Nick,

I'd check with The AllGood Cafe (allgoodcafe.com) and Poor David's Pub (poordavidspub.com). Those are practically the only two venues that feature roots music in Dallas. I'm sure you're familiar with Poor David's, being from Dallas -- it's been around for decades.

The owner of the AllGood also books the Sons Of Hermann Hall, which is a fantastic venue and he's been wanting to pair up my band with another likeminded band for a double-bill at the Son's. If you can nail down a date, perhaps we could do that there? We can take this off-line to keep from boring the Braves... Holla back and hit me up if you wanna explore that idea more.

C'est bon,

R!CK

Another interesting question, Rick! I normally hear a song in my head as I'm writing it--at least I hear the rhythm and have an idea of how I want a couple of lines to sound. Then I start trying to put the rest of it together, just singing it different ways around the chords I'm playing. After that, when I bring it to my band, I normally have the accordion intro ready in my head. I sing that to David and he plays it, then works his own thing out. It's definitely a group effort, I'd say, at least for me.

That's cool to hear, Sarah! Yeah, having a band sure makes it easier to complete a tune -- speaking for myself, there.

I've been toying with the idea of taking the "song in my head/doo-dah" process a step further, by acquiring a software package that will allow me to lay down the rhythm track, vocals, accordion -- and (if possible)a guitar rhythm. I haven't determined what package would be best, but whatever [that] is, it would have the virtual samples of these instruments included -- basically having a virtual band in my computer. My only concern with that would be the learning curve involved in such a method. Plus, I'd need to upgrade my Mac hardware and acquire an M-Box or some sort of plug-in interface.

But I've got the gumption to do it.

It would sure be nice to have some of those raw ideas already hashed-out to present to the band. And for those they don't really warm up to, I'd have a comprehensive idea down for future revisitation.

S'Good...

R!CK