Craig Daily Press

Craig — Jerry Schaeffer, former bass guitar player of a Craig rock and roll band, sometimes thinks about what might have been.

The tours.

The concerts.

The chance to have a share of the spotlight.

Schaeffer played for Steal’n, a band he and three of his Moffat County schoolmates began together in 1973.

Later that decade, he declined an opportunity to travel with Neal Schon, a guitarist who later became lead singer in the rock band Journey.

Instead, he opted for a different path. He decided to make music an on-the-side occupation, rather than a full-time career.

After putting aside his music for more than two decades, Schaeffer came onboard a three-person group, The Goodman Band. While in Grand Junction, he discovered the group, which will perform in Craig from 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday at Cassidy’s restaurant in the Craig Holiday Inn, 300 S. Colorado Highway 13.

“After not playing for (nearly) 30 years, I really, really started to miss it,” Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer began playing music as a teenager in Moffat County junior high and high school bands. Apart from the training he received in those groups, he never took a music lesson, he said.

Music “came very naturally to me,” he added.

Schaeffer almost put his guitar away for good after he declined a chance to perform for larger audiences than Craig could give him.

In 1979, he had left Colorado and become a sound and lighting technician for musical performances in Phoenix. A rock group named St. Paradise came to town that year and could have permanently changed his direction.

While setting up for a performance, the group’s guitar technician told Schaeffer he was quitting his job and offered the guitarist his position.

The job could have meant a chance to befriend the lead guitarist, who could have recommended Schaeffer to play with other bands, Schaeffer said.

Still, taking the position would have meant packing his bags and joining the group’s road trip at 1 a.m. the next morning.

“It was too much, too soon,” he said. “In retrospect, I wish I would have taken the chance.”

Schaeffer declined the offer. In 1981, he stopped playing guitar for good.

Or so he thought.

Schaeffer now works six days a week at Western Anglers, a fly fishing shop he owns in Grand Junction. The job keeps him busy, he said — as does performing engagements three to four times a week with The Goodman Band.

Schaeffer sometimes thinks about what might have been.

Between his occupation and his passion for music, he doesn’t have much time for regrets.

“Things have worked out in my life,” he said.

Although he could have performed for larger audiences, Schaeffer said he is content to keep his music as a part-time occupation.

So, too, is Craig resident Jim Simpson.

Like Schaeffer, Simpson began playing musical instruments as a school student.

And, like the bass guitarist, Simpson keeps a day job.

A farmer by profession, he says his music is sometimes a welcome escape from his agricultural obligations.

Simpson said playing — and learning to play — musical instruments is a hobby, a way to keep “the old brain cells active.”

Yet, music is more than his pastime.

“For me, it’s my hobby and my passion,” he said. “A lot of people read for a hobby. I’d rather create something that everyone else can enjoy.”

Bridget Manley can be reached at 875-1795 or bmanley@craigdailypress.com