“I’m a pretty good guy” Chris
Knight “A Pretty Good Guy” or Fred Eaglesmith “A Pretty
Good Guy”
I’m not sure about Mr. Knight, we’ve only seen him once
in concert at last years Texas Music Revolution, but we
have met some amazing “good guys” over the past couple
of years. I was dragged into the mess of Americana
music, Texas Country Music, Alt-Country Music, whatever
name you have for it, in the summer of ’01.
We live in a small Texas town, about 2 hours north of
Dallas. The closest “big” town is 15 minutes north,
Sherman, Texas (Pop. 35,000). Jack Ingram was the
beginning of my addiction, when in the summer of 2001;
he performed a free concert on the lawn of a local
auditorium. The culture was so unique. I’d never been
exposed to anything like it, and I haven’t experienced
a thrill like it since. The concertgoers were rowdy,
crazy, and passionate about this guy and the music he
was playing. And by the end of the night, I could
understand why. The guys in the front row had brought a
couch out of someone’s living room, and when Jack
cranked up “Barbie Doll”, there must have been 50
people sitting and standing on that couch. I was in
love with the music from that moment on.
Most of the people in this business are so down to
earth. This past summer, at the very same lawn, Dad and
I had the privilege of seeing Billy Joe Shaver perform.
Before the concert, when most artists would be avoiding
the oven that is Texas in the summer; Mr. Shaver was
out among the crowd in a busted up cowboy hat, mingling
with several fans that had come to the concert. What
surprised us is that Billy Joe Shaver didn’t have to do
this. It was a free concert, but yet, he was extremely
humble and grateful to all who had come.
The poster boys for niceness could easily be Eleven
Hundred Springs. We’ve seen them in concert several
times, and each time we’ve seen them after they
performed just milling around and watching the other
acts. The most noteworthy 1100 Springs encounter was in
Helotes at Jack Fest. I have a habit of taking t-shirts
far too large for me and cutting them until they fit me
like they’re supposed to. At TMR 7, Dad and I purchased
2 Eleven Hundred Springs shirts and his ended up being
too small for him. In typical Caiti fashion, I adopted
the shirt and cut it until it was completely original.
Wearing this shirt in Helotes, Aaron Wynne (the pedal
steel player) and Chris Claridy (lead guitar) both had
to comment on the attire. The girl at the Eleven
Hundred Springs booth also told me she had tons of
people running up to her, trying to buy my shirt.
I read a rant on a website that condemned unnamed
Americana artists as being “weasels”. Thank god I’ve
never encountered such acts. Artists on
SlackerCountry.com have continuously had the utmost
respect for their fans and fellow artists. Sure, some
of them are arrogant, but if you could write a song
like Scott Miller or control a crowd like Jack Ingram,
wouldn’t you have a little attitude as well?
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