by Phil Houseal | Jun 8, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
June 7, 2017–When Terry Theis first attended the Kerrville Folk Festival back in 1978, he, uh, bypassed the gate. “Yeah, I joined up because I finally got caught sneaking in,” confessed the Harper engraver and accordion player when I interviewed him outside Threadgill...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 19, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music
April 19, 2017–Just out of high school, a group of my buddies and I were so anxious to see Crystal Gayle in person that we got a speeding ticket driving to her concert. The year was 1975 and Gayle, with her trademark long, dark hair, had just released her first album...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 5, 2017 | All Articles, Music
April 5, 2017–As someone who can play eight instruments but can’t sing a simple nursery rhyme tune so you’d recognize it, I am enthralled with a cappella groups. Maybe it’s polyphony envy, that ability to hear and match vocal harmonies. The newest sensation on this...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 30, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country
Mar 29, 2017–She’ll be singing Gedenken-vergessen, a lieder composed by Frank Valentine Van der Stucken in 1892. But truth be told, mezzo-soprano September van der Stoel would feel just as comfortable singing jazz. “Jazz is my first love. I absolutely love...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 22, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
Mar 22, 2017–Cause that’s what makes her happy. That is the top reason Sloan Ruth gives for creating The Backyard behind Fritztown Cinema. The new outdoor music venue will open April 7 with its first of many regular concerts. “I’m not musical, though I took piano for...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 16, 2017 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
Mar 15, 2017–Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson calls them the “Carnegie Halls of western swing.” But if you are old enough to have waltzed across Texas, you know them as dance halls. When I wrote about these two-stepping temples in 2013, Stephen Dean of Texas Dancehall...
