Back from the coast

Ok, so I've been trying to catch up from being gone for the last week or so, so forgive me for not being able to post anything since last Monday. I had planned on being able to blog a little bit during our downtime while playing several shows out on the coast last weekend in the Rockport area, but I had a hell of a time trying to get through on any wireless network. I don't have an external card, so I was very thankful to have my blackberry to check email when I needed to, otherwise I would've gone crazy. :) It's amazing how dependent we can become on technology, and I'm definitely much happier now that I have high speed access again.

So, the 5 day trip was a great success, and as it turns out, very productive for all of us. We played all weekend long at 3 different places, and all of them just LOVED us! On Thursday night over at the Paradise Key, they treated us to a very nice (and very expensive) dinner, as a way of saying thanks. If you haven't been to the coast in a while, the seafood is much better than we get up here in Austin, and it tastes so much better when you're not the one paying for it. :)

The show at The Pickled Pelican went over very well, too. It seems that they are pretty starved for good country music down there, because we made a whole LOT of new friends and fans (Reba, Diane, Stephanie, and John to name a few) while we were there. The guys and I were able to put together a bunch of new songs in the afternoon before the show, so we used all of them during the set, and they all went over great. I even pulled the crowd into a sing-along during "Fishin' in the Dark" and "Mamas Don't Let your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys".

I must admit, though, I did have a personal first that night. By the time the show was over, it was around 1am, and I didn't realize how much I'm used to the non-smoking thing in Austin, which (since I don't smoke) is hard to deal with outside of it. I went outside to catch some fresh air before starting to break down the gear and head back to Padre Island where we were staying, which was about an hour away. I came back inside and a very cute but very obviously wasted young girl and I struck up a conversation.

She was informed by some other women that night that she had to talk to me before we left. It was obvious she was looking for some company that night after the show, but I've never been one to take advantage of that situation, personally, so I tried to be cordial and get back to breaking down the gear and get out of there. She was determined, though, and refused to give up, and asked me for my phone number. I've already been getting late night calls from enthusiastic fans lately, and wasn't about to invite another one, so I told her that my phone was cut off because I haven't paid my bill yet (which isn't too far from the truth.) She accepted this and walked away again, only to return one more time instructing me to give her 'any number', and didn't even care if I made it up. I finally relented, but still wasn't going to give her my number so I went to talk to John and Carl, my guitar players, and have them help me with one. I started writing 512, and then magically (and almost seemingly by themselves) 459-2222 followed (Mr. Gattis, to the unaware.) I suspect that this probably won't be the last time that this kind of thing happens, but it will likely be the last time I blog about it. The phrase "what happens on the road, stays on the road" needs to be preserved, and I for one will be sure to do my part as best as I can. :)

Anyway, the rest of the weekend went pretty much about the same. We had another great show at Joker's, and even had some "Repeat Offenders" as the boys and I call them, from the night before. (Repeat Offenders being fans who we see at more than one show.) We also ran into Charlie Robison Saturday night too, which was a nice surprise, but it turns out that Charlie spends a lot of time down in Rockport.

That's all for now though. I've still got a lot of catching up to do, and the boys and I are playing out at Cindy's Gone Hog Wild tonight from 7-10pm. Why don't you guys come on out and have some fun with us? It'll be a great show, and we could use some fan support to show Cindy what kind of trouble we can get into. There's plenty of other shows on the calendar, too, but if you come out and mention this blog, I'll buy you a drink. :)

I've also been asked to expand on some of the other things I mentioned in my first blog entry, but not to worry - I'll get better at this, and work on adding more frequently.