Bill in NJ,

I've been to Ashville a couple times--nice town. And, the guy at the bar knows what he's talking about--you gotta' play what the audiences want if you want to stay in business.

Semilive (Bill),

I played a place Monday night, just 30 minutes so a friend of mine who plays there could take a break. I only played two country songs during the 30 minutes and when I fired up and performed Crazy, some old guy came up to the other performer and said "What's with this country music--we don't like country" pointing to a half-dozen people sitting at his table. My buddy pointed to the 60 people I had crammed on a small dancefloor and said "Yeah, but they DO!" I ended the set with "He Stopped Loving Her Today," the dancefloor was packed to capacity, and included some couples from the complainant's table--amazing.

I never get tired of performing country songs, even those with just three chords. Probably because they provide me with a vast degree of latitude, the dancefloor is always packed, there are damned few critics, lots of kudos and every performance produces not only repeat performances, but additionally, lots more jobs at other locations.

Cheers,

Gary