Yeah, They're Almost Famous

Steven D. Losey talks with Shooter Jennings' and the .357's guitarist Leroy Powell after the band's GR show.

Last night was something out of the movie Almost Famous.

Check out the names of these band members: Leroy Powell, Shooter Jennings, Bryan Keeling, and Ted Russell Kamp. The names remind me of the members of the Jeff Bebe Band which became Stillwater which was featured in Almost Famous.

There were no passes for us, only free entry. There was no place to really talk to the band, so Ted Russell Kamp sat down with Losey, Huck, and me and talked about rock 'n' roll. Ted was pretty talkative and informative. I actually talked to him about The Deadstring Brothers and their drummer, Trav. Ted said the band ended their run as the opening act THURSDAY night in Detroit. He said TDB is a tight unit that does a lot together, they don't really try to outshine each other.

The band didn't take the stage until after midnight and they played until close to 2 a.m. A total country-rock mixture is evident and Jennings is definitely the leader of the band. He doesn't talk much, except to mention that the band is in Grand Rapids or Michigan.

One thing he did say is that the song "Busted in Baylor County" is based on a true incident and the band had only been together for a few days when the incident occurred.

The night was unique. The line to get into the Intersection was long, and even though we were on the list, we still had to wait in line. After waiting for a while, though, Losey made a phone call and was able to get us in a back way, so we wouldn't have to wait in line. We watched the sound check and hung around talking to different band members. Ted had a lot to say to Losey, but couldn't get him to pull the ultimate trick: "Now, sitting in with the band on a cover of 'Good Ole Boys,' from Guitar Player Magazine, Steven Losey ..."

When the band is huge in three years, I can say that I saw them in GR when they were just getting started on stardom. They're off to Iowa tonight -- opening for them there: The Bottle Rockets. If you know the song "Radar Gun," you know the Bottle Rockets. It was a minor hit for them about 10 years ago.