Rosie & I had investigated Tommy back in November of 2007 when we visited Nashville. We went to the place where he was going to play for his birthday celebration and vastly underrated his popularity. Place was beyond packed and zero parking places to boot. So when Kenny booked him, we were ready for him this time. Man what a gig this was. He busts out with a tune he wrote on Todd Snider’s tour bus called “Nice Day” from his latest CD “There I Said It” and I was hooked. Followed that up with “A Cockroach after the Bomb” and a ballsy for Texas tune called “I Miss Ronald Reagan”. TW stated that it took guts to do that one 3 songs in and I loved him for it.

Kenny had told the crowd (58 strong!) before Tommy took the stage to be aware that when he says something funny, to wait to laugh because what follows will be better! Once I started hearing his lyrics I got what he was trying to say. “Florescent Light Blues” HIT home with this reviewer big time. My “real job” is in a corporate environment similar to what he was railing against in the tune. On the CD version it comes across as a bad ass roadhouse type of rip roaring blaster. Mr. Womack was able to speak his mind both in his lyrics and inbetween songs. Made me feel like real life wasn’t just “my” problem, but shared by everyone in our stress filled society.

Lyrics like “I’m going nowhere, but at least I know where I’m going” were priceless. A minor glich of a parking problem marred Tommy’s first set and the timing for a break was perfect. Just watching Kenny handle the problem with class was cool. At the break I found one of the CD’s he had for sale was a live album he’d done with Will Kimbrough called “Daddy at the Woman’s Club”. Anybody that knows me knows I DIG Will very much. It lead me to talk with Tommy about how Will had been given top billing at last April’s Stingaree Fest and the anchor spot at the all star jam that ended the 3 day festival. Tommy is definitely hangin’ with some killer folks in Nashville.

The second set just tore the place up for Kenny’s B-Day Bash!  His cover tunes of a blistering hot Stones’ classic “Get off my Cloud”, “Wind Cries Mary” and a really cool “I A Woman” were wonderful. It is really hard to describe his stuff, but after listening to his CD’s all day Sunday I got nothing but good vibes from it. Psychadelic, bluesey, folk rock at times and then James McMurtry on others. TW said one of his big claims in life was seeing AC/DC live with Bon Scott. Classic. To say he was all over the place is putting it mildly. “I’d be having nightmares if only I could sleep” came off his song “Nightmares”. Heartfelt lines like “Give her your heart, not your fist”, “Chick with gonads”, “Yahoo Chat religion” & ” A computer virus will kill life all together” were beyond classic, too.

Tommy said that KP said he could say what he wanted, but he cleaned up his language for the “tikes” in the audience. Class act. Tommy says himself that he’s crazy, but what is crazy for most folks must be what normal feels like for me. Gotta love him. Also Tommy was headed the next day to my friend Leeann Atherton’s “Barn Dance” in Austin. She has been the driving force behind a series similar to Kenny’s but on a larger scale. Because of the talent pool in A-Town, they are usually thrown together in a week to 10 days. What a double dip he was attending!  What more could I find to like about this performer?!  One gig in and I feel like I’ve known him for years. Very cool.

In closing, I’d like just to say what I’ve been saying for a year now. Come on out to this gig folks. Whether it be for Wes’s gumbo or Chef Daniel’s killer “soupa”, come on out. For the fun folks who make you feel at ease, come on out. Where can you BYOB and $20 and see this type of quality CARE about the music environment? Not many places kids. This evening was all worth it to see the look on KP’s face when his brother debuted the Almost Austin t-shirts that all of us regulars got together to present to this killer dude. Ditto for the pins that Houston Music Review provided, too!  When you can, get off your duff and grab a slice of life Pasadena style presented by Kenny Pipes…you’ll be glad ya did!  Until next time I’m out…