Happy Halloween!  

Rick Olivarez playing last night with Mel Melton. Rick is a member of Jumpin' Johnny Sansone's band http://www.johnnysansone.com/ and lives in Charlottesville, VA. Rick has also toured with Greg "Fingers" Taylor. Rick comes down from time to time to play with Mel. You may remember that Rick played on the Margaritaville Cafe New Orleans "Late Night Gumbo" cd. Rick will be telling the story of the track "Popeye's & A Hubigs" on a future edition of the Down South Radio Hour. Rick is one fine guitarist and it is always a pleasure to see him perform! We are very fortunate he lives so close by.

Another Mel Melton http://www.melmelton.com/ picture from a show last night in Danville, Virginia at the Mojo Room. The Juke Joint has been expanded and it is a great place to see a Louisiana Swamp Party! Mel has a new cd coming in January and we will try to get together to do a cd preview show soon!

Here is a picture of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from the fourth row at the Pavillion in Raleigh. I forget the current corporate name...it changes all the time! Walnut Creek, Hardee's, Alltel, who knows... Mike Campbell is on the right on guitar. This was one awesome show. There was incense in the air from large pots overhead and Oriental rugs on the stage. Mike came out and played a melody of surf songs and completely blew me away. What an evening. These guys rock! (This picture was taken with a throw-away Fuji ..no flash... 800 ASA...not bad for a card board camera!)  

Contact Me?

If you want to contact me about my radio show or comment on my blog here is my e-mail address:

dsrh@triad.rr.com

Andrew

More Punkin" Carving....at the Talbert house... 

Here is my friend "Brutha T" from Danville, Virginia. Tony Turner has become a real friend of mine and I sometimes wonder which one of us loves music more! He works to support all kinds of artists and their music so when he says "Trust Me"...you can believe it. He is the man. Here is the link to his blog: http://www.acousticgroove.net/blog/

Well it's getting close to Halloween and Fall is in the air here in North Carolina. Here is a shot of our pumpkin carving from last year. My favorite is "Draco-lantern" in the lower left.  

Here is Doc and Richard Watson playing in the streets of Winston-Salem, NC. I took this picture with my 35 mm Canon AE-1. Richard is Doc's grandson and he plays guitar very much like his late father Merle. I have seen Doc many times and he is a classic. I am over-due to put him back on the Down South Radio Hour. You can read about Doc right here: http://www.merlefest.org/DocsBiography.htm

Here is one of my pictures from the Jimmy Buffett concert in Raleigh (2004) Love the shark! 

Keith Sykes and me in the green room before his show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We had just finished an interview for my show and he was getting ready to go on stage. Keith has a brand new cd "All I Know" and features Jerry Jeff Walker helping him on one of the tracks on it. I suggest you go to his web site and buy a copy right now. His last cd 'Don't Count Us Out" is also one of the best. I really like the duets with John Prine and Iris Dement. Keith is a nice guy and a co-writer of the Buffett songs "Volcano" and "The Last Line." Check his web site out at: http://www.keithsykes.com/

Here is a shot of Buzz Cason and me in Myrtle Beach at the Sands during his book signing. We did an interview later that afternoon for my show. Buzz played later that night on stage and was the highlight of the evening for me. You should check his book out as Buzz has been in the music business for a long time and believe me his resume is very impressive. His book is very interesting and has some cool pictures in it. Most of the parrot heads will know that Buzz is a good friend to JB and helped Jimmy Buffett get his career started in the 1970's. The last person Jimmy thanked as he received his CMA award on stage was Buzz Cason.  

"Greg" Fingers Taylor playing at the Wild Magnolia in Greensboro in the late 1990's. This was a double bill with "Jumpin" Johnny Sansone. Ricky Oliverez was playing guitar. It was quite a show! My old friend Bo Baber was there travelling with the guys.  

Here's a photo from a few years back at a Club Trini gig in Charlotte, North Carolina before the Jimmy Buffet show at the Charlotte Coliseum. Mr. Utley & Peter Mayer singing "Ya, Ya, Club Trini is back in town"...I took this shot with an $8 throw-away fuji camera. Note the cool bar in the background and the Club Trini VIP stickers in the tray beside Mike's arm.

Here is Mel Melton playing on stage in Raleigh with Sonny Landreth. Mel can COOK in more ways than one. (He is also a chef and cooks some awesome Cajun food.) 

Here is Sonny Landreth on stage in Raleigh, North Carolina. (I took this shot with my Leica digital camera) Sonny is one of the best guitarists out there today. I saw him earlier in the year with John Hiatt but this was a solo gig where he invited his old friend Mel Melton on stage to play harp. This was one GREAT show. Sonny did some promos for my show that night and I have to say he is one of the nicest guys in the music business. You will hear Sonny frequently on the Down South Radio Hour as I can never get enough of his music.

Jimmy Thackery....I took this picture last Summer at an outdoor blues festival in Danville, Virginia. 

The Down South Radio Hour in Virginia... 

The Latest

<>Here is the play list for my current Down South Radio Hour:

http://www.radiomargaritaville.com/

The Down South Radio Hour
“Straight to the Heart”

Heart "Make Me"
Larry Joe Taylor "Summer Days"
Richard Julian "Florida"
Warren Zevon "Keep Me in Your Heart"
Aaron Neville "My Brother, My Brother"Santana with
Rob Thomas "Smooth"
Counting Crows "Mr. Jones"
Steely Dan "Blues Beach"
David Sanborn "Straight to the Heart"
Boz Scaggs "What Can I Say"
Joe Cocker "Feelin’ Alright"
John Mellencamp "Johnny Hart"
Indigenous "So Far"
Eric Clapton "My Father’s Eyes"

The Hatteras Light on the way to it's new location in the woods. If you want to read more go to: http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/fall99/lighthouse.html

The Hatteras Lighthouse before it was moved....the ocean is just the other side of it at this time...I took this picture in the late 1980's with my old Pentax ME Super 35 mm camera. This was a VERY quiet place back then.

Here are some of my Hatteras Surf Fishing friends at a casting contest near Carter Finley stadium (NC State in Raleigh, NC) a few years ago with all our long distance casting gear. That's me in the middle with the Filson hat on....my diet was slipping then too..:0)))..I have fished with all these guys so many times on"the point" at Hatteras I can tell you a few tales about many of them.....

Joe Bennett...go to http://headpirate.com and buy all his cds. He is a wonderful musician and a nice guy.

Name this pair...this was an Elton John concert and these guys rock! Within the space of about a year I saw EJ and then Billy...a few months later I got to see the EJ and Billy Joel duo concert...what a bunch of great shows. We had great seats for all these shows (ahh... the fine art of buying good concert tickets) I really like this picture with the gold top and the flying v guitar...here is a link or two...The Hellecasters rock... http://www.hellecasters.com/JJorg/jjorg.htm
http://www.daveyjohnstonefan.com/photos.html

Here is Tom with two beautiful Parrot Heads...in Raleigh before the JB show...that HI plate means "Hatteras Island" Yeah that's the wife's toy.... 

Me, the Wife, (Julie) & Robert Earl Keen on his bus.This was right after we recorded a one hour interview for my show...man my diet is just not working! REK is a happy man though...Carlos the road manager says..."Cheeseburger!"

Finally! You go Bubba!