Bo Spring was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee where from birth his family enveloped him with a wide variety of musical influences. Bo’s grandfather was a retired WW2 vet who spent many years playing big band sax and flute with the Shriner’s Band. Bo’s mother and father saturated him with a heavy dose of late 50’s and early 60’s rock n’ roll and 70’s soul. Bo started officially learning music at 5 years old, with the time honored tradition of piano lessons. Moving on to trumpet at the age of 10, he would spend hours trying to play big band era favorites alongside his Grandpa. Around 12 years old, Bo was handed down an old Nylon string guitar that had previously belonged to an uncle. Using his piano and trumpet musical base, he is a true self-taught guitar player, never having taken a single lesson. Hours upon hours later, Bo claims it to be an ever evolving love/hate relationship:
“Some days I love playing guitar and it sounds just like I hear it in my head. Other days I want to throw the thing in the Gulf and forget it forever. But then I step back and realize that it’s just another piece of the overall collective sound. I am a firm believer in the ‘less is more’ approach to guitar playing. I can sit by myself and shred all night long, but nobody wants to listen to that garbage from me. While rehearsing or trying a new song, if I start to overcomplicate a guitar line, I sometime think to myself, ‘what would BB King do here, or Mark Knofler?’ Not that I have their licks by any means, but that’s a rooted base of thought to fall back on. It’s all about style, not overbearing technique. Just do your part in the band to create a great overall sound, and then when it’s your turn to step up and be heard, do it with some taste, you know?”
Bo has also dabbled in many other instruments; harmonica, drums, bass, trombone, tuba and the ever present tambourine that is stuck to his left foot during live shows. But the real thing that stands out is Bo’s voice. Untrained, Bo credits his vocal ability as simply a God given gift.
“Man, I don’t know where I learned to sing. We always sang in the car as kids, then it was youth group at church, and from there I just started trying to sing every song I heard. I’ve tried them all; Robert Plant, Al Green, The Beach Boys, Ralph Stanley, Ray Charles, Steven Tyler, Jimmy Reed, Otis Redding, Dan Tyminski, Gregg Allman, George Strait, Elton John, Willie Nelson and probably a bunch of female singers too. Somewhere in that jumble of experiments I started to try to develop my own voice which I’ve put out there at every dive from Atlanta to Baton Rouge and all points in between. ‘Developed on the road’, I guess you could say. I’d be remised if I didn’t mention a guy by the name of Bill Sheffield here. I played in a blues band with him in Atlanta for a couple of years around 2000. He really taught me how to open up these
lungs and put it out there, you know? Man you better be able to sing if you step on stage with that guy! He’ll destroy you on guitar too.”
Joining Bo onstage now is a group of seasoned musicians including Randon Hicks (upright bass fiddle), Grant Terry (drums), Zach Ferrell (percussion), and Art Long (tenor sax). More often than not, Bo’s wife, Lauren, will sit in to sing harmonies. The live show ebbs and flows as the group works its way through a wide variety of influences to create a sound that won’t soon be forgotten. Bo says of the group:
“With this band, we really don’t feel any apprehension to trying anything new or stepping out on a limb musically, and that’s why the songs are always changing. These guys are good enough that they can take any song or style I throw at them and pretty much always make it better. Whether it is a cover or one of my own songs, these guys always amaze me with their own interpretations of the sound. And the great thing is that it’s always changing, so that keeps it fresh and fun for us. We hope the audience gets that vibe too, because that is the essence of what we always want to be about. If it’s not fun for the audience and they feel like we’re just dragging through the same old version of the same old song, then what’s really the point of being up there? In the end it’s about entertaining people and enjoying doing it.”
Stage 2
Friday, September 16th
6:00 - 6:30
8:00 - 8:30
Band Members
Bo Spring - Guitar, vocals
Randon Hicks - Upright bass fiddle
Grant Terry - Drums
Zach Ferrell - Percussion
Art Long - Tenor sax
