howdy

I am a rocker by nature I guess, with more than a smiggen of jazzer thrown in (obviously,) but I don't believe I have ever been able to say I was one for country. The irony is that the first two bands I ever saw in this city were Asleep at The Wheel , and Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88's. Both are pure bred Texas, and yet I have never laid claim to being moved by them. I was brought to this state rather against my will, and despite the years here, do not think of myself as Texan. I am a gypsy, born to ever wander. I doubt I will be where I am now when I die. I also have no idea where I WILL be....but life's more interesting that way.

Texans are not known for a dirth of words...well most of them anyway. Some don't know when the hell to shut up, but we will leave that to a different blog. Most folks here, perhaps due to the usually pervading heat, settle for a few choice sentences, or even just words. It has been a startling thing to me to find so many Texans, the ones born here, not just naturalized, who have some real story telling ability. Last night I found yet another, yes, a musician. Wayne Sutton is no new comer to this state or the music scene, but because of other distractions, I hadn't heard him yet. He came to the Red Room last evening, and I am just pleased beyond words to know his music now. And he and his wife, and dad, were also just neat people. The one thing I can say about Texas is that the majourity of folks anyone will meet here are of a gentler, though not always genteel, nature. You can expect a helping hand from Texans. It is just the way they are.

Anyway, I would compare Wayne's vocal style to something between the raw country singer and Tom Waits. There's a modicum of Bob dylan in there, but I think that has much to do with the words as the delivery. His guitar playing shows me he is definitely got rock-n-roll in his blood, and I would love to hear him on electric.

I started writing about him while he was playing, and I think for the sake of saving my truest writing, that which rolls out when I least expect it, I will put that paragraph here:

The Red Room has been host to a number of singer/songwriters. Wayne Sutton is the latest. The Tom Waits/Bob Dylanish voice combined with the picture painting lyrics makes most of us stop, listen, think. We've all been there- we've all loved and lost, or failed to try. We've watched the world tumble by and wondered if we were truly part of the scheme, or an outsider. Wayne is also a talented guitarist,capable of serious chops and subtle accents. I can imagine finding him playing in the back corner of some tiny bar tucked in the seedier side of a city, the normally rowdy audience enraptured by his truthful and moving tunes.


Okay, I was feeling a bit poetic there. Can't help it.


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Hmm...never a good thing too take too long off a piece of writing....gets to easy to lose the thread. Spent much of Saturday evening writing down other stuf about people who played the RR before Wayne, so I start a new entry, using those notes.

And no matter who else I write about, I really am still in love with Mando Saenz.....that damn voice just does it. (the long eyelashes don't hurt any either....;p) He was distracting enough I didn't get as much done as I should have, but....well, read the next one, you'll know where I am coming from.