Dive Bars - An Appreciation
(I took this picture on Friday night before we started our first set.
The sign was in the rear of the bar.)

We drove 4 hours round-trip, played 3 hours straight and went home with only $75 each in our pockets...  Yet all Ronn Benway and I could talk about was what an amazing show we had  at TJ Shooters bar last Friday night.  It was the kickoff of the Shane Speal Dive Bar Tour and I brought Benway to play washboard (we were billed as The Shane Speal Duo).  We started the show with an RL Burnside song, ended the night with a funk freakout and somewhere in the middle, we won over a new fan base in Danville, PA.

TJ Shooters is a dive bar... and I mean that as a compliment. 

I love dive bars.  Dive bar folks aren't looking to impress.  They're looking for comfort and companionship.  Dim lights, old friends, beer specials and the possibility of a good time are the only goals here.  These are "salt of the earth" people.  Joe Sixpack.  Blue collar.  My kinda crowd.

As much as I love playing bigger venues, festivals and high profile gigs, I crave playing these places.  The stage areas are usually a crammed in little corner of the bar, forcing you to play right in the middle of everyone partying.  Dancers fall on you.  Beer gets spilled on your shoes.  You play to them on an eye-to-eye level.  When you're that close, you'd better bring the goods or go home! 

If your show is good...the right song choices, delivery, theatrics...you'll see it right away.  If you're sucking, trust me they'll let you know!  The immediacy of response is like a drug...your mind is continually planning the next thing to freak them out or get them dancing.   Bore them and they'll talk over your show.  Win them over and they'll buy you whiskey shots and pour 'em in your mouth as you play.  Amaze them and you'll have fans for life who try to get you more gigs in their area!

This summer, I'll be performing on festival stages and larger venues.  Summer can wait.  I'm having a blast playing eye-to-eye with the beer:30 crowd right now. 

See you in a dive bar soon. 
Oh...and stay primal!

-Shane Speal
Pictured above right:  Shane fan, Adam Holmes of Dust Box Guitars (Ontario, Canada) shows off his Shane Speal DIVE BAR TOUR shirt.  Got a picture of yourself with a Shane shirt or holding a Shane Speal cigar box guitar?  POST THEM ON MY PERSONAL FACEBOOK PAGE! 
https://www.facebook.com/shane.speal.1

SEE SHANE LIVE THIS WEEK (with two shows on Saturday!):

SHANE SPEAL DOWNLOADS - JUST $3.33 PER ALBUM!  I'm raising money to purchase stage truss systems for my Dive Bar Tour.  All my past albums are on sale for $3.33 per album download from today until Jan 30th.  This sale allows you to snag three albums of your choice for 10 bucks.  Shane Speal $3.33 download sale.

Do you make t-shirts, stickers, handmade cigar box guitar related items or other merchandise that could be offered at Shane Speal's Snake Oil Band merch table during the Summer festival season?  Would you like to trade for this cigar box guitar?

This is Shane's top-of-the-line "The King" 4 string electric cigar box guitar and it's currently on sale at www.cigarboxguitar.com for $295.  Shane is offering it as a special trade deal for one person with the right merch.  Contact Shane at shanespeal@yahoo.com or catch him on Facebook.