I love my life!
I am one lucky guy to do my music, hang out in cool places with cool peeps, and get paid for it. Don’t get me wrong. I work hard all the time to make it happen, but having gigs like this makes it all worth while. I had a killer tour in March.

Check this out… First on this leg was the Music on the Bay Parrothead Extravaganza in Tampa. Third year running, these guys cain’t get enough Sauce in their party. We like it spicy in Tampa so all you snowbirds get ready to melt yer blues away! And the locals?!?!?!?! They don’t live in Tampa for nothin! Tampa is the Frisco of Florida. Party on Garth!   Next, I played and cooked at the Stand Down House, with JP Soars joining me. A homeless shelter in Lake Worth.  Stand Down House helps male veterans who are struggling due to mental / physical wounds & illness, addictions, homelessness and/or other issues regain their lives. I love sharing my music and gumbo with these gentlemen. “Uplifting” does not even come close to describing our time together.  Then on to the Lyric Theatre in Stuart. This gig is always an epic adventure in total theatricality. (is that really a word? The little spell check red thing didn’t alert me, so I guess it must be) Executive Director, John Loesser, is theater royalty. His dad, Frank Loesser was the Tony, Pulitzer, and Academy Award winning songwriter/dramatist, who wrote the lyrics and music to “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”. It don’t get more “theatre” then that. John knows talent. John IS talent.

Then on to Boca Raton. Hold my beer. Watch this.    The Funky Biscuit Presented Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton with Special Guests. JP Soars and the Red Hots. Did somebody say, “SLIDE”? There was jammin goin on into the wee hours, including a surprise visit from Spyro Gyra, who sat in with us. Awwwwwww Yeah!

Lagoon Fest in Palm Bay was another party with a purpose. The lagoon is hurtin. Proceeds went to clean up the damage done. Glad to see old friends from back in the day. I have a warm spot in my heart for this part of Florida. When I was first starting out in 1966, I was playing the Club Juana in Orlando six nights a week.  (before it became a strip club. Well… I do remember a few flying brassieres.)  Anyway, we would sometimes fill the Sunday with a one nighter at the Vanguard in Cocoa Beach. Those two gigs gave me my music education. And the Vanguard was bad to the bone. Murph the Surf was hangin out there. And the Space Coast was ROCKIN! Indiatlantic had a stream of hipsters, bikers, and surfers back and forth from Venice Beach.  (It’s the best surf on the East Coast.) Not to mention the droves of scientists, techies, and astronauts who worked at the Cape. Many years later, Indiatlantic was the place where I hit my first major lick. That’s where the music and the sauce became a phenomenon unto itself at the the Wine Gallery. So many good memories from one of the laidest back hangs in Florida.

@ the BBC

And finally, a return to Tallahassee, to the Bradfordville Blues Club. A special homecoming for me as I made my way through my blues trek. It gave me time to reflect. Like Ulysses, I have ended up washing up on a beach somewhere. Is there a genre known as Trop-Blues? Too happy for the blues, too deep for Margaritaville. As far as genres go, I live in no mans land. A musical soul without a country. A child of the world, forever restless, forever young. See y’all down the road.