Luckenbach, Texas with Kathleen Braun as host
March 24, 2008
Luckenbach is always a special place where “everybody is somebody”, but last night was different. It was mystical and personal. There was a small circle of players under the great gnarled live oak tree whose canopy is roost to the chickens and shades and defines this place. It seems to give off a kind of pure energy that radiates outward and is dispersed among all living things around it; another one of those mysteries of the universe. Come to Luckenbach and you will know what we are talking about.
We were graced with a song by Candace Miller (http://www.myspace.com/tandcmiller) before she got a call from T-Roy. Danny Terry, (http://www.myspace.com/dannyterry2006) in his cowboy hat and Luckenbach jean jacket, sang some of his newly written songs to be released on his second CD. Levi Darr, (http://www.myspace.com/jonesanddarr) an extremely talented guitar and fiddle player, added character to every bridge sometimes going on for several minutes. He sang out a few of his own tunes too. “Canada”, a bicycle rider from Alberta, wove his harmonica riffs into every song, at times going deep into himself as he blew out emotion that captured the audience. Mary Kathleen O'Keef Braun, the evening’s host, joined the pickers. (http://www.myspace.com/kathleenbraun)
Kathleen is a singer/songwriter. Her songs have a beat that keeps your foot tapping while the words enter your soul. Her voice is soft with a signature quaver that keeps the words echoing in your mind. The audience sat in huddled groups around picnic tables or against the far wall of the hat shop trying to keep out of the wind. The crows of the roosters announced the coming of evening. Abbey, really her last name, is Director of Entertainment and Schedules. She suggested we move inside and that is where it happened.
The bar room behind the general store is a small space with two benches along the walls and one under the side bar area. Two wooden tables sit in the center with the cast iron stove. Folding chairs and two bar stools fill the rest of the floor space. Every seat was taken and some people were standing. We were all together, like family around the kitchen table. Here in this small space there was a heightened sensitivity to the sounds of the non-amplified music and the beauty of voices raised in song. Danny, Levi, Kathleen and “Canada” entertained the small but very attentive group. Only the off duty bartender and the local guy talked through songs, and they were quickly drowned into silence by the attentiveness of the group during the four or five hours of nonstop music. Late in the evening John Bardy (http://www.myspace.com/jbardy ) arrived and Kathleen directed him to “sing”. His voice, like the soft rumble of a train and the low roar of a lion, run through your mind and is caged there leaving you wanting for more. The audience slowly melted away leaving the pickers surrounded by the walls of this special place where the spirits of singers and songwriters of times past hide. We crawled inside the Roadtrek happy that we carry our house on our back….
We are somebody!
Luckenbach is always a special place where “everybody is somebody”, but last night was different. It was mystical and personal. There was a small circle of players under the great gnarled live oak tree whose canopy is roost to the chickens and shades and defines this place. It seems to give off a kind of pure energy that radiates outward and is dispersed among all living things around it; another one of those mysteries of the universe. Come to Luckenbach and you will know what we are talking about.We were graced with a song by Candace Miller (http://www.myspace.com/tandcmiller) before she got a call from T-Roy. Danny Terry, (http://www.myspace.com/dannyterry2006) in his cowboy hat and Luckenbach jean jacket, sang some of his newly written songs to be released on his second CD. Levi Darr, (http://www.myspace.com/jonesanddarr) an extremely talented guitar and fiddle player, added character to every bridge sometimes going on for several minutes. He sang out a few of his own tunes too. “Canada”, a bicycle rider from Alberta, wove his harmonica riffs into every song, at times going deep into himself as he blew out emotion that captured the audience. Mary Kathleen O'Keef Braun, the evening’s host, joined the pickers. (http://www.myspace.com/kathleenbraun)
Kathleen is a singer/songwriter. Her songs have a beat that keeps your foot tapping while the words enter your soul. Her voice is soft with a signature quaver that keeps the words echoing in your mind. The audience sat in huddled groups around picnic tables or against the far wall of the hat shop trying to keep out of the wind. The crows of the roosters announced the coming of evening. Abbey, really her last name, is Director of Entertainment and Schedules. She suggested we move inside and that is where it happened.
The bar room behind the general store is a small space with two benches along the walls and one under the side bar area. Two wooden tables sit in the center with the cast iron stove. Folding chairs and two bar stools fill the rest of the floor space. Every seat was taken and some people were standing. We were all together, like family around the kitchen table. Here in this small space there was a heightened sensitivity to the sounds of the non-amplified music and the beauty of voices raised in song. Danny, Levi, Kathleen and “Canada” entertained the small but very attentive group. Only the off duty bartender and the local guy talked through songs, and they were quickly drowned into silence by the attentiveness of the group during the four or five hours of nonstop music. Late in the evening John Bardy (http://www.myspace.com/jbardy ) arrived and Kathleen directed him to “sing”. His voice, like the soft rumble of a train and the low roar of a lion, run through your mind and is caged there leaving you wanting for more. The audience slowly melted away leaving the pickers surrounded by the walls of this special place where the spirits of singers and songwriters of times past hide. We crawled inside the Roadtrek happy that we carry our house on our back….
We are somebody!
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