Band Back Stories...

 One time I sat down with the guys to name that band. I thought of the name "The Raguet Street Ramblers." Raguet Street is in my home town of Lufkin, Tx. I have a history book on Lufkin Street names but I can't lay my hand on it to find who it's named for but the street runs roughly north/south through residential, industrial, and commercial prosperities. The people living along this street represent several ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic groups. I could imagine a back story of a band adding to all this history and reality and whose music is played to celebrate all these aspects of Raguet St. which are the history of our town. 

For various reasons no one else liked this and we named the band something more direct that from which you could tell where we were from and what we were going to do. Probably has not made any difference and my historical backstory delusions of the Raguet Street Ramblers are not the biggest band name fail I have had.

One of the workshops I attend at the Old Settlers Festival was by the band Goodnight, Texas. The two main guys, Pat and Avi are from opposite sides of the country. The town of Goodnight, Tx represents the exact midpoint between them. The workshop I attended was called "Finding Middle Ground" and how they incorporated their lives into the music especially being from different places. One mentioned that he had an ancestor, a civil war army doctor to whom the task fell to give a great and inspiring speech to troops after President Lincoln's assassination. The text of the speech survives in the family today. The other partner had in his family mementos old tintype photos of ancestors. To write their songs they pulled from the lives, times and feel of these days gone by.   

I regret I did not catch their set which was a late night jam delayed even longer by thunderstorms that rolled through that evening. Looks like they have updated their sound with instruments such as baritone guitar and steel guitar which is a sound I like so I'm going to follow this music. They did get the song "Railroad" on the show Tiger King which I know since that show shattered streaming records when it came out you have heard Goodnight, Texas. 

  

Another good intelligent set of music was by Nigel Wearne. He's from Australia and his day job was as a teacher so these songs were well written bringing to life the history of that country in a folk blues Americana kind of way with good between song details that filled in the back story for the people not familiar with the history lived a world away. 

I think the backstory is important. What story does your life tell? If you can't tell it let me name your band.