So long Texas and one last Rodeo

So last night was my last in Texas for a while. I went to the Pasadena Rodeo to see Cody Johnson play again (to make sure I wasn't crazy). I'm not. The kid is going to do great (in my opinion) as long as he uses Nashville to his advantage and NOT let Nashville use him. He's gonna do great, regardless. There was also an interesting young girl opening for Cody. Bri Bagwell. Got a LOT of ability as a writer and hopefully that'll push her singing to a unique place. She's got a lot to build on, though. Still early.
Texas. I left this morning and didn't wanna belabor it so I drove straight to Lafayette, Louisiana. I really hate goodbyes and that's what it was to me as goofy as that sounds. I loved Texas for SO many reasons. The music, the artists, the dancing and the opinions all come to mind. From Walt Perryman to Rita Ballou to the overly opinionated old man at the John David Kent show in Plano. Those people just acted on their own accord and said what they had to say. They weren't waiting for someone to give them the license to speak (or speak up). There's no licence that I've ever found. They just said what they had to say with more balls than most (including me). Texans were very nice to me and even though I'm sure they disagreed with a LOT that I had to say, I didn't feel they were judging me. Maybe they were. I'm looking forward to the rest of my trip to give Texas some context. There's so much that I didn't get to see but I had so little time to do this whole thing. I appreciate everybody's generosity and help: Will & Chris, Jim, Danny, Sonny, Nathan & Wendy and MANY, many more!. I can only hope the other half of my trip will be HALF the experience that this turned out to be (minus one head on collision/damn you JIM! ;)). Adios Amigos and thanks Walt Wilkins for my "soundtrack" of Texas. I can honestly say I loved it all, S

P.S. Thanks also to my Nashville friend Austen Adams for helping me figure out what the hell I'm doing out here. I still don't know but he's been a BIG help. Thanks dude. Btw Austen, "Gunter, I Barely Knew Her" I STILL contend was my idea for my band name. Tryouts are late November. Good luck.

Cody Johnson at Wild West in Lubbock

I met Cody Johnson in a smoky hotel bar on Friday afternoon and asked him how he got started playing. He said he'd beg bar owners to let him play. They'd say "we ain't paying you shit" (and I'm pretty sure that's how it'd go down, too) and he'd say "how 'bout me playing for the door"? Cody says he started walking out with a few hundreds dollars and one thing led to another, led to a truck, a band and a lot more gigs (and now a manager and booking agent). He said it's been really hard but he just can't be happy without music. Cody's 23 (started at 18) and the dude has his shit together. He's pretty dang confident. I hope he can keep that in check as he grows. That's something I just don't know how people deal with as they get bigger.

So I go to the show and it's a damn near empty bar (or at least in context of the bar size to crowd size). When Texas Tech's not in session they say the town's pretty sleepy. Anyways, Cody and his band just kicked ass! The songs are pretty good, the band is damn tight and his stage presence looked great.Oh btw, and Cody sings REALLY great and better than what you'll hear on his myspace or CD! He's a high energy kid with Ledoux, Garth and Strait influences that are obvious. These guys could open up for any Nashville act and hold their own and kick a LOT of 'em's asses!
He said something that stuck with me, that he wants to be able to bring enough to a record label to where they'd say "damn!". The way I see the industry headed they are going to be bringin their asses to him if he can keep on doing what he's doing and keep it growing like it's growing, slow and solid but hell he's only 23! He's fine. The CD didn't have no where near the energy and feel of the live show (faves: "Pray for Rain", "Another Try" & "No Tears in My Eyes"). Oh, he did do a really strong cover of "Wichita Lineman" in his show (and that's a tough sell for me)!
The bar? It was fine. Big bar, nothing too memorable. The DJ (Keith Paris) did give me and freebie for my next show in Amarillo, though :) Thanks dude & I can use any of those that I can get!
P.S. in all this driving I've had one "burning" question. How come sometimes when you're on a long stretch of nothing and all the sudden you gotta pee, I mean you GOTTA pee, I MEAN you REALLY gotta pee and then you get to where you're going and you forget you had to pee. Just a question? Sis, any help on that? I'll stop now.