Country World

I'll start with Texas musicians. No place like Texas for variety.

Bob Wills is still the king and Asleep at the Wheel is keeping his memory alive.

Lubbock's the home of Buddy Holly.

There's move live music in Austin than you could ever listen to.

Houston was the place for folk music in the 1970s. Townes Van Zandt leads a group of singer/songwriters including Jerry Jeff Walker, Willis Alan Ramsey, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Steve Earle and Jo Ely.

Greenville is the home of Kenneth Threadgill, whose restaurant in Austin was home to the likes of Janis Joplin (from Port Arthur) and Willie Nelson.

Dallas is opening a new state-of-the-art opera house in the fall - complete with personal air conditioning at every seat. Can't wait to see it.

Van Cliburn, one of the world's most celebrated pianists, is from Kilgore. Was so lucky to see him perform at SMU in the early 60s and then again at the Santa Fe Opera House several years ago.

I think one of the ZZ Top boys is from around here, right?

My favorites are Townes Van Zandt and Willis Alan Ramsey. The 1970s were very, very good to me.

Who's your favorite Texas musician and where is their hometown?

I like many of those you already mentioned, but to that, I would have to add....

Pat Green - San Antonio

Davis Lane - An East Texas band founded in Commerce and now releasing demos and playing everywhere from East Fork to places in Austin and often in the Waco area.

Mark David Manders - I LOVE this guy. He's awesome to hang out with (and drink with). He's a great guy and an awesome entertainer. His song "Drive" still makes me smile every time I hear it. Not sure if he is from Texas, but he definitely sings like it.

I know you can't forget King George. Strait was born in Poteet, near San Antonio.

And don't forget Stevie Ray Vaughn, from Dallas, one of the BEST blues guitartists EVER!

Texas definitely has a great variety of music. What other state has its own genre, like Texas Country, which to most is considered Red Dirt music or souther rock. Texas is home to some of the greatest singer/ songwriters in the industry such as Willie Nelson, Radney Foster and Pat Green. Unlike some genres of music, Texas Country musicians sing and write songs about everyday life in which all of us can relate to and enjoy.

Oh..........
Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, TX
Radney Foster was born in Del Rio, TX
Pat Green was born in San Antonio, TX

T-Bone Walker, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings... man, we have a ton of awesome musicians from our great state.

Agreed. All those are great. I love Texas music of all kinds. I'm a country boy, but don't forget:

The Toadies
Blue October
ZZ Top
Buddy Holly
Pantera
Bowling for Soup
Flyleaf
Tripping Daisy
Fair to Midland
jonathan tyler and the northern lights
Drowning Pool
Butthole Surfers

Oooooh the Toadies! Yay!

I guess the first thing I have to say about what appears to be the main topic here - music - is that I haven't found much variety since I bought my farm and moved to Texas in June. Every time I turn on the radio and search the stations, I primarily get the country music, country rock, or country something. And if it's not country it's just rock, and this includes the doctor's office, shopping, even getting gas for my truck! Ugghh! Not everyone embraces or enjoys country or rock music here because I've seen there are operas and symphonies advertised. But for now, I may have to resort to carrying earplugs just so I can have some peace and quiet when I'm out and about.

As you can tell, I'm just not a fan of country. I may love living in the country on my farm, but it doesn't mean I have to like country music! I have tried in vain to find a station with classical music which happens to be my favorite. I'm hoping it's out there somewhere, but so far I've had no luck. Thank God for CDs! Wonder how they'd enjoy it at the gas station if I cranked up my opera to drown out the twang?

On another note, I moved to Texas to take care of my mother whose health is declining. What I love about Texas is that I can pretty much count on the sunshine. I'm from Washington State where it really does rain about 325 days out of the year. I am beyond sick of rain! It's great for keeping everything green, but that's about it.

Unless you're a diehard northwesterner who can venture out in 30 degree weather in shorts and a t-shirt (and believe me, I've seen it), and enjoys cranking up the heat in July because it's only about 56 degrees out, or you're one of those who enjoys waiting until the end of August just to mow the lawn that's well over a foot tall because it's been too wet to mow and too warm in winter to stop it from growing, well then you're stuck inside staring out the window at constantly gray, gloomy, drizzly, damp, dreary, depressing weather. You can even have an umbrella-holder permanently attached to your hip so you're always prepared for the inevitable drizzle! Or, if you're the true northwesterner you just walk around looking like a drowned rat viewing the rest of us umbrella-carriers as a bunch of whiners.

The chickens don't come out of the coop unless you provide them with rain gear. And as you may or may not know, goats are convinced they'll melt if just a few drops of rain land on them, so they definitely don't venture out. If you want to see and enjoy your animals you have to go to the barn in hip-waders and a parka and mits the size of boxing-gloves and just hang out. Be careful with the goats, though, because if they haven't seen you in that winter/summer garb for awhile, you may be butting heads with them until they figure out it's you. Bringing treats may help alleviate the tension.

The little dogs have to be drop-kicked out the door (not literally, of course) - because they just got dry and warmed up from their last trip outside to "take care of business". All of the dogs have to be toweled off unless you enjoy a mud trail through the house. There's a saying from the Seattle area: People in Seattle don't tan - they rust! You better believe it! And I have the rust to prove it!!!

I love being able to go outside here in Texas pretty much any time I want, including when it's raining because it's still warm! I'd rather sweat any day than freeze.

Ooooh, I would rather it be cold than hot. I've lived here for a while now and still can't get used to the heat here. I'm not made for heat. I miss when it was so cold that mama would open up the oven to make the house warmer.

Where do you live? I know a few stations that play classical music. Maybe I can help.

The thing about cold is that sometimes you just can't get warm unless you jump in a hot shower and if you have to type, you can't do that in the shower, and typing is not easy to do with gloves on.

Anyway, if you do know of some classical music stations (although I know tv now has all the music stations, but it doesn't work for the car!) I live in Commerce, near Greenville. Classical or sort of mellow contemporary jazz, or new age/new wave, or whatever the heck they call it now.

Thanks!

WPR out of Dallas (101.1) is great if you can catch it, as well as 107.5 which is Dallas and used to play smooth jazz. There are a few jazz stations out of the junior colleges too, Kilgore and Paris (1250 AM I believe).

I just bought an adapter for my iPod so I have my Puccini and Vivaldi whenever and wherever.

Best of luck.

Thanks so much, can't wait to see if I can access one of the stations!! In WA you can't use headphones/ear buds, whatever you want to call them, in your car, although I saw people doing it all the time. Get in a wreck and your insurance isn't going to pay. It's not safe, especially if an ambulance is coming up behind you, or the police are trying to flag you down, etc. So an iPod would be out. Would be nice though...rather than carting around 30-40 CDs.

Thanks again!

Oh! I didn't explain myself very well. With an iPod, there are adapters so you can plug it into your CD player, tape deck, power outlet or special speakers for the car and listen to it through the car's speakers. Yes, earphones would be a BAD idea.

101.1 was the one I was going to recommend.