Star

            I wouldn’t have guessed that North Platte, Nebraska was so rich in history.  It is home to the largest railroad classification yard, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his Wild West Show and also NEBRASKAland Days.  The latter of which, is why I’m writing.

It’s funny how you always dream of something, and if you’re lucky, it comes true.  I guess I was one of the lucky ones.  Playing drums for a country music band was not my first choice.  A person can only play so many country bars and fairs as a rock drummer before it starts getting to you.  As a drummer for more than 20 years I was pretty set in my ways and knew what I wanted to do.  I was in a country music band for a number of years.  The name of the band was “Tim Holcomb and the Union Cowboys.”  I’m sure that you can guess that Tim Holcomb was the founder of the band.  There were five of us in the band altogether, which helped us accomplish a very full sound on stage.  The other members of the group were all seasoned players and very talented at their respective instruments.  Tim, our founder, was our lead singer and rhythm guitar player and also wrote the majority of all of our original songs.  Larry was our lead guitar player.  He was a small man from Birmingham, England who didn’t like to sing.  This was a good thing because we wouldn’t have let him even if he‘d wanted to.  John was our bass guitar player who also did lead and backing vocals.  John was from Axtell, Nebraska and came from a background in music in Mexico.  Our keyboard player’s name was Ron.  I don’t know honestly where Ron was from, although we joked that he may be an alien because he always had to have the temperature cold, along with a cold towel on his head no matter where he was.  Last, but not least, there was me.  I was the drummer and also sang lead and backing vocals.  I had been playing drums since I was around four years old and had been in numerous bands before joining this one, but that’s another story.

     I was ready to leave the country scene until I heard;  “We’re opening for Brooks and Dunn.”  I said, “What?”  Then I heard it again;  “We’re opening for Brooks and Dunn.”  For those who don’t know, Brooks and Dunn are very big in country music.  They have won numerous awards and have topped sales charts for years.  The odds are good that when I heard this, my face turned white and I had to sit down.  I felt like a kid in a candy store but scared at the same time.

After learning the news practice was constant.  In the weeks leading up to the performance we practiced at least 4 times a week for a minimum of 3 hours at a time.  At times, it was hard to concentrate on what we were learning because our anticipation level was so high.  I can remember having so many “wonders” going through my mind.  I wondered how many people would be there or what the stage would look like. 

The day of the performance was long.  I was dealing with a lack of sleep from the night before because of the excitement and nervous feelings I was experiencing.  Tim, John, Larry, Ron and I were all on the edge of our seats as pulled into the backstage area.  Tractor-trailers and tour busses were all lined up in a row.  The tractor-trailers were used to carry the stage, sound equipment and instruments, while the busses were there as luxury suites on wheels for none other than Brooks and Dunn themselves.  We spent some time speaking with our agent and concert promoters finalizing how everything would be done, taking care of back stage passes and getting settled into our trailer.  We had our own trailer for changing and lounging in before and after our part of the show.  This was one of the neatest things for me.  I had not been in a position where I would have my own trailer to be in before and after a show.  I was used to having to be ready before we got there.  This was a nice little bonus.  We began setting up our equipment on the stage once we were done with what we had to finalize with our agent and promoters.  The stage was a behemoth compared to any I had played on before.  It easily stood eight feet off of the ground, and was nearly the size of a small house.  The band equipment for Brooks and Dunn was already on stage and set up.  The drums were slightly left of the middle of the stage in the back on a riser that almost made them look they were floating above the stage.  The guitars were on the right of the stage on another level not quite as high as the drums were.  The bass and keyboards were on the left side of the stage at the same level as the guitars.  I remember it was awe inspiring to see.  It was like watching a concert video.  I couldn’t believe that my old drum set was going to sit up there.  After we finished setting up our equipment it was time for the sound check.   As it is with most sound checks, the drums go first.  The sound engineer said, “Give me the kick.”  The “kick” is otherwise known as the bass drum.  I slammed my foot down on the pedal and what came out of the speakers sounded like a cannon blast from a Spanish galleon.  The force of it felt like someone was punching me in the chest while vibrating the entire stage and everything on it.  It was one of the greatest sounds I had ever heard. The echo of it was like a sonic boom.  That is a sound I will never forget.  Once we had finished sound check it was time to eat and relax a bit, if that was possible at this point.

It was around 6:30 p.m. and we had all gotten dressed in our wranglers and boots, when the knock on the trailer door came.  Showtime.  We had a little pep talk before walking what seemed to be miles to the stairs at the back of the stage.  The sound of the crowd was overwhelming.  That’s when I realized this was really happening.  The M.C. grabbed a microphone and said  “Hello, North Platte!”  During this time we moved onto the stage so we would be ready when it was time to start.  I was making last minute adjustments when I heard the M.C. say “…Tim Holcomb and the Union Cowboys!”  Without hesitation I clicked my sticks together and we were off, playing “Bandy the Rodeo Clown.”  It was about that time that I looked up and saw people everywhere.  I cannot recall ever seeing this many people in one place.  I would find out later that there were more than 10,000 people at the show when we stepped on stage.  I’m glad I didn’t know that before hand as the biggest crowd I remember playing in front of was about 700.   We had monitors so that we could hear ourselves on stage, but that wasn’t working because of the deafening sound of 10,000 screaming people who were, no doubt, engulfed in the excitement and anticipation of the show that was coming next.  The whole thing was so overwhelming it almost brought me to tears. 

When we had finished our set, the last thing I wanted to do was get off of the stage.  I could have stayed up there all night playing, basking in the spotlight.  But our time was up and it was time to leave the stage.  The entire time we were tearing down our equipment, all that I could do was smile.  I had just played for 10,000 people.

It was nearly 30 minutes since we had left the stage when the two tour busses doors opened.  Kix Brooks stepped out of one bus while Ronnie Dunn stepped out of the other.  I can say it was quite exciting to have these two big stars say hello to me on their way up the stairs to play their show, but nothing could top the feelings I felt in the fact that even though I was not headlining the concert, nor was I at the front of the stage during our set, I, for that one 50 minute period of time, was a star.