ROAD TRIP Goin’ Home with the Armadillo
Recording and Drinking Lone Star in Austin, Texas by Michael Buffalo Smith Austin, Texas singer-songwriter Billy
Eli and I have become good friends, playing some shows together and co-hosting the Buff & Billy Radio Show on the KUDZOO Radio Network for quite a while now. A few months ago, we were talking about the fact that I need a new product, a new CD, since my most recent album came out way back in 2005. Billy kindly offered to act as my pro- ducer and the wheels were set in motion for a trip to Austin. I knew that I wanted my fa- vorite bass player on the record, so I asked Joey Parrish (Silver Travis Band) to fly out with me. The flight from Greenville-Spartan-
burg to Austin was uneventful. (My favorite kind of flight.) There was a two-hour layover in Atlanta, but we still hit Austin by late morning. When we arrived, we were picked up
by the unexplainable Billy Eli, and we headed to Buddy’s Bar, a really cool little watering hole. Before going in, Joey and I walked across the street to grab lunch at Waterloo Icehouse, where Joey got a catfish taco and I got the steak taco. Good food. It was a good base for the beer we were about to drink. After shoving some groceries down our
necks, we crossed back over the four-lane highway on foot to head into Buddy’s, where we met Billy and a couple of his friends, Allen Nelson and his brother John. It was also our first meeting with Pamela Parker, Billy’s wife. It was really cool meeting her in person after having known her “online” for a
Joey meets Stevie Ray. (Buffalo Photo)
couple of years. After a couple of Lone Star beers, we were off to the studio. Green Garage Studio is a very comfort-
able recording studio, located, of course, in Jim Hemphill’s garage. There’s a sofa and chairs. Bookshelves. Everything exists in the same space with the amps and drum kit. No isolation, just open. It reminded me of Johnny Sandlin’s Duct Tape Studio down in Decatur, Alabama. Johnny works the same way, and the records he produces sound like they were recorded at Electric Lady in New York. Top of the line.
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