Thankful for All Ya'll (Plural of Ya'll)

I write this long overdue note of thanksgiving as Yvonna prepares her famous fresh cranberry sauce and broccoli and rice casserole in our home made of stone and stucco, after working hard last night to prepare two separate deserts, one normal strawberry cake and one gluten free desert for me. We're all looking forward to a larger Thanksgiving holiday celebration this year at my mom's as we are all healthy and vaccinated. First of all, I'm thankful that I'm able to make a living doing what I love, making music. It's because of all ya'll. Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for all ya'll who attend our shows, locally, regionally, nationally or internationally. Some of you have even planned your vacations around one of our performances, like the family who came to visit last summer from Tennessee, or like the group from northern Italy who joined us at Hondo's on Main in Fredericksburg, TX. There are many locally and regionally who have standing reservations at our Trailblazer Grille shows in Burnet County, or who always arrive early for the regular Fredericksburg shows downtown or at the wineries nearby. I'm thankful for all ya'll who could not attend the shows in person during this insane pandemic, who attended virtually and supported our virtual PayPal and Venmo tip jars.

I'm thankful for the business owners, managers, and booking persons who repeatedly hire us to perform at your venues, wine gardens, biergartens, festivals, dance clubs, country clubs, restaurants, hotels, and more. In Europe I'm especially grateful for the work Irene Schmidt Music has done booking and coordinating our tours of Swizterland, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, etc. I'm thankful for those of you resourceful folks who've taken matters into your own hands and booked me, Luiz Coutinho de Souza, Kurt Baumer, William Morse, Mark Epstein, Kevin Hall, Stefano Bertolotti, et al., for your private events, welcome parties, and house concerts--especially those of you who've booked for your house concerts!

I'm thankful for the many who've bought my indie albums, ordered the thumb drives, ordered the merchandise, play me on Pandora or Spotify, and shared my YouTube videos and recordings online. I'm grateful for those of you have supported the Indiegogo fundraising album campaigns that enable me to pay the musicians who perform on the records, the engineers who mix and master them, and the entities who manufacture and distribute them. It's today's business model for independent artist like me and it works because of folks like you.

I'm thankful for the world class musicians and songwriters with whom I've been blessed to share the stage and the recording studio. In addition to Luiz, Kurt, B.B., Mark, Kevin and Stefano I want to thank Mike Blakely, John Greenberg, Chris Reeves, Max Baca, Josh Baca, Ernie Durawa, Chris Alcaraz, Will Owen Gage, Buddy Jewell, Andrew Wilson, Dennis Bottoms, Caleb Rojas, and the many who came before them like Raul Ramon, Rodney Smith, Doug Davis, Charlie Day, Panch Earhardt, David Zettner, Joel Guzman, Joe Guzman, Bucky Meadows, Gene Elders, Mike Siler, Kenny Grimes, Donnie Price, Debbie Walton, Scott Boland, Gary Craft, Lee Manley, Alex Salinas, Larry Nye, Jerry Harkins, Shane Lively, Larry Salinas, Mark Kalson, Gary Delz, Stephen J. Mendell, Marion Heflin, Duck Harris, Scott Lancaster, Herb Belofsky, Stephanie Urbina Jones, and Louie Long. and so many more!