I have made a point a few times that I really enjoy music. On December 25, 1965 my parents gave to me a couple of really cool Christmas gifts. I received a Gibson J-45 guitar, a Zenith portable record player and three albums that to this day rank high on my list as the best of all time.
The first one was one my father actually wanted. As I mentioned before in a previous blog, my father was friends with a singer by the name of Jim Reeves. So I received the 1964 RCA Victor recording of his greatest hits. It included "He'll Have to Go"; "Four Walls" "Billy Bayou" and "Danny Boy".
The second one was the very first and self titled album of the trio Peter Paul and Mary. That album included a treasure trove of folk songs. "If I had a Hammer";" Lemon Tree";" 500 Mile"; and Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone".
The third one was no slouch either. It was by those lovable mob tops from Liverpool. Rubber Soul is a true classic. Some how I got the U.K. version and it had a few extra tracts such as "I've Just Seen a Face',"This Bird Has Flown"(Now known as Nowegian Wood), "Think For Yourself", "Run for Your Life" Nowhere Man" "Wait" (my fav), "Drive my Car", "It's Only Love,""You Won't See Me"; and of course "Michelle".(my belle)Only two other record albums has had more number hits than Rubber Soul. Can you name them? Clues are given in this blog.
I cannot imagine a better primer for a teenage boy. Those three albums and guitar have been an integral part of my very soul. The Zenith is long gone as well as the three vinyl albums. Years later a worthless piece of shit broke into my house the day after Thanksgiving and stole the J-45. I have replaced the music and now most tunes from these three albums are on my computer. The J-45 has been replaced with a D-28
Anyway my love has music has continued. I love listening to it, I love singing and playing it. I love writing it. I have actually tried my hand at writing music. I must admit I am not very good at it. My desire is to be a real songwriter. Thus far I am still in the "wanting to" phase. One day a few years after my blessed divorce from the first Mrs. The Third, I was setting in my home all alone. The wife was gone and she took a lot of stuff with her. One was our child. It had been raining for nearly a week and a storm had recently blown a nearby transformer so I had no electricity. It was hot and muggy so I opened the sliding glass door in the back of my house. I pulled my guitar out and as I listened to the rain I wrote these words " tears keep falling like rain on a broken beer can." The inspiration for the penning came as I watched water cascade in a down spout and pouring on to a crushed Budweiser can on my patio. OK, I admit it is not very good.But I am still working on my muse.
The First Mrs da 3rd and I would frequent a local Houston, Texas eatery called the Refectory. It was located located in the Town and Country Shopping complex. It was a pretty good steakhouse. It was sort of like the old Steak and Ales. It had a back room where you could go and listen to bands. One night we saw a band called Wheatfield. They were a trio of two guys and a girl. They were damn good. I remember a song that they played called Waxahatchie Woman. I was blown away. I dreamed that night how it could have been me up there singing. I suppose nearly everyone has fantasies about being a big music star. I know I sure have. A few week later I turned on the tv and watched a new show on the local channel 8 . I once again heard the strains of Waxahatchie Woman.
'Turning the knob, changing the channels the old-fashioned way one evening in 1976, I landed on KUHT, Houston's PBS station-the country's first PBS station- and saw a band on a stage in front of an enthusiastic audience. Two tall, skinny men with long, blond hair, one on each end of the stage, stood playing acoustic guitars as a beautiful dark-haired girl sat on a stool between them in the center of the stage, singing, "The lady has no heart....". "What is this?" I thought. I sat down, mesmerized, arm's length from the television, and didn't touch the knob again until after Gary P. Nunn's "London Homesick Blues" played and the credits for the show ran.The band was Wheatfield. The tall, skinny men were Craig Calvert and Chris (Ezra) Idlet, the dark-haired girl was Connie Mims and what it was, was Austin City Limits first broadcast in its first season.
Lyle Lovett - January 1999 from the foreword to the book"Austin City Limits-25 Years of American Music"by John T. Davis
Wheatfield eventually added a bass player and drummer. Then Connie Mims got married and had a couple of kids and decided to leave the band. Craig and Ezra formed a duo and called them selves Trout Fishing in America. They have done pretty good for themselves.
A few years ago a couple of local enterprising people in my former home town spent a good bit of money to build a live music venue. They have survived thus far. They began having open mike nights on Saturday evenings. I played in a local band by the name of Cold Creek. We were a trio with interchanging percussion and bass players. Our trio consisted of Mike on guitar and lead singer, Gary (who was in a wheel chair) on harmonica and me singing backup and playing guitar and mandolin. We had played at Mainstreet Crossing a few times and I guess we did pretty good. We attending the OMN and signed up to perform a couple of tunes. We got on on stage and played our set of songs. I am not sure of all of the songs we did but I do know we played Steve Earle's Copperhead Road and Charly Robison's John O'Reily. I know that because we always played them. Both songs have distinctive sounds of a mandolin.
We did ok I suppose and we set down and listened to other bands and singers. Then Connie Mims came over to me and complimented me on our set. I looked up and said "Thanks, it means a lot coming from you." I was about to babble to her how my wife and I used to listen to her so many years earlier. Before I could say anything she asked if I could back her up in her set. NOW THAT WAS COOL !
If someone asked me what sort of music is my favorite I would be hard pressed to come up with an honest answer. Come to think about it, if you asked me what my favorite type of beer is I would be similarly stumped. I guess you would have to consider what sort of mood that I am in.
But I do like Texas music. So what is Texas music? mmmmmmm I am not sure.
It just is or it isn't.
When I was dating my first wife, we would go and visit her family who all lived in the Fort Worth area. Her cousins Gary and Melvin owned a Kenwood receiver with Sansui speakers. I wa
s so damn envious. They had this album by a group called Frummox. This was an interesting album. It was recorded by two guys. Dan McCrimmon and Steven Fromholtz. On one side of the album was trio of tracks called Texas Trilogy. The songs were a story about a small town in Central Texas. It really is a real place. I loved listening to those songs. A few year later after the First Mrs The Third and I were wed and moved to Houston, I began looking to obtain a copy of Frummax. I searched for months. I visited numerous record stores. Keep in mind there was no Internet at the time. I finally found a "pristine" copy at "The Groove" The album cost me nearly twenty five bucks.
But (bear with me) I am actually getting to something. Now I realize that if ask 100 people to list the top ten "Texas Singers" you would get 100 different lists. But I submit my list. I am confident that a minimum of seven of them would be on all 100 list.
Steven Fromholtz (saw him at Anderson Faire in Houston)
Gary P. Nunn (saw him at the Broken Spoke in Austin)
Willie Nelson (seen him at an outdoor concert near Lake Livingston, at a shit hole bar in Shreveport (Lake Cliff Lounge),at a RodeoHouston show and at a race track in Bakersfield, Ca.)
Waylon Jennings (saw him in Bakersfield also)
David Alan Coe (saw him at Gilley's in Pasadena, Texas)
Jerry Jeff Walker, Ronald Clyde Crosby born in Oneonta, New York(Saw him a few weeks ago at Bloomin Temple Festival)
Guy Clark (Saw him at Hoolihans in Houston)
Ray Wily Hubbard (Saw him in Luckenbach Texas)
Pat Green (for the younger crowd) (Saw him at Texas Crawfish Festival in Spring Texas)
Roger Creeger (saw him last year at Bloomin Temple Festival)
Cory Morrow (Saw him at Sam Houston Racetrack)
David Alan Coe (Saw him at Gilley's in Pasadena, Texas)
Townes Van Zandt (saw him at Anderson Faire and other Houston clubs. He lived in an apartment across from mine and he would borrow my guitar on occasion)
WAXAHACHIE WOMAN
(Calvert/Idlet)
If I just had me a nickel to spend
Or if you could spare me the dime
I’d call up that woman from Waxahachie
To tell her that I love her and I’d like to spend some time
Making love
Making sweet, sweet love
Making love
With that Waxahachie Woman
I can see her face all glowin’
Like the misty morning sunshine
And that Waxahachie Woman doesn’t even know my name
I was on my way to Idaho, I was colder that an Eskimo
I was waiting by the highway for a ride
Well I couldn’t feel my toes no more and my hands were frozen solid
To the handle on the case of my guitar
Well she warmed my and so much more
She left me with a memory
And a doctor bill that cost me twice as much as I paid her
Making love
Making sweet, sweet love
Making love
With that Waxahachie Woman
I can see her face all glowin’
Like the misty morning sunshine
And that Waxahachie Woman doesn’t even know my name
Now every time I think of her I remember all she gave me and I realize the lesson to be learned
If you find a girl that's willin', you'd best buy some penicillin, It's much easier than paying twice the money for the ride
Making love
Making sweet, sweet love
Making love
With that Waxahachie Woman
I can see her face all glowin’
Like the misty morning sunshine
And that Waxahachie Woman doesn’t even know my name
Some call me Tunes
The Third
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