OK,
I first moved to Austin in 1975. I rolled into town late at night and saw some lights, pulled into the parking lot and went inside.
It was a little joint called Willie's Pool Hall. The only people in there were this older couple who turned out to be Willie's Mom and Pop.
We hit it off that night and they gave me a job working in the place. We became great friends. I was driving Willie's pickup truck all over town running errands.
I played music in that place with a lot of friends of the family that would drop in. Jimmy Day, Jessy Ashlock, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark and Pop (Ira) Nelson would play bass.
Willie would swing by when he was in town. One cold night it was he and I warming our hands over a burn barrel in the beer garden outside passing a joint back and forth.
I had a band in Austin with by best friend Bill Carter called "The Blame" and some of Willie's band would sit in with us at times; Bea Spears, Jodie Payne and Mickey Raphael.
Al Kooper was part of "The Blame" for a while playing rhythm guitar and Joe Ely used to do some shows with us as well.
We shared stages with Waylon, Willie, David Allen Coe, George Jones, Gatemouth Brown, Willie Nile, Humble Pie, Elvin Bishop and others.
Bill Carter wrote some hit tunes, notably "Crossfire" and "Willie The Wimp" for Stevie Vaughan, "Why Get Up" for the Fab T Birds and many more recorded by a long list of well known artists..
So I met a lot of people during that time, and a lot more during my 30 something years on the road.
I could write a book.
Bill still lives in Austin. He plays Antone's every wednesday night and you can look him up on line. I back him up when he tours the Northwest.
S Mac
Last edited: Feb 11, 2019