55 -0700

gid tanner and the skillett lickers were one of the original bluegrass bands to be recorded on rca -- circa 1927. (down yonder).
third generation of skillett lickers (now with grandson phil as fiddling lead) from dacula (da- cue- la) (not Dac-u-la) Ga. play every friday night in the old clapboard shed/barn. my cousin is a tanner. he took me there friday night. it was liking falling through the rabbit hole into another time, circa 1950. seven old dudes sitting around (miked and with amps and monitors), playing dobro, banjo, bass, two fiddlers, two guitars (lead was unbelieveable), pedal steel, played by 80-plus yr. old. they played all night. past midnight for a crowd of 10 that dwindled to five.

opelika, alabama

Wed, 03 May 2006 20:57:20 -0700

gigged at Eight & Rail in little opelika (how you pronounce it reveals where you are from) next door to auburn university. about 2 hours from atlanta. extremely cool listening room with very attentive audience. share songwriter in the round stage with billie joyce and sean patrick mcgraw. both were from nashville. both far more seasoned than i am. but it was cool. we offered a good variety for grateful audience. i'm still learning, so everything is good to me.... sold a few CDs as well.

david olney

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 20:46:36 -0700

i saw david olney at a house concert sat. here's this great songwriter/storyteller performing at an atlanta suburban neighborhood club house with maybe 20 folks. it was the best concert i've heard in a long, long time. his songwriter/storytelling was so good, it made me wonder, who am i kidding. then he told the story of playing with townes van zandt the first time. in athens, ga., at the Rail. in 1970. when he first heard townes, he thought to himself: who am i kidding....

stepping out of songwriting closet

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:13:30 -0700

For years, I played mostly to myself, writing songs in a closet, so to speak. About seven years ago, I decided it would be nice to hear a few of these songs performed by real musicians and sung by real singers. I was particularly curious to hear a few I had written for a female voice.
That led to tip toeing into the local songwriting scene, via the Ga. Music Industry Association and then the Atlanta chapter of the Nashville Songwriters association. There I found a producer of my first demo.