It's redeye time, after 11pm, as I board the JetBlue flying from Seattle to Boston. Approaching my aisle seat I'm slightly miffed the middle seat is taken but looking upward, a guitar case and one that might hold a banjo peer back at me. So I smile and ask the passenger next to me if he's carrying a banjo. My mistake; both cases house guitars but the question leads to an interesting conversation about the risks of traveling with guitars while touring. I mention my SKB traveling case and J-45 Gibson and my seatmate is impressed.
He then introduces me to the young man seated to his right, who's only slightly awake, and tells me they're both musicians headed to Boston where the son will attend summer school at Berklee. I'm impressed by that and somehow we then start talking about gigging, touring and recording.
The middle seater asks about my style of music and after describing it as "jazzy, bluesy, folk-rock" I hand him my card with band URL and urge him to listen and decide for himself. When I ask him for his, he says, "I don't have one but I'm easy to find online. My name's David Raitt." I look at him closely and then say, "Raitt, as in Bonnie Raitt!!!???" to which he replies, "yeh, Bonnie's my sister and he's her nephew!" I exclaim "I LOVE her!!" which of course I do. David has played with Bonnie over the years and will soon tour with his own band in the Northwest. Moral of the story, I'm so glad I got out of my head, looked around and was open to having a conversation with the guy in the middle seat.
He then introduces me to the young man seated to his right, who's only slightly awake, and tells me they're both musicians headed to Boston where the son will attend summer school at Berklee. I'm impressed by that and somehow we then start talking about gigging, touring and recording.
The middle seater asks about my style of music and after describing it as "jazzy, bluesy, folk-rock" I hand him my card with band URL and urge him to listen and decide for himself. When I ask him for his, he says, "I don't have one but I'm easy to find online. My name's David Raitt." I look at him closely and then say, "Raitt, as in Bonnie Raitt!!!???" to which he replies, "yeh, Bonnie's my sister and he's her nephew!" I exclaim "I LOVE her!!" which of course I do. David has played with Bonnie over the years and will soon tour with his own band in the Northwest. Moral of the story, I'm so glad I got out of my head, looked around and was open to having a conversation with the guy in the middle seat.