I remember Austin from what my dad used to refer to the old days. And boy oh boy are the old days here for me. However, “never slow down, never grow old” is how I try to roll.
My song writing has never been mechanical. What I am saying is that I require something that jump starts my emotions, and it comes from any direction. It can start from something I heard someone say. It can start from something someone did or even something that I saw with my eyes providing my glasses were being worn and you know what “they” say, your vision is the first thing to go.
A lot of water has flowed under my bridge since I started playing music. I started in a small
town in West Texas and headed to Denton. Then to Houston and then of all places, Midland,
TX. I made my way to Lubbock the day the big funnel cloud destroyed a large section of the city
and I stayed there until nineteen ninety-six. But Austin was always on the radar and seemed to
tug at me throughout my musical journey.
Everyone seemed to have left Lubbock by 1980. I too had the opportunity to move to Austin
and was asked many times. I remember quiet well the Lubbock departure for Austin by Jessie
Taylor, The Hancock Family, and of course Joe, Butch, and Jimmy along with many others. I also
kindly declined the invitation from Jackson and David Lindley to make the move to Los Angeles.
But for me Lubbock was just fine. After all we were working all over the country and it seemed
as though our permanent residence was really a no-tell hotel with five band members and a
crew crammed into two and sometimes only one room. So, what difference did it make where
we lived; ATX, LAX, or LBB.
I have been fortunate to have had many wonderful musicians in my past bands. My current
outfit is called THE FRIENDS. I named it The Friends because they are my friends. One from my
childhood and the others of whom I met along the way. I will have two of them with me in
Austin, David Terry and Mike Carraway.
We have been looking forward to October 14 ever since my agent, Deborah Lerner booked it.
-- Jay Boy Adams
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