Hilton Head Visit and Looking Forward!

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HILTON HEAD VISIT ☀️🎶🎸

Last week I took a trip to Hilton Head with the family. We have this trip scheduled every year, as my wife and her family made it a part of their lives pretty much the whole time she was growing up, and now we have our little girl that we are introducing to this trip, and keeping the annual tradition alive.

Me, my wife Amanda, and our little one, exploring the Harbour Town Pier during a beautiful sunset.

The Harbour Town Lighthouse in the background behind a dock full of yachts and fishing boats.

There are so many iconic places to visit on Hilton Head, from Harbour Town, to South Beach, to the shops at Coligny Plaza, and so much more. One activity that is most important to Amanda and I, is getting to see great live music in several places. In some cases, we’ve have great relationships built with some of these performers, so we plan our week around times and places where these people will be, so that we can connect with them every year.

Highlighted below are 3 different musicians or groups that we got to see and experience again this year (I’ve reported on two of these before in my newsletter from last year, but I wanted to highlight them again in my blog):

Robert Ingman

Robert Ingman performing at the Westin in Hilton Head, SC.

Robert is a great solo acoustic performer on Hilton Head. He’s been performing on the island for over 40 years! Robert is one of the main influences that inspired me to pick up an acoustic and try my hand at playing solo gigs. He’s incredibly talented, has a great sense of humor, and we look forward to catching up with him every year to hear him perform! In 2018, I conducted a short interview with him and posted it to my YouTube Channel, a video I’m super proud of. I’ll post up the link here for you to go check it out if you haven’t seen it.

You can find Robert Ingman on FB HERE if you want to connect with him. This Season he is performing at the Westin Resort on Hilton Head on Wed/Fri 5-9 and on Saturday afternoons as well.

The Lavon Stevens Quartet featuring Louise Marie Spencer

Every Thursday on Hilton Head at very special music venue called The Jazz Corner, The Lavon Stevens Quartet performs what they call “Jazz In The Key Of Life” sponsored by the Junior Jazz Foundation.

Lavon Stevens: piano / Louise Marie Spencer: vocalist

Lavon Stevens is an incredible piano player joined by Jimmy Charles on drums, Clarence Williams on bass, and vocalist Louise Marie Spencer. From The Jazz Corner FB Page: “Join this favorite group for a Blues and Jazz Celebration of your favorite artists including Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, Johnny Mercer and more..”

What I like most about this group is that they could pound through traditional jazz like no other, take mind-blowing solos, but then find a perfect groove, and lay back when necessary to really let Louise’s vocals shine. They really are something special to watch, and at the Jazz Corner on Thursday nights, it’s quite the place to be.

Here’s a quick video that we captured of a special moment during the show:

A new performer that we caught poolside at the place we were staying that was fun to watch:

Ben Lewis

Ben claimed to be a drummer first, but also plays lots of other instruments! He loops guitar rhythms, percussion, and other sounds into his tunes and is really great a jamming as a “one man band”. We were grooving to his jams while hanging out in the pool at the place we were staying, and as I looked up, I realized there wasn’t 3 or 4 performers, just Ben Lewis, doing his thing. Connect with Ben on his FB Page HERE and check him out!

So if you’ve read this far, I appreciate you checking out some music that I experienced on my Hilton Head trip and if you get to visit the island, make sure to look for these and many other great performers and SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC!

LOOKING FORWARD 🙌

So.. 2020 has been a challenge. It’s been a roller coaster year as a musician, and I’m not sure that it gets any easier from here on out. I will tell you that it feels better now than it did in March (when everything was shutting down). But, we aren’t out of the woods yet, and I, as well as many like-minded musicians who still need to get out there, share their craft to make a living, certainly have to navigate this new world very cautiously, unfortunately while dealing with a lot of risk.

For BlairOutLoud, I’ve had some really great wins this year. There have been some setbacks for sure, but within all the challenges, there have been massive opportunities waiting to present themselves.

I completed my website (FINALLY).. and I’m starting a new blog series (not every blog will be this long I promise). And I’ll be re-cranking up my monthly newsletter, The BlairOutLoud Monthy Shout!

I had a successful monthly presentation of my newsletter going out the door fairly well in the 2nd half of 2019, but in March of this year, things fell apart. Also.. I realized that what I needed to have in place was a blog with independent entries, and I could use my newsletter to highlight my weekly entries. In other words, I’ve learned that I had it all backwards last year, and I’m putting back together somewhat organized now.. and I hope that you enjoy the new format!

Please subscribe to the newsletter if you are interested in keeping up with my events and experiences! I have carved out time during my week to start shooting video again for YouTube, and I will be posting more artist interviews and gear reviews as soon as possible. I’ll be summarizing those reviews here, and posting links to the video and other resources so stay tuned!

Mostly, THANK YOU for sticking through this weird, sometimes difficult, sometimes awkward, sometimes wonderful year with me. Thanks for supporting my channels, and viewing my blog and website.

If you are feeling safe and wanna see me live Go To My Events HERE!

Thanks all,

Tom Blair