REX PLAYBOY 6/30 Douglas Corner Nasvhille, TN

Introducing...REX PLAYBOY

Several years ago, I found myself with a record in the can and no real desire to put it out just yet. My long-time bandmates had other stuff going on in their lives (like leaving town for new horizons) and I was faced with the challenge of doing something new. So - I immersed myself in all things GUITAR and started playing alone, and with others, almsot daily in search of the pure joy that I experienced as a kid through the pursuit of making noise.
I revisited all of my influences again. I got new influences. I have listened to more music than most mortals could ever tolerate. Why? Because it brings me great joy.
I have said all of this before on these pages and I may say it again - I'm getting older and I forget exactly what I have rambled on about; but it still seems relevant to the unveiling of my electric band - Rex Playboy.

On June 30th - I will finally make my way out of the jam sessions, house parties, and rehearsals with some close musical friends in tow. We are called Rex Playboy. We play rock, blues, and country influenced music. Some of it is original and some of it is from our collection of influences that we have amassed over the years of playing that we have all done on our own. We like kitschy stuff. We like pseudo underground stuff. You probably won't hear "Proud Mary", but you might hear "Maybelline". Chuck's a big influence, you know?

So there you have it....simple and sweet. A new band with one focus...one pure, innocent, child-like focus - to have fun making noise. Soon there will be a website with more information and artwork and the like; but for now it is a lo-fi, grass roots, beautiful thing. With all of that - I give you Rex Playboy.

rs

Sorrow and Joy

Several years ago, the name "Sorrow and Joy" leapt from some other place into my head. It has stuck ever since. The concept from the beginning was that it would be a double EP. I wanted it to be a FREE digital download. I like to believe that I have almost stuck to my original plan on this one. Well, kind of.
I took apart the material and put it together as 2 EPs on 2 different download sites (NoiseTrade and Internet Archive).
These are songs that I made at my most relaxed. I can honestly say that the overall feeling when hearing these songs is that of being with friends and playing songs that sound familiar. All of this material is original. The musicians are RS - guitar and vocals; John R Crowder - bass and vocals; and Jordan Burris - guitar and vocals.

I am happy to have found another, more modern approach to putting out my music. I do hope you enjoy it and please drop me a line or come by and see a show sometime. I would love to hear from you.

rs

THE LINKS -
http://noisetrade.com/richardstooksbury SORROW AND JOY EP

http://archive.org/details/RichardStooksbury-MoreJoy MORE JOY EP

"More Joy"

"More Joy" is a companion to Richard Stooksbury's "Sorrow and Joy". All songs were recorded between 2010 and 2012 except for "Adventues in the Ghetto" which was recorded in 2003. These are lo-fi, unaltered recordings.
"More Joy" shares music made purely for the sake of making music and having fun. These recordings were made with no pressure, nor any intent necessarily of a release. Adventurous paths were taken and something was learned. There are flaws in there too; but who cares? This is music to enjoy and share with your friends.
Like "Sorrow and Joy", "More Joy" is being offered exclusively as a FREE download via this link:
http://archive.org/details/RichardStooksbury-MoreJoy

GIGS, GIGS, GIGS

I know...you're still waiting on the release of "Sorrow and Joy". That's good. The wait is almost over. In the meantime, I am busy booking gigs and wanted to share a few with you.

4/7 Douglas Corner Cafe - Nashville, TN - I will be joined by mandolin master Mike Compton and upright bassist Bill Baldock for an evening of songs and stories. Showtime 8PM/Cover $5

5/24 Barley's Taproom - Knoxville, TN - I will be part of a split bill between myself and the Sons of Bluegrass (featuring "Sorrow and Joy" collaborator Jordan Burris). Showtime 8PM/More Details to come. ****JUST ADDED: WDVX Blue Plate Special at 12 noon in Knoxville same day as Barley's Show!*******

6/30 Douglas Corner Cafe - Nashville, TN - I will be debuting my long-awaited ELECTRIC band at my favorite Nashville venue. Showtime 8PM/Cover $5

So there you have it. There should be more coming along...I will share them as they develop.

See you there.

rs

Coming Soon!

Patience, my pretties!

I am running about a week behind on the release, but wanted to assure you that music is coming and I am finally prepared to give you a little bit more insight regarding the project.
Soon - I will release "Sorrow and Joy" - the third installment of Richard Stooksbury songs. It is essentially an EP with some additional demos that I am throwing in because they are fun and it never hurts to flesh things out a bit to give you an idea of what I have been up to during my time away.
"Sorrow and Joy" will be available as a free download via NoiseTrade - a Nashville based company. I will share all of the links and availability status as soon as I know more.

I have been suffering through a cold for about a week and it got me off of my game. Plus I have been putting two different bands together and generally burning the candle at both ends - well, ok, an end and a half; but who's counting...right? Tomorrow and all weekend - I will put the finishing touches on "Sorrow and Joy". My next update should include more info about the release as well as some appearances that we have coming up in the near future.

Thanks for your patience and I do hope you will give the new tunes a listen. I really like them and I hope you do too.

rs

The Age of Progress?

I have spent the last three hours working through my various notes on mixing and finalizing a 3rd record. It is both a feeling of accomplishment and of sadness. You see, I have always ended up playing music with very dear friends. That's just the way it has worked out. Over 20 years or more, my musicians have been some of my closest friends. Of course, life happens and they come and go. I never take it too well when they leave and I end up lost for a little while. This last time, a lot of changes happened all at once and things got sacked for a few years. I have continued to play on my own - sometimes with other good friends; but chemistry is of the essence and it doesn't just happen. You can't force it.

Over these past few weeks, I have worked on this recording and I sit and listen to the music we made. I am proud of these songs. They represent some of my best - I think. And I am proud of my dear friends - John Crowder and Jordan Burris who played and sang and added to the "vibe" that seems to become "my" music. Crowder played the biggest role over a span of 10 years. That is a long time to play music with someone. Our voices blended well. We loved one another dearly as human beings and as musicians. Jordan wasn't around as long; but he's a great, great singer and a great guitar picker. We, too, shared a kismet that is not found often between musicians.

Things happen and folks move on. John and Jordan have gone off to Oklahoma and east Tennessee respectively. This left me here in Nashville to pick up the pieces and move ahead. Strangely - as I was trying to do just that - my life changed and I was forced (or did I force myself) to focus a little harder on raising my teenage daughters and getting them prepared for the world as young adults. In the back of my mind, though, I knew that I had been left with a bunch of recordings that I would eventually finish up and put out.

In the next several weeks, I will release "Sorrow and Joy". It will be an internet-based download offered for free to anyone that cares to take a listen. My goal in doing this is to generate interest again in this music and do some live work. I hope that you, dear listener, will pass it along to your friends and families. I hope you put it on your ipod. I hope you post it to your blogs.

Over these last few years, I have learned that life is short and should be enjoyed. I am tired of paying the tax man for those last two records. I am tired of dealing with "product" in the physical sense of the term. In searching for an alternate way to get my music out to those that might be interested, I am finding that my gut was right all along....make it free.

I can't promise that future offerings will follow this same model, but this one is very special to me and to anyone that enjoyed the Nashville-era of my bands. People tell me often that they miss the old music we were making and I tell them that I do, too. Unfortunately, there will never be another version of that band as good as it was; but we are left with these recordings to enjoy and bring it all back home.

Stay tuned for information in the next few weeks about where it will be available and the link(s) for the free download.

I look forward to it and I hope you do, too.

rs

Yippee, Pass the Pork Rinds!

I am increasingly afflicted by my own laziness. Really, I am not all that lazy...I just don't seem to have the patience for some of the stuff I used to. I think it must happen when you get a certain number of years under your belt. It's happening to me and I can only imagine that it happens to others.
I have mentioned in these posts that there are some songs that would have comprised a third Richard Stooksbury record. Well, if you missed it...there are about 10 songs, if I remember correctly, that I fleshed out with some of my old bandmates before things slowed to a slug's pace.
I listened to them again recently and I think they are "OK". They actually make me think of the good times we had while making those songs and the ones that came before it. Some are basically done and others are essentially demos, but I have finally decided - Who Cares? - put 'em out anyway and see where their little wings take them.

I recently went to a birthday party for an old friend and fan of my music. His friends make up some of my fanbase and they have been good about going to shows, buying CDs, and keeping the faith. I was hit up all night with questions about when I was playing again and why did I ever abandon the model that I had used for 2 plus records (Read: Acoustic). I hate to offend them. They love those songs...those songs belong to them now (metaphorically, of course) and I am working on other ideas that are more involved and less "organic". BUT, i assured them, the new stuff is good too. I guess that's what all musicians have to do - convince the crowd that the new stuff is as good as the old stuff.

I am working on a way to get the 3rd record - without any corrections, overdubs, or massive changes - out to those who are interested. It will be an "outside of the box" method. I have said this for a number of years and I still believe it to be useful. That 3rd record will be released in a grass roots way that will make it easily accessible to those who want it. This one is no longer about money or fancy covers or any of that....it is simply about supplying some people who continue to keep the torch with the music they are looking for.

Keep your eyes and ears open, dear friends, it won't be all that long now. I just need to piece together the details and do a quick mastering job to have it ready to go. My laziness might get in the way - I do have a job, other musical aspirations, and a whole lot of other stuff I am doing - BUT it is definitely moving up the to-do list thanks the the Birthday Boy asking about it.

More to come soon,
rs

Happy New Year! (and it has been about a year!!!)

Well, Well, Well...Look who showed back up! ME!
It has been almost a year since I have written anything on this here page and it is a shame; but when you have nothing much to say - the rest is, well, pretty darn near useless.
It's been a little while but that doesn't mean that things have been just sitting still. I play guitar - A LOT - and I have been writing songs on and off....ok, more off than on; but what the hell?
I pick and sing a little with my childhood friend that lives around the corner. He was always great at interpreting other folks' material and he still does it about as good as a person can. So, we get together and hang down in the studio and play blues or rock or 80s pop stuff or Alice Cooper songs or whatever our brains can come up with it. It is fun and is a lot like it was when we both were coming up and trading records and drooling over guitars.
These days we still buy records and I have probably surpassed him in gearhead-dom; but we have fun and that is what counts.
I might post some things soon. I still have the idea for a grass roots effort type of deal for a 3rd record. I haven't forgotten about it since about a year after "South" came out and I was really looking for a new way of doing this crap and getting out to listeners. While CDBaby and i-Tunes seemed really hip back in 2005 when I did the self-titled thing - now it seems like I need a new means of getting it to the masses and once I came up with my little embryo of an idea - I have never let go. We'll see how that goes.
I might be writing again soon and it might take another year....whichever the case may be - I wish you all the best of everything in 2012. I hope you survive whatever you face and that you make it through the maelstrom of election press that the media will throw upon you. In the midst of all of that - enjoy some music, appreciate some art, and enjoy your time spent with those you love. I will do the same and hopefully have another great year!
All the best,
rs