For a while, I’ve been gigging regularly with the Rayz, a rock cover band. We cover a lot of ground, including corporate events and shows ay Put-in-bay. Last year, my buddy John and I noticed a lot of musicians doing small ensemble gigs around town, so we decided to put together a guitar duo. Over the past ten years, the cover band business in Toledo has changed quite a bit. When I started in the late 90’s, cover bands would get booked at bars and nightclubs for two or three night engagements. One load-in, one load-out, two or three shows. Today, multi-night engagements are way less common. And, pay per band member has dropped noticeably. Put those two factors together, and the economics of a four or five-piece band are not too favorable.

What’s really taking off are acoustic soloists and duos. It’s better pay per musician, way less gear to move, and often the hours are earlier. It’s certainly enough positives for me to give it a shot!

At this point, we’ve got a small P.A., and a night’s worth of material together. Now, we’re starting to book gigs as “The Lebowskis,” and are looking to up our game a bit. For me, one goal is to really work on my vocal harmonies. New project, off and running!