Cheatham Street: Songwriters' Class of '87

On Thursday night I headed down to San Marcos, TX to Cheatham Street Warehouse -- a legendary Texas venue where people like George Strait and Stevie Ray Vaughn got their starts. It's also where an astoundingly diverse and talented group of open mic-ers from 1987 re-converged on Thursday to swap songs and celebrate their beginnings. So who were these '87ers? A rundown: Terri Hendrix: You read this blog. You know Terri. She was great. Lloyd Maines jammed with everyone in the circle, too. Note: we had awesome seats behind Terri and Lloyd, and since it was in the round...every photo I took contains the head of either Terri or Lloyd...sometimes both. :) Bruce Robison: When he's not performing all over the country himself, his songs are being cut by the likes of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, George Strait, and the Dixie Chicks. Not too shabby. Bruce Robison...and Terri's hair. James McMurtry: He has fabulous words and stories in his songs. Why, here's one now. John Arthur Martinez: He was on the show Nashville Star, and has a fabulous voice and a traditional sound. John Arthur and Hal...and Lloyd's head. Todd Snider: He lives in Nashville now, and had the crowd in stitches with his great storytelling as well as his awesome songs. Yay! Hal Ketchum: I listened to Hal on the radio back in the 90's when I was first getting into country music..."Small Town Saturday Night" -- great song. I never knew he was from around here. His voice is perfect. Everyone kind of joined in on other people's stuff when they felt like it...Terri played a couple of mean harmonica solos, Lloyd played a new baritone Tacoma guitar and it sounded excellent. Kent Finlay, who owns Cheatham, presided over the circle and played his great tunes as well. He must be extremely proud to have fostered so many accomplished writers. He's always kind to me when I head down to San Marcos to the open mic. Kent is one of a kind! So...I'm hoping we don't have to wait 20 years for another reunion, but this one did quite all right by me. A birthday, a short New Mexico tour, a successful JP Project No. 2...it's a good way to end the month. Happy December, y'all!