doug duffey- solo

i heard through the grapevine that there was an opening for a solo artist [piano/vocal] at the tricou house [711 bourbon] i applied and got the gig... and a new life began. after working with bands and traveling around the country for years, it was a blessing to be able to stay home and 'work steady'. working bourbon street 6 days a week was a real learning experience, and i learned a lot as both player and performer. i'd never done a lot of solo gigs, and realized i needed to make the piano become "my band"; so my left hand became the bassist, my left foot became the drummer, the right hand both rhythm and lead instrument... with my voice on top of it all.
i was totally self contained. being a "one-man band" was work!...but it got to be 2nd nature. my left hand got so strong i was breaking the bass strings [which didn't please the club owner] ... BUT i always packed the joint! so all was forgiven.
it was also inspirational; there was so much visual and auditory material [conversations, street scenes, crazy people, etc] swirling around twenty four hours a day; it was a songwriter's goldmine... and many songs came from that period. i feel like i found myself both musically, artistically and spiritually then and there.
[c]2009 doug duffey