The Honky Tonk Bird Has Landed (Fly Fish Chick)

My new book is now available! I am delighted to report that Honky Tonk Debutante has released. Finally.

It has been such a journey to bring this project to fruition. Months upon months of outlining, research, writing and editing. Photo permissions, cover design, printing, binding. I am proud, happy, exhausted, excited. You name it.

Honky Tonk Debutante: The history of honky-tonk music as I care to tell it is part music history and part memoir. I blend facts and research with folklore and personal anecdotes and I sincerely hope you enjoy the end result.

Care to buy a signed copy? Why, I would be happy to oblige! CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE and be sure to write detailed instructions about whether you want it customized to someone, just signed, or blank. You can include these details in the ‘message to seller’.

We will be adding more independent bookstores and retailers throughout the spring, but for now it is available at:

HonkyTonkDebutante.com (if purchased here, I can sign it for you!)
Amazon
Parnassus Books, Nashville TN
BookPeople, Austin TX

In fact, Little Chick was in BookPeople this weekend and snapped this shot of it gloriously posed on the main display near the front register!

It was a very busy, crazy, hilarious weekend here in Austin Texas. We celebrated the book’s release with friends and family all weekend long! Such a joy to finally be signing these bad boys…

The festivities peaked on Saturday at The Rattle Inn where Austin’s own honky-tonkers Mike and The Moonpies had everyone twirling on the dance floor and tapping their boots. They are soooo good, yall. I literally cannot say enough about this band.

Now that the hub-bub of the weekend has quieted down and the book is out in the world for public consumption, I am feeling somewhat reflective on the long process that led to this point. It all started with a passion for honky-tonk, but I learned so much more about music, and myself, along the way. For example…

> I was reminded that there is always good new music coming out. One should never rest on their laurels bellyaching about a bygone era. It’s hard sometimes, because nostalgia is powerful. And mass produced pop tripe can be suffocating. But I will strive to be a seeker. Itunes, Spotify…the tools are easier than ever to follow rabbit trails and try on something new.

> I think what I really love about honky-tonk are its raw, open honest lyrics. The messages are emotional and exposed, they pull no punches. Similarly the vocals are strong and powerful. They project.

> Collectively it’s a genre of music that represents the underdog. And I love this. It’s a very democratic music genre, it’s for the people. The broken, wayward, off-course. It’s without judgment but never far from hope and a second chance.

> The Outlaw musicians of the ‘70s weren’t just badass, cool, and talented. They were visionaries. The more I learned about their campaign for creative freedom the more it spoke to me on a very personal level. They bucked the machine, kicked the middle man in the teeth, and took their music directly to the people. Right freakin’ on.

> Finally, I learned that God has a great sense of humor. In writing the book I was inspired to weave a spiritual message about forgiveness into Chapter 19 which is titled ‘Remember Me’. I have no idea if it will be well-received or even considered well-written. But it remains one of my favorite sections of the manuscript. There’s just one hitch. In writing this chapter I have inadvertently created a check-and-balance for my own life. Lately when I have found myself feeling pitiful or wronged or maybe holding on to a slight old grievance, I remember Chapter 19 and its theme of forgiveness. And in a hard-driving effort not to be a complete hypocrite, I once again have to work to forgive….whatever it is that’s popped up and is eating at me. So it has become a constructive lesson and hilarious joke within our family…how I accidentally wrote my own personal Moral Taser. It’s like I created a spiritual electric fence for myself.

So these are just a few of the things on my mind as I loosen the grip and release this personal project of passion out into the ether. And we’re all excited over here, I can tell you. We’re feeling light, we’re popping corks, and we’re kicking up our heels.

The heels of our cowboy boots, that is.