by Phil Houseal | Dec 5, 2018 | All Articles, Events, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
Dec 5, 2018–When I mentioned I was going to interview Ranger Doug of Riders In The Sky, everyone claimed to be a personal friend. So that’s the first question I asked him. Ranger Doug chuckled. “When we meet fans, someone will say, ‘We saw you in 1982,’” he...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 29, 2018 | All Articles, Education, Music, People of the Hill Country
Nov 28, 2018–It was only a classroom off the Fellowship Hall at Fredericksburg United Methodist Church. But for the students at Living Well Learning Center, a nonprofit program for adults with developmental disabilities, it felt like they were inside a...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 21, 2018 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, Philosophy, Venue
“America is the most Christmas-loving country in the history of the world.” An audacious statement by Michael Martin Murphey, but one he can back up. After all, he’s been performing his Cowboy Christmas Show for 25 years, and the singer/songwriter is bringing it to...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 15, 2018 | All Articles, Education, Music, Philosophy
“No baby ever learns to talk from taking a class.” Mike Reiss, writer for The Simpsons 11/14/2018–We try too hard to “teach” rather than let people “learn.” While interviewing a renowned guitarist about how he was going to lead a string workshop, I was...
by Phil Houseal | Nov 7, 2018 | All Articles, Education, Events, History, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Nov 7, 2018–My first exposure to “fine art” growing up was the work of Charlie Russell. My dad, who raised horses, loved the way Russell rendered them in his paintings, as well as the unadorned representation of the life of the cowboy that ironically emphasized the...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 31, 2018 | All Articles, Events, History, Music, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy, Venue
Nov 1, 2018–Confession: When I first played in a Texas dance hall, I didn’t get it. Everyone ignored the band. I was used to being on stage in clubs and bars where the band was the show; the dancing was incidental. This was the opposite. Ray Benson, founder of the...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 25, 2018 | All Articles, Education, People of the Hill Country, Philosophy
Oct 24, 2018–Note: As a treat for the season, here is a story that won a newspaper Halloween writing contest. While written in 1982, it now feels uncomfortably true. It was uncomfortable inside the mask. Though the cool autumn air swirled through George’s thin...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 18, 2018 | All Articles, Education, People of the Hill Country
Oct 17, 2018–When we first moved from town out to the country, one of the joys was taking walks with the kids. My daughter was appalled seeing the trash strewn along the side of the road. “Why do people do that?” she indignantly asked as only a 10-year-old girl...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 10, 2018 | All Articles, History, People of the Hill Country, Venue
Oct 10, 2018–G-g-g-g-g-ghosts? In Fredericksburg? Afraid so. “Every building on Main Street has a ghost story,” said Derek Spence, head wraith wrangler for his new endeavor, Fredericksburg Ghost Tours. “The hardest part has been narrowing the scope to keep the...
by Phil Houseal | Oct 4, 2018 | All Articles, Events, Music, Philosophy
Oct 3, 2018–One night while playing drums in a smoky bar somewhere in Texas, I kicked off the band on a Hank Williams song we’d played 99 times before. But on this night for some reason, I listened to the words for the first time. It was, I realized, a good song....
