Singing Dinner

Tonight JR and I got taken to dinner by the Fergusons, our bosses. We went to the Frio Restaurant in Leakey (pronounced Lakey), just up the road 15 miles. Some friends of theirs played live music during the evening. Russell Clepper (very tall, very skinny, long hair, one wandering eye, lots of teeth), former English teacher who threw it up to become a singer / songwriter; his daughter Emilie (tall, thin, lots of teeth), from Quebec, also a singer/songwriter. There was another guy (short, chunky, hairy) whose name I didn't catch who played acoustic bass and sang in a sort of high, pinched-frog voice, and another woman (Amy -- fat, lovely face, maybe hispanic) who sang harmony -- a beautiful voice. Turns out she trained to be an opera singer but gave it up for country singing. Betty and Don Ferguson really like their music. Everybody sang along when they knew the song. I thought it was all nice, but we got there at 6pm and didn't leave until 10pm, so it was an hour too long for me. One old song they did was "Long Black Veil" -- a nice rendition. I complimented Russell on that song specially and said he should do more like it, and top it off with "Wolverton Mountain" just for fun.

Food was good. I had potato-wrapped shrimp appetizer with a mango/ginger dipping sauce, a salad w/raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and a roast beef sandwich. Merlot was the drink. JR was pleased to find real country-fried steak on the menu -- he ate everything but the green beans & roasted red peppers (which I ate). Veges are an afterthought or omission frequently in this area. I mean, I don't consider onion rings a vegetable.

All in all, a pleasant evening. Tomorrow, I paint.