About once a year I get a chance to play with the same guys I played with back in high school and college (I'm 45 now). We have an absolute blast and, believe it or not, people still come and see us.
We're a classic rock/classic country rock cover band and one of the bands we used to cover back in the 70's and 80's (and still do) is a country rock band called Heartsfield. Similar to a Pure Prairie League or Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Heartsfield hailed from the Chicago area and had a couple of FM hits and were an unbelievable band...great vocals, fantastic musicians and terrific songwriters (and they have since re-formed with some new members).
Anyway, to make a long story longer, my lead guitar player Dan, idolized those guys and because their stuff was good, and we could perform it halfway decent, we covered a lot of their songs back in the 70's and 80's, and again we still do their songs when we get back together....sometimes 5 or 6 songs of theirs a night.
A couple of years ago Dan happened to catch the re-formed Heartsfield at one of their shows. Of course he can't resist the urge to talking to them during one of their breaks. Next thing you know he struck up a conversation (and eventually a friendship) with Perry Jordan, who is one of the founding members and the reason they have re-formed. Dan is an extremely talented singer/musician and of course Perry invites Dan up on stage and he gets to play some of the songs we've been covering all of these years with the guy who wrote them...very cool. In fact, for those of you in the Chicagoland area, Heartsfield played before Lynyrd Skynyrd this year at Ribfest, and my friend Dan was up there playing with them.
This weekend we're doing our once a year gig (Friday night at a local bar and Saturday night at our local Oktoberfest festival). Perry Jordan is coming up from Chicago for our gig on Friday night and we'll be doing a set of Heartsfield stuff with him. It should be a blast. He joined us up on stage two years ago for a few songs and it really was a trip doing songs you've played over the years with the guy who wrote and performed them.
I guess my real question, has anyone besides me heard of these guys? Their "hits" included, Music Eyes, The Only Time I'm Sober, Shine On, Let The Music Play, I'm Coming Home, Just That Wind, House of Living, etc. Here's their website
http://www.heartsfield.com
Of course, my greatest memory is seeing Heartsfield for the very first time. I was 14 and attending my very first concert (they were backing up Three Dog Night). That was probably the first night I ever smelled marijuana, so that may explain many things.....
If anyone is in La Crosse, WI on this Friday night, stop in to The Loons on La Crosse and catch the show!
