Doc Stevens

Tondeleo: One thing that Doc and Marilyn are kind of known for is that they use instruments that aren't very nice. I have been with them when they show up at events with other bands. In the same way that women size each other up by looking at their shoes and purses, bands size each other up by looking at each others' equipment. 

This has always been a sore spot for Doc and Marilyn and the band, because for years all Doc had was home made guitars that he made by re-purposing old parts that people gave him, and fixing warped or broken necks. He learnt how to mix and match pickups until he got the sounds he liked, and how to put slab wood into the wooden boxes he would use for the guitar bodies, but still, his guitars and amps were clearly not commercially made. Now, there are times when they use regular instruments like other bands, and they don't feel as self conscious...

Doc: Yeah, well, you get used to people with nice stuff lookin' down on you, Tondy. It ain't nothin' new. Like when I was in school we got made fun of for bein' poor. People lagh at you if your clothes are torn or don't fit right. In high school, the girls went for the boys who had store-bought underwear and cars and money. We had to make do with what we had.

But we learned how to work hard and make a penny stretch. My daddy used to say that two of his uncles invented copper wire... they were fightin' over a penny. But, yeah, we had bad hair. Mama cut our hair with scissors so it never looked right. That's why we wore hats when we could. We had hand me down everything.

And that's where I learned to make guitars from. My first one was a diddly bow. It was a board about 3 feet long and a wire stretched tight between two eye screws. Then, Daddy showed me how to put a single edge razor into a block of wood and put it under the string. When you slide the block of wood with the razor in it back and forth it makes the notes higher and lower. That was the beginning.

Later when the boys at school started gettin' guitars for their birthdays and Christmas, I started wantin' a guitar real bad. Well, as the other boys would break their guitars or tore them up, I'd get them from 'em for a couple dollars and bring 'em home and try to fix them. I'd take 'em apart and use whatever I could to try to get somethin' I could play. 

We had old wooden boxes sittin' around and I started usin' those for guitar bodies...

Tondeleo: What kind of boxes?

Doc: Boxes like dinner knives came in, that mama would pick up at the thrift shop, or what other things came in. I picked out ones that was the right size and then figured out how to make 'em play good and sound good.

Tondeleo: Did you ever build cigar box guitars?

Doc: Yeah, sure I did. But I didn't like 'em too much. They are small, so you got to have a shorter neck and that makes 'em harder to keep tuned. Plus, they didn't have so good of tone or sustain. I like sustain. Cigar boxes aren't too strong and I kept breakin' 'em.

I started makin' guitars out of tackle boxes back in the 90's 'cause they are strong, cheap and the right size for a full size neck and three pick ups... plus I got room for a couple sandwiches and drinks in them, and a guitar cord. I still got one of my first tackle box guitars.

I still make guitars out of smaller boxes. Some people like smaller guitars for when they're ramblin' around or whatever. I sell 'em or trade 'em for somethin' they have that I might want.

I like makin' bigger guitars, with six strings - my cigar box sized ones also got 6 strings - so you can actually play a whole show with 'em. They ain't a novelty for me, Tondy, they are tools.

Tondeleo: What do you do to get them to sound so good. I hear that all the time from other musicians, that your box guitars sound good and play well.

Doc: Well, first of all, I balance 'em pretty good, so the neck ain't heavier than the body. I put in a slab of like two inch thick wood inside, so they feel right and so they sustain real good. Also, I ain't stuck on one kind of pick up. I mix and match til I find some that I like how they sound together. Same with the pots.  On the necks, I usually just use a regular guitar neck, but sand it down til it is slimmer and has better action. Like I said, these ain't toys to me. They are what I use when I play.

Tondeleo: Tell us how you use those home made guitars to get other guitars.

Doc: Well, I'll be playin' somewhere, and someone hears my home made guitar, and then they want to play it for themself. Sometimes, they want to trade one of their store bought guitars for it, and if I like what they got, I'll do it. If not, then I don't. I got a couple of old Telecasters out of that over the years, and some other guitars. Got a couple steel guitars. Some acoustics, too. 

I done that with amps, too. I got some that I put together from old parts and speakers and they sound real good. If people want to trade for somethin' that I like, I'll do it. Last Summer, a guy traded me a  100 watt Marshall 410 cabinet and amp for an old tube amp I had what was only 60 watts. He's happy and I'm happy. Got a 100 watt Peavey Valve King 410 the same way. Our lead player Jerry only had a small amp, so I got that one for him to play with. Those amps are louder and sound good. I'm a tradin' fool!

Least now, if I need to have a real store bought guitar somewhere, I got a couple I could bring so people ain't starin' at me all the time.

Tondeleo: For serious musicians, everything else is just something they have to get out of the way, so they can play music. 

If they have jobs, the job is to pay the bills so they can play music. As soon as they have spare time, they're out playing music and trying to find people to play with. It doesn't matter if they are poor or are doing well financially, it seems that serious musicians all feel this way. At least the ones I have met through Doc and his friends. 

Doc: Yeah, that's pretty much right, Tondy. Hey, here's an old musician joke for you. What's the difference between a guitar player and a pizza?

Tondeleo: I don't know, what IS the difference between a guitar player and a pizza?

Doc: A pizza can feed a family of four... guitar player can't. Well, most of 'em can't. Not without a regular job.

But yeah, like you said, we want to play all the time. If we go out and are playin' a lot of times there's other players out there listenin' and they might ask if they can come up an' play with us.

Like me an' Rick was out playin' the other night. The rest of the Holy Ghost Band wasn't available, so just the two of us took the bookin'.  We knew that there'd be people there who would join in and make a band and we'd sound ok.

We got home made and cheap equipment. That means we've had to learn to work around that. The other guys have nice stuff. I have to make my guitars sound as good as theirs or it won't work. They do't care how my stuff looks, just how it sounds.


Tondeleo: And what happened... did it work out that way?

Doc: Yeah, as we  got set up, a drummer and bass player was listenin' to us tune up and hit a few notes. They joined us from the git-go. Then a lead player and a trumpet player of all things. That's the first time we had a blues trumpet player with us. He was good, and I didn't even get to meet him! He just come up and played real well, and then disappeared into the night after about an hour of playin.' Later Jim McWilliams said the guy on trumpet was Mike Robey. I never did get to meet him.

The drummer was Glen Strobel. He played a while and does a good job. Then Bobby Jones played drums lot of songs. He was the drummer for Roy Buchanan for like 30 years and was on a lot of albums with Roy and toured the world. He was there.

We had a couple lead players, too that night. Couple of bass players, too. A gal named JoAnn and a guy whose name I didn't get, and Troy Peterson swapped around from lead to bass. Bill Hull played lead for a while. People swapped in and out a lot.

One reason we get a lot of people and other bands what like us is we sound different than most. We ain't had no music lessons, so a lot of what we do is homebrew.

Tondeleo: Homebrew???

Doc: Yeah, homebrew. It means we just sit down by the radio   and try to figure out what they was playin'. We end up not playin' it exactly like the guy on the radio, but we discover a lot of other things while tryin' to play it.

You wouldn't get that if you took lessons. You'd just be taught how that guy played it and that would be all you learned. People ask me all the time how I learnt to play a song a certain way. It's not because I'm doin' it better, cause I'm not. It's because it's different, but still sounds pretty good.

Another part of it is because we don't play bar band music, and that is different.

Tondeleo: Can you explain what bar band music is?

Doc: Bar band music is what bands got to play in bars. Like Hits of the 70's, 80 's and 90's and 00's. They got to do that to get bookin's. Plus the people in the bars ain't really listenin', but they expect that band to sound JUST like the original recording. Look, the original band never played it like the original recording, if you heard them play it live, later. Why should I try to sound like someone else sounded ONE time in their life. But if you're a bar band, that's what the audience wants. They can all be drunk, but if you play a couple of notes different than the record, they notice it and don't like it. To them, you got it "wrong." You gotta play it like the jukebox.

We play songs that's in our hearts and play and sing it like it is in our hearts. If it ain't in my heart, I ain't playin' it or singin' it. Old country music, like our daddies listened to, Hank Williams, Sr, and Webb Pierce, Patsy Cline, and then we play some old school Gospel from Grandma's day, and we play old school blues, like Muddy, BB, Buddy Guy and all them, and we play some rockabilly. But we don't sound like the record on any of them. We just sound like us, which is hard enough.

Anyway, we let anybody who's good enough to be playin' somewhere play with us. If they sound real good, we step back and let them take front and center. You can't be a show off and hope to get along with other people. You can't be a mic hog or a spotlight hog and expect people to want to play with you again. Everybody got to be in the spotlight for a bit. Especially if they been helpin' you to sound good! You got to appreciate other peoples' talent and feelings.

It's quite interesting how things can change in a matter of days, let alone over two years.One thing that has impressed me is that now Doc and Marilyn have classic looking posters that are used to promote the events that they are playing at. This is a long way from when I first met them and they were playing on street corners and Marilyn would pass the hat. Me: Doc, these posters that you guys have are fantastic! How'd that come into being?  

Doc: "Well, it aint all that much to it. That guy what gives us things from time to time, Billy, from down south, got hold of a artist who makes 'em for us. Marilyn gets the info, an' then she calls it in or texts or somethin' an' he makes 'em up. Then she takes them somewheres an' gets 'em printed at her friend's job. She also sends them in a eletter to different people what likes us an' they pass 'em to they's friends or somethin'. They DO look pretty good, I gotta admit.

"That guy does a real good job an' Marilyn frames 'em an' decorates the walls with 'em. It brightens up the room a bit. Plus it reminds us places where we played an' gives us good memories.I like 'em and other people say they like 'em. That guy what makes 'em made up a bunch of different ones an' then just fills in the name an' date or something like that. Marilyn knows more about it than I do.  

Me: They look really good, Doc. Kind of old school. They remind me of something from out of an old movie or something. I don't quite know, but I like them very much, and they're definitely eye-catching. They also suit the kind of music that you and Marilyn and the band play. If I see the poster, it makes me expect something that is different, old school and interesting. They would make me want to go hear you!
Doc: "I heard other people say things like that, too, Tondy. I guess it's a good thing. Marilyn gets 'em, then emails 'em and prints some, and other people what gets 'em emails 'em and twitters them or whatever that thing is called an' sends 'em to they friends on they phone. I don't know all the ways they do it, but it works an' they ain't usin' paper for most of them and Marilyn says it saves trees.

"I say it don't really matter 'cause all the trees they make paper out of is planted by the paper companies what intended from day one to make paper outta them, an' they's always plantin' more, so they can make more paper. They don't just go out into the woods with chainsaws an' cut down everything they see. They grow 'em special for that. But usin' phones and computers to send them posters out is a good idea what Marilyn had and is faster and cheaper, too. You can count me in on that idea, Tondy."

Doc showed me a couple of dozen or more posters from various venues that they have played. The posters look good, the venues are better than they were a few years ago, and it is interesting how someone can go from playing on the streets and passing the hat for a few pennies to having a band and playing regular venues on a regular basis. He said that there's more he needs to tell me, but it can wait until later. I do think that he has an inborn sense of timing and pacing. I thought that the first time I heard him playing out on the streets, working the crowd, building his presentation to a pitch and then passing the hat. 

When I first heard him with Marilyn, and saw that she had that same sense of presentation and timing, as well as being better looking than him, I figured something good might come of it all. I can see that it clearly is working well for them.  

It has been a little more than two years since I did any writing for Doc Stevens. I have been studying at uni, and have difficulty with some of my exams. I have had to take extended breaks in order to pay my expenses. A lot has happened in my life and in Doc's life, Marilyn's life and their music. I have finally been able to come back to the States, and it was so god to be able to meet up with Doc and Marilyn and their friends again. It has been too long!
Over the last two years, Doc and Marilyn have solidified their music, and have added some consistent band members. For years, they have relied on whomever could get a day off work, or whoever was available to play at any particular event. They have a lot of friends who are good musicians, but it has always been a sore point, when discovering who had a change of plans at the last minute, and who would actually show up. They finally have a name for the band, and have pretty well with it. They play at festivals, family reunions, community and civic events, church concerts, reunions and other events, as well as pig pickin's and fish fries. They settled on the name, "The Doc Stevens and Marilyn Holy Ghost Band and Show." I asked Doc how they came up with that name, and he had on of his typical answers where you cannot be sure whether he is joking with you or being serious.

Here is what he said: "Well, Tondy, the Doc Stevens part was pretty easy. That's my name. The Marilyn part was also easy because that's Marilyn's name. The Holy Ghost part was pretty easy 'cause we're all filled with the Holy Ghost. The band part was easy because we all sing and play music together, so we added the word, 'band.' We show our high energy and our zeal, and aren't afraid to let it show, and that is where we got the word, 'show."

Somehow I feel like I shouldn't have asked, but Doc looks genuinely open and like he is telling me exactly how they came up with that name so I am not going to question him anymore about it or press him for any more details. They have collected a very talented group of musicians over the last two years. 

Jerry "Buttermilk" Wade plays lead guitar for them, and adds just the right chemistry musically and socially in the group. He is from North Carolina and has traveled extensively in his quest to keep food on the table and a roof over his head. 

On bass guitar is Jay "I Didn't Do It" Jordan. Jay is a diesel mechanic and also owns his own dump truck. He has a 6 string bass that he is all over. He adds a definite rumble and rhythm to the sound. 

On the drums is Brian Garner, and no one is real sure where he came from. He is quiet and doesn't talk about his personal life too much. He lives in Western Charles County now, and plays drums well. That's about all Doc knows about him. 

Rick "Lump" Tolley plays the bones and the blues harp. Rick is a longtime resident of Western Charles County, and is the brains of the group, according to Doc - well, Doc says that Rick and Marilyn both have been blessed with more brains then he has, which he allows isn't much anyway. 

Marilyn has moved to Eastern Shore, MD, and still comes to play with the band as often as possible. Doc said he was afraid she was going to split up the act when she moved there, since it's a two and a half hour drive, but she still makes it to all the main events. He's real proud of her, and how she has grown up and launched off on her own. But he misses her. 

I've been taking a lot of notes this Summer when talking with them, hundreds of pictures and a few good vids of them when they have played this Summer. I've gotten to record several hours of talks as well with them, and am looking forward to updating the blog, and catching up on the changes that have taken place over the last two years since we have been together. 

I'm guessing that the first several posts will be just trying to update what has happened in Doc and Marilyn's lives, and in the lives of their friends. That will keep me quite busy for a while. I just hope I can juggle my new intense schedule and work and class and also be able to keep the blog updated over the next few months. We shall see what we shall see.