Little did I know, that when I gave Matt a guitar for Christmas last year because he said he would like to learn how to play, that it would quickly turn into a passion for him. If it’s any indication, he’s already upgraded from that guitar to an electric acoustic and now he has an electric as well, and I have to say that it’s really quite amazing how much he’s picked up and how many songs he knows since he’s pretty much self-taught (with the exception of a beginner’s instructional DVD that came with his first guitar, ONE paid lesson, and echords.com) and the fact that he’s not able to dedicate as much time to practicing as he could or maybe even would like to.
Since he’s been playing he’s dreamed about being in a band, on stage, playing a real gig, and he’s had the opportunity to that a time or two, on a very small scale, with his friend’s local band, Whiskey Blind. It ends up that those performances would be a good icebreaker for the bigger opportunity that he had this past weekend.
The last time my cousin Tyler was in town with (one of) his bands, Shootin’ Blanks, and we went to see them play, he and Matt got the opportunity to talk in between sets and, needless to say, they had a lot in common: the Baumert Family for starters, but more importantly, Shootin’ Blanks plays Red Dirt music, which Matt loves, Tyler rocks the hell out on guitar, which, Matt was amazed and inspired, not to mention that they both started out playing drums first. So when Shootin’ Blanks was asked to come back and play Uncle Ron’s this past weekend, Tyler called to asked if Matt would want to come up and play a few songs with the – he absolutely MADE Matt’s year!
After a lot of practice and with a stomach full of nerves, Matt played with them for five songs both Friday and Saturday night and loved every minute of it! I didn’t get to see Friday night’s performance, but myself, and a number of the Baumert Clan were there on Saturday to cheer him on (and take lots of pictures!).
It was pretty awesome to see him up there on stage looking and playing like a rock star.



Tyler actually gifted the electric guitar that he’s playing in the photo above to Matt as a surprise – so AMAZING of him to do!

Band Picture
It was such an incredible experience for Matt, one that he’ll not soon forget, and I am forever grateful to my cousin for his thoughtfulness and generosity in asking Matt to play and allowing him to live a dream of his. I know it was nothing more to Tyler than just being who he is and just getting the passion that Matt has for playing guitar and for great music, but it was above and beyond anything he, we, could have imagined.
