I stumbled onto the Steamboat Springs Band as they were forming in Athens, GA sometime around the spring or summer of 1973. We were what I call a “living room band” as we played for several months in various living rooms in Athens….working through our early original songs and covers of well-known country rock and bluegrass numbers. We were “discovered” at the Union Grove Fiddler’s convention in the spring of 1974 where we were offered a job as the house band at a nightclub that was yet to be opened in Myrtle Beach, SC. At the time, we didn’t believe it was a genuine offer for a genuine job. What we did that afternoon in the big tent at the Union Grove convention was just a small taste of what the band was really doing when we were picking in the living room. The reality of a job in Myrtle Beach landed in the spring of 1974 when the band drove over to the SC coast from Athens one weekend and we had our first look at the newly-constructed Pickin’ Parlor nightclub. The agreement was sealed when we saw the beach house where we would eventually live as we entertained the vacationing crowds coming to the Parlor on Friday and Saturday nights and the faithful regulars who stayed and closed the bar on weeknights. The summer of 1974 – a magical time. We played 6 nights a week at the beach to many thousands of people over the summer and we got so tight as a band we could tell when Gary’s guitar lead or Joel’s peddle steal riff or Willy’s wild leap and frantic fiddle lick would take us down through a six minute jam …. or bring us to end the song in a quick thirty seconds. Sometimes it only took a certain look from one musician to the other and off we went into musical hyperdrive. From that first walk across the new concrete floors and pine-bark split boards that decorated the Pickin’ Parlor - through the many miles, concerts, hotels rooms, fast-food dinners, and barrooms - we entertained thousands with a distinct sound and distinct attitude about life and music.
I played drums and sang back-up vocals with the band for the next 3 years after the summer at the beach (it is hard to nail down the exact dates as you look back through 30 plus years). I reluctantly left the band while we were living in Macon, GA. for three reasons: I was tired of being broke and wanted to make more money, I was tired of being on the road and wanted to pursue a girlfriend (which turned out to be a short-lived relationship) and I figured it was time to return to college. I don’t remember the last performance that I played with the band, but I do remember the special times we had on stage as well as the challenges of being at the beck-and-call of our booking agency. Once we left home in Macon thinking we had a week-long gig to play out of town and didn’t get back home for about 3 weeks as the booking agency kept adding dates to our calendar! I was shocked and surprised when I had an email pop-up a few months ago asking if I was the same guy who played for SSB. The last time I had contact with the other band members was over 32 years ago … it turns out I was a hard person to find.
As this tribute and reunion has taken shape, I have been surprised and a little nervous. Listening to the songs we recorded so many years ago has sparked memories and emotions that were not anticipated. Giant Jeff and memories of those special years has pulled us together again! Since SSB I have continued my love for music playing contemporary Christian music in church. In a quick look over my years since Steamboat – I moved from Macon to Milledgeville GA to finish college (I received a BA degree in English literature from Georgia College in 1978) then moved to Augusta, GA where I received my initial training in respiratory care. Later I received subsequent training through the Advanced Respiratory Therapy Program at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics in Chicago, IL in 1982. Janet and I married in 1987 and had our first child in 1988 (Jessica). My formal education concluded as I received my MBA from Brenau University in Gainesville, GA in 1990… in fact my graduation from graduate school occurred on the same day as the birth of our second child – Jonathan (needless to say, I missed the graduation ceremony). We now live just outside Mobile, AL on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay.
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