Okay so here's the story! I was staying at the Y.O. Hotel in Kerrville for Memorial Day weekend to attend the Kerrville Folk Festival on Saturday and play at my friends Mason & Rochelle Hunt's wedding brunch on Sunday in Bandera. Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell were scheduled to headline the Festival that night, and I was beyond excited to see them live.
I went out to the Festival early in the afternoon to catch the first half of the New Folk performances, which was cut short by heavy rains. I decided to hang out for a bit to visit with friends and see if the weather cleared in time for Emmylou and Rodney to play later. Alas, word spread throughout the ranch that the main stage shows were canceled for the evening, so I decided to head back to the Y.O., quite bummed.
Walking into the hotel lobby, I ran into my friend Amy McCarley, one of the New Folk finalists, who introduced me to Michael and Steve, Emmy and Rodney's bassist and sound tech, respectively. I told them I was meeting my dad in the hotel bar (he was there for the wedding). In the bar, I noticed that folks were starting to pull chairs around the fireplace in the hotel lobby, and there were rumors that Emmylou and/or Rodney might play a few songs.
I ran into Steve (the sound guy) at the bar and asked if an impromptu show was really going down. He said Emmylou really wanted to play a few but they were having a hard time finding any amplification. I had my PA system in the car for the next day's gig, so of course I offered to let them borrow it! After that, things moved really quickly, and before I knew it, the full band was set up in the hotel lobby and plugged in to my PA, with Emmylou and Rodney using my microphones to boot!
I had a front row seat to the whole show, sitting on the floor next to musician friends Susan Cattaneo, Ellis, Amy McCarley, Sue Young, Rusty Nelson, Mary Bragg, and others. It was the show of a lifetime. They played for over 2 hours, including the whole new album in track order, The Houston Kid, Red Dirt Girl, a couple of Townes songs, and a host of Gram Parsons songs. Awesome? Yeah, that's an understatement. I got a couple of videos (Return of the Grievous Angel and Luxury Liner), which I'll put on YouTube soon.
After the show, Emmylou and Rodney both expressed thanks for the PA and were gracious to take pictures with me and chat for a bit. We spent the rest of the night in the afterglow of a truly special performance, having drinks with the band and enjoying an all star Kerrville song circle in the lobby with Ellis Paul, David Wilcox, Steve Seskin, Rj Cowdery, New Folk Finalists past and present, and many more.
So yeah. Here are a few pictures of my musical heroes...playing a once in a lifetime intimate show while I'm three feet away...and their voices and instruments were coming through my microphones and cables into the speakers of my PA...I'll never forget it.
Pretty ridiculous, right? Much love, friends!
Libby