Fred in Texas 2006 - Sunday
March 19
Saturday the 18th of March marked the end of a long drought for Dallas/Ft.Worth. When the rain began to fall, it didn't seem to want to stop. The rain continued into Sunday, causing flooding in and around the streets of Dallas and surrounding cities. Road closures, flash flood warnings, heavy downpours were all around. Yet Sunday also brought the end of the drought of LIVE Fred Eaglesmith, and some 70-odd hard core Fredheads made the show anyway.
Fred had a lot of competition with the biggest local day-long Texas/Americana music gathering going on the same day. It was ironic that one of the first places we saw Fred years ago would directly compete with him this day. We have seemingly "outgrown" the festival ourselves, the line-up consisted of folks we can either see often, see soon, or frankly didn't care to see. Opting for Fred at the historic Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas's Deep Ellum area seemed like a better fit for a couple of old, cranky folks like us.
Our buddy Bob Bryan from England was on his second day of his stay with us, and opted for spending the first half of the day at the gathering. We swung by and picked him up, deciding we'd see if we could make it down to Deep Ellum. A quick call to the Sons let us know it was okay floodwise there, so away we went.
As planned, we arrived to Deep Ellum with no difficulty, and ready to eat some dinner. We decided to try Monica's, a Mexican restaurant with an excellent reputation for very fine cuisine. We entered the mostly empty place, and were immediately seated. Since I would be the driver later, it was a couple of margaritas with dinner for me, and I have to say, these were the best "not Andy's" margaritas I've ever had! Our food was absolutely fabulous, our service was impeccable, and we were very happy we'd finally found a new place to eat before a show!!
We headed over to Sons, where the ample parking left told us we were correct that the turn out would be a little lighter tonight. The doors were open already, we headed upstairs, found great seating, and spent some time greeting other friends and meeting new friends attending the show.
I was ready to see the opening act, Macon Greyson. I hadn't seen them in a couple of years, and hoped that I would think more highly of their music now that some time had passed and my horizons have broadened even more. I ended up with the same opinion, super nice guys, but not my cup of tea for music. I really tried being objective, and didn't let a couple of their obnoxious fans influence my thinking, but have decided it's our different tastes that really do make the world go round. After all, if everyone liked Fred's music as much as I do, I wouldn't have gotten a decent seat.
It was finally time for a dose of Fred, way past due since May was the last time he'd been near enough to us to go see. I was anxious to hear some of the old stuff, and some of the new stuff LIVE and really enjoyed it. The new ones were almost immediate new favorites. Of course, having been slightly over a year since hearing Willie P. Bennett on mandolin and harmonica was like an injection within itself as he struck the first chords. The combination of Fred and Willie is like a drug for me, I feel it from head to toe and all the way through. Like many fellow Fredheads, I do miss the sounds of Washboard Hank (on all of himself), Dan Walsh (dobro, baritone guitar), and Roger Marin (pedal steel, guitar) filling in the gaps, but Fred and Willie are really a dynamic combination. The music was really good, Fred was funny as always (he even had God's attention at one point as the thunder rolled perfectly on cue!), and he left me wanting more.
The show seemed to fly by. We lingered to visit with friends again, buy the new CD Milly's Cafe, say a quick howdy to Fred and Willie, then it was back home to Cuervo Acres for us. We were glad the weather had settled down enough for us to have an appetizer for what was ahead the coming end of week and weekend.
Next Installment - Romi and Dan with Joe kick off THE weekend for Fredheads at Cuervo Acres!
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