“I wasn’t even that aware of what the IBC (International Blues Challenge) was,” says Steve Eagon, bandleader and lead guitarist in the band Piper and The Hard Times. “Then I got a call from somebody at the National Blues and Roots Alliance, which was our local (Nashville) Blues Foundation chapter. They were aware of our band. We had a tremendous reputation as a live band in Nashville, and they said, ‘We really need you guys to enter. We think you could do really well.’
“I talked to (vocalist) Piper and Dave (Colella, drummer). They were kind of unsure if we wanted to do this. It’s a glorified battle of the bands. Now, I thought this would be good for us to give this a shot, and so we did. We just did it on a whim and like let’s just see what happens, and sure enough we walked away with the win. We won the whole thing.”
All of a sudden, this regional blues band together for 20 years was thrust into an international spotlight. Twelve months later, their debut album Revelation – recorded in three days – had debuted at number one on the Billboard Blues Chart. They were touring relentlessly nationally including several high-profile festivals like the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, The Big Blues Bender, The Heritage Music & Blues Fest, and WC Handy Blues & Barbecue Festival.
The album was named Top Independent Album at this year’s IBC, and the group was picked up by Peach Music Group and Blues Pros, LLC whose mission is “about providing quality musical shows and heartfelt personal experiences that put infectious smiles on the faces of our fans, as we spread unbridled joy to each other sharing fun musical events together and spreading good vibes and love to everyone we meet along our journeys.”
More has happened in 12 months than in 20 years together as a regional band.
Steve – who lists his disparate influences as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Stevie Ray Vaughan – picks up the story.
“We were blending them in (originals and covers), but I think when people think of the blues, and they go out and see a blues band, it’s rare to hear original blues-based music. So, people mostly rely on old blues standards, and they make their own to some degree. We came originally with some unique off-the-wall covers, but then our sets were about 50 Percent covers and 50 percent original music, and that’s what we did. And we realized very quickly our original music at a gig was getting the same response when we would play Muddy Waters or B. B. King originals or whatever.
“Dave, our drummer and the lead singer, and I formed this band over 20 years ago. The whole momentum led out of the gate with me leading the band and writing many of the songs. I brought those to the band. We started out as an original band right from the get-go playing our own kind of blues rock music.
“I started playing guitar when I was 11 years old. We were from northern Ohio, so I played in high school and college in Ohio and then took a band job in Virginia and lived there for a while. Then I moved to Nashville in 1999 with my wife; that’s where I met Piper and our drummer Dave, and we put the band together here. So, we’d all done different things and have different musical backgrounds and came to a melting pot like Nashville, Tennessee. We all just sought to find each other.
“We started out in our mid-30s, playing and making waves in Nashville for four hours, doing our thing. And then life comes along. I have a couple of children.
“I’ve been playing guitar for 40 years now, playing with our drummer for over 40 years. Piper’s got a much harder edge, and he had a much more rough upbringing than Dave and I did. We both came from very strong Midwestern/East Coast families. Al came from a little bit tougher outside of Memphis background. He goes by Piper, his stage name.
“My dad is 83 in April. Mom just turned 80. Last year at the IBC in Memphis they both came from Ohio. My brother got ’em down. They’re both in fantastic health mentally and physically, and my mom came down sick. She was battling a cold. and I don’t know if you heard about last year’s IBC, but the high was like 10, and there was a horrible snow and ice storm about four days before IBC. Most of it melted because the temperature stayed low and those two, my mom and dad, were troopers – didn’t miss any show and sat through a seven-hour show at the Orpheum to see us win.”
How did that feel? “Oh, my God!”
Tour Dates:
Feb 22 Sat
Ground Zero – Biloxi, MS @ 7:30 PM
Mar 4 Tue
Private Event – Nashville @ 8:00 PM
Mar 6 Thu
Just Love The Blues – Piper & Steve @ 6:00 PM
Nolensville, TN, United States
Mar 8 Sat
Fox & Locke – Leiper’s Fork/Franklin @ 7:30 PM
Franklin, TN, United States
Mar 13 Thu
Piper & The Hard Times with Joe Waters – IBC Night @ 8:00 PM
Columbus, OH, United States
Mar 14 Fri
Mansion Hill Tavern – Newport, KY @ 8:00 PM
Mar 15 Sat
