Photo credit: Ismael Quintanilla
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We are just retiring our most favorite touring vehicle, Cliffie, the Big Red Sprinter. Most of our vehicles have made it well past the 300,000 mile mark, with the notable exception of one poor Dodge that got totaled by an eighteen-wheeler 20 years ago. We hit a patch of black ice outside of Elko, Nevada on our way from Salt Lake City to California. Van and trailer spun into a 360. We were pulling out of it when the eighteen-wheeler hit the same patch and jackknifed. When he hit us at just under highway speed, I locked eyes with the truck driver and was afraid we’d all be knocked off the side of the road down the steep hill. Luckily, everyone made it. I had a headlamp in my lap and everything around me was crushed. They had to cut me out and kept a couple of us overnight in the hospital.
Folks were asking what we were going to do, how would we get home? I was not having it! We were scheduled to play with the Paladins in a few days and I was not going to miss that gig for the world! So, we rented a U-Haul and loaded the gear – which miraculously was not damaged in the totaled trailer, due to our advanced Tetris skills, and made the rest of the tour. (We eventually removed the governor on the drive home about halfway from LA to Houston.) These days we travel without a trailer, and our amazing tour manager, Shelley Cox, is a mechanic.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Include vegetables on your rider! Keep a cooler and tea kettle on driving tours. Bring a French press if there’s room, because hotel coffee can really suck sometimes and nobody wants to start a day like that. Take the fruits, vegetables, juices, and waters with you for the next day. Have a backpack for collecting backstage food packed at load out. Seriously, we stop and picnic. It’s pretty standard to keep a loaf of bread, mustard, cheese, peanut butter, jam in a hard sided tote for everyone to share. Try to lay off the sugary free drinks. Forgive yourself when the pasta or dessert is too good to pass up.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Very seldom do I break a string, I play bare knuckled! When I do, it’s usually at the bridge and I just bust out a mechanical pencil to “lubricate” that area with graphite before restringing. I’ve had the same pencil for a while, and the cost of 2 packs of strings a year (always have them on hand, if I don’t need them, somebody else might) for 6 guitars and a few lapsteels is probably just over $100 annually.
Where do you rehearse?
Since the pandemic, we’ve rehearsed sporadically and done some live streams from our backyard. We back up to a park, so sometimes kids will stop by to see what’s the ruckus. My favorite was during a livestream when you could hear our neighbor cheer us on! We’re very lucky to have such cool neighbors!
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
I started writing when I was 8 or so, and might still possess my attempt at “sheet music.” I remember trying to be fairly grandiose in my prose, “winds of change” and concepts I didn’t fully grasp. By the time I was sixteen, I started writing songs like “Wrong Side of Dead,” which I put on my first record when I was a teenager. Kid Red and a couple of other folks covered it and that absolutely blew my mind.
Describe your first gig.
I was in high school and the band I was in got a real gig at a real club (Fitzgerald’s in Houston had a teen band night for a minute) and our singer backed out a few days before our show. I was the keyboard/ rhythm guitar/ backup vocalist. I was not going to miss our first chance to play on a real stage, so I just took over singing. I kinda sucked. I more than kinda loved it. My motto since then is the more you play, the less you suck. Luckily, I’m still playing!
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I have had jobs to support my music habit on and off over my life. I worked in a hair salon, painted houses, waited tables, all kinds of temporary jobs, because I was always up front that it was not my focus. I have always been grateful to folks willing to accommodate such behavior and still hired me. These days it’s the day to day of keeping a band working and spending time volunteering on the board of HomeAustin.org – we help musicians 55 and older in the Austin area with housing. The all volunteer board works hard and gets things done!!! Our next big fundraiser is December 1 and it will be a star studded livestream full of music and food! Everyone is invited – visit www.HomeAustin.org for more info!
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
It fluctuates like mad, always has. Somehow, we are still here, playing music. I have no idea what the next year holds, much less 5 or 10. I’ll just prepare for the worst while hoping for the best!
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
Just to know how to live cheap and happy. The joy is in the music and the travel so, go see things you’d never have the opportunity to see otherwise. Treasure the moments you are being led through the kitchen in Japan to the stage, spend more time saying hello to kids and less time worrying about things you cannot control. Don’t let what other people think of you alter your path or values. If life has taught me anything, I’m pretty sure that the musician’s entrance to Heaven will be past a dumpster shaped cloud. So, if nobody has called you back about where to load in for your gig, look for the dumpster. Also: If you’re going to get thrown out of high school, younger me, why didn’t you just take the auto mechanics classes you wanted to take?