The return of sunshine

Well, if it wasn't noticable to you that people in this town were so anxious for the weather to clear up and get better, it sure has heck was to us last night on 6th street!

The evening started off, for me personally, on a high note when I stopped in on my friend Rob's 30th birthday party. My only intention of dropping by was to wish him a happy birthday, hang out for a bit, and head down to 6th street to get set up for our show at Shakespeare's. It's been a while since I'd seen him or his folks (where the party was at) and no sooner had I mentioned that I no longer had my booking agency, and had just released my own CD that Rob's mom took great care of me, and made sure that I was introduced to everyone at the party. She even loaded the CD into their player and played it for the better part of the hour or so that I was there. It was fun, but by the time I left I was still almost literally still gasping for air from talking to so many people in such a short amount of time. :) Today's Rob's official birthday, so let me wish him a very good one, and thanks again for a wonderful time. Rob just lost 100 pounds and looks great!

The tempo of the evening only precipitated one of our best shows on 6th street at Shakespeare's. By the time I got there, I was still recovering from the party, and we had plenty of time to load in, set up and get sound checked. John, Bill and I were all in great moods, and the energy level kept steadily increasing from there. My good friend Nate, who I've known since high school, came by as well as some very nice ladies from Arizona who bought 3 copies of the album. The shows keep getting tighter, the guys and I are having so much fun on stage, but the crowd last night really was what made it all come together. I draw so much of my energy from the crowd, especially when I'm getting alot of good response, that it's almost like a 4 hour rollercoaster ride.

We'll be back at Shakespeare's Pub this Friday night on the 1st of February, so come on out and see what you've been missing! This week, our friend and pedal steel guitarist Price Porter will be joining us on stage, and bringing (what I believe to be) a very rarely seen instrument on 6th street. I honestly can't remember the last time I was on 6th street and heard a steel guitar playing...judging by the packed house just about every time we play there, people really enjoy hearing our kind of music on 6th street again.

Oh, one other thing I almost forgot to mention that's pretty cool. I heard last week from XM Radio that they're going to be picking up 3 songs from the album to play in regular rotation on America, channel 10. The songs are "Day Job", "If I Could Just Get Back (into The Swing of Things)", and "Best Friend I Never Had". It's so cool to have that kind of benchmark this early in my career, and I'm very grateful for (who I'm honored calls me a friend) Dale Watson for helping to make the connection with XM.

Here's what's coming up:
2/01 - Shakespeare's Pub
2/06 - Fox 7's 'Good Day Austin' (day)
2/06 - Cindy's Gone Hog Wild
2/07 - The Pickled Pelican (Rockport)
2/08 - Hill's Cafe
2/09 - Tarrytown Farmer's Market (day)
2/09 - Giddy Ups

Inaugural entry

I've been known to ramble quite a bit. Most of it tends to be in front of the microphone when I'm trying to fill the time by talking to the crowd between songs, or just general bantering, so I should be pretty good at blogging. I also have several other examples I try to pay attention to, (Janice Williams' and Duggan Flanakin's) are two great ones.) for guidance.

I hear it's a really great way to promote and publicize your inner most thoughts to perfect strangers, but, again, I'm so much better at it when I'm in front of an audience or trying to write a song. I really get on an adrenaline high when I'm really connecting with my crowd. And, most of the time if you've spoken to me, it's almost as if it's two different people. Case in point, the CD release party on November 28th at Hill's Cafe. Now THAT was an amazing night. I could blog the hell out of every last memory I have in amazing detail from that night because it was an incredibly validating experience.

This album was something that my friend and producer Stephen Doster and I had been working on since April of 2006. It came together in such a way that, if I never made another album, I could die a happy man. The names on there are people whom I've looked up to for so long, that to have them on my first 'official' album is already a career-high. I can blog about the studio sessions another time, but for now this is a rewind to the CD release party. I was very glad to see so many people there, but even more so when I saw some of the more recognizable faces, which belonged to many of my good friends. I also realize how busy many of them are, so to take time to come out and support me for the CD release was humbling.

My band is great - they all knew how important this show was, so we all had our 'A' game that night. Especially since we all knew that Dale Watson, who appeared on the album singing with me on the song of his that I covered, "Hair of The Dog". Dale's being there was a great "feather in the cap" for the night, and was certainly the highlight of the evening when he got up on stage with us to sing "Hair". He's been very kind to me this year, but again, that's another time. Others in attendance to help me celebrate were Janice Williams, Greg Roberts, Cash Edwards, along with my good friends Angela-Marie Lampton , Lucas Cook, Bill Rice, Cheri Fox, John Scott from KVET, John Michael Whitby (who is probably getting ready for his show right now with King George at the Erwin Center Thursday, and also appeared on the album), along with David Sanger and Elizabeth McQueen from Asleep at The Wheel, who lent their talents as well. Even more importantly though, my parents made it out to the show, and they love coming to my shows when they can, but it's hard for them to get out late sometimes after dark.

The whole night was magical, and to top it off, my last great memory was getting a standing ovation from the very large crowd, most of whom stayed for the whole show. That show has, since, been very hard to top but we've come pretty close a few times, and they're only getting better. Sure hope to see you out at one of the several we have coming up...

I have to run for now, though.. We're headed down play a bunch of shows in Rockport this week, and I need to finish up some laundry. :) I'm also enjoying a well-deserved LSU team beat up on Ohio State!

One last thing - please be patient with me as I learn how to become a better blogger. I'm a narrative writer by trade, and a musician, which almost always means a very short attention span... Hell, it took me almost 2 hours just to write this entry! Should get interesting...