The sun's last light illuminates the smoker's porch and beer-drinking alien atop the roof. We meet Neil Jones at Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge, a Nashville staple, and Neil's favorite bar.
We order a beer and settle at a table near the band, close to the lone pool table, to catch up.
The crowd starts to come in as the music blasts, and Neil talks as he points to locals he knows from the music scene. He talks about playing a year with Sierra Ferrell, his six years honing his instrument, and gigging three hundred and eleven days last year.
Neil tells us about another one of his side gigs, Nashville Steel Guitar Social Club. He describes it as more of a community service than a moneymaker, aimed at revitalizing interest in steel guitar beyond the retirement age. When he first started playing it was unusual to see anyone under seventy-five years old and he was always the young buck. Members travel from as far as Texas to attend.
"When you're passionate about what you do, the rest will follow, as long as you have the skill to back it up."
Neil's passion has taken him on tours across the majority of Europe and through 48 states. Another passion he shared with us is leading a jazz band with a steel guitar. He says that it's been pigeonholed in country and western for too long and intends to buck the tradition with jazz.
As our night comes to a close, Neil says he'll be out till morning playing another gig. He tells me that he pre-loads his seventy-two-pound steel guitar so that he can skateboard to the venue at his leisure.
You can find Neil on Instagram, on tour with American Aquarium, or at a Nashville honky tonk bar on any given night.
Buy him a beer and tell him Willie sent ya.
