Why I Added A Paid Tier. PLUS: Jaimoe on Phil Lesh; Warren Haynes on 5 Things Every Guitarist Should Know. And The Brothers!

Thank you for all your support. An update and something old, something new.

I finally added paid tier here after a few years, and I truly appreciate any of you who choose to upgrade your subscription. I didn’t do it carelessly or without a lot thought, and I want to explain a little. I know there are a lot of publications and causes calling out to you, so I wanted to let you know what I am thinking here.

Your paid subs will allow me to do more original reporting - like my recent interview with Sturgill Simpson guitarist Laur Joamets and upcoming pieces with Ronnie Baker Brooks, Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr and extensive, behind-the-scenes coverage of The Brothers at MSG on April 15 and 16. I will also be adding more video content as well as new and archival audio interviews of the musicians you love. I will be both sharing greatest hits and backstage glimpses of my 35 years covering the music and musicians you love and doing this new original work. Your support allows me to treat this blog more as a job.

I am ignoring some of the Substack recommendations for paid content, because I prefer keeping it more of outside the paywall. Maybe I’m naive, but I hope that a lot of you will be willing to support the cause anyhow.

Paid subscribers will, however, provide exclusive access to some material, as well as access to regular video and text chats with me and special guests as well as commenting on all posts. If anyone would like to be a paid member, but cannot due to current circumstances, just let me know and I will give any and all of you scholarships with complete discretion. If you want to be here, I want you! I will send a gift to the first batch of paid subscribers - a Jaimoe/Friends of the Brothers poster of your choice. Annual subscribers will have the choice of a signed paperback of their choice instead. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…

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Friends of the Brothers had a show with Jaimoe in Wilmington, Delaware on October 25, 2024, the day that Phil Lesh died. I took the opportunity to discuss Lesh with the sensei backstage at the Grand Opera House. Here’s part of what he said. More coming soon.

I am looking forward to the Brothers at MSG, 4-15-16. This video indicates why.

And lastly - this fun piece from deep in my archives….

Warren Haynes on 5 Things Every Guitarist Should Know

1. A good drummer and a good bass player because if your band sucks so do you. Especially the drummer. I can remember playing gigs where everyone was good except the drummer and I couldn’t figure out why everything sounded so shitty. You just can’t sound good without a good drummer.

2. A good lawyer.

3. Don’t just listen to the guitar in the music. When you listen to records or bands, if you only listen to guitar players, you’ll only ever be a guitar player and not a musician, which should be your goal.

4. “Johnny B. Goode” (or any Chuck Berry song) and “Hoochie Coochie Man” (or any Muddy Waters song). Even if you don’t really want to play blues, you need to know this stuff.

5. Play to the sound. Your tone should dictate what you play.

   

   Photo - Derek McCabe

   The paperback edition of my fourth book, Brothers and Sisters: the Allman Brothers Band and The Album That Defined The 70s, was recently released by St. Martin’s Press. It was the third consecutive one to debut in the New York Times Non-Fiction Hardcover Bestsellers List, following Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan and One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. My first book, Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Becoming a Star in Beijing, about my experiences raising a family in Beijing and touring China with a popular original blues band, was optioned for a movie by Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Productions. I am also a guitarist and singer with two bands, Big in China and Friends of the Brothers, the premier celebration of the Allman Brothers Band.