Part Two – IBC Winners Piper and The Hard Times’ Revelation

Revelation is an apt title for Piper & The Hard Times’ first album. Twenty years together, this band led by three guys in their 50s broke out last year winning the International Band Competition in Memphis as revealed in Part One of this article. The album has all the bite of classic West Side Chicago blues giants like Buddy Guy and Luther Allison – except this five-piece band is from Nashville, and their arrangements match Piper’s hardscrabble vocals with 12 songs featuring solos by keyboards along with sax in a combination that’s blues’ answer to heavy metal rock.

“Piper’s real name is Al Green,” says bandleader, songwriter and guitarist Steve Eagon. “I kid you not. Everybody laughs. We used to go by Piper and The Hard Times when the band was first formed. Then we had to take a few years off to take care of the family and other things like that. When we got back together and came back as Al Green and The Hard Times, we created a ton of confusion out in the music world because we’d get booked on gigs, and people would think they were coming to see the Reverend Al Green.

“Piper lives about two hours south of Nashville. He’s in the country on a 25-acre farm that he and his wife own. He knocks people’s socks off (but) when we started lining up some interviews he would forget about them.

“Things started opening up for us even before we went to the IBC. I walked away from a corporate job to take a break from that and think about what I wanted to do and pour my time into music. It was all about timing.

“My wife and I became empty nesters, and Dave (Colella on drums) was in a different position with his business and his wife, and Al the same thing. So, it became very easy for us to focus on the music and to make the right decisions. We needed to build the team around us because it’s hard in itself. Then, it becomes even more challenging to take advantage of the things that you are offered.

“If this had happened five or six years ago, I’m not sure we’d have been in a position to take advantage of the IBC win the way we did. So, even though we’re now in our 50s, we’re playing better than we’ve ever played, more mature. The songwriting is even better, and we have the time to put our energy towards taking that IBC win. When that door opened, we did all the things we needed to do like putting an album out, and putting a team together – a very professional team. And we’re all mature people with a business sense about us. We treat it like we already had a small business, but now we’re gonna grow the business.

“Our keyboard player is Amy Frederick, and then our bass player is the youngest guy in the band. He’s in his 30s. So, he’s young, the baby. His name is Parker Hawkins. We went through some different players over these many years, and when we met Parker and Amy it was instantaneous. The two are like us in our personalities and their commitment, and they’re just phenomenal musicians.”

I asked Steve what was more important in choosing new members of the band, the musicianship or the camaraderie? “Oh, that’s easy. The camaraderie’s gotta gel there first. I have a nephew who is 16 and plays drums. I always tell him, ‘Do not surround yourself with assholes. I don’t care how talented they are.’

“I mean there are some bands that make that work. We have a new song that’s going be on the next album called ‘Good Company.’ It’s about surrounding yourself with good people. Whatever happens in life, if you’ve got good friends that support you through thick and thin, life will always work its way out. It’s a rocker and it’s fun.”

Is the band nervous about releasing their sophomore album later this year? “I’m not that nervous about it. I think we’ve got some good songs we’ve already been playing out for a month and a half to see the crowd reaction. If we have a stinker, it’s not going to get recorded. We just have a level of confidence. It’s not cockiness. It’s just confidence in what we write, and we’re involving the other two band members quite a bit in this round of writing to capture their input. So, it’s going to be more of a collaborative five-piece band.”