Last week I talked about how much I enjoyed the day that was Pecan Jam and while I had the words to talk about the specifics, I doubt you guys had enough space in your ears, patience or time to hear everything I wanted to talk about. If last week was an overview then this week will be dedicated to the specific subject of the bands that made the biggest impression on me.While I grew up listening to a wide variety of music, one genre was blatantly left off our shelves of records, was never heard lilting down our hallways and quite frankly, was considered too common to be art…country music. Stop yelling at me please, I was too young to have a job and didn’t buy our records. I will admit that while I adored my parents, they were on many levels intellectual snobs and somewhat judgmental. Good grief, my mom was British and she thought every single person in our town was illiterate because of the way they spoke. I tried to explain to her that a southern drawl had nothing to do with how they used their brain cells or how well or quickly their synapses fired but I think something was lost in translation because I was her first born Texan and she couldn’t understand my accent!Classie Ballou was the epitome of a what a close knit, loving, talented family do to preserve, showcase and immortalize the heart of their love for each other and their craft. I happen to love Zydeco music and mix it with some blues, R&B and a little Jazz styling and well, there can be nothing but pure joy emanating from the stage. I also loved when Tony Guidroz was asked up on stage to belt out a song with the band and simply wowed the crowd with his amazing voice. Music is about talent but it is also about making the audience feel what the musicians have inside and that is what Classie Ballou did for me. I wasn’t watching a band play instruments but watching musicians express an added component of themselves.Harold and I went to Digg’s on Friday October 21st to hear The Rusty Brothers play because it said on their website they would be there…unless they were invisible, they were not there. The Rusty Brothers were, however, at Pecan Jam and how could this red head with green eyes not like a band of brothers who has a singer with red hair and green eyes? I could not have remained still if I had been tied to my lawn chair. I found myself wishing I had learned how to do some Texas Two Steppin’ and twirling so I could join everyone out on the dance floor. I kept thinking I need to make a bucket list and one that doesn’t have Lysol and a new mop on it! Their songs hit notes of recognition and I love that the brothers are the song writers. I went to buy a CD after their set and decided to tease them about their Digg’s no show and those guys were so sweet they wouldn’t even let me pay for the CD. .Gordon Collier stood as a tribute to what every mom hopes her son will be…a talented, loving husband, father, and man of integrity who gives of himself freely and without expectation or pretense. He played to honor his mom who had lost her battle with cancer only days before the event. Having lost my own mom to the disease and experiencing cancer twice myself, I completely understood his willingness to grasp life and live it. It was as if his music was an avenue beyond understanding and a way of being heard from the soul out. My son leaned in and said to me…”Now this is the kind of country music I like.” Gordon would have no way of knowing but that was high praise indeed, Shawn is a music connoisseur. For me, as well as for Shawn, in the Gordon Collier Band there was more heart, more connection and a sense of what doing “what one loves for who you love” is all about.I judge a day’s goodness by how quickly I wish it to end and I did not want my time with these bands to end. I could have listened to their music, their words of wisdom, their family stories well into Sunday morning. I am so glad I had the parents I did because they showed me how to open my mind and heart to the vastness that is this world and I am so happy to be the weird little character I am…to not put too many filters on either. If you put blinders on your mind and heart, while it is true you may miss seeing the bad, you will surely miss the good too! Love you all with all my heart. Last week I talked about how much I enjoyed the day that was Pecan Jam and while I had the words to talk about the specifics, I doubt you guys had enough space in your ears, patience or time to hear everything I wanted to talk about. If last week was an overview then this week will be dedicated to the specific subject of the bands that made the biggest impression on me.While I grew up listening to a wide variety of music, one genre was blatantly left off our shelves of records, was never heard lilting down our hallways and quite frankly, was considered too common to be art…country music. Stop yelling at me please, I was too young to have a job and didn’t buy our records. I will admit that while I adored my parents, they were on many levels intellectual snobs and somewhat judgmental. Good grief, my mom was British and she thought every single person in our town was illiterate because of the way they spoke. I tried to explain to her that a southern drawl had nothing to do with how they used their brain cells or how well or quickly their synapses fired but I think something was lost in translation because I was her first born Texan and she couldn’t understand my accent!Classie Ballou was the epitome of a what a close knit, loving, talented family do to preserve, showcase and immortalize the heart of their love for each other and their craft. I happen to love Zydeco music and mix it with some blues, R&B and a little Jazz styling and well, there can be nothing but pure joy emanating from the stage. I also loved when Tony Guidroz was asked up on stage to belt out a song with the band and simply wowed the crowd with his amazing voice. Music is about talent but it is also about making the audience feel what the musicians have inside and that is what Classie Ballou did for me. I wasn’t watching a band play instruments but watching musicians express an added component of themselves.Harold and I went to Digg’s on Friday October 21st to hear The Rusty Brothers play because it said on their website they would be there…unless they were invisible, they were not there. The Rusty Brothers were, however, at Pecan Jam and how could this red head with green eyes not like a band of brothers who has a singer with red hair and green eyes? I could not have remained still if I had been tied to my lawn chair. I found myself wishing I had learned how to do some Texas Two Steppin’ and twirling so I could join everyone out on the dance floor. I kept thinking I need to make a bucket list and one that doesn’t have Lysol and a new mop on it! Their songs hit notes of recognition and I love that the brothers are the song writers. I went to buy a CD after their set and decided to tease them about their Digg’s no show and those guys were so sweet they wouldn’t even let me pay for the CD. .Gordon Collier stood as a tribute to what every mom hopes her son will be…a talented, loving husband, father, and man of integrity who gives of himself freely and without expectation or pretense. He played to honor his mom who had lost her battle with cancer only days before the event. Having lost my own mom to the disease and experiencing cancer twice myself, I completely understood his willingness to grasp life and live it. It was as if his music was an avenue beyond understanding and a way of being heard from the soul out. My son leaned in and said to me…”Now this is the kind of country music I like.” Gordon would have no way of knowing but that was high praise indeed, Shawn is a music connoisseur. For me, as well as for Shawn, in the Gordon Collier Band there was more heart, more connection and a sense of what doing “what one loves for who you love” is all about.I judge a day’s goodness by how quickly I wish it to end and I did not want my time with these bands to end. I could have listened to their music, their words of wisdom, their family stories well into Sunday morning. I am so glad I had the parents I did because they showed me how to open my mind and heart to the vastness that is this world and I am so happy to be the weird little character I am…to not put too many filters on either. If you put blinders on your mind and heart, while it is true you may miss seeing the bad, you will surely miss the good too! Love you all with all my heart.