[Harp-L] Harp-L] Was Rehearsals -- Now Head Dude vs Democracy

["Billy James" <billyjames@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Seeing as, I have to sing a four hour show; my collaboration comes down to my friendship with my guitarist, who fortunately likes similar material, keenly has 'the blues passion' and loves playing shows. I get lot's of better paying gigs as a duo or trio without the angst of personality clashes [which I often have experienced in 4 or 5 piece outfits. 
As a duo, I have different skills to my guitar partner and listen to much more music *[he has a real job and family to keep chasing]. His reliability and amiability is far more valuable than any ego manic 'gifted' musician.Dope smokers and drunks are never hired. Too erratic.So essentially he is hired by me and has to 'fully' support me to deliver the songs and 'feels'.Where I may have a gift for compiling the dynamics [and simplicity] of the material he will often come to a session with a 'new groove' he's been messing with [often to collaborate an original tune] or a cover that I wouldn't have heard or ever thought of performing.I tend to have written lot's of song lyrics and often find a home for them on the fly during a relaxed weekly rehearsal.If  a song is too much drama to achieve [or for me to sing] we tend to put it on the shelf, but keep it in the books for a another day.All other members of my band are usually a professional bassist/singer or drummer hired to fill a gig that actually pays for the extra musicians in the quote for an event.I sometimes hire another singer/guitarist to add variety and colour by bringing to the performance his material [and giving me a break from singing].For the cost of equipment setup's and organisation of successful shows I need to get good dollars for myself quite frankly. If I hire other pro players, a couple of rehearsals is generally enough to pull it off. The show I have [over 6 hours of songs] is easily shifted in with another pro soloist singer/guitarist to fill any spots that my guy can't do. I can easily play harmonica on anyone else's material [that's a bliss] and if it doesn't need harp...it's a great excuse to take a break. Stuff democracy [that's a fallacy] at the end of the day, business-like friendship, reliability and decency gets the job done.