Happy Bastille Day

Howdy friends and neighbors, family and fans alike- we’ve been here in Mirande France for nearly a week now, but haven’t had a chance to sit down and write, let alone read, sleep much, you name it. We’ve been at the festival every day, playing our beautiful little Texas asses off for the country music loving French folks there, and then staying up way too late at the chateau where we’re all camped out, playing music, drinking, and getting into these great, intimate conversations. What an incredible group of folks Mister Broussard gathered up this year to bring over here. Freddy Steady, Dale Allen, Paul Minor, Robert Banta, Dane Sterling, Dean Seltzer, Dave Insley, Terri Joyce, and all the backing guys- Luke Ayres, Scott French, Matt Brooks, Brendon Bigelow, Bobby Snell, Sean Orr, Karl Cooley, and of course our Jorge Harada- every single one of these folks is genuinely nice to get along with, and incredibly talented.

Seriously, we played last night, and while I was up on stage I turned around and thought to myself, ‘holy jo, there’s a WALL of talent behind me right now’. And every night, the Texas musicians have just owned that stage. It’s a huge stage too, with lots of fancy lighting, and a jumbotron playing our faces up close for the crowd, and a whole lot of line dancers out front- as well as others- enjoying the music we brought to the table this year. I get re-impressed with how special this group is every day. And we all keep walking around saying how lucky we are to be here, with THIS particular group. Can’t help but concur.

So here’s the excitement for the week: aside from everybody getting along so well, and all this incredible music being played every night, and the fact that I’ve been the resident translator all week- did you know I speak fairly fluent French? The crowd fell in LOVE with Robert Banta last night- he brought some serious Texas country boy fire to the stage, all heart and balls and ‘git ‘em goin’ showmanship. He made all the French girls swoon, that was fun to watch. The festival ran out of beer the night Broussard played, and we nearly had an Austin riot on our hands, but they showed up at the last minute with a bunch of half racks for the boys, and all was well. Rick played the shit out of that ol’ Cajun country music and had the crowd eating out of his hand too, ayeeeee! I brought some sass and country gal grit to the show last night, and because I spoke French to the crowd, they adopted me as one of their own. I love it.

Ok so here’s the drama you’ve all been waiting for- last night as we were all about to go shower and get ready to head over to play, Jorge turned around and walked through the plate glass door. Seriously. He bounced away from the doorway, covered with tiny shards of glass, and get this- only one small cut on his picking hand. The whole room was in shock, cause we were most of us right there. But quickly, Brendon and Scott jumped up and made sure he wasn’t bleeding anywhere seriously and was ok. It scared the shit out of us all. Talk about overshadowing anything else. Stagefright? Not after THAT. He’s doing fine, just that one cut. Funny thing is, he went to shower the glass off and shave, and cut himself shaving. Then on stage that night, he clocked himself with his guitar doing that Harada move of playing the guitar behind his head. So he’s got a nice lump there today. But whew. That could have turned out so bad- that was completely dumb luck, and I’ll take it.

Today’s our last day- Dean and Dave play tonight- and all of us are getting up on stage to sing ‘Good Old Mountain Dew’ in one big group, followed by the Marseillaise- it is, after all, Bastille Day!

It’s been fun, and REAL, and touring will never be the same for me after this, I tell you…

We’re playing the Continental Club happy hour show the night we get home- how’s THAT for rock-n-roll? That’s Thursday the 16th from 6:30-9. So if you’re in Austin and out and about, stop by for a special Snakehandler Snort and some good music. Of course, we’re playing there all July long every Thursday at happy hour- so if you miss this one, come on out for another.

Either way, we hope to see you soon somewhere down the road. Until then, keep on rockin’! Ruby Dee