by Phil Houseal | May 23, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Food, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Venue
May 22, 2019–I first came to the Texas Hill Country in 1978. Yet I’d never visited Castell. Last weekend, I fixed that. The Castell General Store–which is essentially Castell–was celebrating its Testicle Festival. As auspicious an event as any for finding out...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 25, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music, Philosophy, Venue
(Note: This is the second of two columns on my interview with Jimmie Webb. Read Jimmy Webb: Writing His Songs) April 24, 2019–A question I ask of all recording artists I have the honor of interviewing is whether it is the song or the singer that makes the hit. Jimmy...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 18, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music, Venue
April 17, 2019–Even after his six decades in the industry, being the only artist ever to receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration, being a member of every musical hall of fame on the planet, and writing so many hit songs no one has added them...
by Phil Houseal | Apr 11, 2019 | All Articles, Education, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
April 10, 2019–When I was in high school the band director announced he was starting a jazz band. There were only 300 students in our entire school, so once you pulled out the football players and cheerleaders, there weren’t that many of us left to fill out the...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 14, 2019 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country
Mar 13, 2019–Robert Hardy “Bake” Turner has spent his life around larger-than-life characters in the worlds of professional football and country music. He is larger than life himself. Turner, as true football fans know, was a wide receiver out of Alpine, Texas, who...
by Phil Houseal | Mar 2, 2019 | All Articles, Events, Music
Feb 27, 2019–They call it “human music.” “It’s just us and microphones,” explained Scott Leonard of Rockapella, the most sophisticated, lasting, and imitated vocal groups around today, according to their blurbs. “People find it hard to believe there are no...
