Jabberwackers at Papa Turney's, Nashville, TN
Bio
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The roots fusion music of Nashville based Jabberwackers sounds like a combination of Earl Klugh, John Fahey and Merle Travis rolled into one. Blue sounds rule and mum's the word.
The Jabberwackers are:
Andy Miller – Rhythm Guitar/Composer
Born and raised in New York City, Miller cut his teeth in Greenwich Village in the 60's. His musical influences trace back to classical music (mostly Beethoven), The Weavers, The Everly Brothers, Paul Butterfield and Muddy Waters.
In more recent years, Miller has played his instrumental music on the West Coast as well as regularly at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville where he now lives. He has worked extensively with Doc West, Mark Robinson, Sergio Webb, Denis Colby and other Nashville notables.
Now, together with Rickey Godfrey, Mark Pavlack and Travis Collinsworth, he has formed Jabberwackers, to showcase this adventurous music along with some favorite jazz and pop standards.
Rickey Godfrey – Lead Guitar
Growing up in Greenville, SC, Godfrey started taking piano lessons at age 7, and started playing guitar at age 14. He recorded an album on Capitol Records in 1979 with Southern Rock band, Garfeel Ruff and in 1978 their music was featured in the motion picture, "The Hitter" starring Ron O'Neil and Caesar Adolphus. He released his first solo recording “Let the Big Dog Eat” in the Carolina upstate in 1983.
In 1993 he moved to Nashville playing with blues groups, Amy Watkins, and Richard Waters, and nationally known artists, Rufus Thomas, Sam Moore, Billy Preston and Donna Fargo. He has also played with Clifford Curry, Sonny Turner, and Junior Walker and the All Stars and performed with soul singer Chocolate Thunder at the 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival.
Godfrey has had a string of radio hits and won CAMMY awards for CD of the year for his "Soul Sensations" CD and again for his "Once in a Lifetime Love" CD.
Rickey Godfrey's band won the award for best blues band in Nashville 2012, and made it to the semi-finals in the IBC blues competition held in Memphis 2013.
He has performed throughout the southeast and in Canada and Europe as a highly sought after sideman. Godfrey joined forces with Andy Miller and the Jabberwackers in the fall of 2014.
Travis Collinsworth – Bass
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Travis Collinsworth moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 2001. When not tooling around with an old Flip Top amp and his Precision bass, he does his part to run a somewhat infamous music venue and dive bar in East Nashville.
In addition to Jabberwackers, Travis plays bass in Hooteroll? (keeping alive the repertoire of The Jerry Garcia Band), Hurricane Will & Storm Damage (blues and rock 'n roll), Figure in Black (a semi-annual celebration of early Black Sabbath) and a number of local Nashville singer-songwriters.
Mark Pavlack – Drums / Percussion
Pavlack moved to Nashville from Indiana in 2000 and recorded and toured the US from coast to coast with the punk rock trio Losers Beat Winners from 2001-2010 and with the country band Porter Hall Tennessee from 2004-2010.
Pavlack also works in the Nashville honky tonks and bars and throughout the southeastern US with a variety of artists, most notably country songwriter Kenneth Brian and roots rock band Ned Van Go.
His current projects include an instrumental jazz and instrumental roots group Jabberwackers and the Jerry Garcia Band tribute act Hooteroll? (Yes! With a question mark on the end!)
Arnie Reed - Keyboard
Arnie began his musical career of six decades in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC where he was born and raised. He took piano lessons for ten years and began playing professionally in the pre-Beatles era of early the 1960s.
In 1965 he mentored The Royal Guardsmen, who had a Top Ten hit with “Snoopy versus The Red Baron” the following year. In 1976 he played for Jimmy Carter’s Election Night celebration in Washington DC.
He relocated to Nashville in 1998, and within months was touring the US with the country-rock band Ashley & Alexia. In 2000 he toured with veteran country artist Leroy Van Dyke. He continues his work with numerous Nashville bands and independent artists.
Arnie is Jabberwackers’ newest member. He has followed the band for years and taken many videos of their live performances. In 2020 with plenty of spare time during the pandemic, he began learning their repertoire and rehearsing with masks and social distancing. The cake was already baked, so all he had to do was add the icing.
