Piper Leigh is a musician based in Arkansas City. She fronts the band Piper Leigh and The Smoking Section.
“My mom was a theater director, so I guess I was thrown onto not only music but onto the stage at a very young age. You were either prepared or you were a victim. It was a world lived in front of people. I went to college on a tennis scholarship. I dropped out to be a lounge singer. It was for Renaissance Hotels. They had three different locations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. So, I would go from lounge to lounge, singing the same eight songs to different people all the time. It was a great way to practice and get better at playing guitar and learning how to work a crowd.
We were playing the Tumbleweed Festival in Garden City and the gentleman who booked us was at one time the largest collector of Mossman guitars. He gave me a ’77 Mossman acoustic/electric guitar. We went over to his house for a party one night after the festival and he said, ‘Don’t bother bringing your guitar. I’ve got one I want you to try.’ He takes me down to this basement where he’s got probably 18 Mossmans down there. It’s just insane. He said, ‘Play several of them. Take your pick.’ At the end of the party he said, ‘Why don’t you take that home with you?’
Wow, dude.
That has to go up there with the biggest compliment ever. It’s one of the nicest instruments I’ve ever owned. Incredible.”
