I'm
sitting at home in the beautiful Ozark mountains of Arkansas waiting on our yearly
ice storm. They are saying that this one could be worse than last years. That
being said, we are pulling all the pieces together for the release of the live
CD and DVD from Detroit.
We are getting closer day by day. There is a lot
to do to to make this all work. A great amount of administrative busy work goes
into a project like this as well as synching up video with audio. Thanks to you
all for being patient and for all your support in this endeavor.
Can't
say enough about how cooperative the folks at Callahan's in Detroit have been.
The video crew was and IS top notch as well as the staff there .Hat's off
to our hero, Peter Jay , the engineer for tirelessly making time to make
everything sound just right.
Our projected release date is still fluid
but, we should be ready sometime in late March.
If you have signed up for
our news letter below, you will be the first to hear the announcement. OUR GOAL
IS 1000 names or more on our list so, let your friends know too!
Hey!
,Just a word about the BLUES FOR A CURE cd that is now available. All the
artists that played on the benefit in Columbus last December gathered in the studio
afterwords and cut some rockin' music for this project and the profits all go
to The BLUES FOR A CURE charity to find a cure for cancer.
I am including
a link so you can purchase this fine recording and do your part to help find a
cure - Just Click Here!
I'd
better wrap it up because my sattelite dish is gonna freeze up . Stay warm,
sign up and we'll see you soon. jimmy and the drvers
~ JIMMY and THE DRIVERS ~
JOHN
WATSON VIDEO Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers 12-02-09 at WNCW 88.7 live
in Studio B
Sign Up for Jimmy's
Email News List
11.24.09
Hi
folks!,
We made it back home (briefly) from our giant circle around,
across over and the through the big ol' USA! Quite the journey to say the least.
The boys and I want to say how much we appreciate seeing all of you
attending our shows and signing up for our new E-mail list and contest give-away.
We had so much fun traveling and playing for you all and the culmination of the
trip resulted in a succesfull capturing of a live CD. and DVD recording in Motor
City.
Big thank you's must go to Mike Moss at Callahans for enabling
this rather ambitious endeavor, along with the wonderful camera crew (5or 6, I
lost count!) Crawdaddy Dave, Alan Grossman, and above all Peter Jaye our audio
engineer extraordinare! Seems like a dream it went by so quickly.
We
will now begin to take all the footage and audio info and put together the very
best release we have ever done. To say that we are excited about this project
would be a gross understatement. We are thrilled that we were able to capture
what I believe to be one our best performances on the whole tour in front of the
best crowd we have had since the last Detroit live recording 15 years ago.
Ah, but we aren't done yet. We will be doing one more short trip before the
Christmas Holiday down through North Carolina where we will be doing another live
radio recording on WNCW, then on to Louisville and into Ohio that will result
in a show with Sean Carney and others for a benefiet for a cancer cure, followed
by a masters class with your's truly and then a commemerative recording. Quite
a year!
Wanna say hi to all the old friends we saw and thanks to all
the new friends we made out there and we WILL keep you all updated on the
progress of the new live project.
Keep signing up because, as the song
goes, ya gotta play to win!
Oh yeah , Special thanks to our old pal,
Thayrone for doing such a masterful job as M.C. Be sure to tune in to his radio
show on the web. [Click
Here to Listen]
That's all for now,except for HAPPY
THANKSGIVING and pass the peace, please!
~
Jimmy and the Drivers ~
~ Previous Posts
~
11.02.09
Hello
Friends!
Half
way through our west coast trip, we have had a spectacular journey complete with
great attendance at the shows and beautiful fall colors. Here is a photo I took
of Multnomah Falls on the Columbia River Gorge.
"
Saw you're awesome show in Hood River (Halloween party) and saw you at the falls
... thought you would like this ... hope you make it back to the northwest in
2010" ... Shelly Walker
Lots of folks have been signing up for our news letter and contest. Thanks
to all our friends , old and new! The North West weather has been as abominable
as its Snowman . Rain and more rain.Had us longing for the great climate of Arizona
again. Now
we are going back into N. California and lookin' forward to seeing our friends
there under somewhat drier conditions.
Been working on some new songs
for debut on the upcoming live recording at Callahans in Detroit. Some special
surprises!
Rollo has a cold and Bumpy had a tooth pulled. See? Its not
all lollipops out here! But we ARE havin' a blast and hope to see ALL of you in
the coming weeks. More updates soon!
~
Jimmy ~
PS - Dont forget to sign up on our Email list!!
09.27.09
OK
Folks! Big announcement time!
On November the 19th The Drivers
and I will be recording a new live project at Callahan
Music Hall in Detroit. We will be also be taping a dvd simultaneously.
And just to be thorough, we will also be filming a documentary of sorts
about the recording itself and all the behind the scenes stuff that goes into
putting this kind of project together.
This will be a momentous occasion
for us because 15 years ago ,we recorded our "Wild Night Out" C.D. at
Sully"s in Dearborn almost to the day. Our M.C. will be our old friend, radio
personality, and self proclaimed "Rodeo Clown with a Microphone" , the
ever popular Thayrone!
We hope you all will enjoy this rather
ambitious endeavor and we invite everyone to be part of the festivities. Please
call Callahan's for ticket info and make your reservations now.Space is limited
so sooner is better.
We will be making a commemorative T shirt and some
other goodies so you all will be able to take home a cool souvenier of the event.
Here's hoping you can make the date and be part of the gig .
We
are very excited to have a cool new place to play in THE MOTOR CITY and
extremely proud that the folks at Callahans are helping us put this together.
Tell your friends ! See ya in Auburn Hills (Detroit) on the 19th of Nov.
~
JIMMY AND THE DRIVERS ~
09.15.09
We
found ourseves in a bit of a conundrum over the last weekend ... We ran straight
into the Nor'easter in New Jersey. We were slated to play on the outdoor stage
on the beach in Somers Point which after torrential rains and 45 mph winds was
under water!
Fortunatley, Carmine, our promoter had the cool idea to
move us to the American Legion hall where we played for a capacity crowd (although
somewhat smaller than the 900 folks that woulkd have been outside)
Thanks
to all our friends who ferretted out the info and showed up at the alternate location,
and to the fine folks at the Legion hall who made us feel right at home!
And thank you, Carmine!
Then it was up early the
next morning for the 500 mile drive to Niagra Falls for the second annual Niagra
Blues Fest. Wow! What a crowd! Try as I might, I couldn't see where the
crowd ended it was such a great turnout.
Last year it poured down rain
and it was STILL a good group, it was just hard to see their faces because the
all had trash bags on their heads.
This year, the weather was perfect
and the folks were out in force. Our benevelant host, Toby had formally renamed
the Drivers ,"THE DEVASTATORS" and put it on all the posters and shirts.
What a hoot!
Shared the bill with THE NIGHTHAWKS and they were as good
as ever and we had a great time hanging out again.
Good to see all of
you and keep checkin' this site because we have a big announcement coming in a
little while that we will need your help with!
Just have to get a few
more ducks in a row!
~
Peas & Cornbread ~
Jimmy
T
09.24.09
- More "Blast from the Past" photos sent to me by our good friend Patty
(many thanks) ...
w/ Muddy Waters - around 1970
~
Photos by David Blackwell ~
09.02.09
Every
now and then, ya just find yourslelf in that perfect situation where the venue
is extraordinary, the weather is perfect, the crowd is with you, and the planets
just line up right. Our show in Lancaster, PA was one of those "just right"
experiences.
The Long's Park Summer Music series was one of those gigs
we dream about . The production was excellent,lighting perfect,and the promoters
couldn't have been nicer! It's part of what makes us keep on keepin' on.
Here are some nice photos taken by Harry Turner that gives you an idea of
what it can be like to have all the ducks in a row.
The night before,
we had another good time in Bethleham PA. The review (see below) speaks for itself.
Here's hoping the folks in the Lehigh Valley area keep supporting the place
because it was one of the best new venues we have had the pleasure of playing.
Rock on everyone and we hope to see you in Sommers Point and Niagra
Falls!
~
Jimmy and the Drivers ~
Long's
Park Summer Music - Lancaster, PA
Show
Review: 2nd Story - Bethlehem, PA - Aug 29, 2009
By Dave Howell - Special to The Morning Call
Thank God the lights came back on!
It
looked like a power outage in Southside Bethlehem might cancel the Jimmy Thackery
and the Drivers concert at 2nd Story Blues. Luckily the electricity came back
on, and the band instantly began its 3-hour show.
If the band could have been hooked up to the power supply, it could have provided
enough energy to light up the whole city.
2nd Story blues is noisy, as blues clubs tend to be. But when Thackery played,
there was little movement or talking. His effortless guitar work mesmerized the
audience of about 150 with nearly every style of American music.
Thackery is known
as a bluesman, but blues was only a small part of his varied show. He included
country, surf, swing, rock and roll, jazz, Tex-Mex, rock, and even a piece that
could have been the theme to a spaghetti Western film. [Read
More]
~ Latest Photo Galleries ~
Eureka Springs Bluegrass Festival 'After Party' - Pickin' and Grinnin'
Mile
Hig Blues Festival - Photos by John Ambrosino
Photos
by Mike Dockeray (Detroit Blues Society) 07.30.09 at Callhans - Auburn Hills,
MI
Photos by Alan Grossman 07.24.09 at the Birchmere Theatre
Jimmy
Thackery and Jimmy McCarty at Callahan's on July 30, 2009 video by John Ripper
(Many thanks to The
Detroit Blues Society)
Latest
Videos: July 24 show at the Birchmere Theatre - Alexandria, VA With Guest
Drummer George Sheppard
Jimmy
Thackery talks about his 1960 Fender Stratocaster which at one time was a 2-tone
sunburst
Mountaintop
home near Eureka Springs is music to ears of Jimmy Thackery
By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Monday,
May 19, 2009
LITTLE
ROCK — Six years ago today, Jimmy Thackery spent his first night in the vacation
home the musician and his wife, Sally, had bought a few miles northwest of Eureka
Springs in the community of Busch, as Michelle Parks reports in Tuesday’s
Style section. He opened the windows and took in the quiet night and fresh spring
air. He never went back to their apartment in town.
Thackery,
who turns 56 today, spends much less time on the road than he used to — much
of that playing in The Nighthawks. This rural, mountaintop home, with a German
shepherd, pit bull and chickens, is part of his plan to simplify his life. It
allows him the time and space to write songs and record them.
For
much of his career, he performed in every state but Arkansas, until 1994, when
he accepted an invitation to play the Eureka Springs Blues Festival.
“Well,
I got here, and I fell in love with the place,” he says. Thackery was invited
back year after year to the festival, which was then run by the former Sally Riker
— yes, that Sally — and his friends in the music business asked him
why.
“And
then it kind of dawned on me that there was something happening between the two
of us. The next thing you know, I married the boss and moved to Arkansas. I’ve
never lived anywhere I’ve liked as much. I really haven’t. There’s
something about Arkansas. It’s quirky. It’s a little weird. It’s
breathtakingly beautiful.”
