New Year’s Day & Not Movin’ an Inch

Pancho’s Picks

Yeah… stayin’ feels like the right call. Sometimes the best way to start a year is not movin’ an inch.

I was listenin’ to New Year’s Day by Charlie Robison, and it hit me square in the chest—not loud, not dramatic, just true. One of those songs that doesn’t ask for your attention, it earns it by sittin’ still and tellin’ the truth.

I used to be that guy.

Always movin’.

Always chasin’.

Always convinced the next thing was gonna be the thing.

The next job.

The next town.

The next version of myself.

I lived a whole lotta life in if only.

If only I had the right woman.

If only I had the right car.

If only I had the right job.

I was restless, even when things were good. Especially when things were good. I thought happiness was always just one more change down the road, one more mile marker away.

Turns out, I was runnin’ from myself more than I was runnin’ toward anything.

Today feels different. I’m not waitin’ on the calendar to fix me. I’m not askin’ the year to be better than the last one. I’m not makin’ promises I don’t need.

I’m content within myself—and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write. I’ve got a life that fits me now. A family I’m grateful for. Work that keeps me honest. Friends who know my worst stories and stick around anyway.

And a quiet kind of peace that doesn’t need to be posted, proven, or defended.

That’s not settlin’. That’s arrivin’.

So this New Year’s Day, I’m takin’ Charlie’s advice—even if he didn’t mean it as advice at all. I’m stayin’ put. I’m breathin’. I’m lettin’ the year come to me instead of tryin’ to outrun it.

Here’s to fewer if onlys and more right nows. Here’s to not movin’ an inch and finally feelin’ like you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.

— Pancho’s Picks

Riding for the real ones, dodging the rhinestone pretenders.

Everything’s gonna be alright, guy. – A Texan’s Tribute to Todd Snider.

Scoot your chair in close, friend. Fire’s burnin’ steady, wind’s laid down, and the stars are listening.

We lost another highway poet this week. But I swear… if you take any Texas road at midnight, windows cracked, radio low, and Todd Snider comes drifting through the speakers, you’ll hear him lean in like an old friend and whisper:

“Everything’s gonna be alright, guy.”

And maybe — just maybe — it will. See, Todd wasn’t a Texas boy by birth, but this state carved itself into him all the same. Back before he was Todd Snider — the legend, the mischief-maker, the troubadour — he was just another kid trying to figure out his place in the world.

Then he wandered into San Marcos one night, caught Jerry Jeff Walker grinning through a song, and it hit him like a barstool to the soul. That Hill Country sound… that Cheatham Street magic…that mix of humor, heartbreak, and “hell, let’s play another one”… That’s where Todd found his direction.

Didn’t take long before he started giving back more than he took.

🔥 “Beer Run” — The Gospel According to Bad Decisions

Now let me tell you something —“ Beer Run” ain’t just a song. It’s a memory we all share, whether it happened in Lubbock, San Marcos, Amarillo, or some dusty county road between Pecos and nowhere.

It’s that feeling of being sunburned, river-wet, broke as hell, and somehow still convinced that one more beer run might just fix everything wrong with the world.

Todd bottled that moment. He turned it into a hymn. A Texas prayer said in four words and a grin:

B double-E double-R U-N.

That’s friendship, Texas-style. That’s Todd Snider magic.

🔥 And then there’s “Barbie Doll.”

Brother… that one’s carved into the floorboards of every honky-tonk from Luckenbach to Lubbock. Charlie Robison had the swagger. Todd had the sideways humor. Put ’em together and you get a song that feels like a Friday night

— boots stompin’, heads turnin’, hearts breakin’, and a fight that might start, but probably won’t, because everybody’s too busy singing along. That tune is a Texas treasure.

And Todd was right there, grinning while the ink dried.

Todd didn’t shout his influence. He whispered it.

And the right ears heard:

Jack Ingram

Picked up that loose-shouldered truth-telling Todd carried like a second guitar.

Robert Earl Keen

Found a brother who knew how to hide wisdom inside a joke.

Charlie Robison

Well… you heard what those two could cook up together.

These weren’t just peers. They were brothers of the road. And Todd sharpened their edges the way only a true songwriter can.

So here we sit tonight — watching the flames twist and spark, thinking about a man who made us laugh at our own bruises and believe our own brokenness was worth singing about.

Todd Snider may have left the stage, but he didn’t leave the room.

Not in Texas.

Not in the Hill Country haunts that raised him.

Not in the midnight highways he made feel less lonely.

Not in the songs — “Beer Run,” “Barbie Doll,” and a hundred others —that still walk around like old friends.

And if you’re real quiet for a second… just listen to that wind slip between the mesquite.

You’ll hear it:

“Everything’s gonna be alright, guy.”

And maybe — just maybe — it will.

Ghost

I was up this morning before the West Texas sun rose into the eastern sky, before it dried out the dew and wilted the cactus flowers. The spirit of the day was to catch a Ghost.

Ghost is a compilation of Love and heartbreak, pain and glory.

Ghost – Rich O’Tooles 8th studio album. Some say it might be his best work yet. The album features previously released singles , Love on a Sunday, Texas is My Home , and Wildflower Lane.

Rich who credits Texas Greats like Robert Earl Keen and George Strait as his primary influences in the Texas Music Scene, posted on social media that his favorite take away from the album was his rendition of the Charlie Robison penned, John O’Reilly.

As of Midnight 6/21 O’Tooles new music is streaming every where. The album is also available on vinyl but is in limited supply so grab one while you still have time.

Pancho.

Barn Burner

What a barn burner it was. My Friday night in Lubbock to see live music. Tonight I found myself down on the front row of the Cactus Theatre, Summer Dean opened the show with her brand of Honky Tonkin that keeps me coming back.

If you’ve never heard her music you are missing out This Texas gal can write, and pick and belt it out. She has played her music as far away as Australia but she never forgets that Texas is her home.

Next up was Bruce Robison. Bruce has been one of my mainstay favorite songwriters for as long as I can remember, I mean before the Dixie Chicks became Just the Chicks, Robisons songs were becoming popular.. not only has the Chicks recorded his tunes, but the likes of George Strait recorded him, so did Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Hearing Bruce sing the songs the way they were written was a bucket list event for me. I think I sang along to nearly everything he played.. He did throw a few new ones our way that are just as perfect and well calculated as his biggest hits. I smiled , I cried. Bruce’s brother Charlie Robison passed late last year, it totally got emotional this evening when Bruce Robison played one of brother Charlie’s songs- Sunset Boulevard.

Bruce Robison called Summer Dean back to the stage for a cover of the kristofferson penned, ‘Help me make it through the night.’

Bruce Robison with Summer Dean at the Cactus Theatre in Lubbock

After Summer sang her song with Bruce he called up John Fullbright who pecked out the piano as good as anyone else I have ever heard.

After a short intermission John Fullbright and his band played for well over an hour.. I fell in love with his musical styles and his ability. The Lyrics were truly inspired by the band of God. This little band from Tulsa was well received by the caprock crowd.

Lee and Fullbright

Steven Lee Fulbright’s guitarist was an amazing addition.. this guy really knew how to bend the strings and his talent completely complemented Fullbright in each and every way.

I couldn’t ask for a better way to kick off the weekend in the 806.

A real barn burner.

Pancho.

GOAT

When I talk about Goats I’m talking about the Greatest of All Time. Those singer/ songwriters who everyone knows and loves. The ones who everyone one else is listening to and trying to be like.. A Goat is always an inspiration to others.

Charlie Robison is in this category in that ever growing list of Goats I carry in my mind he lives at the top. I cannot describe in words the impact it had when I learned of his untimely death yesterday.

Charlie’s songs are and always will be in the playlist of my life …. His way with words and his ability to tell a story through his song..

I don’t recall when I began listening to Charlie Robison. Sometime in the mid 90’s, when Texas Country music was in its infancy. There was bands like Cross Canadian Ragweed, Mickey and The Motorcars , Jason Boland and of Course Charlie.

My heart goes out to his brother Bruce, also a GOAT as well as all the men and women whom were inspired by his musical talents.

Rest in Peace Charlie. Your music will live forever.

Pancho.

Think I’ll Stay it’s New Years Day

Well, I woke up early Sunday mornin’
Had myself a piece of toast
Had 50 dollars in my pocket
Gonna chase myself a ghost…
Charlie Robison

In 2004 Robison released his song, New Year’s Day, on his Good Times album. The Iconic song about a guy who finds himself making the best of a bad situation and ringing in the New Year in the best way he knew how.. The setting of the song, “boys town” in some border town in West Texas.

There was a time in my own life that this was how I would spend my holiday. In another iconic song the verse says something about crossing the border for some “cultural exchange.” I remember some of those nights in old Mexico. I’m old enough to remember when it was safe to go to those border towns and I don’t disagree or knock the Good Times that were had over there. I sometimes miss the bells ringing from some 100 years old church . The sky was filled with powder from fireworks and/or the occasional pistolero. The Spanish voices would ring out, “Feliz Ano Nuevo.” And we knew that we had arrived to another day and we all had hopes for a better year to come. The closest I’ve been to that in the last decade was a time I camped in Terlingua, Tx over the New Years Holiday- and sometime today I had to stop and ask myself why? That might have been the coldest and darkest day of my life , but I’ll save that story for another time.

What happened this New Years you ask? Well I’m about to tell you.

This New Year’s Day I managed to make a trek up to the Caprock ,instead of a border town I was just North of Lynn County Texas at a little place called Lubbock. The Blue Light was the setting of this story.

Texas singer/ songwriter Dalton Domino had an idea, he wanted to be able to do something that would help the community. He chose to hold a benefit for a children’s home in Lubbock and after a few phone calls- Early Supper was born.

Early Supper the event sponsored by Red Dirt Rebel and Cotton court is held annually at the Blue Light in Lubbock. Yesterday’s event featured more than a dozen of Texas best singer songwriters in the song swap fashion. It was truly amazing to watch. During the event I heard several songs that I had never heard before. I heard unreleased music from more than one artist and I can’t wait to be able to share them with you all on this platform.

I saw plenty of old friends and got to make some new ones and my heart is full. I am looking forward to another year. And I wish you all the best in 2023.

Images above are just a few shots of the talent that was represented last night. Each and Every artist in attendance was humble and grateful to be helping out. They each took the time out of their own busy life to be of service to the good of the community and in being there they showcased their brand of music to a fan like me.

Think I’ll stay it’s New Years Day.

Pancho.

Danced All Night Long

I’m still uncertain if William Beckmann is channeling an old Marty Robbins ballad, or if he’s reminiscing George Strait’s, “Blame it on Mexico.”

I have personally spent some time down in Via Acuna at the Bar Crosby. I have chased gals down the street to that old Corona Club, the first place I saw Robert Keen pick out his song, “Gringo Honeymoon.” And, I may have made a trip or three up that hill just to see “the girl who loves a horse,” just like Charlie Robison did on “New Years Day.”

I love songs about Mexico. I guess I always have. Crossing that border used to feel like traveling back into another time. It’s the only time travel I have ever experienced in my lifetime. The great Tom Russell also has written several tales about this great escape, my mind goes back to a time “When Sinatra Played Juarez.”

William Beckmann gave me a new experience in time travel as his song hit my release radar today. It is a song that brought me back to those early days in my love for music. It is said, One song can bring back a thousand memories. Here’s to you Mr. Beckmann for doing that for me- back to a time when I could shoot Tequila with the best of them. As for me today those Mexican Fancy Topo Chicos are doing the trick.

Acuna, Coahuila was beautiful and this song is a beautiful tribute to the days gone by.

Pancho.