Update 6/1/07Well we have had the site up for a while and we are just now putting up music so we would like to thank everyone for hanging in there. One of the reasons that it has taken so long is because the band has so many songs that we didn't know what we should put up. So after much deliberation, we decided to start from the beginning. Honky Tonk With You, Walkin' In The Rain and Before The Sun Sets were recorded live in "The Big House" with a great stereo mic. These tracks really capture the raw essence of the birth of Big House. Some of the guys were playing the tracks for the first time and and you can even hear the birds chirping outside the living room on one of the songs. Once again, these are some of the first recordings of Big House ever! So enjoy and keep checking back because we will be putting up new songs every couple of weeks, so tell your friends. -Administrator ************************************************************ ************************************************************ **** The first Big House record took 3 days to record and I've never spent much more than that on any project since then. The lesson I've learned here is, some artists are never happy no matter how long you spend on a record and they forget that music was never meant to be perfect, nothing is!!! The best recordings happen instantaneously in the moment, that's what music is supposed to be. Anything else is an exercise in futility! All of this is what led to the formation of Big House. What made this group unique was a combination of things. We all grew up together playing in different bands, my youngest brother was the drummer, the three guitar attack, the blues harmonica and the fact that we were all best friends. This is why we were able to make those records and write those songs so effortlessly. For three years plus, the inspiration was flowing. The first two records on MCA — Big House and Travelin' Kind had four Singles and four Videos that I'm still proud of to this day. In a world of schlock videos I think ours were tastefully made.After 200 plus dates a year on the road and hardly knowing where home was anymore, the original lineup dissolved and David Neuhauser and I were left holding the bag (which was empty by the way). After months of different lineups and being dropped from MCA and changing managers and tax liens, and all the "typical band gets dropped from label DRAMA" along comes Benny Rappa! Benny calls me up out of the blue and says, "I'm your new drummer and I've got this great bass player named Steve Vines, he's from Mississippi..." well, that's a big deal where I come from! The very first time we jammed together, my wife Joy was dancing around the house like a 10 year old and my son Beau had that look on his face like, this is a no-brainer. Thank you Benny Rappa!!!***** 2000's***** On the third Big House record entitled Woodstock Nation, David and I, Benny and Steve signed to an ultra cool label (Dead Reckoning) and released our fifth Big House single entitled "I'm Movin' On" written by Hank Snow. We also started working Americana Radio and had our very first #1 single with "Buck these Haggard Blues." We bought Stevie Ray Vaughn's tour bus and hired our old friend Annuska Nemeth to help us out on the road. Annuska and Steve have been living together ever since — I knew I shouldn't have put their bunks so close together on the bus.... Anywho, we played nonstop for the next eighteen months with everyone from Merle Haggard to Johnny Winter. From Asleep at the Wheel to Loverboy. We had quite the reputation, believe me, you didn't want to follow this band on stage, we didn't care who it was.... Next Phase, the grass needs cutting... — Monty We lost Benny Rappa to a brain tumor this year [2004] and as I'm writing this I know that I'm in complete denial. I have so many recordings of Benny, that I just assume he'll be calling me as usual to start some project, or to tell me about his son, or the new record he just played on and on and on.... So in a sense he really isn't gone because you see, I've got all of these CDs with him, and two years of live recordings, pictures, Videos, and songs. The last time I spent with Benny was in Nashville recording this amazing artist Amber Clark, Benny stayed in the studio for the entire three days of tracking because he wanted to hang and sing some harmonies with me. He slept on the studio couch and would wake up, make some coffee, give support to whatever we were doing and I loved every minute of it. The only thing I regret is we never got around to the harmonies and I wanted so much to sing with him. Little did I know that it would've been the one for the road.... He is the sole reason that I stayed in Nashville for those last two years. If he hadn’t brought Steve Vines to my house and said here's your new rhythm section, Woodstock Nation would have never been recorded and I will always be thankful to him for that great record. — Monty
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