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BiTS: Well it’s one of the things that the audience for blues is often pretty elderly and anything
that can open it up to young people is to be welcomed, I think. Do you get young people in your
audiences a lot?

AV: Yeah, I’m starting to get a lot more young people. Of course, the demographic is an older
audience, but I think that I’m getting more young people in my audiences, a few more people that
are my age which is really cool. They might be tired of all the mainstream stuff that is going on
right now.

BiTS: When you first started playing and you were
hooked on Stevie Ray, did you do a lot of woodshedding?
By that I mean sitting and playing a lot with the records
and doing it note for note, is that how you learned?

AV: Yeah, I mean I learned a lot of different types of
ways, like you said playing along with the records and I

learn the best, my favourite way to learn things is
playing live with my band. That’s where I learn the most
because that’s where I try things. When I’m on the road
playing shows every night, playing with my band, we like
to try different things and I think that’s where I learn the

most, as well as jamming with other guitar players as
well, is where I learn too.

BiTS: You’ve obviously been affected by COVID. I notice
that you’ve got a couple of gigs coming up towards the
end of the month, but they’re all in Texas. Are you
confined to Texas at the moment?

AV: Yeah, COVID has really changed the whole music industry, it’s flipped it upside down and I
think yeah, I’m playing a lot of live stream things and outdoor shows and socially distanced shows
and right now it’s a lot of close to home shows, cos I live in Texas and I’m from Texas. I’m very
grateful because Texas is a big state [laughing] so I can play around Texas, but it’s just a very

trying time, especially for musicians. Nobody’s ever seen, experienced anything like this and it’s
again, it’s flipped the music industry upside down, for sure.

BiTS: Yes, that’s very true. You’re still in Kilgore, is that right?

AV: Yes, I live in Kilgore, Texas. It’s about two hours east of Dallas and about an hour from
Shreveport, Louisiana.

BiTS: Okay, an area that I know pretty well. I worked in Fort Worth for a while, believe it or not.

AV: Oh, wow!

BiTS: That was a long time ago, in the eighties but I know the area pretty well. I know the
metroplex a lot [laughs].

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