One thing he learned at TCC was how to play guitar. A classmate named Kyree let him borrow hers one day, taught him a few chords, nothing fancy. He’d been secretly writing songs for a while by then, and the songs were nothing fancy either. Nothing vulgar, nothing sexual, nothing
worldly. At eighteen, the young man had given his life to Christ. Joined a Reformed church of his own choosing. He liked that the church’s music featured some piano, some percussion, a guitar, but “nothing crazy.” Liked that the songs were mostly hymns, instead of big productions. And he really liked Jesus. Took the Gospel seriously. So seriously that he threw away his favorite records when he got saved. Threw away Usher’s
Claire Hinkle Gets It Done
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Black Pumas, Leon Bridges, Mavericks and Sarah Jaffe Unite to Help Nonprofits
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Fort Worth Weekly
By JUAN R. GOVEA
Photo courtesy of Conor Dardis.
A stellar lineup of singer-songwriters piled onto Tulips’ stage Saturday night in celebration of one of their own. Levi Ray had just released his second recording, the EP
When the Sad Songs Make You Happy, and Quaker City Night Hawks’ Sam Anderson and Summer Dean warmed up the crowd before Ray and his backing trio father Gerald Ray on guitar, Charles Kleuser on bass, and Jeffry Simms (The Matthew Show) on drums took the stage. The sound was pristine, and the tunes even sharper.
“The band played great on Saturday, by the way,” Ray said. “I’m super-lucky.”
Making
Paul Cauthen. Ironically enough, it’s also the very thing that saved him.
“Finishing this record was one of the craziest experiences I’ve ever been a part of,” reflects Cauthen, the larger-than-life Texas troubadour nicknamed Big Velvet for his impossibly smooth, baritone voice. “I’m honestly glad it’s done because I don’t thinkI’d survive if I had to do it all over again. No way.”
Written during a roughly two-year stint spent living out of a suitcase in Dallas’ Belmont Hotel, Room 41 chronicles Cauthen’s white-knuckle journey to the brink and back, a harrowing experience that landed him in and out of the hospital as he careened between ecstasy and misery more times than he could count. Cauthen has long been a pusher of boundaries (musical and otherwise), and Room 41 is no exception, with electrifying performances that blend old-school country and gritty soul with 70’s funk and stirring gospel. His lyrics take on biblical proportions as they t