CityView Magazine

40 June 2022 PROFILE He's all about that bass Longtime guitarist treasures music as a way to express himself BY MICHAEL FUTCH | PHOTOGRAPHY BY TONY WOOTEN P ete Everett and his band were all- out swinging on a Friday night at rowback ursdays Sports Bar & Grill in Dunn. Everett leads the veteran trio — billed as Pete Everett and the Total Package Band — on his unusual nine-string electric bass guitar. e bass guitar is typically a four-stringed instrument. When the musicians arrived, they were their own roadies, setting up equipment at one end of the bar. ere was no stage. A group of about 21 people drank, talked and listened to music that provided a heady soundtrack for the evening. Some played pool. For the opening set on this April night, the trio performed a lot of contemporary jazz. Other members of the band are 53-year-old Bob James on keyboards and 54-year-old Lynn Muldrow on drums. Everett, 54, says he has been playing with Muldrow for 32 years and with James for 29 years. At this point, they know what they're doing. e can play aggressively or produce a smooth sound — whatever the song requires. "is is my band," Everett says from a seat at one of the tables. "Bill was using my band. It was us." "Bill" is Bill Curtis, also of Fayetteville, the man who started the funky Fatback Band. Everett says he played with Curtis and Fatback for roughly 22 years, but he's now with Total Package. He also helped anchor the rhythm section of the Chocolate Buttermilk Band. "He's an outstanding musician," Muldrow says of the bandleader. "I've played with quite a few bass players in my younger years, but when I started playing with Pete - man, it was a whole 'nother level. He was teaching me how to grow up as well as learning the music game." Most of the time when a group is touring, Muldrow says, the bass player and drummer share a room. e two of them "locked together," Muldrow says. "e more we play together, he said, the better we're going to get. I took some of his words of wisdom and ran with it. And here it is 32 years later, and we're still together playing." Everett's nine-string bass – a $14,000 instrument made by Conklin Guitars in Springfield, Missouri – is a special part of his astute musicianship, which dates to the age of 16. Pete Everett

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