Music Stuff - Cool Stuff

One of my favorite amps finally died.   Around 8 years ago, I picked up a used 2001 Fender Blues Jr for $300.  I modified that little amp until it was no longer a Blues Jr, with cap and resister changes, a Mercury output transformer, converted from 9-pin to octet tube sockets so I could run 6V6 tubes instead of the little EL84 power tubes, and finally a Warehouse Guitar Speaker ET65 speaker.   The sound was somewhere between a Fender and Marshall.  That little amp crunched with the best. I loved that little amp.   But, after 15 years of wear and tear, including eight years in my hands, the poor little amp finally bit the dust .  I have a couple of other amps, but they are either too loud or too heavy to bring to jam sessions and small venues.  The Marshall DSL40C amp is amazing.  Of course, I tweaked that amp a little by clipping one capacitor on the Ultra Gain, put in JJ KT66 power tubes, changed the pre-amp tube on the Ult...

i think it was in 2013.  I was setting at my desk in my studios (Haggard Studios in Raleigh NC) doing some audio mixing work, when this guy walks into the studios.  Since I was not expecting anyone at that time I jumped up to see who the hell it was. The person introduced himself as a guitarist who had recently moved from Muscle Schoals Alabama to the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina, and that his name was Pete Carr. So, I showed him around the studios and we talked a little. Pete was very laid back and mellow, and i enjoyed chatting with him. After a while, we ran out of small talk and Pete said he had others things to do, so we shook hands and he left. After he left, I looked Pete up on google.  Holy freaking moly!  I had no idea who I had just met.  Pete was a lot more than a guy who had moved from Muscle Shoals to Raleigh/Durham and played guitar. Pete Carr is one of the greatest session guitarists of all time.  Pete is credited with play...

For many years I had an old Cry Baby Wah.   It was an el-cheapo base model.  Imagine how surprised I was to open it up and find a "red fasel" inducter in the wah wah.  It was not supposed to have a red fasel, but it did.  Woohoo!   Anyway, because I love to tinker with electroincs, I modified the Cry Baby Wah Wah circuits to change the tone, added true by-pass, removed the buffer components and added an LED. The best part was the LED.  Do you know how much it SUCKS to not be able to "SEE" if your wah pedal is on?  If you don't, listen up.  It sucks a lot.  I loved that modded Cry Baby Wah Wah. Then, one day it died.  The input and output jacks in the plastic casings wore out.  Damn it.  I loved that pedal. Well, I did not feel like tinkering with the Cry Baby anymore, so I tossed its dead carcass in the trash. Meanwhile, a guitarist who played in a band I was in back in Raleigh North Carolina USA used a stock VOX...

So..... since selling the recording and rehearsal studio in Raleigh NC and moving to Eugene OR, I have kind of neglected this little blog.  It has been almost a year now, and I am just beginning to settle into the Eugene scene.  It always takes longer than I think it should to settle into a new city. At first I thought I would look for some musicians and put together a new, west coast line up for the Jimmy Haggard band.  But, things have not worked out that way. No worries though.  I am a member of two bands now, and I do a solo acoustic act off and on.  The two bands are:  The BlueShades - Blues Rock and Classic Rock www.theblueshades.com I am a front person, singer, guitarist and songwriter in this hot ro ckin band Outlaw 'Shine - Outlaw Country - www.facebook.com/outlawshinecountryband / I am playing guitar in a coun try band, and might do a little background singing too  Enjoy The Music! Jimmy

Hey Hey!  This is the second full live song video from the Deep South Alive sessions!  The sessions were held in Raleigh North Carolina. at Deep South, the Bar.   Post Production audio mixing and mastering, and video editing and production were done in Eugene Oregon by Haggard Studios West.

Did you know that some of the greatest Blues History in the USA came out of Eugene Oregon?   Yep, you read that right:  Eugene Oregon Beyond the Saturday Night Live skit, I always thought The Blues Brothers act was inspired by Chicago Blues. Wow, was I wrong.  I learned that Jim Belushi got the inspiration for The Blues Brothers from a musician playing Blues in a hotel bar in Eugene Oregon.  Belushi met the musician when Belushi was taking a break from filming Animal House and he went the Eugene Hotel Lounge to chill out.  The inspiration came from Curtis Salgado, all the way down to the soul patch and shades. At that time, Curtis Salgado's main gig was with Robert Cray (based out of Eugene in the '70s). http://www.curtissalgado.com/images/belushi/article.pdf