Well, this past Friday I had the privilege of playing with some amazing musicians at the Sonshine Music Festival. For those who don’t know what Sonshine is, it’s the biggest Christian music festival in the country, or at least I think it is (hard to imagine anything being much bigger). Anyhow, the musicians, Tom Hipps (vocals, rhythm guitar), Todd Bergman (lead guitar) Jack Mansk (bass) and myself had a blast at this place and I hope it was a blessing to those in attendance.
Although The Tom Hipps Band has been in a constant state of renewal as new members and temporary musicians step up for various performances I have to say that we played as if we’ve been a band for years; this is not only due to Tom’s amazing vocal abilities but also to the professionalism and musiciality of Todd and Jack. These guys are ‘all pro’ and I hope to work with them in the future.
I first saw Todd Bergman playing on a television broadcast for his church, Living Word Church, as I hung out in my wife’s hospital room after giving birth to our third child, Olivia. Although I had my mind on other things I couldn’t help to think, “Wow, Tom and I have to get this dude to jam with us.” Long story short, after a series of phone calls and false starts we had an amazing performance at Sonshine. An amazing part of it all is Todd introduced us to his friend Jack, who is a fine guitarist in his own right, but through his pioneering spirit (or maybe sheer pity for our sad ‘bassless’ situation) agreed to play bass; and a fine job he did!!
Thanks guys for a great day and an amazing performance. I hate to think that this was a ‘one nighter’ but even if it was, at least we caught it on tape.
1 Comment
August 8, 2007 at 2:31 am
Yes, Sonshine was definitely a great time– not only our performance, but watching other great bands, meeting Jeremy Camp and Andy (from Casting Crowns), and just hanging out. And the road trip itself! A day I’ll always remember. Let’s hope we are back there next year!!