Wayside Jones

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So, in the mid-1990's, I was really missing playing

It had been years since I'd played in a band, I hadn't even touched my darling solid Maple American-made Fender Precision Bass. I had, however, moved to Georgia, got married, and had a child. Still, I missed playing. Then one day I met a friend of a friend who played guitar. We talked music for awhile and he said he knew some guys who played, we should all get together and jam.

I met his friends, one was a self-taught lead guitarist (read wanker), the other an older guy used to playing solo (his big number, as I recall, was "Big Boss Man". We got together, worked up a few sets of material. It was good for me, as I was so rusty from not playing it took about a month to get my chops back. We played the American Legion in Gray GA, and a private party hosted by a drummer. The drummer was pretty good, but not interested in our act.

Big Boss Man, ultimately, had to go, so two new guys joined in, a drummer and a lead singer who wrote songs. His wife of the time initially also sang with us. Then she left him. For the third time. It inspired him to write the song "Third Time's the Charm", which started us writing originals. We were a country/southern rock act, which wasn't what I'd always aspired to, but it was fun practicing and playing with the guys. We practiced at the original guy's parents house in Wayside GA out in their barn. Wayside is in Jones County GA, so we dubbed ourselves Wayside Jones.

We were okay now, not great but we had our moments. We played that American Legion more times than one would be proud to admit. The drummer and I got very tight as a rhythm section. The lead guitarist was so-so and had an unhealthy love of Peavy instruments I could never understand. The original guy who got us together did his best to add value by singing backup as well. Our front continued writing songs, and I contributed one as well.

As a performer, I was always a bit...energetic, shall we say. The rest of the guys would just stand like lumps, doing their best impressions of The Cars, while I would bounce, dance, wiggle, and generally jump around in my Converse All-Stars.  See for yourself:

We played decent gigs, which led to playing a Halloween party for the Atlanta Sports and Social Club at the Roxy Theater. Since it was a costume party, I naturally chose to go as Bullwinkle J. Moose. Didn't have to buy anything, I had the whole outfit already. ;-) My guitarist from The Tim Tew Four (and The Pretzel Sisters, and The Gestapo) was into video at the time. He'd switched from playing wedding receptions to filming them. When I told him about the gig, he offered to come up and video the whole thing, thus providing the clips you find here. A New Year's gig for AS&SC was, I felt, our high note, performance-wise.

But not long after that, things changed. The guys decided the original guy who'd got us all together had to go. I was elected to tell him. We lost our practice digs and started playing at the lead singer's house. We tried added a keyboard player the drummer knew, which was better than the 3-guitar assault we'd fronted before, but the guy just didn't mesh with us. He was more of a front guy himself, and while he added material to our act, I dunno, I never really cared for him.

By middle of the year, I'd quit my crappy sales job, went back to school for IT, and had to quit Wayside Jones as well. The guys found another bass player and I think they did pretty well for awhile, but I really pretty much dropped out once I left. I didn't pick things back up again until my relaunch of Mooseboy Alfonzo and His Prairie Troubadours almost a decade later.