This months Local Yodel, features Will Cash, a lead guitarist who plays in at least 9 or 10 bands locally.

Will began playing guitar at 14 on an old Jackson electric guitar. It was his first instrument. He attended Shades Valley High School in Birmingham where he began playing with Aaron Branson (bass), Tyler Diuguid (Vocals/Guitar) and Nic Herring (Drums), at the age of 15. He still plays with these three friends in The Magnetic Elite, a cover band of 70s, 80s, and 90s hits. Their song lists includes Sublime, The Talking Heads, The Band, Tom Petty, Weezer, Phish, Radiohead, 311, Cream, The Grateful Dead, Alice in Chains, Grand funk railroad, Bob Marley, Huey Lewis, Pink Floyd, Zappa and many more. After high school, Will attended UAB where he intended to study strictly jazz guitar. I originally wanted to study jazz guitar but wound up doing 2 years of classical as well as 2 years of jazz, he told me. I studied classical under Joel Smith and jazz with Carlos Pino and Dr. Steve Roberts. It was a great experience and I learned some really valuable things from all of my teachers & instructors. Asked about influences, he says he first fell in love with the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder and Stevie Ray Vaughn, and lately hes extremely inspired by Jimmy Herring, Derek Trucks, and Eric Johnson. As for jazz influences, he mentions Joe Pass, Pat Marti Jimmy Smith, and John Scofield. When asked what he likes to listen to, he said, Something with some soul and a deep pocket really does it for me. That describes just about every James Brown and Meters song in my opinion. I love some James Brown and The Meters too!! He also plays lead guitar for an Allman Brothers cover band, which includes Branson on bass, Mark Lanter on drums, Matt Casey on slide guitar and Peyton Grant on keyboards. The band, called Eat a Peach, can be heard around Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. Along with these two groups, he also performs with Bonus Round, which plays a wide range of covers, Hillbilly Trucking, a country cover band, as well as playing behind Seth Capper, India Ramey, a folk-flavored singer/songwriter and the Erin Mitchell Project, a funky, rhythm and blues outfit. He also plays with Branson in The Fighting Meeces (a rock/fusion/experimental band), fronts his own jazz combo called The Will Cash Quartet and played with the Black Jacket Symphony for their Eagles show this February. Besides playing three to five nights a week, Will also teaches guitar both at Bailey Brothers Music on Southside and Music Plus, as well as working with Camp Jam for the last three years. Its an extension of his teaching. The camp has taught me how to deal with large numbers of kids who have very different musical preferences. You have to be able to put your musical tastes aside in order to help them be successful at whatever style they want to play. He worries that too many young musicians are competitive with each other about their playing. Too many of the kids stay so caught up in being better than the next guy that they never really learn music. All they learned is how to be competitive at music. That's not my style!!

What is his style is spending time with his friends and family, who he calls his backbone. He loves playing live, but he feels he has a responsibility to pass the music on to the next generation, which he does through his teaching. He summed it up by saying, I consider myself lucky to be able to teach during the day and play at night. I feel truly blessed. You can hear Magnetic Elite in July at Stillwater Pub (7/1), at Metro Bistro (7/9) and at Courtyard Southside (7/15) . You can hear Will playing with India Ramey at Courtyard Sideside (7/8) and at Onas (7/27). Bonus Round plays Martys on 7/16 and Will plays with Seth Capper Band at Oteys in Mountain Brook on 7/23. You can hear Will on various sites including www.myspace.com/WilliamCash, www.myspace.com/EatAPeach, and www.facebook.com/pages/The-Magnetic-Elite, and www.facebook.com/will.cash.