Silent Mentor

I helped with a memorial last Saturday for an old friend/acquaintance, Chuck Pyle, who passed away suddenly while fishing a week ago Friday, and it really got me thinking in ways you might not expect.  I say friend/acquaintance because although we talked quite a bit many years ago, we never really got to know each other, and hadn’t talked much in several years.  In truth, I think he was a mentor more than a friend, and I’ll tell you what I mean.

When I started playing professional gigs 35 years ago, I really didn’t know where I would end up, and I had an epiphany when I decided to do music more full-time in 1983.  As I sat in a parking lot in Red River, New Mexico, I considered my life and where my passions were, and I made a decision to pursue music more whole-heartedly.  I was writing an album of my own songs, and I was looking for gigs for the upcoming summer, and as I sat there in my pickup I wrote a song called “Playin’ for Keeps”.  It expressed my commitment to pursue the music I loved, and the trip was successful in that I booked a few places to play that next summer.

At one of the places I ended up playing, Texas Reds, I met a traveling singer/songwriter who was playing the next night at Texas Reds (that was Chuck Pyle).  I was playing there most weeks Thursday through Saturday, and quite often Chuck was on his way back to Colorado from Texas and would play Sunday for a great dancing crowd of locals.  I knew a song of Chuck’s, “Other Side of the Hill”, that I had learned from a Bill and Bonnie Hearne album, and I wanted to hear him play, so I came back on Sunday and was blown away.  Chuck’s finger picking on the guitar was so much more intricate than what I was doing, and his guitar tone, easy style, and strong backbeat were simply amazing.  We hit it off talking shop right away - guitar pickups, sound systems, etc.  That’s what got us calling each other on a regular basis back then.

But by the late ’80’s we had stopped calling so much, and when I met a common friend while looking for guitars in Salt Lake City in the early ’90’s I listened to Chuck’s playing on recordings and was blown away all over again.  In fact, listening to Chuck play made me change my guitar style all over again.  I have played with many styles over the years - flatpick, fingerpick, bare fingers, but Chuck’s style had a percussion and feel that I really wanted to incorporate into my playing.  So I went to hear Chuck several times and got reacquainted with him a bit.  Over the next couple years I modified my style to incorporate some of the percussive elements and backbeat of Chuck’s style that I admired so much.  (Just so you know, this is the two-step beat that is so prevalent in the dance clubs of New Mexico, and the music that I had heard in my teenage years at Philmont and in Taos and Red River.)

So Chuck was a silent mentor to me as I studied his guitar style and brought some of that heartfelt rhythm into my own style.  Chuck was well known across the West, and you would love his music.  I just wanted to give credit where credit is due and offer him a genuine “Thanks!” for the influence and musical prodding.

What have I been up to the past couple weeks?

Magpies went really well the Friday before last, and it ended up being a ’60’s night which was a lot of fun!  Then I had a wonderful show on Veterans Day for the vets in Walsenburg.

What’s on tap this week?

Friday I’m back at Magpies 7-10.  I always look forward to seeing everyone at Magpies, and we have such a great group of folks who come down to enjoy the music, food, and camaraderie.  I’ll probably play some of Chuck Pyle’s music this week since he has been in my thoughts so much over the past week.  You may remember his song, “Moonglow Rising”, that starts my “Signature” album.  Anyway, it will be a lot of fun.  Please come out if you can.

Best always,

Tom

Details this week:

Who:  Tom Munch
What:  playing & singing
Where:  Magpies, 229 S. Union, Pueblo.  719-542-5522
When:  Friday, November 20, 7-10 pm