Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines

Saturday , October 11, 2003
03:00 pm
Location:
in-store performance (free)

We are very fortunate to have the dynamic Texas duo of Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines in Lansing for both a free in-store performance at Elderly, and a full-blown concert at the Creole Gallery. The Creole concert is at 8:00 pm, Saturday October 11, and tickets are available right here at Elderly. More info at www.creolegallery.com

You can tell that San Antonio, Texas, native Terri Hendrix is a unique breed of singer and songwriter -- one who has never colored inside the lines with her music and who has followed her own path to get where she is today -- by the mere fact that she chose a goat, of all things, as her mascot. Goats, by nature, are mischievous creatures, marked by a stubborn habit of doing things their own way. And for Hendrix, who once milked goats for guitar lessons and over the course of the last decade has carved out her own place within the music industry by adhering to a refreshing indifference to convention and outside perception, the goat mascot fits as comfortably as a favorite pair of shoes. So does the “Texan square peg,” tag bestowed upon her by RollingStone.com’s Andrew Dansby in a review of Hendrix’s new album, The Ring.

“I’ve always felt kind of different,” laughs Hendrix, who has put that feeling to music in such songs as The Ring’s “From Another Planet,” “Invisible Girl” from 2000’s Places in Between and the title track to her 1996 debut, Two Dollar Shoes. “Nothing about the way I’ve done my career has been typical,” she says. “The only thing typical about my way of doing things is that I go to bed late and wake up early to get things done.” It’s no surprise, then, that Hendrix’s music has always danced outside the mainstream. “She’s got class, but she’s also got guts, stretching away from the predictable,” observed Dirty Linen. Her songs are alternately joyous and bittersweet, fashioned out of a diverse mix of styles – folk, country, pop, rock, Tex-Mex, bluegrass, and jazz – spanning the breadth of Texas music. Trying to cram her music into any one genre is as futile as wrestling a wily goat into a duffle bag, and it’s that eclecticism that has helped her build up a sizeable national and international fanbase, with a 30,000-member mailing list to prove it. Having yet to find a third party capable of marketing her music better than she has herself on a grassroots level, Hendrix has bypassed numerous label offers to steadfastly run her own, Wilory Records, since 1996.

Hendrix’s songs and work ethic have won her the respect of famed multi-instrumentalist Lloyd Maines. A Texas legend in his own right, Maines toured for years with Joe Ely and remains an in-demand producer for acts ranging from Jerry Jeff Walker to the Dixie Chicks, but he has committed himself primarily to being Hendrix’s musical foil in the studio and on stage since 1997. His gift for all things stringed is matched by Hendrix’s deft juggling of guitar, mandolin, harmonica and a mixed-bag of vocal styles, ranging from intimate, conversational folk to full-on scat singing, resulting in what the Chicago Sun Times labeled “an electric stage presence.” Together, they’ve performed on festival stages across the U.S. and Europe. Among the highlights: the Newport Folk Festival in 2000, headlining a Saturday night at the 2002 Kerrville Folk Festival, and sharing a bill with the Dixie Chicks at the Cotton Bowl during the 2002 State Fair of Texas. For Hendrix, the highlight of that night was watching the Dixie Chicks rip through “Lil’ Jack Slade,” an instrumental from their multi-platinum Home album that she helped co-write. Additionally, WXPN-Philadelphia, KGSR-Austin, and WNCW-North Carolina have all included Hendrix’s songs on compilations they’ve produced, while “Lluvia De Estrellas,” a song Hendrix recorded on her second album, Wilory Farm (1998), appears on Latin Playground, a Putumayo World Music release. Her 2001 Live at Mountain Stage performance is airing on PBS television affiliates up and down the East Coast.

But it was through the making of The Ring, hailed by No Depression as “a rewarding musical gift,” that Hendrix found herself getting back in touch with the love of writing that first sparked her passion for music. In college, she chafed at the rigid parameters of opera recitals, but under the mentorship of her late friend Marion Williamson, Hendrix found her wings playing the Central Texas songwriter circuit. Her growth as an artist is easily traced throughout each of her albums, Two Dollar Shoes, Wilory Farm, Terri Hendrix Live, Places in Between and Live in San Marcos, but The Ring features her most accomplished and personal songs to date. “She is wiser but not jaded, centered but not giddy, and she has mastered the ability to tap into universal truths by confronting her most intimate fears and feelings,” wrote David Okamoto of Yahoo! Broadcast. “With The Ring, Terri Hendrix has come full circle.”

“Writing completes me,” says Hendrix. “It’s the backbone of everything I do. In order to stay passionate in life, it’s important to me to have that burning in my soul that gives me a sense of purpose and makes me feel connected to the world.” Proof, she points out, that even square pegs and stubborn goats can fit in, when given the freedom to go about their business their own way.

Check out recordings we carry featuring Terri Hendrix