I'm very sorry to say that I lived in Texas for twenty-five years before I got down to Kerrville - and I was a working musician for virtually all of that time.

Ferrera (up above) mentioned Allen Damron; he helped found the Kerrville Festival with Rod Kennedy, and he was a music friend of mine - which is to say that we didn't hang together but conversed often and saw each other when our schedules permitted. Allen died a few years back and Marie, his widow, called me several months after and insisted that I come to Kerrville that year to sing at a memorial concert for Allen. I assured her I would be there and on that day I found myself having casual conversations with the likes of Guy Clark, Eric Taylor and a slew of fine national touring performers too numerous to mention. I'm used to playing in loud pubs, not doing concerts, but there were several hundred folks out there who listened to every damned note I sang and played and I got thunderous applause afterward to boot - too cool.

I must say that I was the only act to sing two songs - one was a favorite of Allen's, "Mary Ellen Carter," and the other was a favorite of mine that Allen wrote, "Come To The Bower" - the best damned song ever written about the Texian revolution. Marie Damron called me a month or so later to say that some of the Kerrville officials had heard my performance and asked her who I was and where
I'd been and would I be interested in having a slot next year? Yeah,...well - I'm me and I've been around, but since I don't write my own songs I just told her I'd be in touch and let it go at that.

At any rate, it's a great festival with a slew of national and some world performers and a ton of campfires that feature song circles that go all night and include many of the touring acts if you happen to be at the same one they are visiting. You can camp out or stay in town; me, I've done both, but I'll take a clean sheet and a private shower every time. If you're into folk/americana music festivals it is a "must do." Give it a shot. Cheers.