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The Flying Bourbon Brothers

I could have sworn I had already made a post about this but maybe it was just in my head.  I'd like to introduce you guys to the band for the wedding, the Flying Bourbon Brothers!

Since I've been going to Leakey for July 4th I've been sitting around attempting to play guitar with some of my friends...well, they can play, I try.  A couple of years later Len Briley started coming down too because he had been playing with a couple of the other guys.  I had heard that Len had a real band that actually played gigs and had recorded an album (different from my band that played only for ourselves).  Last year, in the whirlwind of our engagement, I meet and heard Tom Williams in Leakey.  When it came time to look for a band they were one of the first ones that came to mind.  We are excited to have them.  They will play some originals mixed in with some covers that most everyone will know.

You can download songs from their album here if you want to get a taste:

I'll post a list of some of their covers here shortly!

Things To Do In Comfort, Tx

Well, I got really busy and didn't stick with this blog but I'm going to try to make some posts over the next few days and then post-hitchin'.  In the meantime, for those of you coming to the wedding here is a link to some things to do while you are in Comfort.

Lots of cool little shops and places to eat in downtown Comfort.  

Don't forget Fredricksburg is just 15 miles away, as is Kerrville.  

There is a great little beer garden on the South end of Main Street in Fredricksburg.  Luckenbach isn't far away either, but don't even think about sneaking away to go see Bruce Robison on Saturday.  It is worth the trip during the day on Saturday or Sunday.  http://www.luckenbachtexas.com/

More engagement pics

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I turned the tables on Debbie at the end of our photo shoot and snapped this one of she and my bride-to-be.  Debbie is a Brit who married a Texan, thus the super cool logo for her business.  

http://englexasphotography.com/blog/?p=872

Make sure you check out her other work too, she is a fantastic photographer.  She and her husband will both be shooting our wedding.  

In addition to their photography business they are involved in a great charity organization.  http://www.biglovecancercare.org  I think right now they are operating in Houston and are expanding to Arkansas.  

Engagement Pictures

We got our first look at our engagement pictures this morning!  We couldn't be more excited with how they turned out and are looking forward to seeing the rest.  It rained off and on all day and we were prepared with umbrellas in case we needed them, but besides some drizzle and light sprinkles the rain mostly held off.  We started at the Herman Park Train, which is where we had our first date...ask us about that sometimes...and then took pictures around Herman Park and the Rice campus.  

Anyway, here is the link: http://englexasphotography.com/blog/?p=872  

Check out that cool logo Debbie has, I'll explain more on that and some other work she does later on.

Yeah, I know the pictures are linked here, but go ahead and follow the link (above) to see what Debbie had to say about us and the shoot.

(download)

Todd Snider @ The Mucky Duck

Well I can't stop shaking I'm a nervous wreck!!!!  I can't remember how long it was been, I think the summer of 2005 that I last saw Todd Snider.  The first time I saw Todd play was at the Mucky Duck.  He and this guy: http://www.jackingram.net/ snuck away from this guy's: http://www.jerryjeff.com/ birthday bash in Austin and played a show at the Mucky Duck.  I was blown away.  First of all, the guy can tell a story like no one else.  He can make you cry with one song and have you laughing like you haven't laughed in years with the next.  He can play the folkie and he blow the roof off a place. 

One time I was at the Mucky Duck to see Todd when Keith Sykes opened.  Keith gave him his start and helped open some doors for him.  Keith used to be in the Coral Reefer band and helped Todd get onto Jimmy Buffett's label, but he has had a fantastic career as a songwriter himself.  This is where I started getting to know Keith's work:  

Alway, Todd was telling the story about how he knocked on Keith's door one day.  Keith had come out to watch Todd's show and was sitting right across from me.  So I leaned over and asked him if it was true.  Keith paused, look me in the eye and said, "Never f&*# up a good story with the truth."  Apparently this is advice songwriters give because years later (also at the Mucky Duck) Justin Townes Earle said that Guy Clark told him the exact same thing once.

Anyway, for those that don't know Todd's music, this is a great place to start:

If you want to hear him rock, try this:

or this:

But you can't go wrong with any of them.  What songs of Todd's will be played at our wedding?  I haven't even started to look yet, there are so many options.  I'll get back to you on that one.  In the meantime check him out here: http://www.toddsnider.net

A Love Song to Barley Pop

One afternoon I was riding in a beat up Toyota 4-Runner that always broke down when you washed it listening to a radio show called The Chicken Skin show on KRTU - Rice Radio.  The driver was someone who will play an important role on our wedding day.  The Chicken Skin show was kind of like listening to Mojo Nixon on SiriusXM's Outlaw Country or to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio, only without the the foul language or the encyclopedic knowledge of music of Bob.  As if it were reading our minds at the time a new song started by saying, "Cold Beer Hello!"  Our jaws dropped and we looked at each other stunned.  When the song was over we asked each other, "Was that just a love song to a beer?"  Indeed it was.  We had just discovered the V-Roys song cleverly named "Cold Beer Hello!"  Turns out it was drummer Jeff Bills singing, I believe it was the only song he sang.  I can imagine people have sang about beer since beer was first created, but this song is just genius.  

Between our ceremony and dinner we will be having a Happy Hour.  For those who enjoy the taste of a cold barley pop, we invite you to start Happy Hour by saying Cold Beer Hello!

Apparently this album is hard to find, but you can hear a sample and buy a used copy here if you are interested.  

The V-Roys broke up shortly after we first heard that song.  Later, Jack Ingram covered a song called "Won't Go With Her" by Scott Miller, an ex-V-Roy.  I've become a huge Scott Miller fan.  He is an incredible songwriter and a fantastic live performer.  Scott can blow the roof off any venue with one song and hush the crowd with a soft love song on the next.  He also has a love of history and writes songs about the Civil War or historical figures like Sam Houston.  It is hard for me to pick one album to recommend but this one is a good one to start.  

This is another.  "Say Ho" is high on our wedding playlist, especially since my bride-to-be went to Sam Houston State University.  First time I heard it Scott played it solo on a hallow body guitar, it was beautiful.  

Here is a link to Scott's site:  http://www.thescottmiller.com/

Happy Birthday John R Cash

Today would have been Johnny Cash's birthday.  To celebrate I've gone All Cash All Day!  There will be a lot of Cash music played at our hitchin'.  Which songs exactly I'm still working out.  Rest assured there be plenty.  On the drive in this morning this song came on, it has always been one of my favorites and I was thinking it was a pretty good lesson for a young married couple. 


Apparently the story on this song is that Johnny never was happy with this original version, he always felt like it was unfinished, but that Sam Phillips told him it was finished and made him record it as it was.  Many years later he finally finished the song and recorded it as part of the American Recordings sessions with Rick Rubin.  The finished version is even better than the original, I think.  You can find it on this album, which is probably my favorite of all of the American Recordings albums...probably because it is very rockabilly. 

Here is a little slide show with the newer version as the soundtrack.

To celebrate his birthday, Rubin and John Carter Cash finally released the last of the American Recordings Sessions.  They say Cash recorded until his last days and these are his last recordings.  It sounds good and there are a couple of songs that may make our wedding list. 

Shoes of a First Year Teacher

When my beautiful bride-to-be got her teaching gig several people warned her against trying to plan a wedding in her first year of teaching.  "It is going to be a hard year even without adding a wedding on top of it," they would say.  I kind of agreed but in the end I think my status as an old man won out (along with avoiding the Texas heat and just not wanting to have a long engagement) as we decided to get married just before the end of the school year.  

For the most part we haven't been too stressed.  Every few weeks we have to take some time to get reorganized and figure out what hasn't been done yet.  The biggest problem is she just does not have a lot of time, especially during the day to get things done.  I've been a willing substitute (for the wedding planning, not in the classroom) and some of our vendors have commented they will be able to remember my name more than most grooms.  Still, it makes for a time crunch day-to-day which creates some stress and some distractions

One of my bride-to-be's friends is also a first year teacher.  She is also engaged and planning a wedding.  The picture below is what she wore to work today and shows what happens when first year teachers try to plan weddings.  

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