Dave McRae
Greetings friends and
music lovers! I've been playing around Spokane in various bands since
1981, starting with an outfit in CdA called the
Normal Fishin' Tackle Band. I played next with Mountain Magic String Band, and
then in the early nineties with The Occasional String Band. The last group is
still around playing these days, and they do some great original music, too, so
expect to see them involved with this new songwriters' circle soon.
Right now I play with a band called Sidetrack. We play rockabilly
and swing, both covers and originals. We've been at Black Coffee recording
studio lately, just finishing up a full length CD of original songs written by
myself, Geoff Haworth and Bruce Ainslie. I'm going to see if I can't send a few
songs of mine that are on the CD, in their latest form, to Frank and have
him include them on this link somehow. I'm a decent musician, but a computer
idiot, so many thanks to Frank Delaney for putting this together. One of
these days I'll learn how to market myself and make my own website.
I also stay busy these days as a frequent performer at the
Saturday Night Bluegrass "Thang" at Trent Elementary school the third
Saturday of the month, usually with some sort of pick up band whose members
change from performance to performance. I like to get to the Sunday afternoon
jam at Auntie's bookstore at least half the time, and I have performed at
Auntie's solo on Saturday nights about a half dozen times over the last year.
I'm there again on April 8th, so if you like what I do at the songwriter's
circle, mark April 8 on your calendar also, and come on down!
I play bass, guitar and banjo, and usually have a harmonica
hanging around my neck with whatever instrument I'm playing at the time. I
often attach shakers to my feet so I can play percussion, too. I play a three
finger guitar picking style that uses banjo rolls and alternating
thumb-forefinger picking. It's pretty busy, and I like to think it's a bit unique.
My original music is influenced by blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, swing and lots
of other stuff, too. I'm probably most influenced by the musical lineages that
started with the Byrds, the Beach Boys and the
Grateful Dead (some combo, huh!). I love harmonies, fast pickin' and watching
people dance while I play.
I don't take myself too seriously, and the songs I write reflect
that. I hope you'll chuckle to yourselves, tap your feet along with me and my
shakers and have a great time. I'm thrilled to be asked to play at the first
Songwriter's Circle, and honored to share the stage with Frank, Laddie Ray and
Bill. See you there.