The Gobblers Knob

This past weekend provided a chance to appreciate how beautiful Texas really is.  As I made my way through small-town Texas, I listened to some great Small-town radio.   A station in Hico provided some light, drive-time listening fun with that weeks obituaries (at least I hope it was a weeks worth, if not, do not go to Hico, people are droppin’ like flies).  The weather held up and we were able to enjoy more of the Hill Country night at Hondo’s on Main in Fredericksburg.  Gary Jones and his smokin’ fiddle player (literally, he lit up every other song) worked their way through originals out on the patio, under the gazebo covered stage.  The band sounded good, at least they did between the crunches that came from the Hondo’s Chili covered tortilla chips that acted as an excuse to ignore the 4 ladies that I was with (before you congratulate me for being out and about with 4 ladies, one was my sister in-law, 2 were cousins, and the other is pregnant… but by me, that one’s the wife) .  We then moved ontoThe Auslander,  a German Biergarten, that hosts music nightly from up and comers, as well as current stars on the Texas scene (Sunny Sweeney and the Gougers are playing there soon).  The night that we went, Philip Gibbs and his friend, Stayton Bonner were playing an acoustic set.  We sat down in time to hear their version of “Angels flying Too Close to the Ground”, which would be the closest I got to hearing music at a certain place.  Mr Gibbs continued the set as he and Bonner conducted a song swap.  Each of them displayed a good mix of folksy country as Bonner begged in “I want a beer sponsorship” (one of the better songs that Hayes Carll didn’t write or sing himself) and Gibbs displayed his story telling ability with his original, “Petroleoleum Age”.  After a couple of Blanco’s finest, it was time to pack it in for the night, prepare for the next day, and look forward to my trip to Luckenbach. What? You didn’t think I went? I did, and I have the T-shirt to prove it!