I don't really care for gimmicky marketing "holidays" that exist only to promote retail shopping, such as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Valentine's Day (just kidding about the last one -- sort of).
Cyber Monday, however, presents a good opportunity for me to make some download recommendations without either of us risking being shoved, punched, tazed, or trampled.
Read MoreIt’s been said that when God closes a door, he opens a window. I've often been confused by this saying, as a window is much smaller than a door, providing significantly less room in which to maneuver and decidedly less practical functionality when compared to its larger edificial counterpart. However, in this particular instance, I believe the saying is both adequate and appropriate:
The door (Florida) has closed, but a window (North Texas) has opened.
Read MoreThe final track on the Blanco County Lights album is a piano ballad called "Greenville Avenue".
It's a very personal and raw song -- and it's honest in a way that if I spend much more time thinking about it, the vulnerability will start to make me uncomfortable and I'll start wondering if maybe I share too much.
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I remember hearing a New Orleans marching band on an NPR podcast last year and though it was a brief segment, it left me feeling so much joy. Like, seven in the morning, driving down to paint a house, and I was thinking, LIFE IS JUST FINE GUYS. And so I drove on, just a-smiling in my truck all by myself -- like some kind of happy weirdo, briefly unaware of all the misery in the world -- and I thought to myself that I wanted to write a song that made me people feel good.
Read MoreThe ninth track on Blanco County Lights is called "Free Will". The song itself is an amalgamation of many stories -- stories that are mine, and stories that belong to others.
Read MoreThe eighth track on the Blanco County Lights album is a dirty rockin' number called "84 Boxes". This is the most groove-driven song I've ever recorded. I play the E-chord without the third, just the ones and fives -- a trick I learned from one of my favorite songwriters.
Read MoreTrack seven of Blanco County Lights is a country number called "Still the One".
It's an uptempo toe-tapper that's got a lot of space for instrumentalists, which made it a bit of a party song. It's not the "heaviest" song on the record, but it's one of fond memories. Its goal is to evoke a smile. Or a memory. Or hopefully -- if you did it right -- both.
Read MoreThe album's sixth track is called "Theodora".
The song tells a story about a Mississippi girl and a Georgia boy who find one another in Houston and spend a lifetime making memories. In a way, it's the story of my life.
Read MoreThe fifth song on the Blanco County Lights record is the title track, "Blanco County Lights."
The song itself is about transition, change, and learning to forgive one's self -- recurring themes found throughout the record and the reason I decided to make it the album's title track.
Read MoreThe fourth track on Blanco County Lights is a song called "Time I Walk Away."
The song tells a story of a person in constant search of fulfillment and purpose, always believing it is to be found somewhere else. Maybe the next town, the next place holds the elusive contentment and satisfaction they crave.
The reality is, such peace is generally irrespective of physical location and is usually something that must be settled from within.
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