The Gift (21 page)

“Don’t worry Maggie. This cover will sell a lot of
albums. No one’s going to be mad about it when they’re cashing their checks.”

Maggie invited Justin, Carole and Jim to come over that
evening for dinner and to see the new album. She was worried about their
reaction to the photo of her on the back, but they liked it. They thought it
was sexy but tasteful and said it would probably help sell the album. They were
excited to hear how the album sounded, so Zak put it on the turntable. They
were impressed with the recording, the engineer had done a great job mixing the
album. The vocals and instruments could be clearly heard and were balanced with
each other. They also liked the flow of the album, the songs were interspersed
with the instrumentals, and the tempos varied making the sound interesting.

Jim had brought over a bottle of champagne, so they all
had a glass while they listened to their record. They felt proud to have
participated in a project that had turned out so well. Maggie called Spencer in
Boston so they could share their excitement with him. He had also received a
package with some records in it and was very pleased with the results. He told
them that he had talked to Abbie and Jerry the previous day and they were
putting together a tour to support the record. He said he was looking forward
to getting together with the band again and playing out on the road.

The following week, a photographer came out to Zak and
Maggie’s house to take some photos of the Bayou Blasters. The guys teased
Maggie that they hoped she would pose seductively on their album cover, a
comment that she didn’t find amusing. Maggie helped the guys pick out some
clothes that would photograph well and look attractive. They mostly wore blue
jeans and dark colored shirts. Zak put on his leather jacket and Justin wore
the cowboy boots that he had bought in Nashville. The photographer took some
shots of the band outside in the yard, sitting on the front porch, and in the
studio in the garage. He took photos in color and black and white, but said he
would probably use the black and white shots because they would look a little
grittier in keeping with a rock/blues band. After the photos were processed,
the band decided they liked the shot of them sitting on the front porch for the
cover and one of the shots of them playing in the studio for the back cover.
They sent the photos off to Abbie and Jerry and eagerly awaited the production
of their album.

A couple weeks later, Zak and Maggie got another big box
from Abbie and Jerry containing the Bayou Blasters’ album. Justin had come over
to visit that afternoon and he and Zak eagerly opened the box and took out one
of the records. They were pleased with the artwork, the atmospheric black and
white photo on the cover showed Zak, Justin and Tom sitting on the white wicker
furniture on Zak and Maggie’s front porch. Zak was holding his National guitar
and Chère was sitting at his feet. Justin was lounging back in his chair
holding his bass guitar, his cowboy boots resting on an amplifier. Tom was
sitting on the front step leading up to the porch, a pair of drum sticks in his
hand. You could just make out the front end of the Lincoln in the driveway.
Somehow the photographer managed to immediately get across visually that this
was a blues band from the South.

The band’s name, THE BAYOU BLASTERS was displayed in
large letters across the bottom of the album, with the album title along the
top. The band had decided to call the album “Blast Off!” They had even composed
a blues instrumental with that name featuring Zak on a lot of wild leads on the
electric guitar. Abbie and Jerry enclosed a note with the records
congratulating the band on their album and letting them know that they would be
sending them a tour schedule soon. Also, their publicity staff had sent copies
of the album and publicity materials to many of the better known rock and blues
magazines. They told them to be prepared to be contacted for interviews as the
magazines reviewed the album.

Abbie and Jerry had also enclosed a note meant for
Maggie. They had sent her album out to the various bluegrass publications and
radio stations and the magazine
Bluegrass Unlimited
was interested in
doing a cover story on her band. They had liked her music and thought that
Little Maggie might be the next big thing. They wanted to use the photo of
Maggie in the white dress on the cover. They thought it would sell a lot of
magazines.

Zak started to laugh because Maggie looked annoyed.

“Next time I go in for a photo shoot, I’m going to
demand approval of the shots.”

“I could have told you that, darlin’,” laughed Zak.

“Well, why didn’t you? At least the cover of your album
doesn’t show you sitting around in your underwear.”

“If it did, then I’d probably have a lot more groupies.”
Zak smirked.

“You already have more groupies than you can handle,”
Maggie retorted.

Justin didn’t say anything because he knew that remark
was more accurate than Maggie even knew.

Later that night, Maggie and Zak had a serious
discussion about how they were going to handle touring with their bands. Maggie
didn’t quite know how she was going to handle taking care of Gabriel and the
new baby when she went on tour.

“I’m sure our parents will be willing to take care of
them some of the time.” Zak said.

“That would probably help, but I don’t want to leave the
babies with someone for weeks at a time. I was wondering if Abbie and Jerry
would be able to set up our tours so that one of us would always be available
to look after the children. Maybe we could alternate weeks on tour or
something.”

“I’d be willing to do that,” Zak said.

“Also, if we did that, then Justin could play with both
bands and I wouldn’t have to look for a new bass player.”

Zak laughed. “Justin is going to end up making twice as
much money as everyone else. Don’t they call that double-dipping?”

“Only in the government,” Maggie said, but she laughed
too at the thought. She remembered how Vanessa said that she didn’t want to get
involved with Justin because as a musician he didn’t have any financial
prospects. It would be ironic if he ended up making more money than any doctor
or lawyer that Vanessa knew.

Maggie called up Abbie and asked her if it would be
possible to arrange it so that the Bayou Blasters and Little Maggie could
alternate weeks on tour. That way, she and Zak wouldn’t be separated from each
other for a long time and it would make child care a little easier. Abbie said
she would try to work that out for them. She also suggested that perhaps Maggie
could find a college girl that would be willing to travel with them during the
summer and help take care of the kids. She reminded Maggie that their college
had a department of child development and thought that Maggie might be able to
find someone through them. Maggie thought that was a good idea, she would just
need someone for a couple hours every day while she was performing or
rehearsing.

Maggie started to feel a little more relaxed. She
remembered telling Zak’s mother that she didn’t want to have children for a
while because she didn’t know how to balance that with the demands of being a
musician on the road. She decided she had been right to be concerned about that,
but hopefully, they would be able to work things out with a little help.

Abbie called Maggie back later that evening and told her
that she and Jerry had been discussing releasing her album in the spring. They
thought that it would get more attention if it was released to coincide with
the article in
Bluegrass Unlimited
which was going to come out in May
right before the bluegrass festival season. Usually Abbie and Jerry released
their albums as they were recorded, but they felt in this case it might help sales
to delay it a little. However, they wanted to release the Bayou Blasters album
right away. There were a lot of blues clubs all over the country where the
Bayou Blasters could play at any time of the year, so they felt that the timing
of the album release wasn’t as crucial for them. Abbie also suggested that
Maggie might want to take some time off around March when she was due to give
birth to the baby. Festival season didn’t really kick into high gear until
June, so Maggie would have some time to spend with the new baby free from the
pressures of working.

Maggie thought this was a good idea too. She thanked
Abbie for her understanding. Abbie told her that as a mother, she sometimes had
trouble balancing work and family too. She and Jerry wanted to help Maggie and
Zak as much as they could because she knew that the first few months after
having a baby could be stressful.

After she hung up the phone with Abbie, Maggie related
their conversation to Zak. He admitted that he felt relieved. He had been worrying
too about how they were going to handle the demands of two young children and
the stresses of taking two bands out on tour.

The next day, Abbie called Zak to discuss some issues
with him. She thought that he should hire a road manager, someone who could
handle the details of transportation, lodging and equipment when the Bayou
Blasters were on the road. That would help take some of the pressure off of him
and Justin and Tom.

The other thing she wanted to talk about was publicity
for their tour. She had already set up an interview for Zak with
Guitar
Player
magazine and was hoping to land a cover story with
Rolling Stone
magazine. She had already talked to the writer and he mentioned to her that he
was interested in interviewing Maggie too for the article. He was curious how
they reconciled their careers as musicians in vastly different musical genres.

 Zak laughed when she said that. “The jury is still out
on that one,” he said. “No, seriously, it’s just a matter of mutual respect. We
both respect each other’s music and musicianship. Sometimes we even manage to
find some music that overlaps so we can enjoy playing together.”

Abbie liked that answer, so she told Zak to expect to be
contacted for an interview by the writer for
Rolling Stone
.

Maggie and Zak looked at each other. They could barely
believe that things were happening so fast. They knew they would never have
gotten this kind of coverage without Abbie and Jerry and it seemed like it
might be leading to successful music careers beyond their wildest dreams.

.

Chapter 24

The next day, Justin and Tom came over to
discuss the latest developments. They were all pretty excited, they had played
in bands for at least 15 years and never thought their music would generate
this kind of attention. They still thought of themselves in some ways as being
a bar band, granted an outstanding bar band.

Justin said, “Well, it’s all good. I don’t think if we
are successful, it’s going to change anything. I’m still going to play because
it’s fun, not because I want fame or fortune.”

Maggie thought that she could totally understand that
attitude.

Zak laughed though and said, “Well, I wouldn’t mind
playing in bigger venues and making more money. I’m tired of struggling to come
up with the money for the mortgage every month. I’d like to put some money
aside for my kids to go to college. Life gets a lot more complicated and
expensive when you’re married and have kids.”

Maggie gave Zak a disapproving look. She didn’t think
that was the most tactful thing to say to Justin who was struggling to find a
woman with whom he could share his life. Tom on the other hand was happily
single and Maggie thought that sometimes the other two men envied his carefree
life.

Several weeks later, the writer from
Rolling Stone
showed up at Zak and Maggie’s house with a photographer in tow. Ostensibly he
was supposed to interview everyone in the Bayou Blasters and he did spend a
brief amount of time talking to all of them about their album. But it was
obvious from the beginning that the main focus of the article was on Zak and
Maggie and their relationship.

The reporter wanted to know how they had met, and Maggie
told him that she had been visiting her college roommate in New Orleans and had
seen the Bayou Blasters play in the French Quarter. She told him that she had
instantly fallen in love with Zak and they had barely been apart ever since.
The reporter wanted to know how a bluegrass musician and a blues/rock musician
got along. Zak told him that Maggie had originally sung in a rock band and that
sometimes she would sit in with the Bayou Blasters and sing a few numbers with
them. He mentioned that she had contributed a few vocals to their new album and
he had played and sung on Maggie’s album too.

The reporter was curious to hear Zak and Maggie play
together, so they went out to the studio and Zak played his Martin and Maggie
played her Gibson F-5 and they played “Me and Bobby McGee”. Zak told the
reporter that this had been the first song that he and Maggie had ever played
together. The photographer took some shots of them as they played, facing each
other with their knees touching. It was an intimate shot and you could see on
their faces the joy they felt playing together. The photographer also took some
shots of the entire band playing in the studio.

Then the reporter and the photographer had a short
discussion and asked Zak and Maggie if they could get a few more photos of
them. They told them they would like to get a photo that would show their love
for one another. The photographer suggested that Zak stand behind Maggie with
his arms encircling her and his hands resting on her obviously pregnant belly.
Then he thought about it some more and asked them if they would consider being
photographed nude from the waist up. He told them that no one would be able to
see anything because Zak’s arms would be covering Maggie’s breasts. Maggie said
she didn’t know and she went into the house to think about it.