Remembering a Country Troubadour...

Country music has lost an outlaw—one with an endearing “style of rustic simplicity.”

“Outlaw by definition is one that is unconventional or rebellious. Wayne Mills by definition is one that is a stiff-necked, country troubadour with an affinity for Honky-tonks and possessing a style of rustic simplicity.”

From the small Northern Alabama town of Arab, Mills was “raised on the values of the working man, and like most working men, young Mills listened to blue collar anthems sang by Hank Williams, Jr, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard. Little did the future performer know that the heavy beat and misfortune-laden lyrics of outlaw country would lay the ground work for his music career.”

Mills earned a degree in Education and played football with the legendary University of Alabama team before returning to the music he loved and hitting the road with the Wayne Mills Band.  They became one of the most successful country bands throughout the South and presented some memorable opening acts. On their way to the top, country music superstars, Jamey Johnson and Blake Shelton, as well as American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, opened for the Band.

Most recently, the Nashville singer/songwriter toured with fellow country-outlaw musician and friend, Johnson. Mills was soon to release his studio album, Long Hard Road.

From WayneMillsBand.com: “ ‘My music is a combination of my country roots with the real world I have come to know,’ said Mills. Long Hard Road is a chapter in the songbook of Wayne Mills’ life: leaving no stone unturned when it comes to lyric and life.”

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@TaylorHicks: “My good friend Wayne Mills passed away in Nashville. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. RIP Wayne he was my buddy.”

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Huntsville, Alabama, was the first Taylor Hicks concert I ever attended. Wayne Mills Band was opening for Taylor that night as the American Idol continued his first National Tour. The Band was high energy with hard hitting country…I knew I was back to the South! I will never forget that moment of excitement and the Alabama country sound that started me on this musical journey. I am grateful to have crossed the path of this man with “a style of rustic simplicity.”

After all, “a style of rustic simplicity,” may just be that to which we all could aspire.
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Jerald Wayne Mills will be laid to rest today, in Arab, Alabama.

Funeral arrangements:
http://tasteofcountry.com/wayne-mills-funeral/

Sources:
http://www.waynemillsband.com/waynemillsband.com/Home.html

@TaylorHicks on Twitter

Photo: Wayne Mills, via TasteofCountry.com

Taylor Hicks ~~ Drive By Truckers Stop in Nashville

Artists are fans too. Taylor Hicks was apparently in the crowd last night at the Drive By Truckers rock show in Nashville.

On a slow Saturday I was surfing the net looking at the Nashville scene where Taylor Hicks has been hanging out. I found immediately the Country Music Critics Awards to mainstream Nashville stars, Jamey Johnson, Dierks Bentley (from Arizona) and Taylor Swift, the top winners. I was listening to the deep, classic-Nashville voice of Jamey Johnson.

Then Taylor Hicks was on my Tweetdeck apparently from the scene. No, he was not seeing Jamey Johnson, but other Alabama artists, Drive By Truckers, described by AOL Music as “alternative country-rock”. Taylor was tweeting with photo: “Drive By Truckers!!! AL representing!” A look on the web at their schedule said they were at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville for a sold out show.


As I followed their fans’ tweets, I saw there was a Ustream of the show. In a minute I was listening to the same music that Taylor was. It was not your grandmother’s Nashville sound! I was listening to Nashville today.

Ain’t technology grand? Well, yes and no. I got an instant listen of the live music by Drive By Truckers. Artists have been told by supposedly experts in the business, don’t give away your music.

Let a fan tell you…give away your music! Technology will never be as great as being there. I stared at the slideshow of album covers as I listened to the streaming music. Aren’t we all so visual?

I had also spent yesterday watching videos of Taylor's "The Fall," looking at each critically for the pure sound of Taylor’s voice and the emotion on his face. First, I learned how important a good sound system is. Then, I saw the energy that the interaction of a real audience elicits in the musician. Although a video or a Ustream is a much-appreciated substitute when you can’t be there, my experiences yesterday reinforced that there is nothing like live music.

Listening to Drive By Truckers last night, I wanted to be there.

All great bands have toured. Bon Jovi was the largest grossing tour for 2010. After seeing the Randy Rogers Band, music blogger, Bob Lefsetz, said in his One Night in Nashville blog last year that it didn’t make him want to buy their music, but it made him want to see them live again.

I know touring is much more complicated than jumping on a big tour bus. Lefsetz recently said that some artists don’t want to tour…they just want to record a hit and make lots of money. Touring is hard work.

Thank goodness artists are not adverse to the hard work of touring! We all know one artist who isn’t. Taylor has said that touring is in his blood. And may it forever be!

Live music and touring musicians will always be alive and well. So, let’s just keep our bags packed.

Make good music, open the doors, and fans will be there! They were last night in Nashville!

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Drive By Truckers continues its tour in this country and the UK and Ireland with a new album out on February 15th. For more information visit their website:

http://drivebytruckers.com/news.html


Photo tweeted by Taylor Hicks, 1.29.11