Nashville was Diggin' Tha Funk

During what was supposed to be a "break/hiatus" for Dishwater Blonde we got a call from our friends The Fundamental Elements of St. Louis asking us if we’d be interested in doing a Nashville date. It was at 12th and Porter which is a really cool venue, not to mention we rarely get to Nashville but THE big selling point is that it was with FE, so we had to take it. These guys are like brothers to us, we have so much fun every time we play with them. For this particular gig DWB was down one crucial member, Cozmo Holloway who was recording an album with Knoxville’s best band "The Dirty Guv’nahs". So we debated but decided it was too good an opportunity to let pass. When we walked into 12th and Porter we quickly noticed the amazing sound system and lighting rig. It was something of festival proportions but in a fairly small room. One of the great things about playing w/ FE is that we pretty much share ALL the backline gear so there is minimal setup and changeover time. For our set DWB cranked out a mostly original set with a couple of throwback covers including the Isley Brother/Jackson 5 version of "It’s Yo Thang" complete with the "Doin’ that Butt" tease from E.U. that had out friends from Nashville/Murfreesboro and Columbia shakin’ dem big ole butts! DWB closed out the set with a rocking version of "The Lifting" with special guest Luke Dejaynes on lead guitar. Luke, FE’s drummer, surprised the crowd with his incendiary guitar work and helped end DWB’s set with an exclaimation point. FE took the stage right after 10 and began what would turn out to be a funk marathon lasting almost 2 hours. FE’s set had the crowd dancin’ from the beginning of "Don’t Say" all the way thru the grand finale that included both FE and DWB rockin’ out funk classics from Sly and The Family Stone, George Clinton and P-Funk as well as Stevie Wonder. It was an incredible evening of music that most certainly brought perma-grins to all of 12th and Porter. Travel back home was a bit scary as we got word that I-40 was becoming very dangerous b/c of icy conditions. What normally would’ve been a 3 hour trip ended up taking about 5 hours but everyone made it safely. A road weary DWB then went onto to perform at Knoxlife Church in Knoxville’s Old City at 10 am...on ZERO sleep. It was an awesome weekend of music capped off by Davis getting to share his testimony and brag on where God has brought him from. So is DWB on a break, a hiatus? Not really, it’s just kinda slow right now but be looking for more dates with FE in the near future! We’re concentrating on writing for album #4, yep, that’s right, look for more grooves in ‘09 from DWB.

2008 In Review

As we look back over 2008 for DWB it was a hard year but a very fruitful one. We kicked the New Year off by releasing an incredible new album called "One Tribe" and followed up quickly with a DVD that captured the CD release party(DWB Live NYE 2008). Our friends from Streamline Pictures then helped us film "Dishwater Blonde Unplugged at World Grotto" which we just released. It was a whirlwind of editing and cutting and splicing and mixing and remixing. We spent many hours in Nightsong Studios mixing the audio and many more hours with Nick and Joey at Streamline editing the video, all within the 1st half of the hear. The shows didn’t slow down, life and music didn’t stop as we marched forward, sometime very weary but always feeling blessed to be able to do this. What an amazing accomplishment that God allowed us to do. We released a CD and 2 DVD’s in less than a year, WOW! Hopefully we can sell a million of them now. There have been so many blessings we don’t even know where to begin but in the face of an uncertain economy Dishwater Blonde was blessed in ways that didn’t make sense to most folks. Lots of shows, lots of music, lots of good memories. During the year a couple of things to note are the side projects that have popped up. The New Power Trio was formed with Robby, Davis and Big Noise and then Cozmo’s new side project was formed and is really picking up momentum, "Cruise Control". Davis is working on a new project with Jesse Jones and should be out sometime maybe late spring. All this to say it has been a very good year and we still LOVE playing music as DWB and will continue on in 2009. Some of the major highlights of the year for DWB include the recent trip to St. Louis with our friends The Fundamental Elements. We had an incredible time laughing and rocking out with a bunch of really good folks who made us remember WHY we do this! We will do it again in ‘09. Robby got married this year, WOW! Davis stepped out in faith and has begun doing full time ministry this year. Cozmo got 2 play with Robert Randolph 2 different times this year! Diva got a new job and Gerald got a new custom drumkit from Medicine Man drums who now endorse GW. Every single time we played Barley’s in our hometown this year, we played to a packed house, what an awesome year. We will close out this year by playing the Peach Drop in Atlanta and we’re excited because Atlanta is like our 2nd home. 2008 was a Blessed year and we look forward to what God is gonna do in 2009. Hold on, I think it’s gonna be a wild ride!