I recently had an opportunity to interview founding member, bass player, and manager of the band Drivin N Cryin. I posted it through Ink19.com and within a couple days, almost 3k people had viewed it.
One of the coolest things is to talk with people that you have followed for a lifetime and to let them know how much you appreciate their work. Tim is great guy and seems to be driving the band in a great direction that will keep their music in rolling for years to come.
I shamelessly made a pitch for them to come back to Iowa and believe that if the stars align for us, we may be able to see them sometime next year back in the corn fields. My fingers are crossed and I’ll keep pushing for their great brand of Rock and Roll to come visit!!
Not long ago on the Skydog Facebook page, run by Mark Vormittag, it was brought to light that a number of previously uncredited photographs were the work of one of the members, Kathy Hurley. She has an amazing link to the Allman Brothers Band and has taken a number of fantastic shots that I’m very happy she is finally getting credit for.
I emailed her to see how she was able to get those great shots and to see if she would tell her story and connection to the Allman Brothers Band.
J: Let me start with where you grew up and how did you end up getting
into photography? What kind of equipment were you shooting with and
do you still have any of it?
K: This I find particularly hilarious and here’s why – I was born in Nagoya, Japan in 1950 and grew up in the Philadelphia area. I always had a passion for art and my brother sent me Asahi Pentax’s from Japan when he was there in the Navy.
I used those cameras until one was stolen backstage at a concert at Carnegie Hall and another backstage at the closing of the Fillmore East. Both were at Allman Brother’s gigs. I have a older Bell & Howell – now Canon and multiple lenses. I’ve dug it out of storage and need to get it cleaned and ready to go again. I have multiple lenses and now mainly do landscape and wildlife photos.
J: When did you get in touch with the ABB and do you recall how many of
their shows you may have covered?
K: I first met ABB when they did a concert at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, PA. That was October 25, 1970. Spirit was a no show as a band member got sick, so it was just ABB.
The concert rocked and the band had a 3 day layover in New Hope, PA. I got to meet the band as I was on the committee for the concert and we all just hung out for the 3 days. My friend hooked up with Gregg – I’m not telling about me, but we had a blast taking them around the area and having a great time.
After the concert in October of 1970 at Bucks Co. Community College, the band hung out for 3 days in the area. The next night, we were all together at the hotel having dinner – about 25 of us including band, roadies, assorted musicians and admirers. It got pretty raucous and later on, Duane decided he was going to do the magicians’ pull the tablecloth off the table and leave all the dinnerware in place trick. You can probably guess how that turned out.
It cemented some great friendships and the opportunity to continue to be invited to shows up until abound 1997 or so. Went to a LOT of shows between that first concert and the end of 1971.
My friend and I moved to Atlanta for a couple months, but I ended up moving back as my father got sick. Multiple trips to Macon to “hang out”. Crazy times.
J: The cameras you had stolen at the closing of the Fillmore and Carnegie Hall are obviously gone but did you get any photos from those shows from the cameras that you still had?
K:I only have a couple shots left. Only a couple that I can “prove”, anyway.
Possibly Carnegie Hall
J: You mentioned to me that the negatives have been gone through over the
years by the band and roadies and I wondered how much do you still
have and what condition are they in?
K: I still have a few. About 175 have been digitized and shared with the Big House Museum, Mark Vormittag, and Sabrina Cristler for them to use to validate ownership and share. There are several “contact sheets” that I can use to digitize some more.
J: What kind of restorative process are you going through with them now
and are you planning on anything further with them? (I can tell you
that the ABB fan base would love to see you do something with them for
sure.)
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K: Well, I will blame you, but I need to find a good “restorer” to work with what I still have. I’m sure the quality can be improved and they will look much better.
J: I should probably also ask, how did everything come about with your
photographs and you finally being credited for your work? I mean that
the Skidmore photo has been out for a while and used for the Song of
the South dvd cover and is pretty famous photograph. I’m sure you know this from being in the group but getting the info right is so important and I’m glad that you were credited publically for your work.
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K: That’s a good question. Those photos are 47 years old. I often thought the Skidmore photo was mine and finally found it on my contact sheets to prove it. All these years, nobody knew. So, I am working on getting some advice about all that. Who knew???? The photo of Duane at the Atlantic City gig is a pretty well used image too. I’m very happy to be recognized.
Jacket worn by Duane Allman, owned by Kathy Hurley. Photo Courtesy of Kathy Hurley.
J: It was mentioned on the site that Duane traded you a couple shirts for a Jacket that he really liked and that Dixie gave it back to you after the wake. You must have been close with the group for her to give it back after he passed. Did you spend much time with them after Duane passed and then after Berry?
K: Yes, Duane was hilarious and probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I was at the Skidmore gig and woke up to Duane and Gregg in my room (still have no idea how they got in) playing Little Martha on acoustic guitars. Duane saw my jacket and really, really wanted it. Ran off to grab a couple Indian shirts and a t-shirt to trade. Sadly I have never seen a picture of him in it. Stayed at his and Dixie’s house during his funeral and she gave it back to me. I’m sending it to the Big House Museum to display.
J: Of course I have to ask if you still have those shirts as well? haha
J: Did you attend the Painters Mill show and then stay in town during that time Duane passed?
K: The Painter’s Mill show was Oct 17 in Baltimore, MD. Hung out with the band that night and was home outside Philly the next evening.
J: Did you attend the wake or just stay at the house during that time to help Dixie? People don’t like to talk about Duane’s passing, and understandably so, but I was curious if it hit the entire community of Macon and or if they didn’t realize the weight of Duane’s and the ABB’s contributions.
K: I heard about Duane’s accident on Oct 29/30th and left for Macon on 10/31. Went to the Big House first and it was a zoo. Obviously everyone was horribly upset and “medicating” to take away the feeling of unbelievable loss. People were coming in from all over and trying to help each other with the pain. I stayed at Dixie’s with her on Oct 31 and Nov 1…. Duane’s wake was Nov 1. I headed back home on Nov 2nd.
The next show where I saw the band was at CW Post College on Long Island on Nov 22nd. I think it was their first gig since the funeral and everyone was still shocked, but making music – especially the music they played with Duane – which helped. Right after on Nov 25th was a Carnegie Hall (NYC) concert and Nov 26th at the Ritz Theatre on Staten Island. By then, everyone seemed to be accepting the fact that they would go on without him, but feeling his energy as they were on stage. He was gone…..but not gone. He was the angel in the wings.
J: I’m looking back at this 47 years later and I realize that they hadn’t quite taken off until Filmore East came out and after Duane was already gone. Obviously Greggs passing was different in that, while we didn’t all fully understand the gravity of his health, his health issues hinted that something serious could be wrong. With Duane it was so sudden and tragic while with Gregg, he’d built 50+ years of legacy that drew people from all over the world to Macon to pay their respects and say good bye.
K: Yes, it was the suddenness of Duane’s (and then, Berry’s) passing that hit so hard, just as they were reaching the pinnacle. I’m not sure if anyone ever fully recovered, but just carried on. It was like a light that went out in the music world. Besides, Duane and Berry were two of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. A little crazy, but never hurtful, never aloof, just regular guys. I totally treasure my experiences with them all.
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The subject of any friend passing is a tough one to broach and especially one that affected so many with his gift of music. I greatly appreciate Kathy’s willingness to share her story and photographs with me. I will continue to check in with her to see how the restoration process is going and if she’s able to share any other new photos that the fans may have yet to see.
I reviewed the new Andrew Combs album 5 Covers & A Song for Ink19.com. It’s an amazing EP that everyone should really check out. He arranged and sang each cover so well that he really owned them and blew me away with each performance.
Click on the album cover to go to my review of the album on Ink19.com and hit the glorious photo of me and Andrew from a few years back to check out his website.
My ink19.com review is out for the new self titled Shooter album by Shooter Jennings.
It’s really an amazing re centering for him and if you dig that late 70’s early 80’s country music that guys like Hank Williams jr. and of course his father, Waylon Jennings were doing, then do your self a favor and get it now.
LOLAA is a Canadian based sister duo that explore their Mexican roots on this 2016 re-release, but this time in Spanish. Lots of cool stuff so go check it out.
Lately, I’ve been touting the music, and fashion sense, of country music singer/songwriter and recording artist, Boo Ray. His brand of redneck rock and roll music reflects blue collar, hardworking values that lean heavily on his varied experiences. From making his way out of the mountains of North Carolina, to the Sea of Lights in Los Angeles, Boo Ray’s real life experiences, and his nose to the grindstone attitude are what drew me to his music and why I wanted to talk to, and write about him.
Aside from being the embodiment of a blue collar singer songwriter in the tradition of Jerry Reed or Merle Haggard, he’s a traveling troubadour in every sense of the word. His tour schedule is wherever he can get to with a 5 piece band with steel guitar, and a few tanks of gas. He’s covered everywhere from Athens, Ga, Texas, Louisiana, and California. He’s been grinding out a career gig by gig and, in my opinion, with his BooCoo amigos singles, a new album, the One Mic Series, and a team of hardcore ladies scheduling and managing his next steps, Boo Ray is about to pop up on a lot of peoples radar.
I caught up with him on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of getting a PR mailing out of 300, 7” singles and eating a sandwich for lunch. I let him know that I really appreciated him signing the album that I bought the week before, Sea of Lights, and got right into some questions.
First up was about a series of duets that Boo Ray affectionately calls the BooCoo amigos series. I was familiar with the Boo Ray and Lilly Winwood cover of the 1983 “Islands in the Stream”. It’s a fresh take on the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers classic, and also a reminder of what amazing harmonies come out of country duets. I wanted to know more about what he’s doing now with those and what’s next.
“The first thing, digitally, was Lilly Winwood“Islands in the Stream” cover came out when the Kenny Rodgers tribute came out in Nashville. Then last Christmas I put out “All Strung out Like Christmas Lights”, a Christmas single with Elizabeth Cook. And the next one, I’m sitting here in the middle of a PR mailing, is with celebrity chef Sean Brock…he’s the guy that took Anthony Bourdain to Waffle House here in Nashville. And so we discovered each other really through a hashtag of a tattoo artist we both have in common, an old school Athens Georgia tattoo artist that we both have in common. It turns out that we both did stints in Georgia so we kind of like old school Athens Georgia townies together. So anyway the tattooist is Mitchell Atkinson and was one of these wild rebel characters, he was all the time driving a dune buggy or a monster truck or some kind of crazy ride and you kind of always knew in the back of your mind that he’d die in some kind of hot rod crash, and he did…in a hot rod maverick.”
“Anyway once we got to talking about Mitchell, the tattoo artists, we said well hell, we ought to write a song about that sun of a gun, and so we did. We wrote this song “Saint Misbehavin” and it’s just about tattoos and sort of a running thread of old Athens folk lore and gossip and rumor. That’s the A side single and that came out so we said Hell we need to write the obligatory food song and make a damn package out of it right. So we wrote “Soul Food Cookin’” and its got twin guitar solos…Shawn’s a cool guitar player and so it’s got a bunch of Jerry reed and Allman brother’s kind of twin guitar stuff and stuff.”
I asked about a video I’d just seen on YouTube for the One Mic Series at Sun Studios in Memphis by Recording Engineer John Cuniberti. I wanted to know what they were like and how much he recorded there.
Photo courtesy of Boo Ray
“..It’s a series called the One Mic Series, that guy (John Cuniberti) literally records drums, bass, guitars everything, and vocals, everything with one microphone. He mixes with a damn measuring tape. He’s going and capturing these beautiful studios, these legendary studios, and he’s recording indie artists, and that was a real special experience. I get a kick out of it because he’s the guy that recorded all those fuckin Joe Satriani albums.” He says through a genuine laugh of joy. “Yeah, yeah, which I just think is wonderful cause I grew up on those records man. So it was just amazing. We decided to record 2 songs off a brand new record that’s not out yet. So we recorded 2 songs off of that record and there’s another one of those one mic series that will come out in a month or so.” (Since I spoke with him on the 16th, “Honky Tonk Dream” joined “Don’t Look Back” as the second release from that session.)
I asked Boo Ray if my information was correct that they had tracked Sea of Lights in just a few days. That lead into a somewhat related but different story that was as interesting as the original question, which I love and enjoy when it happens.
“Yeah we tracked in in two days. My buddy and Producer Noah Shain he called me and said I’ve got this old tape machine from Quonset Hut Studio in Nashville, and yeah we tracked that entire album in a couple days.”
“He (Noah Shain) produced 2 tracks that were on my 2010 record Bad News Travels Fast. He produced “Constantina” and “Allez Allez”, which is like a broken French, cajun chorus. “Constantina” is like a Eagles kind of LA, R&B, country, Jackson Brown, uh country esque, even Eddie Rabbit kind of shit.”
“So, In 2010 I got kind of stranded and waylaid in Athens, Ga. At the time I needed a new album real bad you know a $10 item to sell at gigs, so I just compiled all the sessions that I had done over the past 2 or 3 years from LA and Texas and Louisiana and I finished the thing in Atlanta with a hip hop producer just cause I had zero budget. I was livin in a halfway house in Athens Ga, literally, literally 1 block behinds New West Records, not even a full block, across the damn street kitty corner. I released that record, Bad News Travels Fast record out of that halfway house on the halfway house computer and phone line. I’m still rerecording songs off of that record.”
Photo by Price Harrison
“I’ve released the 2012 record, 6 Weeks in a Motel, that the title track was off of that 2012 record Bad News Travels Fast and of course I rerecorded Bad News Travels Fast for the new record Sea of Lights. I don’t have a song recorded off of that record for the new record but I’ve already got sights on one of the songs I’m gonna record for the next new record off of the Bad News Travels Fast record. Bad News Travels Fast was my first Americana record, it charted on the AMA chart on the Americana Music Association music chart and I released it out of a damn halfway house right behind New West Records.”
When I interview someone like Boo Ray, I kind of felt the need to explain my taste in music and who I consider “country”. There is a great divide between the country music fan listening to today’s “radio hits” and a guy like me that counts Hank Williams, Gram Parsons, and Dough Sahm in the same category as Sturgill Simpson, Blackberry Smoke, and of course Boo Ray.
Photo provided by Boo Ray
When I asked him about guys that he’s listening to he says “I’m like you, I listen to Sturgill, Stapleton, and feel like were fighting the same fight, like kindred, like were different sides of the same coin of those guys you know. And Black Berry Smoke too you know, I’d like to play bills with all those guys.”
Of that Boo Ray says “You know that the outlets that carry that music, the Americana radio world and then really one of the biggest purveyors of our style of music is Serious XM Outlaw Country. That’s sort of what I consider my home base they have been playing my record since 2010.”
Photo by Price Harrison
As a fellow guitar player, I have to ask the obligatory guitar gear questions. When I ask about the guitar he uses with the grafitti tag on it he says that it’a an old Gibson flat top that he hasn’t played in the clubs for about 5 years. “…and the reason being, I kind of gave up playing acoustic instruments in clubs because you just don’t have enough control of the sound. Your basically 100% at the sound man’s mercy. So my rig right now is a 70’s style telecaster with a pair of humbuckers in and I play a resonator, a Washburn resonator. It’s a signature model Richie Owens signature model; he and Washburn gave me that guitar. It’s got electric guitar pickups in it so I can plug it in the same line I plug my telecaster in and I don’t have to change my settings or anything, it just plugs right in. It totally transformed my live show. Cause otherwise if you play an old national you have to have a whole separate guitar rig”
On the subject of the ever fashionable home studio Boo Ray says;
“Yeah, I’m not an engineer-producer, I’m an old-school, I like to work with an engineer. I’ve got a few different engineers that I like and work with around Nashville, and Los Angeles, and Athens Georgia, so no. I track songwriter demos at home but when I’m fixin to record anything beyond a songwriter demo then I, the go to studios I use are Gold Cassette Studio in Nashville and also Welcome to 1979 studio in Nashville, that’s where we recorded the new full length record. That will come out this fall.”
“I can’t say much about it but we just signed a record deal. The new Sean Brock single and the new record are going to come out with a little more horse power, hopefully, behind the release than what were used to you know, so hopefully were going to actually were going to become a little bit visible for a minute.
“I think this new record is, it’s the furthest out I’ve gone. Like, I mean it opens with a damn 6 minute song with a 1 minute fade out. The records pretty out there and its singer songwriter, it’s the most singer songwriter record that I’ve done yet.”
I also wanted to know what the tour schedule is for the rest of the year and if I would be able to catch him locally in Iowa.
Photo by Todd Sapre
“I just got a scattering of dates across the South East right now. I’ve been doing Thursday-Sunday, satelliting within a 5 hour radius or so out of Nashville, 5-7 hours, you know I’ll do Tallahassee and South Georgia but um, I’m just now starting to get into the Midwestern region. I’ve been working Paducah Kentucky a little bit and Bowling Green and I’m gonna get out and do Paint ballroom and I’m going to get out and I’d love to get out your way and, you know cowtownchad’s in Ohio, and (over to) Iowa too.”
“…we’ve just got this new booking agent, we’ve just signed this new record deal so you know hopefully things are gonna take on a new process, it’s all still in the works. The new record company was pretty hot on getting behind the new record and Sean Brock single so I think there’s going to be an announcement made next week.”
“But uh, I’ve never released anything with a full team I’ve had publicists and radio promoters but I’ve never had a booking agent that was working in conjunction with a publicist and a label to hit the markets where were lighting the meter up.”
“I mean we’ve been scrapping man; we’ve been scrapping hard for fuckin 5 years. I’ve played such low quality, shit hole, honky tonks that I’ve had good band members, that I’m paying well, you know were making money, but these places are rough man I mean it’s knife cutting, shooting, kinda bad scenes. I’ve got guys that won’t go down and play those place regardless of what they are paying.”
“That’s been a bit of a wake up call for me in that I was like, you know what, my band mates are right, I shouldn’t have to do this, and my booking agent’s not doing me any favors by doing this to me. So that helped me transform and roll up my sleeves and go to work on my own team, it’s so complex. I’m constantly overwhelmed at the degree of difficulty with the business side of this thing.”
Carving out your place in the music industry while trying to write, play, and juggle the business end as well has to be a daunting task. I expressed that hopefully the new team would help out and alleviate some of those issues.
“Well, our publicist has been with us for over a year and is a wonderful woman. In fact, my whole team, the entire team, the record label, the booking agent, my manager, my publicist is all bad ass women, the whole team, it’s a trip right.”
The damn trip is Boo Ray himself. He’s as real as they come and our conversation was more like friends chatting over some PB&J’s on his porch instead of an “interview”. He finished our conversation by thanking me for writing the article about Ellie Monster and helping get her a little more coverage.
I thanked him for his time and implored him to keep pushing hard and writing his brand of music. It not often that I get to converse with a true country music troubadour so, if I can lend my support by spreading the written word and grab him a few more fans, it will all be worth it to see him keep on putting out new music.
When I did my article with 10 year old, up and coming BMX superstar Aiden Weaver, I told his dad, Joe, that he’d be next. I finally sent off my questions and got back some great answers.
Joe and I meet at the Arnold classic Sports Festival a number of years back and I’ve been staying in touch and following him on his various pages ever since. He’s manufactured a couple of one off things for me and while he makes beautiful, functional welds, he also uses his unique eye and talent to build the best product/work of art that he can.
JG: What got you interested in welding and how did you learn it?
JW: Back in my early bmx days I broke a lot of parts, frames and wanted custom stuff, so at about 12 yrs old my brother bought me a super crappy 110V stick welder and it snow balled from there . I learned all I could until I got in high school and then I went to a vocational school for CO OP so I could learn to TIG weld (a key skill to building my own frames and nicer parts) .
JG: What kind of stuff were you building at first and what were the first jobs that you took as a welder?
JW: Man, I was trying to build everything lol . I built all sorts of random stuff from BMX pegs, grind rails, flower holder for my mom, chain tensioners , all sorts of little brackets and stuff . My “professional welding career ” started when I was 16 during my CO OP and started working for a scrap yard building dumpsters. I knew within days I needed to really step up my game and get to a higher level because I wasn’t going to be content running a squirt gun building trash cans for a living. As soon as I could go full time I quit and went to work for a performance group who specialized in modifying Dodge Vipers… my neighbor Mike worked there and gave me a chance. He took me under his wing….. he was so good, really helped sculpt my fabrication and welding skills which basically launched my career path.
Photos Courtesy of Joe Weaver
JG: I know that you worked in the NASCAR arena for a while, who did you build for and what kind of experiences did you have there. Because of the nature of the equipment you were making, did you pick up any new skills or tricks that you still apply to your welding?
Photo by Joe Weaver
Photo by Joe Weaver
JW: Yeah I did, after bouncing around learning all I could I ended up in North Carolina working for Michael Waltrip Racing ( MWR ) . Man those were good times! MWR was a perfect placement in time, money, energy and co workers…. we were a new team and basically started from scratch, we did tons of development, r&d and really pushed each other to be better. I’d dare say everyone there learned a lot, it really bred the ” figure it out ” mentality! I definitely learned a shit load from my peers , co workers and by pushing myself which all flows still to this day.
JG: I also remember a TV show that you were on briefly, how was that experience?
JW: Oh TV…. go home you are drunk! TV was definitely an experience, its a lot of hurry up and wait but fun. I’ve been privileged to do a few shows now that have aired for a couple years. Longest one was Chop Cut Rebuild… 12 episodes and it was showing a more educational view of a 70 Cuda build for the SEMA show in Las Vegas. I have some clips on my You Tube of the episodes.(Joe Weaver) .
Photo by @arbuckleoffroad
JG: You made a couple different things for me under the Area51 company name. Are you still actively working for your self or lending your talents out at the moment?
JW: No, I shut Area51 industries down, the fitness industry wasn’t my thing but we had a good run. I’m currently working for Gary Turner BMX / g2bmx designing , developing and welding BMX frames .
JG: You do some beautiful welds and I’m actually following a couple different welders on Insta because of you and wanted to know first off, does the make the weld stronger or just pride in the work?
JW: Thanks, I try to push myself to be better every day.
A weld pic posted on instafacetwittergram is 276.6% stronger!!! ……
It holds you “accountable ” to a point, Try to make every weld or part internet worthy … (really sad to say but in today’s social platform its mandatory to stay current)
JG: Also how the hell does welding work. It’s electricity and gas and how does the welding tunsten not melt, what’s the damn cup have to do with anything anyway?
Photo Courtesy of Joe Weaver
JW: Well, it depends on the type of welding but for Tig welding (what I do most ) it’s magic…. wave the magic wand, snap a picture and it exposes like an old Polaroid hahaha.
But seriously …. so in a very short explanation the welding machine produces amperage (which you control with your foot) that travels to the torch, the part you hold , the Tunsten is what the electrical current is guided by since it is ground to a razor sharp point. Tungsten is super hard and and doesn’t melt easily. ( note: there is different grind techniques, chemical make ups and size tungsten for different jobs )
Once the amperage is on the sheliding gas flows to protect the weld puddle from contamination, basically keeping oxygen away from the weld area until it cools from the liquid state. The “cup” controls the gas coverage. Think of using a hair dryer vs a box fan … both have their purpose just really depends on application. Damn that wasn’t so short haha.
JG: No it wasn’t, haha, but it clears up the magic of welding. I grew up with the guys from This old House and loved Dirty Jobs. Chopper shows are still all over the place and car builds/ house flips are still hot but, even though guys like Mike Rowe, in particular, are pushing for vocational schools and hands on jobs, many people still put a greater value on sending their kids to college versus a manual labor position. People tend to look down their nose at hands on, hard working people. Do you run into that much or are you seeing a change in mindset with what guys like Mike Rowe and Nick Offerman are doing?
JW: I’m going to apologize in advance , I cannot be held responsible for my vocal actions at this point…
Sigh……. I’m with you, I grew up on the same shit! I still love them. People really need to pull their heads out of their asses, not everyone is destined for a desk. People need to do what they are good at instead of trying to appease everyone around them ! I’ve been blue collar my whole life, people judge because you might have a little dirt under your nails or burn holes in your pants but, what these judgemental dick heads forget is I’m the guy building all the cool shit you want to play with when you out of your cube farm! Its sad, its funny, and frustrating at times but it is what it is.
The fucked up part is everyone wants more and more money so industries are getting more and more automated to replace hands on workers. It’s a catch 22 … just like order taking machines at fast food joints. Blue collar is dying …
In all , get an education, be smart, but learn some damn skills people! Remember you can always wash your hands, a little dirt never hurt. (Joe posted this pic last year but it fit so well I had to use it.)
Most of the people that I write about have some kind of excellence that continues to draw me back to their projects/pages, … or they play guitar, it’s pretty simple. Joe, while I don’t think can play guitar??, excels in his craft and constantly amazes me with what he tackles. I look forward to more innovative and interesting projects out of him and if you haven’t followed him yet, get over and see what he’s up to.
I don’t mean to brag but, this article content is awesome and will possibly have more damn pictures than words. Every time I think I have the coolest photos of Ellie Lahey’s work in here, I find, or she posts more that I switch out.
A couple years back I was obsessed with a particular shirt that I saw Duane Allman wearing in a photo taken by John Gellman. It appeared one time, at one show, and then disappeared into history.
Photograph by John Gellman
I searched for months for someone that may be able to recreate it when I ran across a post by singer and songwriter, Boo Ray. He was wearing a very cool, handmade Troubadour suit by Ellie Lahey and I started looking around for this mysterious, Ellie Monster.
BadAss BooRay wearing Ellie Monster. Photo by Michael Weintrob
Now I also have to mention that I’m a huge fan of Gram Parsons Nudie Cohn suit, his music as well of course, and think it’s one of the coolest R&R/country outfits in the history of music. Ellie’s work is a stark reminder of that amazing skill and, attention to detail. I knew that I was on the right track.
Jeremy, JD Simo Band, and Ellie Monster.
I sent a few messages and within 6 months I had a near perfect recreation of that shirt. It was incredible seeing it in person because she brought out things that I hadn’t even seen in the photographs, It’s truly my pleasure to shine some light on her amazing talent and bring some attention to her business, Ellie Monster.
J: Ellie, I’ve watched a few different videos and looked around your Instagram and Facebook and what you do is just amazing. How did this journey start and what led you into making these kinds of shirts/suits?
E: A childhood spent in starched wranglers with a country radio station playing in the background 24/7 is partly to blame, the punk obsessions of my teenage years definitely played a part too.
Photo by Sharky Crowley
As far as the more direct route goes- I made a shirt for myself and other people liked it enough to ask me to make more of them. It was a hobby for a while, until I had the (mis)fortune of having a supervisor who made my life pretty miserable. The day I quit that job, in 2009, my friend offered me retail space in the French Quarter, I said yes, and I’ve been doing this thing ever since.
J: How was the move from New Orleans to Nashville? Do you find that there is a bigger market in Nashville?
E: Oh man. It was rough, it was real hard to get things going in Nashville. I knew Nashville would be different, but I greatly underestimated just how different it is. It was basically starting over completely, and it took me a couple years to get anywhere near the sales figures I had in NOLA.
The market in Nashville is bigger, but it’s harder to get folks through your door here, and it took a long time for me to get that figured out. I don’t regret it though, Nashville is good to me these days.
Photo by Ellie Lahey
J: It’s crazy but, you are basically making custom clothes in a very old school way for a very modern market. The video I watched was incredible because you cut every piece of the shirt and stitched it all together from scratch. What kind of time frame do you need to get a shirt or a suit of custom clothes done for a customer?
E: Time from order to completion really depends on how many folks are already waiting on me to make them things. Usually it’s somewhere between a couple weeks and a month.
Photo by Ellie Lahey
The actual time it takes to sew something- I can make a simple kids shirt in about an hour, and I’ve spent weeks on some of the suits I’ve done. Embroidery adds a lot of time, especially when I’m making new designs. My embroidery machine and software communicate via 3.5″ floppy disk, so yeah, nothing moves very fast with them.
Booray wering Ellie Monster shirt. Photo by Chad Cochran.
J: When I was having my shirt made, I came across your page through a Boo Ray’s Instagram post. Who else out there is wearing your clothes that we may know or should keep an eye out for?
E: This question is the one that’s kept me from having this thing done for so long.
I do get excited when I see bad ass people wearing things I’ve made/sold, but man, dropping names always feels so dang awkward to me.
The lesser known but excellent musician customer list is.. I can’t even get started on that right now.
J: You have a unique range of clothing, including a very cool Iron Maiden shirt that popped up on the Facebook page, how are you selecting what to make for stock? (Of course I couldn’t find that Maiden shirt so enjoy these in lieu of that one.)
Collage of Awesome. Photos by Ellie Lahey.
E: That Iron Maiden shirt is good one. That customer brought in the tee he lived in through high school, that didn’t fit him anymore, and I chopped and sewed it into something that did. I’ve done a ton of tee shirt ones, started with that because I ran out of closet space and wanted to do something with all the tees I didn’t wear much. I ran through mine years ago, but my friends hook me up when they clean out their closets, and I find good ones in thrift stores occasionally too.
Generally speaking though, I just make what I like, what I think will look interesting.
Since I find all of what she makes interesting, I also wanted to find out about a couple of shows that I saw her participating in this year. She let me know that the most recent one was at the Nashville Boogie Vintage Weekender. Te fashion show side of it, The Western Round Up, is put on by Riley Reed.
Here’s a couple close up shots of the Ellie Monster Space Suit owned by Tony Perdue.
Photo by Ellie Lahey
Photo by Ellie Lahey
Ellie relayed that Jason Galaz, head honcho of the Boogie, described it this year as: “The epicenter of the Western Fashion industry is right here at the Nashville Boogie. Industry leaders and tailors to the stars all show their wares.”
Photo by Ellie Lahey
E: And that’s a pretty good description. This was the fourth year for it, I’ve been there from the start. There are a bunch of other amazing designers who’ve taken part in it too (older and newer) but that could be a pretty long road to go down.
Photo by Ellie Lahey
I was in a fashion show over in Memphis in February at the Ameripolitan Awards too. It’s been a good year for showing off.
J: For anyone that is looking for a unique piece of Nashville authentic clothing, how should they get a hold of you and what do you need from them?
E: They can come by and see me in person at the shoppes on Fatherland in east Nashville, or find me on all the normal places. Generally speaking, I just need an idea, some measurements, and a little $.
Phone: (615) 295-6248 (not the best way, my shop flip phone is about as outdated as my sewing machine is, I drop calls all day long)
I encourage you to scroll through her various pages and look at the variety of clothing that Ellie has created. I’m always impressed, surprised, and fascinated by her creations and greatly appreciate her taking the time to talk to me.
If you dig the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Doyle Bramhall II, J.J. Grey and the Mofro, or anything in general coming out of Austin, TX or the Swamps of Florida, buy this album or see these guys live.
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