Country Music and Me
I couldnt imagine a world without music , and i have been lucky enough to have been exposed to such a wide range of it from an early age .
My Dad had a great record collection on original vinyl , Elvis , Buddy Holly , Gene Vincent , Eddy Cochran ,Little Richard , The Everlys , Fats Domino , Ricky Nelson , The Rolling Stones , Duane Eddy and Johnny Cash to name a few . As time when on i took a great interest in the Sun Label as so many of my favorite artist came in to Sam Phillips studio , it seems as though magic happened there . Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis , Roy Orbison , Cash and Elvis , these boys were mainly Rockabilly / Country with some Jazz and blues thrown in I loved it and the roots it came from so i traced things back further to find Hank Williams , Jimmy Rogers , Blues guys like Robert Johnson and Lightning Hopkins to name a few , i got hooked on Western Swing , Bob Wills and Spade Cooley and couldnt help noticing that they were just country boys playing big band jazz with some steel guitar and a bit more fiddle , The Fiddle style was so similar to that of Gypsy Jazz Legend Stephan Grappelli and a lot of the early guitar runs were so Django inspired , in fact i found all the best country guitarists seemed to have been Jazz influenced , Hank Garland , Joe Maphis , Grady Martin , Chet Atkins and Merle Travis to only scratch the surface . Ask me and i will say Country Music crosses more borders than any music i know and is as multicultural as you can get with a Bluegrass mandolin with its Italian origin , the Banjo from Africa and Eastern origins , Yodelers from the Swiss Alps a bit of Hawaiian guitar , wow thats a huge melting pot if you ask me .
I started singing at an early age and was singing at talent quests at around 11 years of age , i took up guitar around the age of 13 and was writing songs not long after . My Current Band The Pale Moon Riders consists of Myself on Guitar and Vocals , Stuart Keenor on Lead guitar , Mark Hall on Bass and Tony Graneri on Drums with some help every now and then from an early member and best buddy Eddy Blondel . Please like our Facebook page Billy Higginson and the Pale Moon Riders .
Thanks Billy
My Dad had a great record collection on original vinyl , Elvis , Buddy Holly , Gene Vincent , Eddy Cochran ,Little Richard , The Everlys , Fats Domino , Ricky Nelson , The Rolling Stones , Duane Eddy and Johnny Cash to name a few . As time when on i took a great interest in the Sun Label as so many of my favorite artist came in to Sam Phillips studio , it seems as though magic happened there . Carl Perkins , Jerry Lee Lewis , Roy Orbison , Cash and Elvis , these boys were mainly Rockabilly / Country with some Jazz and blues thrown in I loved it and the roots it came from so i traced things back further to find Hank Williams , Jimmy Rogers , Blues guys like Robert Johnson and Lightning Hopkins to name a few , i got hooked on Western Swing , Bob Wills and Spade Cooley and couldnt help noticing that they were just country boys playing big band jazz with some steel guitar and a bit more fiddle , The Fiddle style was so similar to that of Gypsy Jazz Legend Stephan Grappelli and a lot of the early guitar runs were so Django inspired , in fact i found all the best country guitarists seemed to have been Jazz influenced , Hank Garland , Joe Maphis , Grady Martin , Chet Atkins and Merle Travis to only scratch the surface . Ask me and i will say Country Music crosses more borders than any music i know and is as multicultural as you can get with a Bluegrass mandolin with its Italian origin , the Banjo from Africa and Eastern origins , Yodelers from the Swiss Alps a bit of Hawaiian guitar , wow thats a huge melting pot if you ask me .
I started singing at an early age and was singing at talent quests at around 11 years of age , i took up guitar around the age of 13 and was writing songs not long after . My Current Band The Pale Moon Riders consists of Myself on Guitar and Vocals , Stuart Keenor on Lead guitar , Mark Hall on Bass and Tony Graneri on Drums with some help every now and then from an early member and best buddy Eddy Blondel . Please like our Facebook page Billy Higginson and the Pale Moon Riders .
Thanks Billy