David Edward Wells

Impromptu performance with my great-nephew Tyler Craig on mandolin. He doesn't have the price tag off yet but is already a virtuoso!

   Once a month I go into Tillsonburg to play my favourite gig. I get a hug when I step in the door, sometimes two, and a round of "Hi, Dave!' from everyone. They always seem glad to see me and I'm just as glad to see them. It's the VON day program; people who have regular care-givers can come and spend the day socializing. And sometimes there is entertainment, which is where I come in, along with others during the month. 
    It's a small room so 'unplugged', just my acoustic guitar and voice.  They sing along with the oldies, sometimes dance, and make requests. Those requests that I don't know I try to learn before the next session and that has put songs in my repertoire that wouldn't have been there if left to my own devices. I never thought I'd be singing Roses Are Red,  or Can I Have This Dance?, (Bobby Vee and Anne Murray), in this life time. 
    They appreciate the early 60s, Dell Shannon, Bobby Bare, Brian Hyland, an era I grew up in and which is under represented in live music these days. What is pop schmaltz to some is, to others, a world of memories. I love the blues and rock'n'roll, but came to it later in life. Early country, am radio hits, that's my DNA. 
    Anyway, it's a fun hour that has made me friends and has kept my chops up. And I always walk out with something fresh baked in my hand.

Do you like 50s rock'n'roll, rockabilly, blues, 50s country and western? How about neo-rockabilly, and pyschobilly? Do you even know what that is? Tune into Jump Kat Jump, on Saturday evenings 5-7 pm and give your ears a treat. 

Jump Kat Jump is hosted by one amazing enthusiastic and knowledgeable announcer Smiling Silver Slim Gene, broadcasting to Windsor and Detroit, but available on-line at CJAM 99.1 FM, Saturdays 5-7 pm. Full show archives are also available. 

I love the mix of music he plays. Just in the set where he featured two of my songs, he played Elvis Presley, Hank Snow, Red Foley and the Hellbound Hepcats. 

     I phoned Gene to thank him for playing my music and we had a great chat. We talked about specific tracks on the EP  and he was very enthusiastic about the songs. While we were talking he was playing a couple of tracks from Tia McGraff's album, Crazy Beautiful. Tia, of course, sang with me on a couple of tracks on my EP, Night Roads, expertly produced by her husband Tommy Parham. Kind of brought things full circle. 

    Gene has the 50s style patter down on the air. Never a dull moment, wild and wacky noises and sayings. Great fun. The good thing about CJAM is that the announcers pick all their own music. It's not like commercial radio where one programmer chooses songs for 40 stations and they all sound the same, and you have to win some kind of a play list lottery to get heard at all. 

    I'm kind of thinking that my song Night Shift could go over well in Windsor Detroit area with all the industry there. It was certainly written from experience. Many years of working bleary-eyed at machines from 11pm-7am. I actually chose night shift because the pressure was a lot less than day shift when there were more foremen, more bosses coming out from the office to stick their noses in our work. I wasn't really cut out to be a factory worker but I spent most of my working life at it. Just didn't know what else to do. 

    Until I discovered delivery truck driving. That I really loved. Out and about, no one hanging over you, the good life on the road. 

     That lasted 14 years until I retired and took music off the back burner. And it's sizzlin' now, baby. Life is good.  

    As we get older, most of us lose our sense of wonder to some degree. It gets harder to look on things or experiences with the innocence that first set us to wonder what other great adventures are waiting out there for us. What’s behind the curtain that waves seductively in the wind. 
    Wonder is the well-spring of creativity. If you look at something and see it for what it is and not for what it could be, if you can’t upset the status quo, then your creative mind isn’t working to full capacity. 
    Not knowing the facts causes the brain to race to find the solution. When everything is known, (just Google it!), and all mystery removed, then the brain no longer has grist for the mill. And then nothing new or original is produced. 
    I wonder, therefore, I create.

I  just had two tracks played on an internet radio station Psychedelic Jukebox, run by a great guy Kevin Anthony, who must have an Aladdin’s cave of 60s music. It runs through Garage Bands, British Invasion, Freak Beat, Funk, and Folk, and Rock of all description. There are even vintage radio ads thrown in to really take you back to the groovy old days. 
    And the cool part is Kevin is open to new music that fits the format. That’s where I came in. I sent him a couple of tracks and he played both of them on the Sunday Folk show, along with a nice introduction that mentioned the EPs availability on CD Baby. 
    What more could you ask for? Well, consider Psychedelic Jukebox is heard in just about every corner of the world.  In all, a thrilling experience for someone who came of age in the 60s. 
Have a listen: 
https://www.psychedelicjukebox.com/

Birthdays and Anniversaries            David Edward Wells

Up until I go to bed I’m feeling pretty good. 
I’ve made it through another day, doing what I could.                    
Then the night comes down 
And all around are ghosts from half my life, 
Carrying me, carrying me, Back to times of strife. 
Carrying me, carrying me, Back to times of strife. 

It’s funny how the morning light can change my head around. 
I’ve made it through another night holding bad dreams down. 
Come the day with all its promise crystallized in dawn, 
Carrying me, carrying me, Now I’m evening drawn. 
Carrying me, carrying me, Now I’m evening drawn. 

     Birthdays and anniversaries 
     How much can you take from me 
     Birthdays and anniversaries 
     How much can you squeeze from me? 

All the years are lining up, pushing on the door. 
I let them come in one by one, still they cry for more.    
I can feel them in my body, 
Making me quite sore. 
Carrying me, carrying me, to the peaceful shore. 
Carrying me, carrying me, to the peaceful shore. 

     Birthdays and anniversaries 
     How much can you take from me 
     Birthdays and anniversaries 
     How much can you squeeze from me?

My son, Matt, and our friend Colin Couch, and I have had an occasional band over the years called All Day Breakfast. We played mostly my songs but also Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. This Thursday 21 February we will come together again at Boston Pizza in Tillsonburg. We live a fair distance apart now but managed to get in a practice last week and it was like time had never intervened. 
    Matt and I handle guitar and Colin comes in with a virtuoso washtub bass. Colin also plays bass and tuba with The Polka Dogs and sometimes with Kevin Breit. He also played on the first two songs of Night Roads. 
    We're excited about being together again and are looking forward to a great night of music and fun. Hope to see old and new friends there.

   So, here I am on Bandzoogle. Getting here was a challenge for me, someone who technology seems to have a grudge against. But, I went to see my friend Angie Scott, someone for whom technology falls down and rolls at her feet. She has a successful business in Aylmer doing web design and all sorts of social media magic. Angie took me under her wing for a couple of hours and got me up and running. Now I will carry on to the best of my ability and keep the site updated, swept, and tidied. No dust bunnies here.