About CowboySlim

 

I was born and raised in California.  I learned to play guitar as a teenager, during the 60's, the last folk music craze.  I cut my musical teeth on Bob Dylan, Donovan, Joan Baez, Buffy Saint Marie.  As time
progressed, I moved on to the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, and Tom Waits.

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Here's a quote from a webpage located at:

 

http://www.tomwaitsfan.com/tom%20waits%20library/www.tomwaitslibrary.com/topography/heritage.html

 

Dave Robinson (2003):(9) "Tom got to be pretty good friends with another guy who hung out at the Heritage and eventually worked there as a dishwasher or cook. I don't remember his name, but he had long curly red hair (not unlike the comedian Carrot Top). One night he was talking to me and mid-sentence he flopped onto the floor, out cold. I was scared to death, but Tom walked calmly over and told me to just leave him alone and he would be OK in a couple of minutes. It turned out the guy was an epileptic and Tom had dealt with many of his seizures."

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In case you haven't guessed it, that guy with the "long curly red hair" was none other than the future CowboySlim.  I worked the door at the Heritage after Tom Waits moved to Los Angeles.  Before he left, I got to hang out at the front entrance and listen to Tom.  I remember some nights, there were as many people hanging at the door as there were coming in.  The better show wasn't always on the stage.

 

I did not see music as a viable means to make a living, and sadly (in hindsight) I chose to not play music for many years.  I played sporadically in the early 80's, but alas, still felt the need to feed my family.

 

The songs, the songs...oh, yes, the songs.  Okay.  I started writing songs in 2001.  Before then, I was singing other people's music.  Now, I write the songs that the good Lord sends me.  Sometimes, the songs are funny, sometimes, serious as a heart attack.  I don't mess with something too long.  If I didn't take it down (as in dictation), or at least remember it mentally, it wasn't meant to be.  Like Harlan Howard used to say, three chords and the truth.  I came to Nashville in 2002, at the urging of some friends I met online, at a website called Tunesmith.net. They're still in business, and we're still friends. I recommend them to anyone who has toyed with the idea of being a songwriter.   It's a better place than most to get started, and you'll meet some really nice, creative people.  I love it, I just don't get over there as much as I used to.

 

All in all, it's a simple story, I'm a simple man.