Sunday, May 15, 2011

I was not held against my will......Texas Part I









This year just like last year i made plans to spend some time in Texas starting with shooting photos at the Lone Star State Jam which is held on a Saturday each year in Waterloo
park in downtown Austin Texas. Then my friend Merel told me that if i could get down there by 2pm Friday that i could ride along with him and his wife's band, the Sarah Pierce band to Luckenbach because they were playing a show in the dance hall later that night.
Well i made it with a few hours to spare and i got to experience what Waylon and Willie and the boys sang about for the first time. Luckenbach is really a piece of land off FM (Farm to Market) 1376 near Fredericksburg in the heart of the Hill country that is really just a small group of old buildings like a post office and general store operating since 1849 and an authentic original dance hall complete with wooden shutters that prop open large windows and another staple of Texas dance halls, the Christmas lights that are strung out in the rafters. I got to talk with Abbey who is in charge of planning events and really manages all aspects of Luckenbach's day to day operations about the history of the place and take it all in. Sarah Pierce and her husband Merel Bregante are working on a new record and while staying with them in Austin i was able to hear Merel mix the songs which feature RecklessKelly members David Abeyta and Cody and Willy Braun plus Cindy Cashdollar and George Ensle and i can say that this is shaping up to be her best effort yet and it's also more my style with it's rocked up edgier sound.





Saturday
i met up with my
friend Heather from
San Antonio
and made our way to Waterloo park for the Lone Star State Jam.
By the time we arrived the
crowd already seemed larger than last year and it actually turned out to be a record crowd for the day long festival. I missed current "The Voice" contestant Curtis Grimes and the Turnpike Troubadours were on so i began shooting photos right away. This is always a well run festival and when one band is done the next stage on the other end of the park starts
up and it's back and forth all day without a hitch. This was my first time seeing the
Turnpike Troubadours, Josh Abbott and Kevin Fowler and it was great to see them in Texas playing to such an enthusiastic home crowd.
Josh Abbott is fast becoming
one of
the top
drawing bands in Texas
and when
those
first
few notes of "She's Like Texas" get played the crowd goes wild.










Brandon Rhyder sounded great with Matt Powell on guitar, Casey Donahew introduced a few new songs and Roger Creager got everyone going with an energetic performance on a beautiful perfect day in Austin. Roger played a few songs that will be on his next album and the Eli Young band played a few too including a great cover of the Will Hoge song "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" that is on their latest EP "Crazy Girl" available on iTunes. Kevin Fowler was an experience, he's a great entertainer who knows how to work the crowd with his revved up redneck persona and honky tonk party songs and was a great way to end another very successful festival.

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