From The "Sage" to the Stage

Getting ready to do another big one tomorrow night, it seems like a good time to write a music installment here.

When I was still in my first tour at Mountain Home, I used to just play my guitar around the barracks, and occasionally "jam" with a couple of the other guys. Not blessed with a singing voice, I'd spent my first five years learning how to play instrumentals.....Chet Atkins & Roy Clark type of stuff, and some of the "oldies" as well.

Now at San Vito, a new avenue was about to open up that would pretty much form the rest of my musical life. A group of five G.I.'s had formed up a country-western band on base, and they'd been playing at the NCO Club about two weekends a month, for over a year. I hadn't HEARD them yet, but I'd heard ABOUT them, and one day while glancing over the bulletin board at the Rec Center, I saw a 3x5 card that said they were looking for a new lead guitar player.

I contacted the band leader and he told me that their lead picker was about to rotate back to the states in less than a month, and they needed someone to break-in behind him. I had never played in "public", to speak of, and CERTAINLY never in a CLUB with 300 people in it! But, what the heck!

I was interested, and he told me to be at the Civil Engineers Refrigeration Shop that night, where they rehearsed.

I got there, met all the guys, particularly Bob Morgan, who was the out-going lead picker. They started to warm up, while I was getting my Gibson out of it's case. Directly, Morgan took a lead run during the song, and I just put my guitar back in its case and started to leave. This guy was FANTASTIC! I couldn't play that good yet! But the manager stopped me and said not to feel overwhelmed.......Bob Morgan (a Tech Sgt from Texas), was an EXCEPTION to the amateur world.......and Bob Inman, the leader/lead singer told me not to be intimidated, they did NOT expect another "Bob Morgan."

"Play something for us." I did, then a couple more. My Gibson was just an acoustic guitar. If I got the job, I would need an electric. Morgan loaned me HIS, then sat back with a cup of coffee while I filled-in for him for several songs.

"The job is yours if you want it.........nobody else we've tried out even comes close"...........but that was no comfort because Morgan had been playing most of his life and was WAY better than I was at the time.

"Can I have a day or so to think about this?" "Sure". But after the jam session was over, Ted McKnight (the manager of the band), put his arm on my shoulder and said--------"Seriously now........DON'T get nervous. Morgan is so good, NOBODY wants to have to follow him. Let's you & me talk about it tomorrow."

Bob Morgan should have been in Nashville, not in the Air Force. He was THAT good, and while I wanted to get to play in a band for the first time, I didn't want to look like a fool either, in front of NCO Club patrons who had been USED to hearing Bob Morgan play the STRINGS off that thing over the past year or so!

Well, "Mac" (McKnight) & I got together the next day and talked music. One of the songs I played best was "Ghost Riders in the Sky", but Morgan's version was twice as good and twice as fast. There were several tunes we both played, but at different skill levels, but Morgan was VERY "country" and played nothing else. Some of the stuff I was playing was what we now call the "oldies' today.

I was playing things like "Walk Don't Run", "Pipeline", "Only You", "Sixteen Candles", "Love Potion # 9".........things like that.

Bob Morgan DIDN'T..........not that he COULDN'T, it just wasn't his kind of music.

THAT WAS IT!.........Mac & I had it figured out. I could get up there and "fill-in" behind the singers, take my little "lead breaks", and there was always at least one guitar instrumental per set----sometimes two-------just for a change of pace (and to give the SINGER a break.........)

So when this "new guy Bradbury", stepped up and played "City of New Orleans" or "Snowbird" for example, NOBODY in that Club would have heard that same song by Bob Morgan to compare it with! I'd be able to conquer the initial "stage fright", without having the additional pressure of having to measure up to the "old pro."

GREAT.

I still needed an electric guitar, and the little BX sold a few. I picked out a little Hofner solid body for $144.00 and I was HALFWAY there! Bob Morgan didn't want to haul his big twin-reverb amplifier back to the states with him, and sold it to me for $200.00

I was just about ready. On his last Saturday night at the NCO Club, they would bring me up from the audience, and announce me as the new lead player, I would play a couple of tunes, then go back and sit down. Two weeks later, Bob would be gone and I would pick it up full-time.

But that isn't quite how it worked out. I was nervous all day Saturday. I knew the Club would be packed because it was Morgan's "going-away bash" and I was worried about getting the shakes my first time in front of a crowd. I went to the movie theater for an early afternoon matinee, in a desperate attempt to calm my nerves. No good. I don't even remember the movie, and I kept looking at my watch.

I left early, went back to the barracks and got my guitar. (Amplifier was already on stage at the Club) with the drums and the P.A. system). People were already filling the seats at the tables.

I got myself a beer and found a spot fairly close to the stage, so I'd be ready when they called for me to come up.

The band members got there, set up, and before long the lights dimmed, the music started and folks started dancing. Partway through that first set, Morgan played a ripping solo of "Yakety-Axe", and he played it like it would be the last time, (which it WAS). Everyone was having a good time. I wouldn't be called up for MY little "10 minutes" until the second set. The "waiting" only made it worse.

Breaktime. The guys came off the stage, and Inman walks over to where I was sitting by myself, leans over and says "Ya need another beer?"...............I needed about TEN of 'em!

Before I knew it, the second set "kicked-off" and just a few songs into it, Inman gets up to the microphone and reminds everyone that this is Bob's farewell show, and now we want you all to meet and HEAR our new lead guitar player, MIKE BRADBURY!

...........who?.........oh crap........I'm UP!, and I carefully walked up the steps on stage, being ever-so-careful not to trip on any power cords, or do anything else to look as foolish as I already felt! Morgan unplugged his guitar from what was now MY amplifier, and stood back as I nervously plugged mine in.

I wasn't going to be "thrown to the wolves" though. It had already been arranged that we'd all play a couple of tunes before I'd do any "solo" work. This would give me time to "limber up" a bit, and try to shake off as much tension as I could while folks were out there dancing.

After a couple of more songs, Inman announces they were going to turn the "new guy LOOSE" on one. My first solo would be an old Chet Atkins tune called "Wheels". Bob Morgan, "the Legend of San Vito" was standing behind me, the club was full and the lights were low. I took a couple of deep breaths, the band got into the key of "G" with me----------and we "went for it."

I was really tense but I don't remember missing any notes. Mac had told me a day or so ahead of time to just PLAY! DON'T make eye contact with anybody in the audience or out on the dance floor..........just think of this as a BIG jam session! Nothing TO it!

Right.

But everything was hummin' along, my new guitar was sounding good, Tony Pitts was working those drums like a well-oiled machine, and they were out there fast-dancing to "Wheels." I played the final refrain and we all stopped together like we'd been doing it for ages!

Applause! I wasn't Bob Morgan. Nowhere CLOSE. But they liked it......it was going to be ok......they were going to accept me. I suddenly felt so relaxed, I thought I would collapse! Inman looks over and says "PLAY ANOTHER ONE!"

"Play another one"...........I knew a hundred songs but my memory bank FROZE on me. Inman says, "You know the "Steel Guitar Rag?".................."Yeah, I play it in "E"............................"SO do WE----------KICK IT OFF!"

I have played that song off & on for over forty years now, but I don't think I've ever played it any better than I did on that first night back in 1975.

Another nice reception as Inman gave me the "thumbs up." I've played for larger crowds over the years, and in a LOT of different places with a lot of different people, but there's always been something SPECIAL about that first time out of the chute.

Then Bob Morgan did the unexpected. He didn't follow that final script. After the "Steel Guitar Rag", I turned to UNPLUG and let HIM finish out THIS set and the FINAL two sets, but he told me to "Stay Put."

He then walked up to the microphone, thanked everyone for their support of the band, and then said that the only thing he regretted all this time, was NOT being able to dance with all the pretty girls out there, because he was always on-stage helping to provide the music..........and TONIGHT...........well.....this was HIS last night, and HE was gonna dance with the ladies!

Then he turned to me, microphone still in hand, and said "EARN YOUR KEEP, KID!" With that, he stepped off the stage, walked across the dance floor, took a WAF in hand and hollered up to Inman (who hadn't expected this) "WELL----YOU GUYS GONNA PLAY OR NOT?"

And we played. And he danced. and I quietly assumed the "left end of the stage," and played the rest of the night. I've been playing "lead guitar" for SOMEBODY ever since.

What goes around comes around, as they say, and in recent years I've had the same occasional complaint, about never getting to dance with MY wife, because I always seem to be at the "other end of it."