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My name is John
Michael Bishop, I grew up in Moore, Oklahoma (it's 6
miles south of
Oklahoma City and 6 miles north of Norman, Okla. and is
also the home
of Toby Kieth, (whom I don't know personally). I was
exposed to
music at a very early age in the form of Gospel Music. My
parents were
and are still very devoted Southern Baptists attending
church on a
weekly basis. As a child and teen I was in various church
choirs,
church musicals and the like. So I started singing when I was
very young. In the 6th and 7th grade I played trombone in the
school
band and in the 7th grade I got a 6 string Stella guitar and
took lessons
from Jesse Austin of Austin Music in Moore. Piddled
with the guitar off
and on from then on armed with a little knowledge
of chords and how to tune
a guitar. I was also in the Boy's Glee Club
grades 7-9 and in the Mixed
Chorus in the 9th Grade at Moore Junior
High School.
I went to college at Murray State Jr. College in Tishimingo,
Okla from 1974
to 1976. I didn't learn much from college courses
(because I didn't apply
myself properly), but I
learned alot about underground country music of the
day.
Moved back home, just working and hangin out. Still listening to
the
underground country, Outlaw Country and Southern Rock Bands of the
day. In
about 1977 or 78 I was at a party one night and this guy
was there playing an
acoustic guitar. He was playing alot of the
"Outlaw Country" music that was
popular in our part of the US and the
same stuff I was listening to and
interested in. The guy (Tim
Jennings) and I became really good friends. He
had a band (bunch
of guys that got together and jammed) but the bass player
had left them
and went to play with some other guys.
Tim and I hung out together alot, and my cousin (Neal) used to
play
bass, he
had an old Gibson EG Bass with a Peavy Bass amp. I told Tim
that I would see if
I could borrow it and learn to play bass, and I
would be their bass player.
Well I did just that. I got the sheet
music to "Good Hearted Woman" by Waylon
Jennings, deciphered the bass
line (cause I could still remember the bass cleff
from playing
trombone) and I took a lesson from this guy at a music store in
some NW
Oklahoma town I was working in at the time. He showed me some
bass
patterns, alternating country bass rythems, blues and boogie runs
and where
the notes
on the neck were. I was off and running armed with knew knowledge
and
began teaching myself and with help from friends I began to be a bass
player!! Tim taught me the chord
progressions to every song he knew and we
learned alot of new ones
together. We played for hours in his living room
and in our
friend's
living rooms for parties for 2-3 years. Then we started
getting
serious....
Somehow Tim got the cash
together and got a P.A. financed.
Tim and I
started a band called "Bad Lands Band" (have no idea how we
came up with that
name). Tim on guitar and vocals, me on bass, a guy
named Rick Smith on drums
and this guy named Steve Morse on mandolin
and fiddle. We played quite a bit,
doing the "Outlaw Country"
stuff (Wille/Waylon, Jerry Jeff Walker, David Alan
Coe and Hank Jr.
material) along with some classic country, some blues and
bluegrass. We went into a studio and made a "Bad Lands Band"
tape, Tim did
all the singing, I think there's one or two songs on it
that I wrote (if
anybody has a copy I will gladly pay for it, can you
believe? I don't have
one). We parted ways in 1981-82.
After leaving Bad Lands Band I continued to play around the
Oklahoma City
area for a lot of different bands.
Eventually, I went out on the road with Roger Ivie and
Silver
Creek.
Roger had a financial backer and a manager, and he had
gone to Nashville and
cut some records (two of the records made Top 100 of Billboard
Magazine)
He had an agent, was gigging
regularly and
paying good for the times.
We hit the road alot round Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas
and
New Mexico. We also shared the stage at places with some
famous people
like Ronnie McDowell, Billie Joe Shaver, Tom Paul Glacier
and the
Glacier Bros., Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys (out of
Austin)
and a new guy at the time named George Strait (this was about
the
time of
the release of his first hit "Unwound"), now he's a
country legend.
I worked for Roger off and on, for about a year.
During this time I
got very sick with hepatitus while I was on the road (bad food).
The
sickness took me off the road
for about 3 months. I went back out for a
month or two with a band out of Houston, that Roger's "Agency" put me
in
touch with. After a short tour with the Houston based band I went
back on
the road with Roger. On one of our returns to Oklahoma, Roger
hired
another bass player (who was actually a better bassist than I was and he
also sang back up vocals) and I was let go. Roger called my folks
a few
years later looking for a bass player, by then I had joined the
Marines.
I
saw Roger once when I was home on leave, a little later on he had
bar in
OKC area and last I heard they changed the name of the band
to Texas Rose and he moved to
Nashville. He and his wife Dian are living
there to this day.
Back home in Oklahoma, went to work again, and still
played on
weekends
with my friend Jack Propp (great drummer, he worked with Roger Ivie
later on
after I left and since moved to Nashville and is now working for
Billy
Joe Royal) and a guy named Rick on guitar
and vocals.
Eventually,
I changed directions or realigned my priorities, started
working a regular
job and
going to school at night learning electronics at a Tech School.
Then I
got tired of getting screwed over in the civilian work force and
shocked my
friends and family. I enlisted in the Marines (don't tell
them though,
they think I am a piano player in a whore house, ha ha
ha!! just kidding).
Joined the Marines in 1984, eventually got into an Officer
program and
to
this day am still in the Marines. Throughout the past 23 plus
years, I still have
this thing for music. Always kept a guitar
around and jammed with people
when I got the chance. It's really
hard to be in a band or do anything like
that when you are in the
military. You never know when you are going to leave
or when you will
be back. Also if you do get a group of military guys together
it's difficult to stay together because of deployments and new
assignments
that cause people to have to move.
Fast forward to 1998, stationed in Okinawa, Japan. I
met a group of guys
and we formed a country band. This band was called
"Roadhouse" we did modern
country, old country, southern rock and blues. It consisted of myself
on bass,
Roger Barton on guitar, another Roger Ogden (Auggie) on
guitar, Tim
O'rourke on
drums and "Bones" on pedal steel. Somewhere along the way "Bones" left
the band and
we added a keyboard player by the name of James Kirk. James was in the
Air Force and was stationed at Kadena Air Force Base. This was a really
good
band, we played regularly on Okinawa and in Korea (thanks to Jim's
connections) some for over a year
and we opened for the "Mavericks" on Okinawa at their concert.
This group disbanded in early 2000.
About the time we
disbanded I got assigned to the USS Essex in Sasebo,
Japan and moved in
2000. Somewhere about 98-99 I was starting to get into the
blues
alot, started piddlin with bottleneck slide. After I moved to
Sasebo,
I really started to research the old country blues styles, and
learn as much as
I could and I still do to this day.
While in Sasebo I would jam on bass with local bands
there, even played with
a Reggae Band one summer and I did some solo
acoustic blues/folk shows. I also
would do acoustic blues at
"Talent Nights" onboard the Essex when we were underway.
I met
some really down to earth (Japanese) musicians while in Sasebo and
still
stay in contact with a few of them, great people!!
I returned to Okinawa in August 2004 and linked back up
with an old
acquaintance of mine (David Ralston). Dave and I
first met back in the mid-90's
at a local LIVE HOUSE here on Okinawa
called "Tobbaco Road". This place was
owned and operated by a guy
named Akira, from Tokyo (Akira still lives here in
Okinawa and does
gigs doing acoustic and jazz stuff), though the bar is no longer.
It was a great place for musicians to gather and jam, he had a complete
stage and
sound system, including a drum kit, guitar and bass amps, all
you needed was
people with instruments that could play. He also
had local groups in from time
to time, but alot of nights turned into
huge jam sessions. Dave had done alot
in the four years I had
been gone, still had his band, THE
DAVE RALSTON BAND
and had put out a
total of 4 CDs. He should be having one or two more CDs out
soon,
he's been spending alot of time in the studio of late. Dave is
writing
all their material, he is a great slide player and has
incorporated some
traditional Okinawa music into his sound (it's pretty
cool, check it out).
After returning from Sasebo I started
hanging out with Dave as much as
possible, and he has hired me to play
bass a couple of times when his main
guy was not available. It's a
priviledge to play with folks that have
professional attitudes and
don't let their ego's turn them into monsters.
Dave has become a
good friend and I have learned alot from watching him
perform, talking
and hangin out (thanks for being a friend Dave). Check
his homepage
link out above in blue when you get a chance.
Another guy I met through Dave, worth a mention is Rick
Klusot. He does
Americana Folk stuff (solo) and has produced his own CD
called "Delicate
Eye" all original, all self recorded. He is playing
regularly at LIVE HOUSES
here in Okinawa. Check him out, his website
link is here KLUSOT.
Since I have been living and travelling overseas, I try to
jam every
chance I get. I have played with Thai bands, Japanese bands,
Korean bands
and with bands in Guam. The greatest thing about
music
is that you don't
necessarily have to be able to speak each others
language when you have
music in common. Music is a language of itself and it is
universal!!!
So this brings us to now. I have been doing alot of
listening,
woodshedding, writing, learning how to do computer based
home recording and
also working up some sets. I hope to start playing
out live again doing
acoustic blues, folk and country-ish stuff this
year (2007) when time allows
here on Okinawa.
Well that's my story to date, I love music, really into
the country blues
and bottleneck slide. Below is a list of my
influences (in no
particular order):
BLUES (OLD SCHOOL)
BLUES (MODERN AGE)
FOLK
Songwriters
Skip
James
Buddy
Guy
Bob Dylan Bob Dylan
Charley
Patton
Johnny
Winter John
Prine John Prine
Robert
Johnson
John
Hammond
Neil Young
Son
House
Alvin Youngblood
Hart
Steve Young
Mississippi Fred McDowell Keb
Mo
Gram Parsons
John Lee
Hooker
Stevie Ray
Vaughn
Billy Joe Shaver
Lightnin
Hopkins
Steve Earle
Jimmy
Reed
David Allen Coe
Muddy
Waters
Guy Clark
Howlin'
Wolf
Willy
Leadbelly
Guitar Players
Country
Rock and Other
Warren
Haynes
Waylon
Jennings
Allman Bros
Derek
Truks
Willy
Nelson
Lynard Skynard
Sonny
Landreth
The Flying Burrito Bros. ZZ Top
John
Hammond
Poco
Grateful Dead
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Joe
Ely
New Riders of the Purple Sage
Ry
Cooder
Steve
Earle
Marshall Tucker Band
Rory
Block
Jerry Jeff Walker
The Band
Bob
Brozman
David Allen
Coe
Little Feat
Eric
Clapton
Commander
Cody
Gov't Mule
Pure Prarie League
Jimi Hendrix
Fabulous Thunderbirds
John
Mayer
The Outlaws
Ozark Mt. Daredevils
Led Zepplin
Sorry if this is
a lot of information, but the saga continues......
I'm
Still Alive
and Well!!!!
