Garden Cafe is Back!

September 19, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

Of all the things I’ve done during this pandemic, I am most personally proud of working to help get Garden Cafe back open. One of the things that most makes our neighborhood the special place it is, is the ability to simply walk over to one of the finest restaurants in the city. Mark Wootten […]

Faithspotting: Echo, Part 1

May 17, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

Pretty excited to be a part of this podcast, with friends Kenny Dickson and Mike Hatch. Since I’m both a songwriter and preacher, they invited me to to talk about the great documentary “Echo in the Canyon.”It traces the roots of an amazing tradition of music in the iconic “Laurel Canyon” area of LA. Listen […]

$20 Bill (For George Floyd)

June 9, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

On this day of George Floyd’s memorial service in Houston, a repost of my version of Tom Prasada-Rao’s powerful tribute song. Tom’s song has now been covered 20-30 times by a beautiful assortment of musicians. This version was a part of my “Coffee On the Porch” Livestream on June 4th, 2020. (Lyrics below. Thanks again […]

Eminence Front

March 10, 2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

For reasons that are not entirely clear to me, the Muse compelled me to record a acoustic cover of The Who’s great song, “Eminence Front.” Somehow, I got it in my head that it’d be fun to try and mimic the guitar, synth and bass parts on acoustic guitar. Why? Because! So, scroll click the […]

Shower The People (Cover)

October 10, 2017.Reading time less than 1 minute.

As the last horrible week unfolded, amidst the mass shooting, hurricanes, and the usual daily Tweets, I had the overwhelming urge to play this song. Life is just so heavy right now, and we’re all in such need of hope. This song has always given me hope. You can’t help but feel a little better […]

Just As I Am (A Steve Fisher Cover)

June 21, 2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

I get haunted by songs. I pity those who don’t. I have no idea how they make it through the day. The songs that stay with me, the earworms every morning, these get me through life. Recently, I’ve been haunted by a song from my friend, Steve Fisher. One night when I was at Kerrville […]

“Moral Licensing” (You Need to Know About It)

August 3, 2016.Reading time 10 minutes.

“Why wasn’t there a whole new generation of Barack Obamas?” It’s a question Audie Cornish asked Gwen Ifill during an NPR interview last week. A year after President Obama’s first election in 2008, Ifill wrote a compelling book: “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.” The thesis of the book was that […]

Let It Be

April 14, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

I believe sometimes our loved ones visit us in dreams, after they are gone. This happened to me when I was about ten. Just after my grandfather Frankie died, I dreamed he drove down to Dallas in the 1965 Mustang that, in the waking world, would eventually become mine. He woke us up and gathered […]