Hi, I am Jeff Spencer, and I, like Elvis, was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. I, also like Elvis, got a guitar when I was young and started learning how to play. That's about where the similarities end. I started playing because a friend who lived down the street from me had an acoustic guitar with 3 strings on it, and he could make a few odd noises on it, and I noticed that the girls in the neighborhood would flock to him like crack-heads to a pawn shop. I decided that I wanted that kind of attention too, so I soon got an acoustic guitar from the Sears catalog and he taught me a few things (after promptly breaking my high e string trying to tune it). The girls, however, did not flock to me, and I learned my first lesson about love--the girls flocked to him because he was good looking and had a great personality. So, I figured that an ol' ugly boy like me better learn how to play guitar really well, and then I would be the babe-magnet my young heart desired to be. So I started practicing a lot.
I learned how to play by learning songs note-for-note from albums such as Kiss Alive, Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous, Peter Frampton Comes Alive, Led Zeppelin II and IV, and Van Halen I, II, and Fair Warning. By junior high school, I joined a band and we actually did a few gigs. I started playing in bars by the time I was a sophomore in high school. I remember one gig we did, and the bass player lied to his parents about what he was doing that night, but somehow they found out, showed up at the bar and physically dragged him out of the fine establishment and back home and put him to bed without any supper. (A side note for you who are paying attention--the bass player in this band was the same guy who inspired me to play guitar in the paragraph above--he got so accustomed to playing an acoustic with 3 strings, it was a natural progression for him to pick up the bass--the next year, he almost was decapatated when his father threw a huge shovel at him (it missed by mere millimeters), because he went with me to see Frank Marino and Mohagany Rush against parental wishes--but those are stories for another day).
Soon after high school, I knew that if I was going to do anything fulfilling with music, then I would have to leave smalltown Mississippi and find a more lively music scene. That was not hard to do, because I live about 100 miles from the bright lights and big city of Memphis, TN. So, I packed my bags into my little Nissan and then moved to the big city in search of like-minded musicians, and new and improved ways to sin. I found both, and ended up playing around Memphis and various other places within driving distance for several blurry years.
While I was gigging in and around Memphis, I kept hearing rumours about a guitarist that was an excellent player. So, one night, my drummer and I went to downtown Memphis, and little did I know, my musical life would be changed that night. We entered the club just off Beale Street to hear this guy--a fellow named Shawn Lane who was playing with a band called the Willys. Well, the Willys started playing, but -- no guitarist. By about the third song, in comes this guy carrying a guitar case, walking slowly--in no hurry at all--and I think, that must be the guitarist's tech--because he didn't look like what a "rock god" was supposed to look like in the 80's! I mean, he didn't even tease his hair with a ton of hair spray to stand up on top! But it wasn't the roadie, it was Shawn. He went up on stage, plugged into some Holmes amps with a brown Roland synthesizer guitar, and began to WAIL! By the end of the first set I was dumbstruck and near tears. I had never (and still haven't) heard anyone with such command over the instrument. Shawn had it all--tone, melodic sensibility, intelligent phrasing, and mind-blowing speed. I worked up the courage spoke to Shawn that evening and he agreed to give me guitar lessons. I found out that he lived just 2 blocks from me so I spent much time at his house just listening and learning and shaking my head in complete awe. I spent the next few years developing my musical abilities under the direction of Shawn Lane and other mentors. Shawn introduced me to such artists as Eric Johnson, Frank Gambale, and Allan Holdsworth. As a result of Shawn's influence, I began to want to be more of a musician, rather than a guy that can bang out a few chords and play a solo in a pentatonic scale. Shawn inspired me into a quest for musical excellence on the guitar.
My quest for musical excellence led me, however, into a life of drug and alcohol abuse (as it does many). It took me a while, but I figured out that musical excellence is not what I was really pursuing, but I was just looking for peace of mind and soul. In 1991, I first heard the gospel of Jesus Christ from a friend, and God had prepared my heard and brought me all this way to this point on this night and I knew that is what I needed. I belived the gospel that night, May 8, 1991, and became a child of God (John 1:12).
That changed the entire direction of my life.
I spend my time doing many different musical projects these days. I live back in Tupelo, Mississippi with my wife of 16 years and two children, ages 15 and 9. I run a small studio called "The Sasquatch Room" named after my obsession with the king of Cryptozoology--Bigfoot. I also hire myself out to another local studio and have played on many recordings over the years. I play with several local artists for live shows and studio projects whenever the call comes. I also lead worship at a local church. So, life is good because God is good, and He continues to let me worship Him with my music.
PS--I never did become the babe magnet I wanted to be. But it has all worked out for the best anyway.
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