who plays, they come about it at the same way. They start in their bedroom, they learn their craft, they work on their ability and try to gain that prowess. They spend all this time perfecting something that now has to be presented to someone. On stage playing to people, it’ s not about what you can do, it ' s how you present what you can do. It ' s an entirely different skill set. I was very lucky as a kid in the sixth grade, I had a teacher who was a musician who encouraged me to practice in front of a mirror and see what you look like playing and be aware of it. It didn ' t really take root until later in my career. When I ' m on stage playing, it ' s easily the happiest I am in life. It’ s what I love to do. People forget this, but if you ' re happy, go ahead and express it. Some people can be happy and still be very stonefaced. Other people can be happy and actually smile and look at people and let them know. If there ' s been an evolution in how I perform, it ' s that I ' ve become much more comfortable in my own skin. I ' m just a much more honest entertainer than I have been in the past.
So, you’ re talking about two different skill sets as a singer? There ' s learning your
craft, and then there is learning how to present your craft. I look at entertainers like Roy Clark. Everybody knows Roy Clark. I ' m not taking anything away from his skill, but what he did was not very, very difficult stuff to play most of the time. What he did was he sold it. He made you think that he was doing something no one else on the planet could do. He made it look hard. He moved his fingers faster than they needed to be moved. He was an entertainer. If I describe a show of mine as having been a good show, it’ s because people were laughing and having fun, not because I felt like it was the best music we played.
Aside from the music, I hear that you’ re a big golfer. I golf every chance I can. It ' s the one thing that I can do that takes my mind completely away from everything else in life. When you ' re over that golf ball, it demands everything you have. It ' s my number two game. People don ' t know this, or it’ s something they ' re just starting to know, but my real game is foosball. Table soccer is my jam. I don ' t golf every day, but I play foosball every day. I ' ve been playing since I could see over the edge of the table as a
very young boy. I played at a pretty high level growing up and then found a tournament circuit and started traveling up and down the East Coast. I played 50 or 60 hours a week. I wanted to be a pro. Then I moved away in 1989 to play music and joined the Lonesome River Band. The rest of my life kind of wrote itself. I took a 32-year gap of not playing, and then a couple of years ago, I was scrolling through the internet and found a foosball tournament. I decided I was going to call my old partner from 30 years ago, and we were going to go and have some fun. He reluctantly showed up, and we took third in the event, and I took another third place trophy, something like senior singles, and I went home with table number eight in my trunk. I bought one of the foosball tables, and I got back into it. I ' m an amateur foosball player, but I ' ve been doing it a lot. I ' ll challenge any other amateurs to a foosball match. I ' ve been doing that a lot more than I ' ve been golfing. I’ m looking forward to the World Championships coming up in New Orleans. That’ s the only event that I block my calendar off and don ' t consider anything musical. My goal is to win an amateur title.
See These Shows Before They Close!
A ROOM OF HER OWN:
WOMEN ARTIST-ACTIVISTS IN BRITAIN, 1875 – 1945
Through September 14
BERENICE ABBOTT’ S MODERN LENS
Through October 5
ISAMU NOGUCHI:
LANDSCAPES OF TIME
Through October 13
LEFT TO RIGHT: Dame Laura Knight, A Balloon Site, Coventry( detail), 1943, oil on canvas. IWM( Imperial War Museums), Art. IWM ART LD 2750. © Imperial War Museums / © Estate of Dame Laura Knight. All rights reserved 2024 / Bridgeman Images; Berenice Abbott, Penn Station( detail), 1935 – 38, printed 1982, gelatin silver print. The Clark, gift of A & M Penn Photography Foundation by Arthur Stephen Penn and Paul Katz, 2007.2.33; Isamu Noguchi, Model for Octetra( detail), 1968, plaster. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, 649-m3, Photo: Kevin Noble © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society
WILLIAMSTOWN MASSACHUSETTS CLARKART. EDU
32 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday Fall 2025 2023