Local Guitar Player is an Aspiring Singer/Songwriter, Puffy Shirt and All

  ***image1***The lights were low in Gullah Cuisine’s banquet room an hour before the kickoff of the “Legends and Legacies” musical revue on a recent Friday night.
  A dozen musicians in silhouette were milling about in the near-total darkness, unpacking instruments and doing pre-show prep.
  And Elvis was in the building.
  Ray Fischer – aka “The King” – was hunched over the soundboard, his greased-back Presley-do glinting off the glowing electronic lights.   Fischer, who works in the distinctly un-Elvis world of finance by day, is the headliner of this popular local troupe, which reprises classic rock’n’roll and country-western acts of performers such as Patsy Cline, Neal Diamond and Willie Nelson.
  The unique, rich aroma of Lowcountry cuisine wafted through the hall and I began to anticipate the feast that was to come – shrimp, fried okra, oysters and the Mount Pleasant restaurant’s signature Gullah rice. That’s when I saw the man in the white shirt.
  A white puffy shirt.
  Musician Billy New could have starred in a Tide commercial. His shirt was whiter than white and when he put his hands on his hips, his ballooned long sleeves looked like two alabaster croissants.
  New plays electric guitar in the “Legends and Legacies” show and his Seinfeldesque garb is part of the shtick. The amiable 27-year-old singer-songwriter defies the stereotype of self-absorbed, “dig-me” performer. Refreshingly grounded and unassuming, with a wry sense of humor, wearing the puffy shirt is about as much as he has to suffer for his art.
  New lives in The Peninsula development off Clements Ferry Road with his wife, Laura. A Bishop England and College of Charleston graduate, he has been writing and performing music locally for years.
  Most Thursday nights you can find New at Café Paradiso on North Meeting Street in downtown Charleston from 7-10 p.m. Although he has often played solo, he has recently been hooked up with bassist Melody Nelson and drummer Tom Singleton.
  “We jokingly call it the ‘Cowboy Hat and Flip-Flops Tour,’” New said. “It’s a country sound with a coastal feel. From Hank Williams to Jimmy Buffett and anything in between.”
   While the group plays popular fare to whet people’s musical appetites, New does perform some of the 40 or 50 songs he has written over the years. And nothing is more satisfying, he said, than when audience members get up and dance.
  “To think we’re playing something that people feel comfortable dancing to is just a fantastic feeling,” he said. “When that happens, I couldn’t care less if people are watching me or not.”
  The North Charleston native’s musical journey began when his parents gave him a guitar at age 12.
  “At Christmas my mom and dad bought me an old Kay guitar,” he recalled. “And when I went out under the tree and saw it, I was hooked from then on. I thought it was the neatest thing that I had one. However, it took me a little while to learn how to use it.”
  New took guitar lessons from local teacher and music-store owner Michael Davis for six or seven years. The Tennessee native created a nurturing environment that allowed New to bloom. The first pieces he learned were California-country rock songs in the tradition of the Eagles, along with a lot of works by the late Jim Croce.
  “There wasn’t a lot of musical reading or formal exercises,” he recalled. “Michael would help me learn a new song and then say, ‘Look at this. You’ve learned a song. It’s now part of you.’ And I’d think to myself, ‘Oh, isn’t that a nice surprise?” 
  Davis’ guitar style was strongly influenced by the Allman Brothers and he passed it on to his young student.
  “It’s such a signature Southern sound and I like to think I come from that tradition,” New said.
  If music historians someday research New’s musical journey, they’ll learn that the first song he wrote was “Come Discover Catholic Schools.” He performed it as an 8th grader for a St. John’s Catholic School celebration. And if the music snoops dig a little deeper, they may even find the video lovingly recorded by his proud parents.
   “My family is a huge supporter of what I do,” New said. “They always have been. No one else in my family is really very musical and my mom has no idea where I got the passion.”
  Although he performed at private holiday parties and for family events during high school, New put music on the back burner to participate in sports and other activities at Bishop England High School.
  “I was too nervous in high school and definitely not cool enough,” he recalled. “But I got a fantastic education. All of sudden my world wasn’t just Park Circle. I was with kids from all over the area. You’d drive through downtown to go to school and park your 4 x 4 pickup next to a BMW. It really expanded my world and I had an array of good learning experiences. I’m proud to say I’m a B.E. grad and glad I got through there, green pants and all.”
  New revived his passion for music after enrolling at College of Charleston, where he majored in English with a concentration in creative writing.
  “My college music experience was different,” he said. “We had a band called ‘Fuzzy Logic’ and the music was hard rock and very loud, not like the music I do now.”
  New met his future wife, Laura, during a literature class that was studying John Milton. Also an English major and currently graphics designer for this newspaper, she hails from Easley, a rural town located near Greenville. The chance meeting transformed his life, New said.
“For some reason, I’d gotten enough credits to graduate early and I was on my way out,” he said. “But Laura grabbed me and I went from ‘Paradise Lost’ to ‘Paradise Found.’”
  City boy New loves visiting Laura’s upstate family farm where he communes with cows and enjoys the green, open spaces. He’s written a ballad in tribute called “Country Girl:”
I was born with concrete under my shoes
The only stars I knew were city lights
Until one Charleston afternoon
I met a girl that changed my life
  “My passion for songwriting is as fresh as it was years ago,” New said. “It’s reinvigorated every time I write something and I think it is good. I always have a test audience and my test audience is my wife and my brother Jimmy. They’re pretty honest about giving me feedback and when I try something on them and they say, ‘Oh, I like that,’ I get excited and I’m off and running.”
  New sipped from his omnipresent cup of Starbucks coffee, a reminder of his day job at Anchor Sign, where he manages – you guessed it – the Starbucks account. But music continues to be an integral part of his life.
  “I’ll be sitting in Starbucks or Barnes & Noble – when I was in college it was the Waffle House – and a word or phrase will pop into my mind,” he said. “It usually starts with the word and the music comes later.”
  New is compiling a demo tape for a well-known Nashville group that has expressed interest in his work. And if he ever records a debut CD, he has a title: “True Stories, Tall Tales and Bald-Faced Lies.” Meanwhile, he’ll continue to play at Café Paradiso with the “Legends and Legacies” revue, puffy shirt and all.
  Please note: Jerry Seinfeld’s legendary puffy shirt now resides in the Smithsonian. If the stars align for the talented New, someday there may be two.

 

 


 

 

 

 

Daniel Island Publishing

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Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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