Matty C & Jeffery Gower Substack Live Show Coming Soon!
The July edition of our Substack Live Series from the Sheddio features a very special guest appearance from my dear friend, Jeffery Gower of the Stick Arounds and Deer & Elk.
For the July installment of Matty C’s Substack Live Series, we have a very special guest; Mr. Jeffery Gower of The Stick Arounds and Deer & Elk. Here is a bit of the story behind the show.
Jeffery Gower is one of my dearest friends and closest musical collaborators. We have been making music together in the Stick Arounds for more than fifteen years. Before we formed The Sticks with Jason Lantrip, Jeff had spent more than a decade as the frontman and primary songwriter of the Lansing honky-tonk outfit, The Gentleman Callers, a band that I still adore.
In 2022 and 2023, when the Sticks began to slow the frantic pace with which the band had operated for close to a decade, Sticks’ drummer, Joel Kuiper began playing more consistently with Lansing Band, The Wild Honey Collective. And by the summer and fall of 2022, I had also turned my attention toward solo touring and the prospect of leaving a day job to pursue a life in the arts
Most of my focus during that time was aimed at the gigs that paid me money as a solo performer or were a part of my massive touring plans for the 2023 and 2024 calendars. As my attention to the Stick Arounds waned, the band slowed to a crawl. Understand, this was not necessarily a bad thing. We had been hitting the pavement hard for nearly ten years with limited “successes”, and in many ways, just needed a break.
Perhaps most practically, we found that the world of touring and playing regional shows in a post-Covid landscape was a completely different ballgame than it was in 2019. We found that myriad venues had closed or were no longer featuring original music. Other venues cut back on the number of nights they showcased live music, all while a backlog of bands were itching to play live after a lengthy break due to pandemic closures. This meant that there were far more bands than available stages, leaving booking to be an even greater nightmare than it was just a few years prior. Tired, discouraged, and with other fish to fry, we all pulled back from our collective Stick Arounds activities.
As I traipsed around the country with the Sticks on the back burner, Jeff paired up with fellow Stick Around Jason Lantrip to form the cowboy country outfit, Deer & Elk. They play a superb collection of timeless sounding originals and carefully curated cover tunes. Their harmonies, song selections, and Jason’s artful playing make the duo an absolute treat to witness live. As much as I miss playing with them as regularly as I once did in the Stick Arounds, I am in awe of their new act, and thrilled to see them every chance I get.
This Fall, Jeff and I will be heading out on a three week tour that will take us down to the Sunshine State and back again. The run features a planned 17 shows in just 20 days. We’ll be playing a combination of house concerts, breweries, listening rooms, and bars on the trip. The shows will run anywhere from one to three hour affairs affording us the chance to play a wide swath of tunes from throughout our shared musical history.
As Jef and I began to prep the songs for the tour and talk about what the shows might look and sound like each night, it occurred to me that we could stage a Substack Live set together and garner quite a bit of momentum for the tour in the process.
First, this Substack Live show gives our first chance to test out the songs with an audience, even if it’s one we cannot physically see from the Sheddio. It will also afford us the opportunity to review the recording of the show and take a look at what works right now and what could use some improvement. Lastly, it’s a terrific document to have for folks who want more info on what a show with me and Jeff might look and sound like. It’s a bit like a filmed rehearsal with a bunch of friends hanging out to watch. That sounds cool to me. Hope you’re game
Jeff and I will take the Sheddio stage promptly at 9:00 pm eastern time on Wednesday, July 9. We’ll each perform a couple of tunes solo before jumping into a big batch of tunes together. This is a terrific opportunity for us to refine some of the material that we’ll be taking out on the road with us this Fall. Plus, it gives you the chance to see behind the curtain just a bit as we put in the hours to get road ready.
Another wrinkle with this show is that we’re opening it up to donations leading up to and during the performance. While there’s no obligatory charge for you to stream our set from the Sheddio, you are encouraged to help support us with a donation via Venmo or PayPal. We’d suggest a small donation like five or ten bucks that will help to support our work here at What Am I Making. Obviously, you’re welcome to donate more than that amount as well. We’ll leave it at your discretion with no judgement on our end.
If you have anything in particular that you’d like to hear during the show on Wednesday night, feel free to drop us a note in the comments below. We would love to hear from ya. Can’t wait to see y’all from the Sheddio in a couple of days. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss a notification about live shows and more.
Cheers,
Matty C