Most musicians probably dream of winning awards, selling millions of records and playing sold-out arenas.
Chris Howdyshell dreams of small audiences, steady gigs and the ultimate perk — bottled water.
The lead singer for Red River Rollercoaster, worker-owner at The Little Grill and burgeoning artist says the best gigs are the ones that provide bottled water.
“At the Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville, they put you in the green room, it’s a nice stage and when they give you bottled water, you feel so cool,” he says. “I do it for the bottled water.”
April will be one of the busiest months for Red River Rollercoaster, a three-member “Americana” band. The group is booked for every weekend of the month, right into May. But some months, they barely get any calls, and Howdyshell is OK with that.
“This month, people are calling. Some months no one calls,” he says. “We almost never get paid, but that’s OK. That part doesn’t matter.”
This zen approach to the music industry extends to the band’s music and performances. Their most recent album, “Song Kitchen,” was recorded in The Little Grill, with banter and ad-libbing as though it were a live concert.
“I got my tax [refund] back and I thought I’d get 100 CDs printed,” Howdyshell says. “So I gathered all my super friends who are super talented and we recorded.”
The band has three permanent members — Howdyshell on guitar, Chris Harman on upright bass and Mariana Bowling on fiddle. But Howdyshell is open to any “super friends” who want to join in.
“Really talented people come to play with us,” he says. “On our MySpace, it says, ‘You never know when we’ll become a choir of banditos.’ ”
“Americana” is a broad name for their music, which is a hybrid of folk, bluegrass and country. Howdyshell says he grew up in Briery Branch listening to pop radio, Christian rock and country singers like Randy Travis.
“I had bad music taste — I still do,” he says. “I love Weird Al Yankovic.”
He even has a picture with his idol and an autographed ticket. He is also influenced by Phish and Neil Young, but his concert experiences with both have been less than perfect.
“I saw Neil Young and I was like, ‘I’ve got to meet him,’ ” Howdyshell says. When he caught up with Young, the legendary singer said only one thing: “Are you armed?”
“I said, ‘Noooo, I just want to shake your hand,’ ” he says. “So I shook his hand. It felt like a brillo pad.”
When he saw Phish, the band would occasionally come on stage, play its set and leave the stage without saying a word to the audience. Howdyshell decided that if he became a performer, he would do the absolute opposite.
Red River Rollercoaster has a “sink or swim” method to performing. Howdyshell says they learned through improvisation.
“I would say, ‘All right, we’re just going to start,’ ” he says. “Performances doubled as practice because we didn’t have time for practices. I can only imagine some of it really sucked.”
The group has played local venues, like Little Grill and The Artful Dodger, along with The Purple Fiddle in Thomas, W. Va., and Cary Street Café in Richmond. Some venues suit them more than others; when a performance at Massanutten Ski Resort is packed, no one seems to listen to the music.
“When there are more people, it’s not as much fun,” he says. “We thrive in an intimate scene — just a few people. Half of our show is communicating with the audience.”
In fact, the band’s favorite type of gig is opening for another band. “Those are short, no-pressure shows. Opening is cake,” he says. “You don’t worry about filler songs and you leave feeling great.”
They may not be an opening act for much longer, however. On April 3, the band will play at The Artful Dodger to accompany Howdyshell’s first art show. He has taken some art classes at Blue Ridge Community College, but art has always been for fun and never for profit. But a customer at The Little Grill purchased his painting of a bird for $75 and then suggested The Artful Dodger book him for an exhibit.
Because he never planned on selling his art, he had to create a few original pieces for the show. One painting features squat yellow people, jumping through a city skyline, with kung fu phrases accompanying their action.
“I call this my Atari meets Lego meets kung fu painting,” he says, laughing.
He can’t really describe his style. “I just take little shapes and color them in,” he says. “My inspirations are a whole bunch of cliché artists — Dali and Van Gogh.”
Red River Rollercoaster will be playing shows throughout April. Howdyshell says they’ll play just about anywhere.
“We’ve found that if you play anywhere, it’s just great,” he says. “You find yourself in the weirdest situations.”