Highways, Heartaches & Honky Tonks

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
- The Doors

Well my ROCK HEAVY friends, the time has come for saying goodbye. Yes, it is true, after over 10 years of ROCK -n- The Country, I (Ricky) am leaving Whiskey Johnson. It was a difficult decision to make but in the end I feel it is time for a change in my life both personal and musically. I have many, many, many wonderful & fond memories of playing with these guys to last 10 ten life times and have L-O-V-E-D every minute of my time playing with some the best musicians and friends the good Lord above ever decided to bless a guy like me with. I can't believe an idea I had back 1997 of having band where everyone is the lead singer/entertainer would ever grow to be something so f*cking cool...it blows my mind thinking about it. Sure, in the beginning, we had our hard times; played many shows for almost no one and thought many times of just packing it in. Something always told me and this philosophy stands to this day with WJ, "if you play it, they will come", just like that wonderful film "Field of Dreams". We all put in a lot of hard work to get this band off the ground. We've had a few line up changes during our 10 years together but those most of those individuals are STILL real good friends. Time marches on though...(first of many song references, sorry) and things change; I fell the music scene is changing an is due for a huge change, kind of like the early 90's when Grunge was king...you have to admit, there were some pretty cool tunes coming out of Seattle. Country music will always hold a special place in my heart, as will the memories of Whiskey Johnson and our many fans/friends. I've met some pretty cool people over the years, established some great friendships (Brenda & Wayne, Les & Jen, just to name a few) some people welcomed the band into their own home like we part of the family...and still do to this day. Facing the reality of losing my own mother, Diane Ruth Rahnasto Halverson, has changed me for the rest of my life and this really woke me up to what is most important in life and should've been all along...family. People tend to caught up in their own "lives" and I am no different. Trying to build this band and get our name out there cost me more than I can ever replace with the "fame" I had with WJ. I missed out on so many family events: birthdays, holidays, funerals of loved ones and that is something I now know can never be replaced or something I will ever get back...I would trade it all in a second just to able to tell my Mom that I love her and that I'm sorry I wasn't around much...I'm getting bummed out now so I will stop here and continue this blog later...Cheers!