Look for an unexpected reference to yours truly in this cool Cowboylands blog analysis based on a recent UCLA study that found guns make people look bigger! I met the writer/publisher at a show I played in Manhattan last summer and have thoroughly enjoyed reading her take on all things western and more. Good Short Read!
Hey, Everybody—I have great news. I’m the proud new owner of a nineteenth century one-room schoolhouse in the piney woods of east Texas where my grandmother went to school when she was a child almost a hundred years ago. This morning I’m here in Houston, packing up my guitar and four dogs to head east toward Louisiana, into the dense, mysterious thicket of my youth, where I'll spend a few days writing and reading and just enjoying the solitude and music of nature under the age old oaks by the water fountain where the kids once laughed and played.
I’m taking along a dear book that was sent to me from Manhattan by a friend in music. In a short time, I've become thoroughly engrossed in Blues and Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer, edited by Anthony DeCurtis, a collection of pieces that were published in sources such as Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Penthouse, and Guitar World over three decades spanning the seventies through the nineties, and they make me wonder what happened to this kind of intelligent, captivating, and most of all, honest, music writing. I was telling another friend of mine about it, and he said something like “that’s when people lived and breathed music.” What a concept. Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to having time to read this book and more with no distractions, and I imagine if my mojo hand’s working right, I should get a great new song, too!
On Sunday (May 6), I’ll be back in Houston for a special event. Recently, someone asked me who I’d like to vote for, and I found myself saying, “somebody who supports dogs.” I guess that was funny, though I didn’t mean to be. I feel very strongly that animals need us as advocates and that we have a responsibility to them, since they don’t have a voice of their own. So I’m glad that I was invited to perform at this benefit for SMART animal rescue this weekend. The venue is a very nice but comfortable restaurant in the Montrose arts district, and there will be three acts performing. All of this will be honoring the birthday of Cleo, the organizer’s cat, whom I hear actually dresses quite fashionably and has appeared in a variety of media in her relatively short career as a model. I’m also pleased to announce that I'll be accompanied by the great Greg Henkel on fiddle.
Y’all come!