CHAD HARVEY

On May 7, 2002, I saw the sunrise in Indiana and the sunset in Texas. I had loaded my pickup truck the night before with my guitar and anything else I could squeeze in to the cab..."  That is an excerpt from the liner notes of my first record 'Get Lit'. As I recall that day I left Indiana...I was just a kid and I was moving to Austin...terrified and excited all at the same time. I knew not ONE person in Austin. But, I WAS MOVING TO AUSTIN F'ING TEXAS!! Me, my Fender DG21s (see post about this guitar from a couple of weeks ago) and a duffel bag of clothes and three...yes..only three songs I had written and they were terrible.  Austin...the hallow ground where so many of my heroes had started. You all know the big names...but I do want to mention the three main guys that I was into at the time (and still am) that influenced me to move Todd Snider, Charlie Robison and Jack Ingram.  Without them, I would have never moved to Austin or pursued my songwriting passion with the intensity that I have.

When I got there...I had never played a show... I took that Fender DG21s to @southaustinmusic and had them install a @fishmanmusic pickup...I remember it costing as much as the guitar...and man was I broke. From there I would play my first ever time in public at an open mic at the Water Tank on the Northwest side of Austin, then I started playing the open mic at Giddy Ups on the south side and then
when I thought I was ready I played the open mics of all open mics...Kent Finlay's open mic at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos. I could write a whole post on Kent's open mic...from the history, who has played it, and the experience. I will leave that for another time. The Water Tank’s open mic was on a Sunday, Cheatham Street's was Wednesday, and Giddy Ups' was Thursday...this gave me three nights to play and keep getting better, better and better.

This journey is To Be Continued...

My First Guitar.. was this Fender DG21s pictured here.  I purchased this back in 1998 at the old Mars Music in Nashville at 100 Oaks Mall.  I picked up this and one of those beginner guitar CD-ROMS - I took them home stuck the disc in a computer and began my struggle through the easy chord progression of Knockin' on Heaven's Door...thinking I was never going to get this down... glad I stuck with it.  The first song I ever learned all the way through...and played in public was Charlie Robison's My Hometown....a great GREAT song and artist who has been a huge influence on me.  When I moved to Austin in 2002, I had South Austin Music install a nice Fishamn pickup and off I went to play as many open mics as I could.

I still have the guitar, although I haven't played it in years...after replacing it with a couple Gibsons and a Martin.  I did write half of the songs from my first record 'Get Lit' on this guitar.  So, maybe I should pull it out to write?  Great memories with this guitar.  I would love to hear about your first instrument.  Any good memories?