What a great time we all had in Texas this past week! The last two shows were beautiful times of meeting new friends, sharing stories and singing songs. The Vignes family welcomed us into their home in San Antonio Wednesday night (the red curtain picture). We had all been struggling with colds so we decided to remove the microphone heads and wash them in the dishwasher. About 30 minutes later I kept smelling something horrible in the kitchen and I couldn't figure out what it was. I thought it might be a gas leak till I opened the dishwasher and realized that the foam inside the mic tops was emitting a really pungent scent. I then hand washed them in lemony-fresh soap and no one suffered too greatly. We did have to re-wash the rest of the dishes so they wouldn't stink up the place!
The show in San Antonio was lots of fun and we had some great conversations during the break and after the second set. When I'm singing in front of folks it's always fun to watch the faces of our friends there listening. We felt so welcomed and encouraged to see folks really getting into the songs. Thanks so much to everyone for coming out and being with us in this.
Houston
Next we headed over to Houston to the Zeke and Cintia Listenbee's house. They are friends of mine from college. They're both great musicians and super hospitable folks! (Cintia blogs here: www.simplycintia.com ) The Listenbee's have a great family with two really fun kids and another on the way.
I was gargling salt water after we ate dinner, hoping my voice would hold up for one last night. Abbye gargled the "Star Spangled Banner" for us as I tried to figure out how to stream that night's show online. (See it here) Folks started arriving and the house filled up. We gave our 'House Show Orientation" talk and invited everyone to participate by clapping between songs and asking questions or sharing comments during the show. We were amazed at how kind and responsive everyone was! They asked such thoughtful and interesting questions and gave such warm encouragement. It was a unique and truly special evening.
As we drove away after the concert later that night, we all felt a great fullness in our hearts. It was a fantastic way to end the tour.
We left Houston and drove out to Jones' Creek, TX. Yes, that's right... you already knew that Jones' Creek is the home of the Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin. There's one person Abbye, Jeff, and I owe a special thanks to and that's Larry Ray Reed (on the bottom right in the picture above, white stripped shirt). Larry is a dear friend from Memphis. He was our "Logistics Manager". He drove most of the way, handled our directions and tour detail work, and generally added his great Larry-ness to the experience. It was great to have a native Texan to show us around.
We spent last night in the house Larry grew up in. His mom waited up for us and fed us a midnight snack of Brisket and Rolls. Oh man. We were treated very well. We slept well, woke up to french toast and fruit then hit the road for the 12 hour drive back to the Malcomb House in Memphis, Tn. Of course, we stopped for the keeping of a tour tradition and had dinner at Cracker Barrel (Ka-whack-a-bow-whul).
We're back home now and resting well this Saturday. So very thankful for all who welcomed us, our songs, and our stories this week. Let's do it again sometime!
P.S. See Abbye's Blog here: www.thewaywewander.blogspot.com
P.P.S. We start recording Abbye's first full length album this coming week! Stay tuned for updates on that.
Follow me on Twitter: @matthewclarknet
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