Guilty As Charged

When My Mind Gets To Ramblin'

From a "practice". This is how we make up songs.

Evenin' Sun, practice jam

Chad Nordhoff - Guitar, Vocal
Stuart Cotton - Drums

No Condition

No Cream In My Coffee

Its Not You I'm Thinking Of

Whirled Boogie
Memphis, TN
From our 2011 release "Too Big to Fail"
Recorded in Como, MS

Wood For Kindling

From "Chad Nordhoff" (2007)
copyright 2005

Airtime Sessions

The Flesh Alone

Written in Stone

Whirled Boogie - Complicated Man (live on Mando Blues WRFN)

Whirled Boogie - One These Days (live on Mando Blues WRFN)

Jazzlik 12-23-1994, Matt Johnston's basement

Reocrded Live on Radio Memphis
www.radio-memphis.com

In My Time of Dying / Death Letter

Recorded 1-13-96, the first time Dan Dolan and I met Justin Helms. Cory Hunter eventually showed up to the session as we were putting our instrument back in the cases. Josh was a no-show because it was his birthday.

The Old Helmstead 1-13-96

Late in the '99. Kind of a blues song, saying a long awaited goodbye to someone.

Hema-Huh - Down To Heaven

A Certain Way

It was some time in 1987. With those big old headphones plugged into the jam box I was listening to a cassette dubbed from my Bon Jovi record. At 8 years old I heard the guitar solo on "Wanted Dead or Alive" and had a conversation with myself: 
"That's what I wanna do!"
"How are you gonna do it?"
"I don't know. I guess I'll start and then just keep going until I'm doing it." 
Simple enough. I’d pretend to be Slash with my cardboard cut-out guitar until I got my first guitar from a pawn shop in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana.

Dad and I built a room in the barn for my friends and I to practice in during the summer of ‘92. But much like today, we didn’t get a lot of practice in for all the freestyle jamming we did. The soundtrack of Metallica, Pantera, and Motorhead etc. expanded through the next few years. I never got much into grunge, or alternative, or whatever it was called. John Lee Hooker was playing in my Walkman in those days.

All our little groups had gone without singers in those years. Who would want to hear a 15 year old boy sing anyway? But eventually, I thought I’d see what my voice could do. As a project for my Rock ‘n’ Roll History class, I made my first attempt at singing into a multi-track recorder at home. The next day I was cruising along in the passenger’s seat of my truck when we hit some ice, and then a tree. My throat hit the dashboard and I was unable to speak in more than a whisper for a couple years.

The guitar truly became my voice for the last couple years of highschool. Though our band at the time was out of style with Limp Bizkit and Creed, we made some very good original Rock Music! To regain my speaking voice I sang along with Hank Williams, David Allan Coe, Waylon, Willie, Johnny… This gradually worked itself out, but when I heard Howlin’ Wolf sing “Moanin’ at Midnight”, things kicked into high gear!

As much time I had spent on stage, I still remember being afraid of the open mic. But a dude’s gotta play, even if I’m flying solo. Fortunately, there were plenty of opportunities to get out and find my chops. I rapidly worked my 4 note range and 15 minutes of material up into a full four hour show and went to work. Memphis felt like home to me for some reason, even before I had gone. In 2007 my then wife and I moved south. 

For years my day job was performing at a restaurant and bar on Beale Street. Of course it’s a place known for the blues but I was afforded the freedom to play pretty much whatever I wanted. So, jam on some Black Sabbath for a bus load of tourists at lunch time? Sure. It kept my chops up for the night time gigs. Having spent 6 or more hours on stage, multiple days of the week, this is when I really got the hang of it.

In 2012 it all stopped. For family reasons I decided I just wasn’t that guy anymore. That spell lasted about a year, it wasn’t all bad. But, by now we all know what happened, right? I invited myself to sit on a barstool and play my guitar for a few minutes. That evening it led to about 4 hours of sitting in and jamming with the band and friends. Life has given me plenty of new songs, probably for or five hours of original material if you test me. Though I never quite asked for a gig, I’ve managed to  take the stage a few hundred times in the past couple years.

Now let’s get things started!

-	Chad

Chad Nordhoff

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