I met Kathleen Hudson earlier this year at Giddy-Ups, a wonderful south Austin roadhouse (waaay south!) that still feels like Austin in its heyday. I didn't really know who she was; I was simply impressed with her knowledge of Texas music and of course, her good looks.

Turns out that Dr. Kathleen Hudson is an English professor at Schreiner University in Kerrville, where she also founded the Texas Heritage Music Foundation. She has written two books on Texas music-makers, and I recently read the first one, Telling Stories, Writing Songs: An Album of Texas Songwriters.

The book is a collection of interviews with some of my songwriting heroes, including Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, and Robert Earl Keen. Reading their thoughts on the how and why of songwriting makes me examine my own need to write songs. 

When I came across the following quote from Guy Clark, one of my favorite Texas songwriters, I immediately shared it with my favorite Texas songwriter and sometime songwriting partner, David Harbaugh. He agreed with it, and suggested I start adding a few thoughts on songwriting in my own humble little blog. Clark said:

"In the process of writing, I'll have it turn around on me and have the whole meaning of the song change. But that's just because it wasn't finished. That's just part of the process. I don't know how they work until I've played them onstage ten or fifteen times for an audience. To me, that's finishing the song. The performance [is] just as much a part of the writing process as the rest of it."


That's exactly how I feel about some of my songs. It's why I kinda regret rushing "Don't Dallas My Austin" and "That Kind of Song" into the studio. I play both songs a little differently (and better) now than the way I recorded them on the CD. I glad I was able to record them, but I also wish I'd waited for the song to mature a little.

After the official festivities of NxNW (North! Buy No Wristbands!) ended at Rovers last night, David Dunn allowed Lynette & Lefty to borrow the stage for a dress rehearsal with me and Helen Haake (a.k.a. "Hell Bell") for our Saturday show at The Iron Cactus.

NxNW (North! Buy No Wristbands) officially kicked off its 2016 iteration today with a song swap featuring Nancy Scott, Robert Cline Jr, and Jean Synodinos. The Judith Miller Jazz Trio took the stage next, and the (official) end of the show was Johnny Blue (of The Mighty Pelicans) performing with Buster Gutbucket (a.k.a. David Patrick Dunn). We even convinced Diana to assist on the washboard!

Johnny Blue also demonstrated his newest creation: the Citar. It's a double-neck cigar box guitar, and the second neck produces a sitar-like sound.

Played at South By San Gabriel today with The Pilowcases (Leta Moser and Nancy Lynch). It was a little breezy, but otherwise a pretty perfect day for an outdoor show. 

Played at The Water Tank tonight along with friends Lynette & Lefty. Lynette also joined me on stage for some dancing and la-da-das during "Hot Pepper Tamale."

Average Joe Crane contacted me last Thursday to ask me to host tonight's open mic at B.B. Rovers. I said I would do it.

Despite the late notice, I had a pretty good crowd show up. We had 17 acts on the list counting myself; however, two had to leave before their time to play.

Anna Lewis and I performed last night for the Austin Ukulele Society. We did "Jackson," ala Johnny Cash and June Carter, and in my humble opinion, we were the hit of the evening.

John y Pablo played to a small, yet enthusiastic crowd who braved the threat of  thunderstorms to come to The Carousel Lounge, one of the best "old Austin" venues around. Sammy Peters (keyboard) and Bill Payne III (drums) joined us on stage, and we all had great time.

The only downside to the evening happened when one of my guitar preamp controls broke off, leaving me with NO BASS at all from the 12-string. Poor baby. Hopefully, I can get her fixed in time for NXNW (North! Buy No Wristbands) next week at B.B. Rovers.

Paul and I had such a great time, we didn't want to stop. After we packed up our stuff, Paul said, "Where do you wanna go now?" I remembered that Anderson Mill Pub had reinstated its Tuesday open mic night, so we drove over there and kept on playing. We actually had a larger crowd there, and they liked us so much, they kept us on stage for nine songs.

I was honored to perform at the Makayla's Miracle Moments benefit today. I haven't heard how much money they raised (Monday update: they raised approximately $15,000), but I hope it was a lot for this brave, high school senior who is still recovering from a terrible accident.

After the show, I drove to Georgetown to have supper with my son and his girlfriend, which is always a treat. Next, I came back to Austin and played at the B.B. Rover's open mic. Test drove my new song, "Et Tu Me Manques" for the crowd, and they loved it. Came home feeling pretty good about the day.