Last Saturday nite, August 4, GRO played at the Western Kountry Klub in Midlothian, Texas, just south of Dallas. Jerry and Barbara are the owners and proprietors, and they couldn't be nicer or more welcoming, and we appreciate them. GRO shared the gig with (the great) DEAN CHARLES; hearing him sing "I Gotta Travel On" is always a real treat for me. We had a nice crowd, and the Klub, which started out as a skating rink in the 1950's, was full of nice people and good vibrations. And it's always a treat to see MARYANN PRICE kicking up her heels and singing to beat the band.

Then the next day, on Sunday, my old folk-singing friend RORY McNAMARA flew in from SanFrancisco, and we spent a week in the studio recording and documenting five old "never recorded" songs, mostly written in the 1970's by our old colleague and brother, BILLY MARLOWE. Rory is an Irishman who grew up in England before settling in the Bay area around 1975, and it was a treat for him to meet and work with a handful of our great regional Texas players. I know that I enjoyed it---immensely, as my mother used to say.

We owe a big thank-you to old friends BUDDY WHITTINGTON, RAY AUSTIN, GONZY TREVINO, ARAM DOROSS, GARY BRISTOL, and MARK WILSON for contributing their fine spirits and skills to "the new Billy Marlowe project." And we want to also say thanks to "the new guy" CHUCK MAYO who came and blew the doors off the studio, playing Hammond, and thanks to Gonzy to introducing him to the studio, and to GRO.

We are planning to do more  of Billy's tunes, just to see where his spirit leads us.

All right. I am going to type a few words.

Last night at the Stagecoach Ballroom in Fort Worth, J.D. Smith, Bubba Stephens and Michael Holleman played a night together backing up the fine Fort Worth singer Dean Charles, a singer who should be simply certified as a Texas legend. I wish everyone who likes swing could have been there, watching and listening. Country music, and country jazz, has never sounded bigger and better than those fellows did last night. Hubba, hubba, Big Bubba, and all.