Landed a Casino Gig!

[Algonquin]

'Bob's Country Bunker' was where the Blues Brothers played in the movie when they pretended to be 'The Good Old Boys'... You may remember the Chicken Wire seperating them from the audience.

That and their rendition of Tammy Wynettes 'Sometimes it's hard to be a woman'

Good flic that one was!

[Tone2TheBone]

+1 We do this....AND get invited back.... but it also helps to draw a crowd that loves to drink.


On a serious note, find songs that you like to play that other people like to hear - its the only way to remain happy as a musician.

You see! Finally someone that takes me seriously.


...and then take another break.

[Spudman***]

Robert
I'm not trying to burst your bubble but consider that nobody will be listening anyway so you can play whatever you want to. Casino's pay well but you can't use any volume and you'll just be background music.

Please let me know if it doesn't happen this way. It will be an exception and I'll have to tell my friends about it.

[marnold***]

You could take some of that time to show off "other musical skillz":

[Jipes***]

Myra and I (Fundamental Things) have a gig at a casino in a few weeks.
If they like us, we may be able to get repeat gigs there. So of course I'm telling everyone I know to go there and tell their management how great the band is ....

But they want 3.5 hours of music or so. We don't quite have enough material, so we need to learn some more material. Do you know of any set lists online somewhere that would give me some inspiration for coming up with new material?

I think we'll do country, blues, jazz, folk - that's our typical mix. It can't be too focused on a strong beat, since we are only a duo.

Any tips and suggestions welcome.

Do you play only two ? Do you play acoustic or electric ? Does Myra plays an instrument and which one ? i have quite lots of set list but really depends of the band format

[Robert****]

I play both acoustic and electric, although mostly electric. Myra plays some acoustic too, on those songs that are easy enough for her. I am hoping we can use my looper pedal a bit, then I can load it up with some loops with drums/percussion and bass.

[Jipes***]

I play both acoustic and electric, although mostly electric. Myra plays some acoustic too, on those songs that are easy enough for her. I am hoping we can use my looper pedal a bit, then I can load it up with some loops with drums/percussion and bass.

OK Robert that's a bit rough you alone

What about some john Hiatt songs: Memphis in the meantime, angel on my shoulder) or Emmylou Harris: Michaelangelo, Red Dirt girl and of maybe some Norah Jones which is always very appreciated but they are based on piano so maybe you have to screen them

Tom Waits: New caught of paint, I wish I was in New Orleans, The house where nobody's live, How is it gonna end

As for the Blues: I just want to make love to you, Bright light big city, driftin Blues,

I might get more but I need to know what you think of thoses already

[Robert****]

Thanks everyone, I am getting some ideas together. I know we will be background music, people will be drunk, we can take breaks, etc - but it doesn't change the fact that we need some more material, so that's what I'm looking for ideas for. There's no bubble that needs a burstin'!

It's about time we did some Emmylou Harris. We already do a bunch of Hiatt tunes, but he's a big favorite. We do one Norah Jones song, maybe we should do more. We're gonna try some Lyle Lovett songs too. Tom Waits, hmm, I'll have to think about that one. I am trying to stay away from too much of the real hardcore old country stuff - I'm not too attracted to it personally.
We have some example set lists at www.fundamentalthings.ca

[just strum]

I remember seeing this thread while I was at work, but forgot about it after I arrived home.


A BIG CONGRATS: : :

[t_ross33]

Thanks everyone, I am getting some ideas together. I know we will be background music, people will be drunk, we can take breaks, etc - but it doesn't change the fact that we need some more material, so that's what I'm looking for ideas for. There's no bubble that needs a burstin'!

It's about time we did some Emmylou Harris. We already do a bunch of Hiatt tunes, but he's a big favorite. We do one Norah Jones song, maybe we should do more. We're gonna try some Lyle Lovett songs too. Tom Waits, hmm, I'll have to think about that one. I am trying to stay away from too much of the real hardcore old country stuff - I'm not too attracted to it personally.
We have some example set lists at www.fundamentalthings.ca

+1 on Emmylou! I luv her! That means you're gonna have to brush up on your Albert Lee lix now

You will be background music for sure, but I wouldn't expect everyone to be drunk. If it's anything like the smaller casinos around here, it won't be a big drinking crowd. Gotta save $$ for the one-armed-bandits

[jpfeifer]

Hey Robert,

Congratulations on the new gig, sounds great.

In terms of other artists that might fit into this mix of styles you might want to do some stuff by :
- Nickel Creek
- more Nora Jones tunes
- Corrine Bailey Rae (the song "Put your Record On" works really well with just guitar and vocal)
- Madeleine Peyroux
- Beatle Tunes (there's a lot of Beatle tunes that work great as a duo and these are definitely crowd pleasers)

-- Jim

[Robert****]

Recommend me more Emmylou songs please!

[mark wein]

I have a bunch of our old set lists on my computer at work...I send you some stuff tomorrow...alot of the music probably won't work for your situation, but you never know!

[Rabies]

Show Myra a few interesting progressions that you can just do some cool subtle improv over. Do one of these at the beginning of each set (you could burn at least 5 minutes or more each time) to warm people back up. :

[Katastrophe]

Robert, I'll bet you and Myra can do a fantastic medley of "Castles Made of Sand and Little Wing..." Here's Tuck and Patti doing a version that ain't half bad!