Bradley Minnigan

Tag: music

  • Olympic Hurdles

    So the second show felt like an olympic event.  Here’s why: late Thursday night before the Saturday show, the A/C in our venue crapped out.  Died.  Stopped working.  This is not good for middle Georgia in July.  Postponement was not an option – we had to play this show because Kickstarter needed this show to happen now.

    Thanks to Jessie’s parents working tirelessly, we were able to find another venue 2 blocks away.  A church graciously opened its doors to us and let us use their sanctuary for our Saturday night show.  A venue!

    So once we get inside this church, we realize that the sound system is going to be, as we like to say, fun.  We brought a sound system capable of powering a 1,500+ venue, and here we are in a 500 max sanctuary.  It was loud (sometimes a little too much maybe), but we got it all figured out by the time we went on stage.  Also, luckily, people showed up – around 300 – and that helped our sound not echo off the wood-panel walls so much. And then…

    My wife put on an awesome show.  Probably one of her best.  I’ve really only played 2 “real” shows, this one being my second.  But I have played around town with friends.  It’s hard playing to a Nashville crowd.  But playing to this crowd on July 28 in Georgia was a blast.

    I can’t wait to play not-Nashville again!

  • First Show – Done!

    So our first show is done.  AND IT WAS AWESOME!  Things couldn’t have gone smoother, and my wife even thought it was good – she’s the one whose opinion really matters.  It was a relief, too.  She had lost her voice on Monday.  We had rehearsal on Tuesday, and she sang more than she probably should have.  Wednesday her voice was worse, and she either would speak the lyrics at rehearsal, or sing them an octave or two lower than normal.  Things were not looking pretty.  Then Thursday, we had to work with our background vocalist to figure out her parts, and again Jessie had almost no voice.

    But the show must go on.

    So Thursday night, she took a pain killer/sleep aid, and got a great night’s sleep.  Friday, after a lot of rest and some slow warming up, her voice was feeling strong enough to perform.

    And perform she did!  It was great, the crowd loved it, I loved it, and she loved it!  I’d say that’s a winner right there.

  • Rehearsals Begin

    We had our first rehearsal tonight.  Jessie sang beautifully, though she won’t tell you so.  I had a blast playing with some very talented musicians, Tim on guitar, Hitoshi on bass, and Julian on drums.  It was a very fun, relaxed, and great sounding rehearsal.  I can’t wait for the others, and the shows to follow!

    These shows are to promote my wife’s music and to raise money to record a swampy soul album.  We started a Kickstarter campaing a few days ago, and we’re already past the 14% funded mark!  We are all pretty proud of this, and we’re pretty proud of the progress we’ve made so far.

    To keep up with everything Jessie, go to www.JessieSmithMusic.com

    To keep up with everything behind the scenes, stay right here.

  • Wearing Many Hats

    So it has been a crazy couple weeks.  We have been tweaking set lists, finishing the charts, double checking rehearsal dates, tying up venue loose ends, AND working our normal jobs!  It’s been especially hard with me being out of town for a week for work, and then Jessie leaving for the beach to nanny for a week, missing each other at the airport by minutes.

    As hard as all the work is, I still get goosebumps thinking about how awesome these shows are going to be.  There will be a lot that goes with the shows too – practicing, rehearsals, hopefully radio and TV time, invoices to pay, and lots of other things I’m sure I’ve forgotten about.  Oh yeah, like life.

    It’s hard trying to be creative with music while also trying to do all the business to perform the music too.  But at the end of the day, I think it’s still worth it.

    I think Jessie does too.