Hollier - CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the roots rock artist, Hollier, shares one of his stories from being on the road. You can check out the story below:

We were booked to play a small town Mississippi Mardi Gras festival several years ago. The promoter gave me a contact for a bar en route home to Nashville that would pay us to play after the festival. Google maps led us to an address that was a gas station/bar. The location was very remote. It was a smaller room with a long bar. Above the liquor bottles was a massive glass container that ran the length of the bar. Inside the container was a HUGE snake. Tiny little cages, filled with mice, dangled below the snake cage. Allegedly the snake’s food. Virginia, a very sweet elderly lady, had been our contact. She made sure we had beer/food and plenty of hands to unload and set up our gear. We agreed upon 3-45min sets. Sound check - with our own PA - was great. Her cohort of patrons/employees were very rough and rowdy but everyone was kind and eager. I got the feeling that this place didn’t see a live band often. We were eager to bring it.

The first couple of songs were solid. A particularly vibrant gentleman was screaming “You play that f****** fiddle” during each fiddle solo. He was absolutely wasted and would let out these loud guttural yelps. He introduced himself as “Roy Brown” after a song. An altercation occurred at the front door during our 5th/6th song. The entire bar rushed to the entrance. We continued playing cautiously but it turned into an all out brawl. A large burly man came forward and told us to stop playing. He handed me a rubber banded wad of cash. Told us to exit out the back. We never got to say goodbye. I can remember seeing Roy Brown hurling chairs towards the front entrance as we hastily dragged our gear out back. The sweet elderly woman, Virginia, was swinging a large sword with a bamboo stick base. I don’t know what happened. We didn’t stay long enough to find out. I googled the bar and it no longer exists. RIP.

Keep up with Hollier on his website, Facebook, and Instagram.