Gary Virtue
6 and 12-String Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica and Vocals
Place of birth: Dover, Kent
Place of residence: Deal, Kent
Earliest musical memories / influences: My mum taking me to watch The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks and The Hollies at the ABC in Dover in 1964 and witnessing Beatlemania on television.
Favourite artists / bands: Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
The best single ever recorded: Imagine by John Lennon
The best album ever recorded: 'Boston' by Boston - their 1976 debut album
Best live concert ever attended: Paul McCartney and Wings at the Empire Pool, Wembley in 1976
Equipment used: Washburn D32 acoustic guitar, Fender Acoustasonic Junior amp, Fender Stratocaster guitar and Hohner Special 20 harmonicas
Past bands and musical ventures: Drummer in Bronze and Rhodes both hard rock bands from the 1980's and Big Stick which was a guitar duo from the 1990's with my Crow bandmate Mr Mark Griffiths
What made you join the Crow wagon: The music of the road - driving Route 66 from Chicago to LA in 2007 and the chance to write and perform our own material
Your visions, ambitions and expectations for The Old Country Crows: To achieve as much as possible, to get on the major festival circuit and to write more songs that are good enough for us to get back into the studio to record.
Your favourite moment as a Crow: Hearing the final mixes of the tracks from 'Behind The Rain' and realising that we had created a very good album.
The Crow song you wake up in the middle of the night singing: Either the latest one or the one for which I am currently forgetting the words !
Any other business: A few years ago we had played a first set of 14 songs at a show and during the break a member of the audience, who said he was a professional musician, suggested that we should perform our own numbers. He stepped back when we informed him that all 14 songs were original ! I am still trying to figure out whether to take it as a compliment or not.
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