Sing for the Savages

It’s always an interesting thing, trying to find an idea to run with for a song. In theory, it seems very simple, does it?

It appears all one would have to do is find a scenario or idea, write a few stanzas about it, add a chord progression and MAYBE a riff, then you’re all done! If only it was that simple.

I have a ton of ideas, all the time…I have notebooks full of half-baked ideas. Some make me cringe that I wrote them, some make me insane over the fact I STILL can’t finish them and others leave me perplexed by my mindset at that moment. Where was I going when I wrote that?

A blog is a lot of like those old notebooks. You can look back and see a few things, but that mindset is normally gone, so you never REALLY know the intent of certain things you write. Of course, for the most part, it is easy to fall back into stride with where you were going, just depends on if the trip is worth it or not.

I’ve felt pretty crippled lately on the creative front. I’ve fallen into the mode of playing the same songs over and over while focusing more on the techinical aspect of various instruments and living life outside of the observationists point of view. Dammit, I’ve been out there living life for a while! Staying up late, getting up early and never spending much time with a pen in hand.

With winter, though, comes peace. The new year brings a halt to the world for most people. We’re all broke, beaten down and weary-eyed from the insanity that is the holiday season. From Halloween til New Years Day, it feels like a non-stop marathon of dressing up, parties, cooking, friends, family and spending. It’s a wonderfully jubilant time, but at the end, you’re left with a near hangover brought on by too little sleep, too much weight gain and worn soles on your shoes…the thrill is gone and it is time to regroup.

Well, I regrouped throughout the month of February. I played a single show in that month and did what I had to do to find some peace for my weary mind. I started by getting my music stuff all together and sifting through notebooks. However, it wasn’t helping me be creative due to this overall feeling of anxiousness in my mind.

Finally, I realized it was my home that was the issue. I worked a long week and gathered up some comp time. I used this time to take a couple days off of work and spent it cleaning. I organized cabinets, cleaned the kids’ rooms, did everything I could to get my environment in order. It helped tremendously. Sitting in a clean space helps the mind wander. The ideas have been flowing well since then and I’ve been thrilled by the output that has been coming. Not all of it is keeper material, but man, it’s something new.

The picture up above is my new lyric book I got. The wonderful Ms. Amie Krebbs made it and I love all the old electrical odds and ends of yesteryear, so when I saw this old fuse on the cover, I needed to have it. This will be the home of finished songs, old and new. Kind of a home for those who graduate from abstract ideas on envelopes, legal pads and napkins. I can’t wait to fill it up!

That’s all I have for this entry. With my newfound mental wanderings, I’m sure you’ll get more…if you ever read this thing…

Life seems to disappear pretty quickly. I always loved the Modest Mouse lyric, “on this life that we call home
the years go fast and the days go so slow…” That tends to sum up so much.

The past year flew by so quickly, but I remember periods of boredom in there. Hard to believe it now that we’re 23 days into the new year. It also shows I’m 23 days late in making my first blog entry of the year.

The blog…heh…well, I used to blog religiously back in the olden days, then Facebook came along…but I don’t really learn much from looking back on status updates. I prefer preserving my memories in long-winded monologues that only a blog can provide. When the new year started, that was my sole resolution, to blog more. We’ll see how it goes. It’s only been 5 months since the last one.

The change, I believe, will come from it becoming a more self-centered venture. Before it was a game of “Let’s Pretend!” Which means that I wrote it with hope someone would care about my music enough to read it and comment. I don’t really foresee that becoming an issue in the near future, if ever. What is funny is that I tend to make music for personal satisfaction and don’t concern myself too much with the whole “industry” angle. I share the music beyond my area, but honestly, I don’t lead a lifestyle that would lend itself to nonstop travelling and various other aspects it takes to be a successful musical entity. And that is before talent comes into play, which is marginal, at best.

Blogging, for me, is done very free-form. I just from idea to idea as they pop in my head and stop when I feel I’ve said enough, even if a thought isn’t completely fleshed out. Structure is wonderful, but in this instance, it would only detract from the point, which is to see where I’m at for a specific moment.

Where am I at? Man, life is going pretty good for me. My life is full of love and happiness. I have my bouts of depression, but that is the price you pay for having a great deal of good in your life. The fear of losing it makes the valleys deeper. You survive though and those happy moments make the doubt totally worth it…besides, if you didn’t have the fear, I don’t believe the happiness would be as strong.

I vividly recall 14 years ago this month, standing in my bedroom beating tunes out of my Rickenbacker I’d just spent most of my scholarship money on. My gigs in my head were never stadium shows, just a room full of enthusiastic folks getting lost in the music. I’d program my stereo to a setlist of various rock, punk and alt country songs, then play along for hours. I’d jump around, create new parts to play with the songs and just have a blast. I’d sing backup vocals or mimic the lead. The whole time, in my head, there was a small room of wild concert-goers sharing the experience and the happiness. To think that I get to experience that now, outside of my head, is a treat and totally humbling.

The funny thing is, my little girl is turning 13 this week. I thought that dream had died when she came along, followed 17 months later by her brother. I wasn’t sad about it…seeing their faces created a new dream where I could still strum some tunes, but honestly, how would I be in a band or anything with a baby? I ended up selling off my beloved Rickenbacker and amps a couple years later to buy diapers and pay rent. So is the story for a lot of aspiring artists…no matter what skill level they’re at.

The joy is, my kids loved music like I did and my wife was the same way. We’re all very musically based people. It is rare there is not something playing in the background as we move through this life. They have been a great support in trying to get the music flowing through me again. They love going to shows, seeing other bands, singing along with me, etc.

So, there is a little run through days past and bringing me to this week’s thought. I’m getting older, but still moving forward. There isn’t a good reason around to stop trying to fulfill your dreams. My baby girl will be 13, I’m about to be 33 and things are moving forward in a positive way. This year will be a good one. I have my wife that loves me, our girlfriend that loves me, 2 kids that love me, friends that love me, family that loves me and more. You can’t be sad when your life is filled with love.  

As usual, I’ve been doing a pretty good job of neglecting the blog, but this will change. Since I haven’t written much in a while musically, I am going to take a small time from playing to get some new tunes put to paper/tape. I’ll miss playing shows and be a basket case by the end of the first weekend…but it is desperately needed.

In that regard, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I ended up here. Why someone so high strung and full of self-doubt when it comes to artistic creation would find joy in getting out around the town to play tunes for people. That’s brought me back to various old memories…

All my younger memories revolve around music. I can recall certain things without prompting, but when certain songs pop in my head, I can remember exactly what happened at that moment. The songs that trigger these are ones most would never expect. Johnny Paycheck singing “Take This Job and Shove It” makes me remember riding in my grandmother’s LTD as a kid, curling up in the back window and feeling the sun as we drove down the road. I must’ve been pretty young for that. I remember playing 45s of Huey Lewis and the News and Bob Seger at my mom’s friend’s house while playing with her daughters. I remember listening to George Strait and Randy Travis at my Aunt’s house while playing board games. All these things come back…and in a way, it shows where certain ideas spawn from. Answers those “How did I come up with something so country/pop rock/etc?” moments.

With memories based so much on music, it makes sense, I believe, that I would drawn to performing. Right?

Now, that we’re done with that self-searching moment, I’ll add some moments I don’t want to forget from the prior months.

The first is our show at Cherrywood Coffee. The set wasn’t very good on my end. I screwed up a lot, broke some strings and had a pretty lackluster performance up until the end. Then, a lady and her son showed up during our last song. We finished and she wanted to hear some more. However, due to sound restrictions, we had to turn the PA off and break it down.

Finally, it hit us…just unplug, sit in a chair amongst the tables and rock it out totally unplugged. This worked wonderfully. We played another 8 song set and had a blast. We sounded the best we had all night and all the people still there loved the unplugged set. We had, by far, the biggest audience we’d ever had in Austin and turned it on when it counted. It was fun.

Next up was the show I played with Nathan Taylor down at the Melrose Pub in Galveston. The first show I played there was an FPS show and it wasn’t very good on any level. We were still feeling out having a percussionist, my strings kept breaking, no audience and the first night of a road trip. It was not a show I was looking forward to playing. The first show was so bad that Huke and Tommy backed out of this show. I’m never one to book a gig and no-show, so I was a trooper and went. I recruited Nathan Taylor to come play with me so I’d have fun, at least.

Surprise, surprise! The show ended up being wonderful. We had some people come through, had fun hanging with the bartender, Keri, and her brother, Joe and we did really well for ourselves. The highlight of the evening was an group of older barhoppers who showed up earlier in the night and left due to a lack of chardonnay…Well, after a few stops, they came back to see the bartender had ran out and got them their choice of wine. One of the ladies in the group, who was pretty well toasted at that point, decided to do some singing with Nathan and I. We were playing and she came up to drunkenly holler and do tongue-rolls in the background. Then, I thought she was whispering into Nathan’s ear…then I thought she was coming to whisper something in my ear. Instead, she was licking our earlobes and kissing the sides of our faces. We never broke once, which was a testament to us, right?

Her friends felt bad, I guess, and threw us a good tip. It was one of the highlights of the summer shows, honestly. Having people get into the music, get involved and throw down with us is ALWAYS a treat. It’s the reason I play, personally. To have fun with people and see that they get some sort of enjoyment out of my artistic expressions…even if it is drunken revelry.

That’s all I have for now. I’m tapped on time for blogging, but I will be coming more often…probably with shorter length blogs and ideas rather than accounts of the past shows. Of course, I might recollect something cool, as well. Who knows?

It has been 48 hours since my 32nd birthday. Normally people lament the day they officially grow older, but for me, I’ve always enjoyed it. A day to look back and to enjoy what you’ve done so far in life. This blog isn’t so much about what has been going on lately, which is next to nothing, but to chronicle some of the great moments of my 32nd year of existence. Here they are:

1. Got to play 40 shows. We played in 4 different states and 15 different cities over the year. We had our first midwestern tour, as well. Played 2 shows in Memphis, TN and got to see everything in that amazing city.

2. Got to play with some of my favorite bands. We played shows with Drag the River, Scott H. Biram, Tumbledown and Two Cow Garage. All were definitely great nights and a blast.

3.  Got to see a bunch of places I’ve always want to see. We got to visit Wrigley Field, Sun Studio, Stax Museum, Medgar Evers’ home and more. We travelled through Festus, MO, New Madrid, MO, Chicago, IL, Memphis, TN, Jackson, TN and more.

4. Got to spend the holidays with my family out in San Antonio. Got to see the Riverwalk all lit up, travelled to Fredericksburg to see how beautiful it is decorated for the holidays.

5. Had the first ever Barkerfest, which is about to have it’s 2nd year of existence.

6. Made it to 11 years of marriage. Every year that two people can co-exist in the same house without killing each other is a miraculous feat. I honestly don’t think I could do that with anyone other than my wife. I love you, Rayanna.

7. Got to celebrate 2 years of rocking it with Huke Green. Seriously, I don’t think I’d be doing much of anything musically these days if I hadn’t met him. Most all of these musical accomplishments were achieved playing with Huke. It definitely made it a lot more enjoyable. We also did a lot with Nathan Taylor, who is another person I am insanely lucky to have in my life.

 8. My daughter started Junior High! My son isn’t far behind either. We just got his TAKS scores back and he killed it. Having the kids make it to Junior High is pretty cool, but kinda scary, because they’re getting to be their own person. Courtney responded well, though. She’s had the best grades of her life and seems to be adjusting well to having the extra freedoms that come with leaving elementary. Hopefully Ian responds the same.

9. Got to celebrate my birthday (yesterday, the 28th) with my brother and Huke down at The Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe in Galveston. My brother and I have been working on songs, so I talked him into coming down to the Old Quarter to kick out the jams with us. He played 3 songs and did exceptionally well without even considering he’d never played on a stage before.

10. I made it to 32. Each year is a gift. You lose some friends along the way, you lose some family and you lose some of those who inspire you, but the fact that you get to keep moving on is a gift. I’m thankful for each day I get to enjoy life and be with my friends. I get to make music, hang with my family, make friends and live a good life. I can’t complain.

33, here we come!

I’ve been neglecting the ol’ blog again. It’s alright, no one reads it anyways, but still, it’s good to stick to the routines. Something as simple as chronicling the mundane activities of your life can lead to getting the creative spark back in action.

At least I haven’t been just sitting by idly during my time away! I’ve been out there living life and doing all sorts of neat stuff. I’ve travelled to Austin, visited some old friends, saw one of my musical inspirations and had a lot of fun along the way. If I had just sat, it’d be one thing, but man, I got out there!

We’ll get all Pulp Fiction and jump around in the time frames.

The major highlight this month, which was full of highlights, was getting to meet Mike Watt at a Cactus Music in-store and go see him perform his 3rd opera, Hyphenated-Man. I started out playing bass in bands, I still do play bass in some bands, I had a band called Econo and The Minutemen were a big influence over the years. I know that’s hard to believe since I can be long-winded sometimes on songs, but it is true.

The show over at the Mink’s Backroom was a blast. The sound was impressive for a small, venue wedged between The Mink, Continental Club and The Breakfast Klub. Everything sounded great, the music was tight and they even did a few Minutemen songs, which took me by surprise. Hearing Watt close down the show with Anxious Mo-Fo was a dream come true.

The best part of the whole deal? The opening band from Japan, Lite, was amazing. Instrumental, concise and a load of fun from start to finish, it brought the night up to high levels before Watt + the Missingmen even took the stage. Definitely an amazing night of music and, not surprisingly, only a handful of people showed up. Watt and company didn’t seem to mind though, they rocked it out as best they could. Of course, it was St. Patty’s day, so that could have been an excuse, right?

The best show of the month for me was The Front Porch Society at the Corner Pub. Nothing beats of night of tossing out tunes with your friends and NOTHING beats doing that at the Corner Pub.

Ben Hall, Huke Green and Matt Ling made it out for this FPS show and we had a blast. I think we played for over 3 hours and pulled out all the stops. We broke out new songs, old songs, fun covers. We played the fools with guitars behind our heads and under our legs (fine, that was mostly me) and just had a good time up there on stage at the Corner Pub.

A bunch of folks came out, which is ALWAYS indicative of an excellent gig. I didn’t get home until 3 am and had no complaints. It was a great night.

The next night, I was kid-free but Rayanna was working down in Galveston for Spring Break, so I was alone. I took the opportunity to start over on recording my album and I decided to run the roads a bit.

I made it out to Guitar Center and then to visit some folks over at Richmond Arms. It was a nice, relaxing way to wind down a week that was amazing. Watt on the 17th, Corner Pub on the 18th, hanging with friends on the 19th and then a picnic down at the family land on Sunday. Spring break! WOOOOOO!!!

Now we’ll jump back to the prior weekend…a trip to Austin for a show at the Parlor.

Now, it’s been a while since I was last at the Parlor. We played a Halloween show there with Econo in 2007, I believe. We decorated the stage area, brought pumpkin garbage bags full of shredded paper and opened for Death Hell Battle Tank (Russell from FuckEmos other band, now they’re called Babydick).

The show was insanity. We played our best set as Econo and left the place covered in shredded paper after the set. I dressed up like I was in King Diamond and we rocked the place. I remember the pizza being amazing and the night being magical.

Well, now I was walking into the Parlor nearly 4 years later carrying an acoustic guitar and various other folksy instruments. I could see Huke and Tommy wondering what the hell I had done by booking the show at an obviously rock n’ roll oriented club. In my defense, The Wayward Sons were a 5-piece folk-rock band at the time of the booking, so I thought we’d be bringing the 3-guitar aural assault down on the venue.

All of our initial worries were for naught. My brother was in town show-hopping with a high school friend of mine, my friend Heather and her husband showed up, my fellow musician/suitemate, Robert Gonzalez, drove in from Cypress for the show and a few other stragglers came in and enjoyed the mellow tunes. It ended up being a fun night and made the insanity of the drive to and from Austin in a single day totally worth it.

The 2 sets were solid. Jesse Hammack was supposed to open the show, but he no-showed the gig. I’ve been on 2 bills with him over the past couple years and he’s no-showed both of them. So be it, we had fun and enjoy some of the best pizza I’ve ever enjoyed in the state of Texas. If you’re in Austin, try out a pie from the Parlor, it’s excellent stuff.

Now we’re back to the beginning of the month, when we FINALLY got to do a show on the east side of town in Channelview. Huke was excited since he grew up in Channelview and lives a mere mile from the venue we played, Da Swamp Shak.

Da Swamp Shak used to be a bar called The Firehouse. The fire hydrant in the urinal is still there, which adds an extra bit of fun to going to the bathroom.

Due to it being on the east side, a lot of friends made it out to the gig and had a blast. Even the birthday party that sat in front of the stage was hootin’ and hollerin’ along with us all night. There is nothing out there that brings me more joy than seeing people having fun while I’m playing. It was a fun night with some great food.

One thing I can say, between shows at The Cove, Da Swamp Shak, The Parlor and Fredericksburg, we enjoyed a ton of excellent food to start of the year. So much so, I’m hitting the low-carb deal hardcore now because I’ll be 500 pounds if I don’t cut back on it all.

To close out the month of March, Huke and I did a duo acoustic show over at Waldo’s Coffee House in the Heights.

Up until this night, it has ALWAYS been a fun time to play Waldo’s. It’s small, so 10 people fill up the main room and get the vibe set on perfect for the night.

Unfortunately, on this night, nothing sounded right to me, Huke was under the weather and most everyone who said they were coming no-showed and those that did talked throughout the entire set and made hearing yourself damn near impossible.

Could I have played better? Maybe, I couldn’t really tell how I did, but I wasn’t happy with it. Also, I flubbed the beginning of a song and totally acted like a baby about it. No one noticed because they were talking, but I let it get to me and if a single person was paying attention, they were letdown by it, I’m sure. I need to work on keeping the spirits up, even in the face of adversity. Part of the problem with things going so good lately is that I expected it to continue and did not respond well when disappointment hit. Of course, people really need to learn to be quiet when someone is playing.

So, that is the end of the spiel for this month. I’ll do more next month, I believe. I have booked no shows, as I will be recording. I’ll be getting some tunes put together for a release entitled All This For Gas Money? and maybe some free website material, as well. It’ll be a good experience, though putting things to tape is always nerve racking for me.

Be safe out there in the world if you are unfortunate enough to come upon this. Much respect!

The beginning of the year always starts off slow. Everyone is sluggish from the holiday season, the weather isn’t condusive to travelling and money is a little tighter from the revelry that closes out the year. With all of that out of the way, we packed up and headed out the Texas Hill Country for a weekend of music.

This was a special weekend since it was the inaugural trip as The True Roots Union. We didn’t take it lightly as we worked out a set list and even practiced up a bit so we’d be smooth on the transitions between instruments…it came back to bite us in the butt, but in a good way.

The drive into San Antonio was as smooth as can be. Traffic was pretty light, the weather was warm and sunny and the music was solid on the radio. I’d never checked out Pandora, but the Drive-By Truckers channel on there was great. And yes, I’m away saying “Pandora is pretty neat” at this juncture is like saying “The light bulb is kinda cool.”

I’ve heard a ton of cool stuff about The Cove. My friend, Eddie, is all about it and my brother went there for a show while we were in town over the holiday. So, I knew it’d be a fun spot, but it was better than I imagined. The staff was super friendly, a ton of people were around, kids were there and people payed attention for the most part. I love seeing kids in the audience, since they tend to lighten the mood and get the adults into the fun because they end up dancing around.

The downside was minimal. All our practice had made us pretty well streamlined, so we blew through our setlist in record time. A few off-the-cuff additions worked out nicely though and we brought it home. As we were unloading, I actually had a guy come buy a couple demos off of me because someone at the bar told him we were really good. That was a great feeling, to be honest.

Dinner at The Cove was great, too. We ordered up their specialty, the Texas Burger. It’s a great burger with Refried Beans, Corn Chips, Grilled Red Onion, Avocado & Salsa. Truly a wonderful concoction. I also got the hookup on some Shiner Hefeweisen with an orange or lemon slice in it. A first for me, but not a last. The citrus was a nice touch. I never dug lime in Coronas, but the orange was a nice touch.

After we ate, loaded up and watched a few songs from The Lavens, it was time to make a run to Austin. Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors were out of retirement again and doing their customary run from Dallas to Austin to Houston. I’d never seen Mojo outside of Houston, which is the last night and when he’s normally worse for wear, so Austin looked good to go.

We got to the hotel to see the “no vacancies” sign lit up, which wasn’t a worry on the room since we had reservations, but at the 3-story hotel, a late arrival usually means a lot of stairs to unload the van. On this night, however, we were met with a room on the first floor with a loading zone right outside the door. Good fortune shined once again!

We left the room and made it over the Continental Club with 20 minutes to spare. We missed the New Duncan Imperials, which I’ve been wanting to see, but it was good trade-off for the excellent gig over in San Antonio.

Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors hit the stage at midnight and put on a hell of a show. The band was the tightest I’ve heard them in years and the stories were awesome. Apparently the whole tour was put together to help get piano player, Wetdawg, laid. Hopefully it worked out for him, I saw more than one lady looking pretty willing in the audience. A highlight was FPS-alum Claire Small dueting with Mojo on the new song, in honor of Wetdawg, New Pussy. Not to be confused with the closing number of the night, New Pussy Tonight.

After visiting with friends at the show, we headed back to the hotel for a night of rest.

The next morning, it was time to hit Fredericksburg. We made great time and decided to make a stop by Luckenbach, Texas. The cool, overcast morning finally broke and the sun peeked through the clouds making it yet another beautiful day to be on the road.

There were some folks in the Picker’s Circle, but they were playing the old standards and not venturing into anything original, so we abstained from trying to join in. We did enjoy sitting at the edge of the washer pits just taking in the atmosphere around the place. There is something cool about that spot, it’s like Sun Studio, you can feel the vibes from all the music that has went down there.

In the early afternoon, we rolled into Fredericksburg. We parked behind the Auslander and out to Main St. Walking around, checking out the shops and stopping for pizza at the Fredericksburg Pizza Company made the afternoon fly by. Speaking of which, the pizza was most excellent, I highly recommend it.

Now to the important part, the show at the Auslander. We hadn’t played at the Auslander since summer 2009 and that show was sparcely attended, at best. It was a gig with a guarantee that covered most of the costs of the trip, so you can’t complain about that, but I was hoping things would be different this time…and they were!

We started setting up around 5:15 for our 6:30 start time, but the place was pretty well packed and people kept asking when we’d start, so we kicked off the set around 5:50. Huke and Tommy were fighting illness the whole weekend and it looked like it was going to get the best of Huke, but we powered through a 90 minute initial set and took a 20 minute break. Huke tossed back some Advil, I tossed back a Blue Moon with orange and Tommy visited with some friends who came out, so when the break was over, we were back!

Unfortunately, the audience really wasn’t. It was now close to 8 and most people had enjoyed their dinner and headed home. We kicked back, regardless, and brought it home with some “fun” songs. Things we don’t normally play or don’t play that often. It flowed well and when I bachelorette party showed up, things got fun. We sold some CDs, had some people talk with us after the show and got loaded up by 9:30 to head back to Houston. It’s amazing how quickly you can break it all down when you’ve got a 4 hour drive home ahead of you.

The drive home was spent rocking out to the Drive-By Truckers station on Pandora, a snack stop at Buc’ees and some good conversation. After unloading at Huke’s, we was home by a little after 2, which I’d be lucky to beat if I was playing in town, so it a good end to a killer weekend. Til next time, folks…

Last time I visited my wonderful blog, I was embarking on the solo career and Huke was starting a new band called Huke Green and the True Roots Union with the final dudes we tried to keep The Wayward Sons kicking with. Kind of a Son Volt/Wilco deal without the animosity.

Well, now, all that has changed. Through various interpersonal conflicts and whatnot, the band will not be happening for Huke. So, instead of letting an awesome name like True Roots Union go to waste, we’ve christened the duo shows as the True Roots Union. It’ll be a way for us to have a unifying force to push even when we’re solo. Tommy will be coming out with us, an old friend, John Johnston, will be sitting in on light drums sometimes and whoever feels like hooking up with us will be there, as well. It’s a folksy, rootsy free-for-all.

That said, it’s time to focus on my music for a while. I’ve narrowed the songs I’m recording down to about 12 and will decide from those which 8-10 will make up my first album. Some of the songs are pretty long, even in their trimmest of versions, so that is why 8 is even an option. 40 minutes is about the limit for an album, I believe. Anything more and people get bored.
Once the songs are recorded, mixed and mastered, I’ll work on a release date. Probably a BarkerFest release to close out April. I’m talking to my friends in The Last Cigarette about being my backing band for a few release shows so we can rock the songs out a bit. I’m also going to do some acoustic shows that will capture the album’s vibe more closely. It’ll be a lot of fun both ways, I believe.

Not much else going on in the way of life these days outside of playing, recording and working. I’m being a bad parent and spouse these days, I’m sure of it. A few hours here and a few hours there of hanging around, but mostly it’s behind the console or in a rehearsal space.

Now that the blog is built into the website, I think I’ll be spending more time on here rambling. Lots of pictures and recording updates to come.

Sometimes you have to shake things up to keep life interesting and that’s just what happened here in the past few weeks.

With all the lineup changes and various other items of concern within The Wayward Sons, Huke and I have put the band on hiatus. We’ll still be doing duo acoustic shows here and there, but we’ll be doing some solo shows and he’ll be having the new members of The Wayward Sons back him with Huke Green and the True Roots Union.

It’ll be an interesting go. It’s been two years since I joined Huke in the Wayward Sons, so it’ll be odd to not throw that name around for a while. I really don’t see it disappearing forever. Like the Uncle Tupelo song ‘Whiskey Bottle’ says: “Not forever, just for now.”

The plan right now is to buckle down and record my solo effort. It’s a frightening moment, to be honest. Here’s a group of songs that I’ve worked so hard on and I’m putting them in a semi-permanent format to be preserved for the foreseeable future. Of course, I’ve never been one to go by the book, so I’m sure some of the songs will resurface in the future.

In good news, life itself has been pretty mellow. Courtney turned 12 last week, which is mind-blowing and humbling at the same time. She’s growing up so quick and becoming her own person, which is great. I wish she was more into Neil Young than Glee, but what can you do? At least she knows songs by both sides and I know which one she’ll be listening to in the future.

The break from the hectic lifestyle I lead has been greatly needed. I’ve recharged physically, been eating better and getting into shape for the first time since we had the fire. The difference in the way I feel a mere 10 pounds lighter is exponential. It’s quite enjoyable.

Well, I don’t have much else to ramble on about. Life comes at you and it’s always a good idea to make sure you remember some what happened. That’s the point to all this. Be safe out there, folks.

Here I sit looking at a calendar with the number 2011 on it. It’s almost a sad moment to see 2010 go, it was a fine year.

For the first time, we seriously hit the road and made it all the way to the Great Lakes. Pretty amazing for some working stiffs from Houston, TX. We were able to make enough money to cover it and survived the trip without any negative moments. Sometimes you’re blessed out there in the world.

Life has been rolling along pretty well for me away from music as well. We got our home rebuilt on our land in Baytown, there were some stressful moments getting it all done, but you can’t argue with the results when it came together. There is something special about making it back to the place you recognize as home. What is also pretty amazing is realizing how quickly life disappears in transition.

Also in the past couple months, we’ve been dealt with Rayanna getting pneumonia. That was a trying time, lots of work missed, hospital bills and more. Definitely something you want to avoid without the physical toll, but Rayanna had to deal with that as well. Luckily she survived and is close to 100%, which is very comforting.

For Christmas, my mom saved up her overtime and took the immediate family to stay in San Antonio for the weekend before the holiday. It was a great time to get out and see the riverwalk and various other spots around the city. The trees by the Alamo were gorgeous. One of the days, Rayanna and I went to Fredericksburg while the kids, my mom, my brother and nephew went to Seaworld. It was wonderful to have a day to spend together having lunch, visiting Luckenbach, Texas and the shops in Fredericksburg.

To close, my goal for this year is to check in and blog at least once a week. Even if it is just as simple hello and recount of what has been going down. It’s always fun to go back and see what has happened in life up to the point you’re currently sitting. It’s been a fun time the past couple months. Shows with Tumbledown, Scott H. Biram, Two Cow Garage and more. We even started off the new year with a 1/1/11 show at Dunn Bros. in Spring. We’ll keep moving and keep having fun out there. See you around!

The wonderful thing about neglecting a blog is knowing that you’ve been doing enough living to take away the time for reflection. But, as I believe, reflection is an important thing in the human life. Sure, you could spend your entire time moving forward, but I think that opens you up for failure. We all need to sit back and remember what we’ve done and where we’ve been. This is my opportunity to do that.

A lot has happened since I last sat down to do a commentary on my life and the world as I see it. We’ve been playing our asses off with the Wayward Sons. I’m still in awe of what we’ve accomplished as a band and friends since we kicked it off in March of 2009. We’re barely over 18 months and have been all over Texas, through the midwest, recorded a live album, recorded an acoustic EP and played with some of our favorite bands. It’s been amazing.

We’ve got some pretty positive reviews from those in the audience, which is always nice. I never got into music because I wanted to be famous or anything. I got into music because I loved it. I remember sitting in my room when I was young listening to Automatic for the People on my cheap old cassette/8-track radio that my mom let me use. It was probably 10 years old when I got it, but I listened to that tape over and over while playing with my games and toys.

When I was 13, my best friend at the time, Alex, gave me a beat up old BC Rich guitar body with a neck nailed onto it. No strings, no pickups, just a hollowed out body. I’d rock out with it and pretend I was in REM, Pearl Jam or Faith No More. I’d spend HOURS doing this. Bouncing around and pretending I was playing for real with my beat up shell of a guitar. It was the best fun I recall.

I think about that quite often when I’m about to play a show. Starting out as a pretend rocker and actually getting up and doing it. It’s a pretty amazing thing. The fact that I get to do it still amazes me. I think it is important to keep that feeling and never take it for granted. The fact that I get to do it with my friends makes it even better.
In the past month since I last posted, we’ve been playing a lot, which has been great. We’ve practiced a lot and got to go out into the world.

We played our first show as a 5-piece at Mango’s and got offered a bi-weekly gig there, so I guess we did SOMETHING right when we played there. Then, due to Nathan being out on the town with the Eric Brendan Band, we did a 4-piece show at Texas Tavern in Cypress with the Captain Legendary Band.

The Captain Legendary Band were a blast. They were really friendly and tweaked our sound throughout the set to give us a solid mix. It’s rare a headliner will go through all the extra effort to make the opener sound good. They did it and then they got up on the stage to rock it out. It was a fun time.

Next up, we headed out to Conroe to open for Nathan’s other band, The Eric Brendan Band. This is where the 5-piece came together for the first time. Sure, we played Mango’s but the sound was a bit messy due to the room and it was hard to know how we really sounded. At Tut’s, we could hear everything and we killed it.

There is something great about playing with people you know well. Nathan, Huke and I all know each other enough that we can feel out way through the sets, trade leads and jam out songs when we need to. Kev and Travis are new, but they’ve been feeling it out pretty good, which is killer. It’s an amazing feeling when it all comes together.
To close out the recent run-through, we played at Rudyard’s with Two Cow Garage last Friday. It was the best time I’ve had playing music, which is say A LOT, because I’ve had some amazing times playing music over the years. We came together like never before and blew through an 8 song, 35 minute rocker of a set. I don’t know why it is, but something magical happens when you’re up against the clock. We had to cut a few songs due to a late start, so we cut out the between song banter and just rocked it out non-stop for 8 songs. Without the breaks in momentum, things just built and built. We stepped back for a couple of mellower songs right before the 1-2 punch of Closing Night and Backwoods.

By the end of the set, I’d sweated through my shirt and had a sick feeling for a while due to getting so overheated…which is a GOOD thing. It means I didn’t leave anything behind on the stage. I did the best I could, as did the rest of the guys. It was a moment of pride for me to play such a killer set. The response was good, as well.

It’s moments like this that make me realize, as dorky as jumping around the bedroom with a beat up, gutted guitar pretending to play along with bands sounds, it made me a much better musician and put the music in my soul. I’ll close with a Tom Petty lyric: “How about a cheer for all those bad girl/And all those boys that play that rock n’ roll/They love it, like you love Jesus/It does the same thing to their soul”