The Cosmic Cowboy Returns

Bob is a showman to the nth degree, weaving songs peppered with outrageous stories that include real life characters such as -- 'the current governor of California.' The stories are so good and he tells them so well that you want to believe every word.  He tells a story about picking up a German-Austraian hitchhiker on a dirt road in Los Angeles (that should be the first clue to his b.s. abilities). The hitch-hiker said he knew only one other Texan, and his name was Michael Murphy.  The guy turns out to be Arnold 'The Terminator' S. and Michael Martin Murphy becomes one of Bob's best buds in L.A. Which parts of the story are true? Does it matter? He ends the story with a M.M.M.  tune he wrote when they left California together and headed back to the Lone Star State.

Every one of his songs has a back story, rich with the history that only  someone like Bob, or Willie, or Ray Wiley Hubbard can have.  Speaking of Ray, Bob's got a great story about playing Ray's song Redneck Mother before some of Jerry Jeff Walker's shows. Of course, Jerry Jeff appropriated the song and made it his own on the classic Viva Terlingua album on which Bob played  - being one of the Lost Gonzos and all.  Bob's version of Redneck Mother is particularly palatable, considering the tired legs on that 'ol dawg.

I'll quit giving away all of Bob's stage secrets, after I mention a couple of more things.  His rendition of fellow Gonzo-ian, Gary P. Nunn's London Homesick Blues really brings that old song back to life too.  Although, if you head down to College Station, you'll notice that in the cowboy college circuit most of these Texas staples never get tired and will never die. It's like Ground Hog Day with booze and honkey tonks, some of these old Texas staples. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, I'm just glad I escaped College Station when I did and got to Austin as quick as I could.

 I should have known that a Musical Ambassador from the U.S. State Department would not disappoint near the end of the set, especially since he played practically the same set last year and the same thing happened to me. I sat down with my camera and thought to myself, "I've got plenty of pictures of Bob. I don't need anymore photographs." Then he starts with the hilarious dead pan stories that make you think they're true, he tells tales of swapping tunes and stories with musicians all over the world on our tax dollars, and then the doozie comes.  That's when I realize this whole time I should have had the Flip video, not the camera.  Because when Bob Livingston raps a scene from the Canterbury Tales in Middle English -- that's right! -- MIDDLE ENGLISH - you know it's one of the most outrageous things you've ever heard. Then you wonder, maybe that German-Austrian hitch-hiker on a dirt road in L.A. WAS Arnold.

Bruce & Scrappy Jud this weekend at the Ranch

There's an old joke in Austin that I remember lovingly from my college days there.  It goes, "What do you call a musician who just broke up with his girlfriend?"  In Austin, you can't toss a pebble without hitting a musician or his/her guitar as they are walking down the street to their next gig. The joke implies the itinerant lifestyle and other less desirable traits of the tried and true musician.

So what do you call a musician that just broke up with his girlfriend, or boyfriend? Homeless.

The only reason Bruce Hughes and Scrappy Jud are homeless is because they are always on the road.  Bruce with Jason Mraz last year on his world tour and Scrappy Jud with everybody else.  For the last so many years they've been part of The Resentments, a South Austin super-group founded by the late Stephen Bruton.  No Depression magazine once said of the Resentments, "comparisons to everyone from Crosby, Stills, & Nash, to the Traveling Wilburys, the Texas Tornado, the official and unofficial versions of the Outlaws, and The Band can be justified."  The group that started out as a few musicians playing for the love of their craft became an Austin Sunday night staple.

Last May, Bob Livingston, singer-songwriter and Music Ambassador for the US State Department (no joke), played a show here at the Ranch and then stuck around for a few days to write songs and relax.  I found him one morning at the piano playing a melancholy tune.  "I've got to cut my visit short, get back to Austin," he said, "Stephen Bruton died today."  I searched my memory and it's limited knowledge of musicology for a Stephen Bruton. The name did not ring a bell.  If it rings a bell with you then I do not need to tell you the influence his life and his music made on cinema this year with the movie Crazy Heart.

This weekend -- Easter weekend --Bruce and Scrappy Jud will be here at the Ranch filling the Great Room with sumptuous melodies, musical notes will surely drift, like freed balloons, into the heavens and soothe the ears of angels and maybe even an old bandmate or two.  With Stephen gone, the Saxon Pub's Sunday night house band  may be feeling a little homeless.  Oh, that their music this weekend might mend the hearts of many a girlfriend who had to put up with lesser musicians.

Summer Comes Alive

This summer Clark Gardens in Mineral Wells is hosting, "Sunsets in the Park." Opening night was one of those, "Yay! Summer's here," kind of nights. Three live music acts -- Jimmy Baldwin, The Lost Immigrants, and Salim Nourallah -- played well into the night. The music filled the night lit by fireflies and a waxing gibbous moon. It was a night of memories, one of those late May/early summer nights of cool breezes, and the delight of the summer ahead. Shows continue through the end of June on Thursday evenings and late Sunday afternoon into the evening. Clark Gardens is a great location and Sunsets in the Park is a great opportunity to be part of a thriving community surrounded by the beauty of nature and the wonderful creative energy of live performance.