D.B. Shovel lives!

When I was a little boy around 12 years old, I was big into motorcycles. I wanted to be a motocross racer! I had no interest in music. I rarely listened to music and I certainly had no notion of playing music. One day I was riding my bike through the back woods of north jersey and I happened across a little shack. I thought it was a cool little place and had no earthly idea that someone actually lived there. I got off my bike and went inside. It found an old man hunched over in his chair with an old guitar laying on the floor at his feet. His mini "Pignose amp" was still on and there was a slight hum coming from its tiny speaker. I asked "mister, are you ok?" He replied "my time is here, sit with me a while". I did. He talked and told me stories of how he was a guitar player and then some of his stories from his adventures touring across the land. I was enthralled! His stories were magical and so tall they sounded made up. I listened intently anyway. I was enjoying myself immensely. After a couple hours, he said to me "I have no children and no family. I have no one here with me in the end but you. I want to pass on what I have learned but have no one to pass it on to. Will you take what was once given to me?" I didn’t know what he was talking about but I knew he was about to pass on. So I said "yes sir, I will!" He smiled and held my hand as he passed on.

A few months later, I could no longer fight the urge that had been growing in me since my meeting with the old man, to play guitar. I sold my motorcycle and bought an old beat up guitar and a Pignose amp. Looking back now, I don’t ever remember learning how to play. I kind of just knew. I only had to get my fingers to convey what I already understood and felt inside of me.

I have been carrying on what that man gave to me those 32 years ago, the best I can to honor him and the life of adventures he lived. I will do so until it is time for me to pass it along to someone else willing to accept.

That man’s name was "D.B. Shovel".