Or should I say, plane trip, then on the streets! of Austin, Texas…woo hoo! A city that I have been wanting to visit for years, and finally Jeff and I found 3 days of time together, some money to spend, and a concert that I was so very excited to find out was there when we could be there. Done Deal..Country music, here I come…
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Dwight Yoakum was playing at Austin City Limits, not the TV show this time, just sponsored by them, and I got tickets without even blinking. Then came the plane tickets, then the hotel ressies, and we were set to go. Now just needed a dog sitter and for Jeff to get a few days off work, jumped ahead of myself on that one, but hey, it all worked out. 
July in Austin, yep, steamy is a bit of an understatement. Add some thunderstorms, and ah well…you make do and take a couple of showers a day. No matter, we walked around the city, ate at some fabulous food carts. Now I had heard that Austin was the Portland of the south, and it pretty much is. Lots of incredible music, art, food, shopping, bicycles, and did I mention music!
Started out drinking margaritas at Tokoba’s with some girlfriends, Gina and Gena, while I was waiting for Jeff ‘s plane to get in. So nice, then we walked to another bar where they had an amazing food cart out back and had deep fried brussel sprouts and Lucky rice. I was feeling good.
Unbelievable music…we saw one show on Wednesday night, in a rockin’ little dive called Ginny’s Longhorn Saloon…with Redd Volkaert- guitar god as my friend Lee says, and yes, he was. Redd has played with Merle Haggard, Jim Lauderdale, Vince Gil, Johnny Paycheck, to name only a few from his long list.
Great bassist Billy Dee, and what a voice, and outstanding pedal steel player Ricky Davis, and all of them for free. We sat on bar stools right up close, drinking Lone Star beers (what you drink in Austin!), and not believing what we were hearing!
Give a listen to some Billy Dee
http://www.myspace.com/billydeemusic/music
They were brilliant together. And told some good stories too…I hear this happens all the time in Austin…dang….
I was in music and photographer’s heaven…and this was only day one…
Tomorrow is boot day, and three shows in one night… I’ll tell you a bit more later…
Tags: Adventures of Tribal Country Gal Paulette, Austin, Country music, Paulette Rees-Denis, Paulette's Blog, Paulette's travels, Redd Volkaert
