Of Road Dogs and Twangfests

I'd like to take a minute here and mention the guys who have agreed to quit their day jobs (HAHAHAHA - these guys never had jobs) and do a little bit of roadwork with me this spring. Joining me on guitar is Tom Cuddy, I haven't known Tom very long but for a boy from NYC he's got some pretty good country licks.

Kent Cooper will be playing bass. I met Kent through Phil Achee, and when I first met him, he was playing two nights a week five sets a night in this little all night dive in Montgomery AL. Kent's got a pretty good voice and has been fronting that beer joint band, unfortunately beer joint bands aint what they used to be, so after chatting him up on my way back from NY last time, I got him on board by reassuring him that we never play till daylight anymore.

Philip Achee
Most of ya'll already know about Phil. He was the drummer for Lost In America . . . way way back in the 80s & 90s. Me and him have logged thousands of miles together, and he was the drummer on my first album "Something's Going On." He's also drumming on the new recordings. I was a little bit surprised, and a whole lot happy to find out he wasn't committed to any band at the moment so we went and played a couple of shows in upstate NY back in October. It worked out so well, we decided to try it again as soon as the snow melts up there.

After getting the chance to work with the Autism Speaks group, I was talking to my friends and sometime bandmates Eric Aceto & Chris "Tex" Broadwell, about the event here in Austin, they allowed as how we should do something like that in Ithaca, and after thinking about it for a couple of minutes I agreed, after all I'm working more shows in NY than I am in Texas at the moment. So we're looking into a fundraiser for the summer of '08.

Right at the moment we've titled it Twangfest, and it would be a concert obviously with the loudest honk & twang bands we can find. All the profit money would go to Autism Speaks. The way I see it this is a win win situation, we get to play some honkin tunes,
everybody gets to have a few beers and a "Shoot Out The Lights" party, and help out some really great kids. Anybody interested in getting involved please don't be shy . . . just step right up.