Eric  Ramsey

And the headlong rush into the Dec. 26th sales continues. 

Here's a song that pretty accurately conveys my feelings of what our holiday "season" has become:

JACKSON BROWNE - THE REBEL JESUS

There are any number of songs I wish I had written. This one makes the short list.

We here at the House Of Strays wish you a pleasant, peaceful week. Please think of those who, by dint of birth, socio-economic status, geographic location or personal beliefs will not have that luxury. 

Please be kind to one another -…

Ah, the post-Thanks Giving downhill side into the Holidays. We love it so, don't we? I mean, we love Black Friday and Cyber Monday and Twofer Tuesday and Threefer Thursday and the carnage of the feast is scarcely done and we rush headlong into our quest for the perfect gift, the perfect tree, the perfect outfit, the perfect latte. 

This quest for perfection seems oddly placed, juxtaposed as it is with the culture of overindulgence America's Holiday Season demands. Drink more! Eat more! Work out harder…

My friend ADRIAN BAMBROUGH is a singer songwriter who lives on a small island off the coast of Morocco. Now, exactly how a Brit ended up on a Spanish administered Canary Island off the coast of Morocco is best explained by Adrian himself, and you can find out more about him HERE. I suggest you do.

We here at the House Of Strays wish you a pleasant week. For those who observe we also wish a Happy Thanksgiving (with appropriate apologies to my Native friends for what their ancestors' largesse started.)

…

I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with ANDREW ADKINS this past summer in Charleston, WV while on my Summer Soul-Stice Tour. Along from writing, recording and performing his original material all over the country and the world, Andrew is also a luthier of renown, and does much to support and promote music in his Fayetteville, WV area. He's the real deal, friends. He can often be found in the company of multi-instrumentalist CLINT LEWIS. 

Find out more about Andrew and his music HERE

We here at the…

Every once in a while I'll come across a song and think to myself "Why isn't THIS on the radio, or on some million-selling record somewhere?" This is precisely what happened when I first heard my friend MIKE RYAN's music. 

Mike lives in in a Virginia suburb of Washington, DC, and has won accolades and songwriting contests all over the country and abroad. He writes wonderful story-based songs that beg you to immerse yourself in their narrative. Click the link to read (and hear) all about him.

Find out more…

We all, as songwriters, write from truth. For some, truth is butterflies and sugar mountains, for others it's shared needles and broken vials and alleyways. I write from my truth, which is different than yours, which is different than hers.

Meet my friend RAY PRIM, a Texas-based singer songwriter. 

He writes from his truth, of course, and his truth is not yours or mine. When he speaks for those who have no voice, we need to listen.

You need to hear his music and his truth. 

Find out more HERE 

We here…

There are countless artists out here in the world pursuing their passion and their craft. I am but one. In this series I'd like to introduce you to a few of my friends and colleagues that I feel deserve wider recognition and appreciation. 

Most of them I have met through my participation in the DRIPPING SPRINGS SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL for the past four years. Click the link for more info about that, but suffice to say there is no other festival in the country quite like it. 

So here is CHRIS TAYLOR for your…

Yep. Sometimes the days just get away. Actually, I was on the road yesterday. I left Texas (Austin, generally, Dripping Springs, actually) at about 4am local time and drove 14 hours to get home. This is what you do when you miss your family, I guess. 

I was in Texas for the 2019 Dripping Springs Songwriters Festival (click for more info). It was an incredible weekend of showcase concerts featuring songwriters from across the country and around the world: represented were Spain, Netherlands, Belgium…

Indeed.

How nice to bestow an honorary "day" upon a people. It's the least that could be offered, I suppose, to the original Americans. You remember them? It was they who were systematically removed from their country to make room for the Anglo-Saxon locust invasion. It was they who, when refusing to leave their Country, were slaughtered in their villages. And those who chose to "relocate" to the internment camps of their new "reservations" were gifted blankets infected with smallpox and suffered…

Last week I was asked by a friend of mine Jamal - a Hip Hop artist - to join him in the studio. What? Now, what in the WORLD could a Neo-folky-americana-ish-blues-infused-acoustic-string-twanger possibly do there?

Turns out, quite a bit.

We spent a few hours creating loops for him to use. I laid down a couple of lap steel grooves that he then cut and looped to create a sonic bed over which he'll add his lyrics and beats. I did several banjo tracks that he layered and looped. I added bass to some. It was…