I've been playing with a lot of different folks lately. The most satisfying groups though have centered around keyboardist/singer/educator/radio personality, Robyn Wright . Lot's of talent and style here. Jazz, RnB, Funk, and other styles good for the soul. The core group includes Markeith Bolen on drums and vocals and Pablo Ortiz on bass. We've worked as The Robyn Wright Project as well as rhythm section for other artists.We were even the orchestra for a musical written and produced by our good friend and sometime musical compatriot, Robert King Jr .
I'm not working with Jay Webber much lately. He's doing more solo stuff and trying different musical combinations. I think it actually helps the magic we can create having more space between encounters. I've filled in some of that space playing with Renee First semi-regularly. We had a house gig at Crystal Creek Distillery for a couple months earlier this year. Gave us a chance to get to know each other better. Renee's a treasure and you should catch her if you see her around; she's real. "Support Live music because dead music is creepy".
Still doing occasional gigs with Flatbed Ford and Rough House which are always a hoot; rock without borders. A fun cast of characters...maybe more about the comradery than the music. Also backing up the Fabulous Ricke Bros from time to time for that old CSN&Y fix.
And, finally, I'm still building guitars: #16 on the bench. But, no, Zee Guitars is still not a commercial concern. I will make an effort to sell some soon, er, maybe. Thinking about doing some videos to promote them. Maybe that'll get things rolling. Oddly enough, virtually every bass player I've played with for the last couple of years has asked me to build a bass for them. Bass players are so much more open to a custom instrument than guitar players. I don't get it. Guitar players tend to be technicians with pedals and amps, favorite pickups, strings, etc. Why would you not want a custom made instrument?
At any rate, I have a bass guitar design I'm toying with and I've purchased some hardware and I've sort of promised a couple of my bass-playing buddies that I'd make one. I could be wrong but in my little pea brain, the difference between building a guitar and a bass is huge. I don't know if it's the engineer in me or what but it seems to me you could really mess up badly with a bass. That big old neck, got to be a trick to balance...all that string tension, how to keep it from folding up on itself. I'm probably over-thinking it...