Reading Country Music's Greatest Lines

 I can't seem to stop promoting our book. Truth be told, I like reading it myself, because Bobby Braddock does such a good job telling inside stories about the songs and songwriters. Also, I have to realize that we are competing with newly published books by Dolly Parton, Bob Woodward, Mary Trump, and some of the great historians of our time. If your brain gets tired from all that reading, maybe you need a book just for entertainment, with lots and lots of illustrations.

Carmen

Country Music's Greatest Lines

In further shameless self-promotion, this is the back cover of Country Music's Greatest Lines: Lyrics, Stories & Sketches from American Classics, which I illustrated in collaboration with the author, Bobby Braddock. The blurb endorsing the book is by the awesome author, Malcolm Gladwell.

Carmen

Nighttime at the Loveless Cafe, 8x6 Oil on Canvas Board

I feel very good about finally getting something out of the evening I spent at the Loveless Cafe, trying to get a table. It just wasn't going to happen, as we realized when a busload of people was unloaded and paraded in before us. We gave up for the night and had breakfast there the next morning. We can't leave Nashville without our Loveless Cafe ritual. The place has been there since the 50s, and is attached to a funky old motel that now has shops in its rooms. The Loveless is known for its biscuits and jams. Yum.

PURCHASE

Guitar Wine Holder

This is an original design, and is my husband's handiwork. When his broken foot healed, he got up and started creating art from wood. Today he opened an Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/beecherwood, and he is working hard to build his inventory. The ideas are bubbling up...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/89829012/guitar-wine-holder

Nashville Cats, 8x6

After the Pieces of 8 art retreat in the Smokies, my husband picked me up and we drove across Tennessee to Nashville, where we visited with my granddaughter who is attending Vanderbilt, my niece and her family, and my songwriter friend Bobby Braddock and his family. Bobby wrote the country hits "He Stopped Loving Her Today, Time Marches On, and more recently, "People Are Crazy," as well as many others.

On the way to Nashville we stopped to see friends who told this story: their daughter was teaching a Sunday School class of little tots and she asked if anyone wanted to lead the prayer. A little boy volunteered. He bowed his head and reverently prayed: "God is great, beer is good, people are crazy."

I enjoyed sharing that with the writer of the song. 

This painting is of Broadway in Nashville, with historic Tootsie's Orchid Lounge prominently featured. You have to love a city where guys walk around with guitars and music is everywhere. This one didn't qualify as a "daily painting," it was too complicated and took two days to complete.

PURCHASE