Thoughts on the pandemic — Local 257 members speak

2020: The year that almost was

Hard to believe it’s the middle of summer and I’ve been home since early March! First time that’s happened in about 17 years. I have been out on tour with either Reba or the SteelDrivers every year since 2004. No way I could have predicted even five months ago that I would be sitting here at home during what had looked to be the SteelDrivers' most successful year ever. We had just released our fifth album after a long five years since our last CD came out in 2015, the Grammy-winning Muscle Shoals Recordings. Everything had been planned and strategized leading up to 2020 for almost a year. But then COVID-19 exploded and so did our year.

Tammy King

We are a two-musician family, so not only was I dealing with my loss of income, we were dealing with my husband’s losses as well. I’ve been married to Jeff King for over 20 years, and this looked to be an incredible year for both of us. He had tours booked with Reba and Brooks and Dunn, both solo shows and when they perform together in Vegas. 2020 — the year that almost was!

So far most everything we had booked has been postponed or rescheduled for 2021, but who knows how that will go? Unfortunately, I think our industry, or at least the live side of it, will be last to return. Jeff and I have both been lucky to have studio work fill in a lot of the time we have available now. I’m trying to be grateful and realize we are some of the fortunate ones to have that revenue. I really feel sorry for the younger players just trying to get their careers going. It’s hard enough when times are good, let alone trying to survive a pandemic!

On the personal side, our daughter had to finish her senior year of high school online. She missed out on so many of the fun parts of her senior year. We are just anxiously waiting to see what happens this fall with college. Crazy times for her generation! I can’t imagine having to go through what she’s going through at 18. — Tammy King