Johnny Neff Quits

[Gaetzi]

I fucking love Keith Richards!

The only other thought I have on Neff is that if he really did quit the band just a few days before the NYE run, that's really lame and unprofessional. Of course, thats just assumming it went down that way.

[wolfgang]

A couple of thoughts that nobody cares about:

1) Robert Randolph and Neff don't play the same style of steel at all. Neff plays traditional pedal steel. RR only uses the pedals to change the tuning and not in a traditional way such as to change the pitch of one string while the pitch of another string remains the same.

2) For me, one of the main thing that made DBT unique and special was their use of pedal steel. I haven't enjoyed the last 2 albums as much because of the lack of pedal steel.

3) WARNING: PERSONAL OPINION AHEAD - I don't care of Jay's contributions to the band. At all. In fact I think he ruins a few songs. I guess my tastes and DBT's style are going in two different directions.

[Tequila Cowboy]

RevMatt, have you seen the list of Neff's work that Smitty posted? He's not going to have any trouble finding work if he chooses to beyond Eye Candy. Any musings to the contrary are ridiculous. Sorry.

Carry on.

[sg207]

So Jason wouldn't sing in this band?

Hmmm. Who?

I guess I kind of overlooked that.

I guess I've seen him solo so many times now, that I think Jason no longer really has the DBT shadow hanging over him. I now think of Jason in context of his solo work and that with the 400 Unit instead of former Trucker.

[RevMatt]

RevMatt, have you seen the list of Neff's work that Smitty posted? He's not going to have any trouble finding work if he chooses to beyond Eye Candy. Any musings to the contrary are ridiculous. Sorry.

Carry on.

I wasn't talking about being able to get a gig. I was referring to Nashville specifically which is the type of situation where a session player's work is very steady and it is for union scale. That is one of the few situationss I can think of where he could make close to what he made with The Truckers without going on the road. Neff, IMO, is the best steel/slide guy playing country/soul/roots rock type of music. He will get his gigs. But will they be as good as what he had with The Truckers? Most years that is 20 weeks of road work in theater type venues. The gig provides health insurance. Band members get a percentage of publishing for any song they record with the band. Band members do not have to lug their gear around or even be in the venue prior to soundcheck. In this day in age musicians do not just up and quit a gig like that no matter how talented they are.

[Shakespeare]

its day AND age, not day IN age

and as unprofessional as i think his method of quitting was (provided pattersons account is accurate of course) i'm sure neff weighed the financial pros and cons before he made the decision. he'll be fine. speculating on whether or not he'll get by seems a bit odd

[RevMatt]

its day AND age, not day IN age

The contraction for "it is" is "it's". "Its" is the possessive. But who am I to quibble about grammar with somebody named Shakespeare?

[Cole Younger]

A couple of thoughts that nobody cares about:

1) Robert Randolph and Neff don't play the same style of steel at all. Neff plays traditional pedal steel. RR only uses the pedals to change the tuning and not in a traditional way such as to change the pitch of one string while the pitch of another string remains the same.

2) For me, one of the main thing that made DBT unique and special was their use of pedal steel. I haven't enjoyed the last 2 albums as much because of the lack of pedal steel.

3) WARNING: PERSONAL OPINION AHEAD - I don't care of Jay's contributions to the band. At all. In fact I think he ruins a few songs. I guess my tastes and DBT's style are going in two different directions.

I don't think he ruins anything. I just don't feel like he adds much most of the time. He seems like a nice person and is apparently a very good musician but he's the one member of this band that is just kind of there in my opinion. I don't care for his solo stuff either and really hope he does not end up being the new third singer in the band. Variety is one thing but that contrast would just be too stark.

Just my opinion. I have nothing against the man personally.

[Smitty]

3) WARNING: PERSONAL OPINION AHEAD - I don't care of Jay's contributions to the band. At all. In fact I think he ruins a few songs. I guess my tastes and DBT's style are going in two different directions.

I love Jay, but when he first joined up I felt the same way about him ruining certain songs (Lookout Mtn, for instance, just seemed less intense with keys) but I've came around and he's definitely brought more to the table than whatever was lost.

You're also dead on about RR and Neff's style being completely different. Randolph, being a band leader, is obviously more "showy" than Neff who complements songs rather than leading them. Listen to some of Neff's other work and you'll realize that he could no doubt pull off anything RR can.

[Markalanbishop]

So Hood and Cooley get to the Pearly Gates of heaven and St. Peter says I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that we've got a great rock and roll band up here and you have both been invited to join! Hood and Cooley then ask for the bad news. St. Peter says well, Jesus has this chick singer........... "And the rest, as they say, is history."

[Ty Webb]

My dream pick - AJ Ghent.

[Smitty]

A couple of thoughts that nobody cares about:

1) Robert Randolph and Neff don't play the same style of steel at all. Neff plays traditional pedal steel. RR only uses the pedals to change the tuning and not in a traditional way such as to change the pitch of one string while the pitch of another string remains the same.

2) For me, one of the main thing that made DBT unique and special was their use of pedal steel. I haven't enjoyed the last 2 albums as much because of the lack of pedal steel.

3) WARNING: PERSONAL OPINION AHEAD - I don't care of Jay's contributions to the band. At all. In fact I think he ruins a few songs. I guess my tastes and DBT's style are going in two different directions.

I don't think he ruins anything. I just don't feel like he adds much most of the time. He seems like a nice person and is apparently a very good musician but he's the one member of this band that is just kind of there in my opinion. I don't care for his solo stuff either and really hope he does not end up being the new third singer in the band. Variety is one thing but that contrast would just be too stark.

Just my opinion. I have nothing against the man personally.

I love Jay's playing, but unless his songs are radically different than his solo work, he definitely doesn't need to be the third singer/songwriter.
Personally I'd rather them just stick to Hood/Cooley as singers/songwriters unless they wanna bring in Don Chambers, who I think would fit like a glove ; hey, I just remembered he played bass on some of the Murdering Oscar tracks... hell Todd McBride would be perfect too, and he's sang with them in the past... while we're just fantasizing/ daydreaming, what all instruments does jimmyjack play?

[Smitty]

btw, while putting that playlist together I discovered some great musicians I have never heard; check it out.

[Cubfan06]

RevMatt, have you seen the list of Neff's work that Smitty posted? He's not going to have any trouble finding work if he chooses to beyond Eye Candy. Any musings to the contrary are ridiculous. Sorry.

Carry on.

For me it isn't if he finds work beyond Eye Candy, its when. No doubt there are phenomenal musicians in that band, including the highly talented fifth wheel former guitarist of the band. But when you have a front woman without front woman stage pressence, who had pitch and volume problems with more universally-likeable songs than the 8-10 songs that Eye Candy has debuted live, there really isn't that bright of a future on a fiscal level.
Musically Eye Candy, appears to me to be the equivalent of a C Movie shown on Lifetime Movie Network's "Pick-A-Flick Friday,"with the superior movie of Heartless Bastards being shown on AMC.

And the choice that this former guitarist made was his own. And even given all of the negatives, probably not the wrong decision from a personal level. It's his art and his choice to lend his craft with whatever he chooses, even if he will become Rob Lowe post Tommy Boy.

But the sheer timing and milatious nature of the announcement via Facebook with two days notice, opens himself up to be scrutinized for his douchebaggery and checkers an individual's once highly positive reputation. Because it clearly wasn't done with the best of intentions. It was done to clearly hurt another person or people and there isn't any past public or private event that could justify this. Two wrongs never make a right. Especially, when the details of the first wrong were never publicized. A duck is a duck, and you look like and are a douchebag.

I don't care about theories of passive agressiveness for artists or being a quiet unconfrontational person. People should be judged on their own actions...nothing more, nothing less.
Can I be brash at times, fuck yeah. But my friends and brothers will say that I would fight to the end for them if needed. And I would never leave a co-worker, other employee, brother, sister, or friend like that out to dry like that. You're on the same team, same fraternity, and a piece to a bigger picture. There was a more graceful exit to this scenario. A high road to the end means. This road was cowardly, vindictive, manipulatively- calculated, selfish and weak.

[Erdlivz]

Personally I'd rather them just stick to Hood/Cooley as singers/songwriters unless they wanna bring in Don Chambers, who I think would fit like a glove

I like the Hood and Cooley plan and wish they would've stayed that route post-Isbell. I think Chambers fits perfectly too. That rock show would be something else.

[RevMatt]

We don't know Neff's side. Undoubtably it will be told on the second Eye Candy album which will be called Southern Soap Opera and will feature more songs about Patterson Hood's studio attire and baby donkeys.

Unless there is some info we are not getting -- like they planned on firing Neff after the homecoming gigs and he got wind of it -- this whole thing was not well thought out. Eye Candy, at least for the first couple years, will have to rely heavily on DBT fans if they are going to tour. These actions don't make me want to make catching an Eye Candy gig a priority if they come to my hometown. Quitting a band two days before a major three night stand and two weeks before their annual three day homecoming does serious damage to one's own professional reputation. How many bands are going to want to hire a guy who did something like that at his last gig?

[misterbrow]

To go two years in a row losing a band member days before the NYE run can't be good for business. The 930 club could not be too excited as it is not a positive selling point trying to move the last of those tickets for 12/30 and 12/31.

This only opens the door to dream of the return of Isbell, hope is a good thing.

Neff more than held down that 3rd guitar slot and added the dimension of steel. Santa Fe and Mercy Buckets will suffer. Neff never really had a stage presence and while I liked the steel it did cement that alt-country label I never really cared for. But then again I am biased, it is tough for me to go to a DBT show and not think, "I'd really like to hear Outfit right now."

No matter who is playing with them tomorrow night, and I wish I had something to get extrapsyched for like knowing Luther would be on stage all night, I will be at Duffy's for dinner wearing my Bill "Fucking" Murray shirt.

[Rob1855]

For me it isn't if he finds work beyond Eye Candy, its when. No doubt there are phenomenal musicians in that band, including the highly talented fifth wheel former guitarist of the band. But when you have a front woman without front woman stage pressence, who had pitch and volume problems with more universally-likeable songs than the 8-10 songs that Eye Candy has debuted live, there really isn't that bright of a future on a fiscal level.
Musically Eye Candy, appears to me to be the equivalent of a C Movie shown on Lifetime Movie Network's "Pick-A-Flick Friday,"with the superior movie of Heartless Bastards being shown on AMC.

And the choice that this former guitarist made was his own. And even given all of the negatives, probably not the wrong decision from a personal level. It's his art and his choice to lend his craft with whatever he chooses, even if he will become Rob Lowe post Tommy Boy.

But the sheer timing and milatious nature of the announcement via Facebook with two days notice, opens himself up to be scrutinized for his douchebaggery and checkers an individual's once highly positive reputation. Because it clearly wasn't done with the best of intentions. It was done to clearly hurt another person or people and there isn't any past public or private event that could justify this. Two wrongs never make a right. Especially, when the details of the first wrong were never publicized. A duck is a duck, and you look like and are a douchebag.

I don't care about theories of passive agressiveness for artists or being a quiet unconfrontational person. People should be judged on their own actions...nothing more, nothing less.
Can I be brash at times, fuck yeah. But my friends and brothers will say that I would fight to the end for them if needed. And I would never leave a co-worker, other employee, brother, sister, or friend like that out to dry like that. You're on the same team, same fraternity, and a piece to a bigger picture. There was a more graceful exit to this scenario. A high road to the end means. This road was cowardly, vindictive, manipulatively- calculated, selfish and weak.

Don't hold back. Emote!

Please... tell us how you really feel.

In all seriousness, I far prefer this attitude to the usual "We just don't know what happened" / "don't question the band" sycophantic tripe you often hear parroted around these parts.

Rock on.

[Rob1855]

This only opens the door to dream of the return of Isbell, hope is a good thing.

Unless Patterson & Cooley are down with the idea of adding a fiddle player, that aint gonna happen...
... and even if they were, that ain't gonna happen.

Jason's shuttering the 400 unit for a year to tour behind a new acoustic disc. He's been spending too much time with Ryan Adams, and appears to have delusions of grandeur... Some of which is likely warranted.

Just the same, too much "Dress Blues" and not enough "Never Gonna Change" makes jack a dull boy.

[Rob1855]

And for some reason, I just can't get this Dash song out of my head...

[TrickyNick]

Surprised that no one has mentioned John Graboff, who played with Ryan Adams during the Cardinal years.

Also, Nathan Pitts from the Bear and Doc Dailey's band could pull double duty on pedal and 6string.

[John A Arkansawyer]

Visiting my parents in NC right now and enjoying some warmer weather at the coast.

I have lots of things I could say but I don't think today is the time for it. I will say this. I came up as a musician and dropped out of the music scene in 1990 to finish school. Then I went to seminary, got ordained and went to work in churches. I had to seriously "unlearn" everything I learned about dealing with people when I was in bands if I was to survive as a leader of congregations. The passive aggressive behavior, triangulated communication and all of the other crap that are part and parcel for musicians does not work anywhere else. It does not even work in bands.

This has nothing to with whatever beefs or grievences a band member might have with Drive By Truckers. This is a pattern. People do not leave this band on good terms. Period. It is not a matter of finding the right "mix" of people because after a certain "honeymoon" period everyone will fall back into their prescribed roles. The "system" is broken.

Jesus may have saved my soul but Rabbi Edwin Friedman saved my ass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Friedman

I've been dealing with certain toxic relationships and activities in our church, and Friedman's ideas have been immensely helpful in understanding what's going on. I'm finding them less helpful in making change happen, since "making change happen" doesn't work for adaptive problems. A frustrating situation.

[Cole Younger]

I'm bummed that our boys now have to fill two slots in the band but this thread has containted some, great, great stuff.

Comparing Neff's future to Rob Lowe's career post Tommy Boy-freaking priceless.

Eye Cany's record being titled Southern Soap Opera? LOL. I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. Awsome.

I agree that while steel sounded great on songs like Heathens, Santa Fe etc, it was out of place on others and I hate when DBT get called an alt.country band. That's annoying.

Yall really think Don Chambers would be a good fit?

He's a great musician and an UNBELIEVEABLE live performer but do yall think his stuff would fit on a Truckers record?

The Dash Rip Rock song dedicated to Neff? I guarantee you that Patterson laughs his ass off when he reads that.

[Smitty]

I know most of ya'll find labels and genres restricting, but if I were forced to place DBT in a category, I think alt. country (which connotates a mixture of punk & country) would be the best fit.

I absolutely think some of Chamber's work (the non-avante gardey shit) would fit into DBT's repertiore. His work has that southern gothic tinge that fits right beside Patterson's, IMO - however, Cubfan and I were talking and we agreed that the most natural fit (if they were going to add another third singer/songwriter) would be Todd McBride.

[RMD]

Sorry. Shitty career move. Of course he will have plenty of work. Doesn't mean it was good move. He will realize his mistake when his and Shonna's relationship falls apart.

[ccollum92]

On the bright side, we may hear the versions of WWW and Devil that we used to hear.

Neff is a great player, but I never cared for WWW with steel playing. That's a three guitar song. Maybe the slide comes back on Where The Devil Don't Stay.

I'm absolutely in the contingent that is excited for this. If the slide came back on "Where the Devil" mmm...one of my favorite DBT guitar parts (albeit played by Jason) that has gone missing for far too long

[OkieinTexas]

RevMatt wrote:
This has nothing to with whatever beefs or grievences a band member might have with Drive By Truckers. This is a pattern. People do not leave this band on good terms. Period. It is not a matter of finding the right "mix" of people because after a certain "honeymoon" period everyone will fall back into their prescribed roles. The "system" is broken.

RevMatt, I found this comment very interesting. I enjoy your (as well as jimmyjack's) insights on what it's like to actually be in a band. What do you think the root cause is?

Okie in KY

[RMD]

The root cause? The girl.

[OkieinTexas]

This is a pattern. People do not leave this band on good terms. Period.

RMD wrote: The root cause? The girl.
I agree that may be Neff's situation, but I was wondering about the portion of the quote above.

But since you brought it up, Neff stayed on with DBT a long time following Shonna's departure. And I am certainly not trying to discount Patterson's statement on how it ended, but Neff doesn't strike me as someone who, after putting in 16 years with a band, would intentionally leave DBT high and dry before a series of important shows.

But then again, I know none of these people and am merely speculating.

Okie in KY

[RevMatt]

RevMatt wrote:
This has nothing to with whatever beefs or grievences a band member might have with Drive By Truckers. This is a pattern. People do not leave this band on good terms. Period. It is not a matter of finding the right "mix" of people because after a certain "honeymoon" period everyone will fall back into their prescribed roles. The "system" is broken.

RevMatt, I found this comment very interesting. I enjoy your (as well as jimmyjack's) insights on what it's like to actually be in a band. What do you think the root cause is?

Okie in KY