Boris has been playing bass lately and so I invited him to join Allen and me for practice this week. I sent him our set list and the demos I’d made on Monday. By Thursday when we played, he pretty much had the whole thing down. My idea is that we just want to get a core set down so when we start lining up gigs, we’re in good shape to take what comes up.

Thursday went well. Though I am going to have to make a poster for my practice space that reads: “No Blues Scales. No Walking Basslines.” Other than that, we’re keeping things simple. The country songs I like keep the dynamics in the songwriting. Three chords give Allen opportunities to rip out all sorts of interesting scales and sounds in his leads. And the root notes keep us grounded. (Provided they don’t go for a walk.)

We should be practicing with our other confederates next week. I’ll be interested to hear how we mesh.