Who Says Houston Ain't A Live Music Town?!

When I was growing up, country singer John Conlee was wildly popular.

And 10-15 years later, he's hardly known. I don't even know if he's big enough these days to play Branson with the other forgotten old folks of country.

Still, he IS out and about playing shows. Every few months, he does a Houston show -- often at the Firehouse -- and I always plan to go, but something always prevents me. It's become a bit of a running joke: "John Conlee's playing on X date; I wonder what will go wrong."

Well, he's playing the Firehouse tonight. And true to form, something has gone wrong. Callie's still fighting bronchitis -- not good for an asthmatic -- so we'll be missing Big John yet again. One of these days I'll get to hear John not quite be able to hit those high notes, and I will feel fulfilled (on a related note, I saw the remainder of southern rock band Molly Hatchet a few years ago in Houston -- and let's just say, they can't quite hit all the notes in their hit "Flirtin' With Disaster").

It's a good music night in Houston in general. Slobberbone at the Continental Club, Billy Joe Shaver at Dan Electro's, Bleu Edmondson at Sidecar (weird pairing!), Jimmie Dale Gilmore at the Mucky Duck, and Moses Guest at Lost Concert Cafe.

Wow. You peeps who can better get out and see some shows!

[Posted at 13:17 CST on 02/15/03] [Link]