Story, pix, and video (as amateurish as it is — I’m learning) by Mary Jane Farmer
Robby White and Zane Williams
PLANO — It’s a small bar and grill, but deep in the energy of old downtown Plano. The Last Chance Saloon on Avenue K hosts live music several nights a week, and among those is the home of Robby White’s “Tales from the Honky Tonk,” a Tuesday night series of singers/songwriters who not only swap songs, but swap stories about how those songs came into being.
Tuesday night (1/11/11) had Zane Williams on stage as Robby’s guest. Zane, if you will recall, as had a recent financial/ hit success in one of his songs, “Hurry Home,” which climbed the Billboard Country Music chart to No. 14 before the ‘powers that be in control of the song’ pulled it out of circulation. Now, Zane has one being considered by another Nashville songwriter, David Nail, an up-and-comer with one Grammy nomination already under his belt.
Zane “99 Bottles of Beeer” Williams
A bonus Tuesday night was the reception for a Van Alstyne man, Michael Dail, who just returned from military service in Afghanistan. Tony, Last Chance’ owner, learned that this hero was in the audience and called him onto the stage for everyone to meet. The goose-bump moment escalated when Robby explained the difficult and life-threatening job Dail had while he was in the Middle East. Dial is a 2002 graduate of Van Alstyne High School.
Michael Dail, Tony and Robby
But, I digress. Zane joined Robby in a 3-hour set of original, acoustic music, and it included one new song he’s putting on his next CD, due out soon, but not yet known how soon.Zane is an open book. Telling about how his songs were inspired or began or continued to become alive is something he does with every performance.
Robby kept the pace up remarkably, telling about why he and Tom McElvain wrote “Packing Heat Like Billy Joe” and other songs, or why “Chicken Tree Road” is called that.
This concept is, while not unique, unusual and brings its listeners into an understanding about the art of songwriting.
John Merriman and Tracy Hinman
One way to meet nice people at such friendly venues is to ask to join a table of complete strangers. The two I met Tuesday night turned out to have been from a town, Tom Bean, not 10 miles from my own. John Merriman and Tracy Hinman said they met again years after having graduated from Tom Bean High School and are now engaged to be married.
Next week, Robby hosts Morris McCann, country music artist keeping Texas country with his silver throat that makes it easy to listen to him or his CD over and over again.
Oh, yeah, let me also say that the New York-style hot dog I had there, loaded with sauerkraut and mustard, would have been worth the trip alone. Tony is a New York person, one of those who got to Texas as soon as he could, and bases his menu on what he learned and loved in the Big Apple.
Keep it up Robby, and Tony with Last Chance Saloon. Your audiences appreciate you both.