Artist of the Month: Bruce Dalzell
By Matthew Toledo - 4/3/2003
It is difficult to imagine the number musicians who began their professional or amateur musical career on a Bruce Dalzell open stage. My estimate lies somewhere in the thousands. A piano tuner by trade and father of three, Bruce has been a father and mentor to local musicians for over a decade. No matter how bad you do on his open stage, and I know this from personal experience, he will show you nothing but limitless patience and tolerance. I swear, his soul must be made of an everlasting gob stopper.
I have been trying to write a story about Bruce Dalzell for almost as long as the AMN website has been in existence--almost 5 years. Over the years I've tried to assign this story to folks that I thought could do a much better job of describing Bruce than I could. However most people felt the same way as I did, they didn't want to do an injustice to a man that has helped so many.
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Months ago, I emailed dozens of musicians whom I know performed at the Front Room. I asked them if they could summarize how Bruce has helped them over the years. I invite you to add your own comments to the bottom of this page. In the mean time, here are just some of the replies.
Jon Chin is a singer and songwriter, member of the band Pretty Mighty Mighty, and Co-owner of Workbook Studio in Columbus, Ohio. He had this to say about Bruce. "For me, Bruce has been an inspiration in many ways. The biggest is that evolution throughout a musicians career should not be judged by commercial success. By running the front room open stages and the Billy&Brucie show, he has contributed a huge necessary part to the development of brilliant songwriters and performers at a time when he might have been the only one listening. His attention and encouragement has always meant a lot to me."
Dave Vauble formerly of the Columbus based band, The Randy's, said, "As a former Athens musician; Bruce would come to so many of our shows. His support and encouragement is/was never temporary. Time after time the top of his head would peer above other audience members and humble you on stage with his silent presence. He instantly became a musical hero to me when I first saw him perform at the Front Room to almost nobody. Yet he still gave us what a standing room only crowd would have witnessed. Wow!"
Local music writer and musician Junebug has this to say about Bruce, "He is a consummate professional, truly one of the best kept secrets this town has to offer. a quiet and humble man. He is a fabulous singer an excellent songwriter, a great guitar player and probably the best sound man in town. He has set many a young musician on the proper road with his patience and unflagging support of young musicians. He's been doing the open mic for 10 plus years. And he can make a piano sing."
Local musician Dan Dreifort had this to say, "Bruce has single-handedly helped more Athens musicians than anybody else--even more than that Toledo guy"
Very true.
Bruce has is well known for his solos acoustic work, however, he was a college kid once, and was even in a popular local band.
I caught up with Bruce to ask him some questions about his life, and his music.
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AMN: How long have you been playing guitar and who got your started?
Bruce: I've been playing guitar since I was ten. My siblings were musical. They got me started.
AMN: When you first began to play music, was there anything around that was comparable to the current local stage at the Front Room?
Bruce: No. We did little shows in the living room for family and friends.
AMN: What has inspired you to continue hosting the open stage at the Front Room for over a decade? You must really love it to have done it for so long.
Bruce: It is a great job. Its an opportunity to create a supportive environment for folks who want to see if performing is something they can do. Its a great place to meet talented people. Its a chance for me to work out tunes or guitar sounds in a room I know well. I've heard some amazing things. Two guys, one read from the works of T.S. Eliot while the other played a digerry-doo. Another guy once recited, quite dramatically, the short stories of Edgar Allen Poe.
AMN: Were you born in Athens or did you move here for school, work, or other reasons?
Bruce: I moved here as a child, graduated from Athens High School and moved away. About 14 times. First, to Boston, at 17 to learn to tune pianos. When I found no work there after a year, I returned for the first time.
AMN: When and where did you meet your wife, Gay?
Bruce: Upon returning to Athens, I took a job playing banjo in a touring group out of the OU School of Theater called the Appalachian Green Parks Project that toured state parks bringing folk music and Ohio history to the tourists. There I met Gay, a music therapy student who could act and sing and was a babe to boot.
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AMN: How long have you and Gay been performing together? I ask, because my wife and I have been performing music together around Athens for about 10 years now. Our first-ever performance was on your open stage!
Bruce: We do what we can. Up to that point my tastes in music ran from Jimmy Buffett to John Prine. Gay turned me on to the hippness of George Gershwin and we've been performing as a folk jazz duo since 1976 one coast to the other.
AMN: Can you list some of the venues where you and Gay have performed?
Bruce: We haven't traveled since the kids started coming so most of the clubs we played have closed. We played the venerable Freight and Salvage in Berkley, the Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley CA, The Bitter End in the Village, The No-Name Coffeehouse in Cambridge MA.
AMN: Are your children showing signs of being talented musically?
Bruce: We have two boys and a girl. Just took the oldest to college. The oldest, Harlan, had a band with Tristan Kinsley before he left. Corina, aged 11, shows great promise in all things artful. Grady, aged 13, plays outside linebacker and third base. Quite well too.
AMN: You have collaborated with numerous musicians on various recording projects. As a result, you are listed on the liner notes of your wife's vocal group, The Local Girls. You are also have recorded with your friend Billy Rhinehart. Who else have you collaborated with over the years?
Bruce: I really haven't done that much that's commercially available. We did Pat White's "Easy Way To Live." He was a big influence of mine musically as a boy. He now is produce manager at Bob's IGA. I was part of a band in the early eighties called the Kings of Hollywood that recorded and album, available only on vinyl, called "Unfinished Sympathies."
AMN: Are you generally happy with the tracks you decide to record.?
Bruce: I am not comfortable in the glare of the studio so they all turn out better than I expect they will.
AMN: Tell me about the Billie and Brucie show. It was around before I arrived at OU in 1992. Although I've heard about the show and seen several advertisements for reunion shows, I still know very little about it.
Bruce: The eighties were a desolate time for anyone trying to play music that was not disco or a derivative. I hosted open mics at just about every bar in town, got fired too. There was no place for a sensitive guy to play if he valued his life. Jim Prouty, in one of his few inspired moments, let me do a series of songwriter nights at O'Hooley's. They failed miserably but I was hooked on creating a workable environment for lonesome dudes like me. A friend had a space in the basement of her restaurant and agreed to let Billy Rhinehart and me do weekly shows featuring local music we thought was cool. We lasted nine months before being thrown out. Just then, another friend opened a coffee shop and said come on down. We lasted a year there. Finally, Tim Hogan took us in, gave us unbelievable support and a ton of money and The Billy and Brucie Show ran at the Front Room for eight years. Our best show was Pete Anderson in the ballroom.
AMN: Did you know that Pete Anderson has a bootleg of a 1997 show at O.U. for sale on his website? (http://www.peteandersonnews.com/albums.html) Did he record that on the Billie and Brucie show?
Bruce: Yes, that was the show he did here for us. We were quite pleased he liked the show that much, despite only 25 people in attendance. He told us afterward that he and the band hadn't intended to tour but his agent called and said some guy in Ohio keeps calling to see if he would come.
AMN: You're an open stage maniac. Recently, you notified me that you started another one in the bunch of grapes room. I also read that you are doing one for kids at the library? Tell me about the library open stage?
Bruce: The library brings us in to do a summertime open stage for all ages. People from age 4 to 75 come and get up and perform something, anything. You never heard so many Knock-knock jokes in your life. A wonderful job.
AMN: Like you mentioned, the Front Room open stage has been a proving ground for lots of local musicians. Nearly all of current wave of Athens musicians have gotten a start at the campus coffee shop's open stage. Members of bands from Guest to Poppycock along with singer songwriters like Tony Xenos, Jon Chin, Carrie Elkin, Cathy Wicks-- all have been on your stage. I'm sure so many have passed through that it's hard to keep track of them. Are there any musicians in particular that supprised you with the amount of success they attained after getting a humble start on your stage?
Bruce: Actually, I've seen many great performers that I was surprised didn't go on to stardom. Kim Richey played it long ago. Ray McNiece, a terrific poet and performance artist based in Cleveland comes regularly.
AMN: What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about playing one of your open stages for the first time?
Bruce: Have fun. Project beyond the microphone. Have fun. Realize that time and space are intrinsically different onstage.
Bruce: Many people new to performing don't realize that you can practice for hours in your bedroom but once you are onstage you have to concentrate more on projecting you energy out to the audience. Too many folks don't get farther than the mic. Personally, I don't feel being in tune is as important as playing with energy. Once you step onstage, a performer has a responsibility to his audience. Leave the inside stuff at home. Don't be discouraged if an audience doesn't seem to be with you, people have lives.
AMN: The Front Room open stage regularly features new musicians with fresh ideas. As a result, you constantly are exposed to the bleeding edge of musical tastes. Is there any trend or musical style that you feel is emerging in Athens?
Bruce: I am not conscious of a present trend. We do seem to be coming out of a big Dave Mathews period. Tablature found on the internet really helped our performers achieve a level of playing ability that's quite advanced.
AMN: What is your general assessment of the local music scene in Athens. Is it healthy? Or is their room for improvement?
Bruce: Its one of those things. There is presently so much happening musically that audiences here are getting quite spoiled. If there is something cool happening every week, there is no need to get off the couch tonight. I play Parkersburg regularly and folks down there are so much more appreciative of the music they see because there is less of it. I do have to give Tim Peacock big yeah's.
AMN: I hear that you have a piano tuning business. Which leads me to believe two things 1) you have a good ear, 2) you like pain... my lord it's got to be a huge pain to tune that many strings. Anyhow, my question is two fold. Do you play piano? How long have you been tuning pianos?
Bruce: I play a little and never in public. Been tuning 27 years.
Well there you have it. 5 years in the making and I have a feeling I'll be doing another story on Bruce again to make up for this honest attempt at a decent story.
Please, if you have comments about Bruce, feel free to add your thoughts below.
