So, it's pretty obvious that most people on here are good musicians who do steady work in music whether it's in bands or guitar and amp repair, or maybe just have a love for the craft of music. With experience comes humility, knowledge, inner peace, and you generally want to see others succeed as you would want for yourself.

I've seen threads in the past where people have discussed music these days being crap, and I just refuse to accept that. I've been around the block enough to know that there are people out there who just have straight up talent and refuse to give up on their dream.

Whether you're a pro or a beginner, everyone knows someone who they admire in music that they would like to see make it to the top and share it with others. So I'd like to start this thread by giving my shout out to 2 musicians who I admire and wish the best for.

Craig Maxim:
http://www.myspace.com/craigmaxim

Mike Gentry:
http://www.myspace.com/mikegentry


God bless you both, you are stellar musicians.

FYI.. The recordings were done by the musicians in their home studios. Craig did his recordings on a keyboard. Freaking amazing.

So feel free to give your shouts out to your friends, sons, daughters, or maybe just a new musician or band you think deserves it.

Peace.

I sense that it's not that the music is crap, its just that the business of music is different and a lot of people who put out CD's haven't had to pay their dues. Most people don't know that the Beatles spent 2-3 years playing 6 hours a night in Hamburg and Liverpool before they hit it big. That is the kind of experience a lot of bands today don't have. Now its all about reality shows and recording in your living room on your computer.

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Lite Ash Tele, Partcaster Black Nashville Tele with Jason Lollars, Blues DeVille 410, Lunchbox 200 Watt Amp, Martin RTGE 00016 Acoustic

Cool man. I get what you're saying.

I just want to give a little insight on these to musicians. They both have recently had their bands fall apart (for lack of a better term).

Craig has been playing music his whole life, and I think the experience shows in his new recordings. Every song on his page was written and recorded in I believe about 4-5 months after his band breakup. He certainly does work fast.

Gentry's band was voted into the warped tour last year. The band he was in was a screamo band. The reason he was in a screamo band was because he couldn't find people his age that wanted to play blues music. If you take a listen to some of his blues stuff, it's really quite amazing. If you scroll down his page, you'll se a video titled "king of blues". He was 17 in that video.

In some cases, I believe that if someone has an extraordinary amount of talent in their craft at an early age, then the process of "paying dues" can be much quicker and I'm cool with that.