A former student showed up out of the blue--Hello, Jennifer--and told me about a musician I should check out. Perhaps you should, too:

http://www.ellispaul.com/index.php?page=cds

A little bit of "singer songwriter" goes a long way, I must admit, so I'm hesitant. There was always this kind of creepy feeling I got when someone in college would take out a guitar and sing earnest, plaintive songs, and we all sat around looking at each other, thinking we were having some sort of profound experience. Usually it was just pain.

On the other, less cynical hand, some singer songwriters are just amazing: either good technique on the instrument (invariably a guitar), songwriting skills, distinctive voice (and, ideally of course, all three). Some who come to mind who I listen to over and over are Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Dylan (surprise), Tish Hinojosa, Robert Earl Keen, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. I doubt if Joe Ely counts in this category--too much of a rocker. Ry Cooder is a whole different story. Perhaps I should someday list my "desert island" choices of records; I know Ry would be on it. My brother named his kid "Ry," even though I had planned to (but the bro reproduced first); I wonder if Mr. Cooder has any idea.

The whole discussion makes me miss Texas. My yankee friends (and relatives) often have a view of Texas that seems to reduce it to this vast wasteland of bad politics, bad religion, and, generally, bad news. Of course, it is different if, say, you spend a day (and night) in Austin, having a drink or two at Scholz's Biergarten, then going out to listen to one of the dozens of great musicians playing there; perhaps the next day you drive through the Hill Country, stop and see some art in Fredericksburg or just drive through Llano (my favorite town in Texas, I think), or head to San Antonio, where you can also hear some excellent music (and eat autentica comida Mexicana).

Stay clear of El Paso, Texarkana, and the suburbs of Dallas (I wouldn't even consider Houston); focus on central Texas, where there is a very cool historical interaction between Mexican, Texan (Texican), Czech, and German cultures; tortillas y las accordianas.

For those who really care, read the first part of Michael Lind's book on George W., "Made in Texas"; a very nice phenomenology of Texas geography, and a clear and well-reasoned explanation why the same state can give us Phil Gramm and Tom DeLay can also give us Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower.