Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We are touring in a 1998 Prevost XL that we have had for about two years. It’s an entertainer coach with 9 bunks, shower and all the amenities. We got it from our good friend Tim Dillman, who used to own Music City Coach.
There haven’t been any breakdowns with this bus that have left us stranded. We have had to put some money toward it in the recent past to fix things that would eventually strand us on the road. We are pretty particular with vehicles and want them in good running order if we are going to depend on them to make money. If you practice preventative maintenance, your rig won’t break down near as much.
We have had breakdowns before. Our first actual bus was a 1965 GM 4016 that I bought from Dwight Dillman. It was a beautiful classic bus. The starter bed went out on the way to Boston from my house in Sevierville, TN. We rented a van to get to the show and left the bus at a rest area. At the show, a guy come up to the table asking about our troubles, and sent his dad over our way. It ended up being Mac McGee of White Mountain Bluegrass. He told me exactly what to do without even looking at it. I got back to the bus, pulled a cap off the starter and manually pushed the bend with a broom handle and it fired right up. From that point on, until we got rid of the bus, our key was a broom handle. It even had a keychain on the end of it!
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Over the years, we have started to really focus on eating better on the road. We are all older, and a health scare with our original guitar player, Josh Rinkel, kinda woke us all up. We LOVE a good local greasy spoon, so we usually indulge in one of these on a trip, but most of the time, we bring our own snacks and meals along in the bus. The bus really helps us be able to eat healthier while traveling. I take frozen meals with me and healthy snacks. I sneak in my oatmeal cream pies and such though too. In the words of Jim Lauderdale “I’m only so good at being good.”
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Jasper actually broke a bass string in Thomas Point Beach Maine recently and that is one heck of a feat. I rarely ever break strings. Our new guitar player, John Gooding, tends to break a 3rd string every once in a while. We have a great working relationship with Straight Up Strings out of California, and have an endorsement deal with D’Addario as well. With the help of companies like this, the cost of string breaks and changes are a lot lower.
Where do you rehearse?
We have been rehearsing quite a bit more with two new members coming on board. John Gooding is on guitar and vocals and Max Silverstein is on the fiddle now, with some vocals as well. Jereme, Jasper & I know each other pretty well that we can groove pretty good. The new guys are falling into place pretty quickly for not really having a lot of down time. We plan on using that down time to really hone in some things with the new guys and we have a great practice area at Sound Biscuit Productions in Sevierville, TN. We also use a church near Jasper’s home, on occasion. Pastor Doug Dillard and his, Angel, have been very good to us.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Josh Rinkel was the main man with the plan and the pen in the group. I write some but not much. The first song I wrote that we recorded is title “The Girl I Denied.” It’s about a high school crush that was the Belle of the County, but I just couldn’t let go of an old flame to dedicate myself to her, no matter how much I liked her and she liked me. Lyric:” Her pretty blue eyes still haunt me today. They were with teardrops of love. She wanted me so, but I couldn’t let go to a love that I had before.”
Describe your first gig.
Our first gig as TPRB was August 3rd, 2014 at Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery in Gatlinburg, TN. I had the opportunity to start a house band at the distillery, so I called my friends from Kentucky (Josh Rinkel & Jereme Brown) to come down and play music full time. The final piece of the puzzle was bringing in Jasper on the bass. We played 5 days a week, sometimes 40+ hours a week. We wanted to play music for a living and we made it happen. Not having any intention at all to become a well-known touring act nominated for a Grammy Award.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
My last day job was back in Kentucky, I guess. I worked at warehouse, with Josh actually. We worked at Zappos. He was in shipping, while was in the “picking” dept. I walked over 20 miles a night when working there. That’s been probably 12 years now. It’s Zappos fulfillment center now.
My favorite job I ever had was probably working in landscaping in my home county. I liked being outside, being creative, and seeing visual changes happen because of my hard work. I also worked for the Forestry Division of The Missouri Conservation Department. That was a great job. Again, I loved being outside. If I hadn’t pursued music, I would like to think I’d still be with the Conservation Dept working out of the Ozark and halfway retired.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
With growth comes more demand and more overhead. We need a dependable rig to get us from place to place. It needs to house all the equipment and be comfortable. We hired a bus driver, and a front of house person. We now have management and a booking agent. You can’t do it all by yourself and still concentrate on music. We still do a lot of things in house, but there comes a time when you have to relinquish some duties to people who actually do those things for a living.
That being said, it’s a delicate balance of ebb and flow. We could have $25k in one account one day and 24 hours later, that account has $100 in it because of inventory purchase, maintenance, payroll, fuel, flights, etc. And that income also depends on the amount of shows you have and the prices you are getting. In all honesty, it’s way easier to be regional act than it is to be an international tour act with accolades and overhead.
We travel and play music – not for the money, but for the love of it. If we did it for the money, we would have quit in 2016 or earlier. There are jobs out there that pay way more with less hours and less stress, but they are far less satisfying to wanderers like us.
As for the future, I am always hopeful. But I’m also not expecting anything. I like a natural progression and evolution of music, and I tend to think we have gotten to the point we are in a natural way. So, that’s for the future to decide, I guess.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I know me way more than I ever have and I wish I would have discovered that more. Music is a direct reflection of your heart and your mind. I spent a lot of time hiding my thoughts and feelings because I was afraid of judgment from other people. Music should be completely judgement free. It’s a sensitive moment when a performer stands on stage and sings about things they normally can’t even talk about. So, a piece of advice from a 37 year-old is to not waste your time trying to please everyone else. Please yourself, first and foremost, and the rest will come in great waves. Exactly the ways it’s supposed to.