Giving Thanks for Renn Carson and His Music

If you’ve been part of music in the Brazos Valley, audience or performer, you know Renn Carson, not by his words as much as by his consistent presence during specific decades in live performance, especially when there was a call for a stellar blues guitar.

A true blues performer has lived what they play—extreme highs and lows—that reflect the way the music business goes. You hope for the best and you tolerate the worst until you can turn life around and get back on track. And you keep on playing through it all.

To write one word about Renn, there are always two words that follow: "and Connie" as the Carsons did virtually everything in life and love together, including music.

If Renn was playing, Connie was in the audience, there for load in and loud out and sound check in between, quietly by his side, sharing his passion for music that gave him the fuel to keep on pursuing that which he loved in life. He was a man truly powered by music, fueled by love for his Connie, and the result was a joy to hear. Hence, "Renn and Connie." This photo is just one of many beautiful memories throughout their life together (borrowed from Connie's FB page). Sadly, we lost Renn on November 11, 2023, the eldest child and brother to his sister, Nancy, and his brother, Hank.

As expected, the historic but modest St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church ran out of sanctuary seating on Tuesday afternoon, November 21, despite pulling in every folding chair, or ushering friends and loved ones into the adjoining church parlor for the overflow crowd who’d gathered to pay their respects to the family and memory of their beloved Renn—born into this world of Bryan, Texas, as James Renner Carson on April 20, 1953, to parents Edward Carson and Barbara Renner Lyles.

Part of the world that Renn created around him the past 70 years flowed into St. Andrew’s as others watched via livestream on St. Andrew’s YouTube channel. Yes, much of it was his church family; and others were his music family. And yet, it wasn’t the full world that Renn created. For all of the years he performed music as a guitarist and an ambassador of music to others, Renn made a world of friends everywhere he went.

Renowned musician Ruthie Foster, longtime family to Renn and Connie, put her broken heart on hold while she offered songs of healing, of love, and faith in honor to the man who was an integral part of her earliest days as an accomplished musician. As Kathleen Phillips and another friend, Ramona, shared words of comfort, and as the congregation shared the words of the 23rd Psalm, the voices present united once more in the beauty of scripture that continues to bring reassurance to all who hear it.

Ruthie said, “I talk through my music like Renn always did. I looked at him as my brother. He was always there to hold me close through good times and bad times and now we can take him everywhere. Right, Connie?” With Tanya Richardson on fiddle and Scotty Miller on keys, Ruthie sang “Go Rest High On That Mountain,” a song that preached to us as she reminded us that Renn’s work on Earth was done.

Rev. Daryl Hay of St. Andrew’s offered a homily that included a quote attributed to St. Augustine, “The one who sings prays twice.” He also shared the words of Kurt Vonnegut,

“Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God. It is so extraordinarily full of magic, and in tough times of my life I can listen to music, and it makes such a difference.”

While he was on Earth, Renn created a performance portfolio that any music professional would be honored to have. The groups in which he was an important part for as long as he chose to be there included the Blue Gravel Rock Band, The Rock-a-Fellas Band, The Blue Note All-Stars, The King Bees, Eugene Eugene and the Solid Foundation, and headliners including Bryan-born Grammy winner, Donald Ray Johnson, Nat Dove, Sunny Nash, and of course, Ruthie Foster, five-time Grammy nominee.

The one thing to focus on is not the fame or the acclaim of the performers listed, but instead the joy and the peace having the chance to perform with these outstanding musicians brings wherever and whenever they gathered.

Renn was part of an early configuration of The Rock-a-Fellas Band. The band has always been gently fluid, with each member contributing their best when they could all intersect their schedules and good times were waiting. Band members include Donnie Angonia, Donnie Wilson, Heath Allyn, Craig Knight, and at different times there you’d find Tim Rogers, Renn Carson, Mike Holleman and others.

Eugene Eugene and the Solid Foundation Band had a strong following early on for playing local gigs. They blazed a path for some good local blues although the smaller city of Navasota, 20 miles up the road, was far more known for their annual blues festivals. Yet, it takes a town and a venue like Bryan’s Palace Theatre being renovated to establish a place for the blues, and for a few years, the Bryan Blues Festival committee was able to put events together that were popular and well attended. In June 2012, this group featured Eugene Smith, Ernest Gibbs, Renn Carson, James Gibbs, and Ralph Moncivais and the band not only performed their own set, they backed other Bryan legends Donald Ray Johnson, Dr. Nat Dove, and Sunny Nash.

Sharing a photo credited to Ernest TK Gibbs (borrowed from his FB page) from a performance in College Station:

This was a fundraiser for Stillcreek Ranch in 2017, held at the Benjamin Knox Gallery. Wherever good works were in progress, you could find Eugene Eugene and the Solid Foundation to bring a crowd.

And sharing a photo from the 2013 Bryan Blues Festival, showing the band backing singer Sunny Nash, as they did for Nat Dove and Donald Ray Johnson, thanks to Renn's FB page here. Below: Sharing a 2013 video with Donald Ray Johnson (previously, drummer in A Taste of Honey) including Ernest TK Gibbs, James Gibbs, and Ralph Moncivais, where Renn is slightly hidden behind the camera, but you can catch his guitar stands out in “Rainy Night in Georgia.”

In more recent years, circa 2016, you could catch Renn in concert locally performing with the band The King Bees, together with guitarist/vocalist Jason Gabbard, bassist Dan Peterson, and drummer Mark Esman. Their bio once noted that Renn came in runner-up for first place in a seventh-grade talent show, playing the blues. That was also about the last time that Renn came in second to anyone for musical anything, to be sure.

[Special thanks to Rhonda Brinkmann, Wordsmiths4U, for The King Bees photos.]

As the funeral service came to a close on Tuesday, Ruthie offered the perfect song, one from her most recent (Grammy-nominated) album (“Healing Time”), called “Feels Like Freedom,” which was fitting and perfect to sing Renn right into the gardens of Heaven, reunited with all he’d been waiting to see once again, the promise of which we are reassured. You can hear her sing at the 31:32 mark in this Facebook video:

https://www.facebook.com/saintandrewsbcs/videos/852761352957791

“The sun is comin' up again

Those winds of change are blowin' in

And I know

Yes, I know

It feels like freedom

Been a long and lonely road

But I'm finally comin' home

And oh

Oh, yeah

It feels like freedom”

[Words and music by Ruthie Foster, Healing Time 2022]

It’s not every day that we have to give up a friend far sooner than we’d have imagined, but for as long as we live and love people and let them into our lives to stay, there comes a point by which we have to give them back to the Lord, from where they came. So often we say, “Gone too soon,” or “We didn’t have enough time” or any other lament that tries to describe the loss that we feel. Still, we have recordings, videos, and a ton of memories to share and preserve.

Another “Renn gem” can be found on SoundCloud, posted by user WMHarps a few days ago, “Richland City Blues,” featuring Ruthie Foster, Renn on guitar, and Tim Moyer on harmonica. Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/user-248647677/richland-woman-blues

Finally, a special dialogue between musicians Renn and Ruthie takes place in the song, “Turn Me On,” from Foster’s 2004 album, “Stages.” As Ruthie sings/says, “Alright, Renn Carson, show me what you got here,” and Renn took flight on one of his solos, the audience loved it because the man with soul spoke loudly. Ruthie then said, “I believe, I believe he’s got something else to say,” and indeed he did. That’s the way it was often, for Renn on stage. He did his best talking with his guitar and frankly, after he played, it was enough said.

Check it out on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/10SEd96D8W30Jme0VjV1Ez

Beyond high school graduation, Renn attended Blinn College and went on to have a long professional career, including working at Agency Management Services (AMS), where many musicians held prolific day jobs so they could play the music they loved at night. Things came naturally to Renn, and he was beyond gifted in so many things he did. He loved his high school sweetheart, Connie Pittman, and they were married over 49 years. He appreciated the simple times and complex puzzles of life.

Family, above all, meant the world to him. Their son Chris and his wife Kasie and their daughter Nikki and her husband Jim brought them three grandchildren, who were the lights of his life. Together they were key parts of organized cookouts and races to benefit the Relay for Life of Brazos Valley for the American Cancer Society, but that was just one more aspect of the quiet goodness of Renn and his family. Anything they could do as a family—that was what was important to them.

If you knew Renn well, you knew he spoke volumes with his heart. Music filled his heart, his love of Connie and his family fueled his soul, and you can rest assured that the Lord has him in safekeeping until the “rest of his band” joins him in Heaven. Meanwhile, the famous band in “rock and roll Heaven” just gained one heckuva blues player.

And, as Ruthie sings and Renn plays, and the beloved, precious children dance in front of the stage together with the late Samantha Banks and iconic Larry Fulcher on bass, the secret to life is knowing when to compromise….” Here it is, for Renn with great respect, Ruthie’s “Full Circle,” with his amazing notes.

Renn's circle of life is now complete. Well done, thou good and faithful servant, Renn. Amen and amen.

Additional videos:

With Ruthie Foster

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Photo May 4, 2017, from Connie's FB Page

An Eight-Year-Old Perspective on Election Day, Education, Faith, and Freedom

This morning I greeted the day enthusiastically, calmly, and confidently…for about five minutes at which point my brain started doing its usual analysis of the fact that it was the birthday of John H. Eargle, Jr., co-founder of Keystone School, long since gone from this world, about how important education had been to my mother, and how our school used to hold mock elections every four years to teach civics and garner enthusiasm in voting, which we can all benefit from, those of us who have gone through levels of enthusiasm and anxiety when it comes to “politics.”

As a child I used to sit quietly around the table as the grownups had interesting and active discussions of the politics of the days, the 1960s, and at first I found the entire topic boring. I never once heard the sharing of differing opinions rise about conversational level, though. By the 1970s, my high school classmates and I were watching presidential hearings after school or the reruns late at night.

Though family and friends' discussions were passionate, there was always a collegiality about the discussion of opposing sides and when it was done, and the visit was concluded, or moved to another topic, the visits always ended with hugs and kisses. I grew to like politics or at least tolerate them long enough to pay attention to details, make up my mind and await the day I was old enough to vote.

I remember even in elementary school, asking my mother why politics were so frequently talked about and she said, “it’s a good thing in our country when there are two sides and people talk about the benefits of each side.” She continued, “Dawnie, the day people stop speaking aloud about politics is a day to beware of, because that will mean we are no longer a free country. I hope you will never see a time like that.” Some 50 years later, it had almost reached that point.

Facebook, Twitter, and other mediums where platforms are frequently expressed became a graveyard for anger, epithets, mockery, and hate-filled speech. Many people were quick to write about who they supported and voted for, and why those who didn’t see that way could remove them from their list of friends. And so we arrived today at many people afraid to say who they voted for, lest they lose half their friends, or make someone mad, or anger their bosses and scotch any chances of a raise—win or lose, you could lose. That’s not how it is supposed to be, but it is.

This morning, something more important in the lives of some I care about was going on—something far more important than the country’s future…was going on. A beautiful young woman in San Antonio was in the midst of critical life/death surgery to try and repair some major damage that had happened during a prior surgery. This beautiful young brilliant woman has been through about 90 of these surgeries in the past decade, and what she experiences would crater most mature individuals, while she is in massive pain but copes with it with what can only be described as “the peace that passes all understanding.”

Rebecca, her name, is not originally of this world. Really, I’m fully convinced she was an angel let out of Heaven long enough to be born and to live and to grow to teach people she knows, and others she doesn’t, how to pray—unceasingly, fervently, and to expect a perfect outcome of an answered prayer. That’s the only reason I can think of (logically) as to why a child should ever have to endure what she has while here on earth, and her family to have to experience these ongoing tests of faith. This is an answer I’ll have to wait until I get to Heaven to understand but it’s high on my list of questions. Of course, I have a list of questions…you know me.

Following a prayer in my early morning path that involved me actually speaking out loud with the Lord, when my prayers are usually silent, I then took to scanning the local paper online. I indulged myself in a moment to enjoy the diversion of my horoscope. I wasn’t looking for answers outside God. I was looking for what might be there to surprise me. It read:

Consider consequences and options first. Quiet the mind through meditation. Psychic communication with wild creatures will be especially lucid. Your creative talents shine. Use your imagination. A child or new friend inspires you. Tonight: You might just want to luxuriate and take a nap.

Hmm…I’d been quiet and meditated (if that’s what you perceive as meditation, quieting the mind to receive a gift of thoughts). No wild creatures here…Barney’s still across the street, sleeping, and won’t arrive for a while. Luxuriate and take a nap? Not a chance. Hmmm, a child or new friend inspires you. Wasn’t planning on being out except a trip to the post office.

And then my phone rang, it was FaceTime and it was my eight-year-old pal! I immediately smiled as the call connected and I saw the sky. The sky, not my pal. He said, “Hi there!” and I said, “Hi! Whatcha doing?” “Fishing,” he said. “Did you get the day off from school?” I asked. He said, “Yes, it’s Election Day.” I said, “Oh, that’s interesting. Are they using your school as a polling site?” I am entirely forgetting he’s only eight and might not know what a polling site is. I worry too much.

He said, “No, it was a polling site last year but not this year.” Eight years old. Okay. I said, “Where are you?” as I could see only sky. He said, “At a creek not far from my house.” I said, “Beautiful sky, honey” and he said, “That’s what Pippa said when I talked to her a few minutes ago.” I laughed. Pippa and I often postulate how pretty clouds are during drives along the roadways.

So, he explained that he had just caught a channel catfish that was fairly large but he threw it back into the water. I asked about his bait and he said, “Today, I brought some bread and it’s working pretty well.” We discussed bait, hooks, fishing poles (he has two fishing rods, thank you very much), and how we were both not fans of minnows. Worms didn’t rate discussion. He said quickly, “Let me call my Dad to check in.” “Okay,” I said, brightly.

We talked about school and his favorite subject. He knows I groan if he tells me “Recess” whenever I ask, so he said that Math was pretty good. He also said that one of his neighbors used to come fishing with him but couldn’t be away from the house right now. He was actually under about 14 watchful eyes by phone who can keep the proverbial eyes on exactly where he is and use the GPS to be there in two minutes. So if you have concerns about his being “on his own,” forget it. Lewis & Clark were solitary explorers. The training wheels are still on for him, but he’s not aware of them.

He said, “I’m going to leave the iPad where it is and then move over to a different spot to see if I can get better fish there. You probably can’t see me, but I’ll be there.” Oh wow…this child…channels messages to me in a way that hit me like the proverbial 2x4…my concerns and fears this morning for Rebecca and her surgery….it was like God telling me, “You can’t see me but I’ll be right there.” Trying not to tear up, I said, “Okay, honey.”

We got back to talking. He asked me whether I’d voted in the Election this year. I said, “Yes, I voted on the second day of Early Voting.” He paused and said, “Who did you vote for?” I paused. I said, “Actually I voted for a lot of people this year. There were so many on the ballot.” I was being cautious not to influence him with ‘my’ politics when he was at an age where discernment of who a family votes for, who extended family votes for, who the country votes for—all those factors are in play. I didn’t want to say anything wrong.

I thought about all the ways in which my friends whose careers in entertainment had given their time to encourage voting. Carl Giammarese recorded a version of James Holvay's and Gary Beisbier's hit for The Buckinghams, "Susan," for a group called "You Can't Stop Me from Voting." Then, Kiki Ebsen and others joined voices at the invitation of Terry Wollman on his fabulous collaborative song (with Lillooet Fox and Rachelle Lynn Gislason), "Beautiful (The Sound of Us)," featuring Ray Jupiter and Donald Webber, Jr. and a multivoice choir to encourage voting this year. Also, Kiki was invited to contribute two songs to a genius playlist ,"Music to Vote By," designed by Kelly Fitzgerald, John Diggins, and Michelle Mangione. If you're stuck in line, you're not stuck when you have music. All these wonderful events with talented musicians using their gifts to uplift were developed to encourage Americans and inspire them to get out and vote this year. My mind wandered and I found myself so proud, smiling at my friends' accomplishments, staying positive while they couldn't pursue their own careers, and taking time to give to others.

My eight-year-old future Supreme Court justice pushed me, “Who did you vote for in the Presidential election?” Yes, he speaks this way in full, intelligent, complete sentences all the time because that is how his parents and others speak to him, with him. I paused and said to myself, “I have always told this child the truth and I’m not about to change now, and I’ve always answered his questions.” So I told him. He said, “What do you like about him?” and I gave a one-sentence true answer. He said, “Okay.” He said, “How do you feel about (the other guy)?” and I said, “I’m not a fan. He took it all in, didn’t question, didn’t comment. I liked that. He asked, I answered.

Our discussion went back to Halloween and I said, “What did you all do for Halloween?” He said, “on Halloween itself, we didn’t go out. It wasn’t safe.” I said, “I’m sorry about that honey, I think next year things should be different.” He said, “Longer than that, because (presidential candidate he said by name--they are currently both presidential candidates so no guessing allowed) said the vaccine won’t be ready until 2022 at least.”

I wanted to cry and beam with pride at the same time. Eight years old. Knows what a vaccine is and that next year might not be a time when kids can return to normal Halloween. This was the same child who explained matter-of-factly and not at all sadly that “this year my birthday doesn’t have the usual kind of party because of Coronavirus.” He didn’t say anything less than Coronavirus. I know adults who forget its formal name and refer to it as “this thing.”

Birthday and Halloween denied to my little pal thanks to the pandemic. His parents had created loving, wonderful alternatives to celebrate both events but what the usual was, wasn’t this year. And he was not the least bit feeling sorry for himself. This child, Lord help.

Ha. “Lord, help” was a trademark expression of the cofounder of Keystone…a native of deep east Texas and it was his point of exasperation that was reached before he uttered it. I laughed as that is what I find myself uttering as a prayer without even realizing it. Ah, the things we learn as children.

I asked if he had packed anything for lunch. He said, “I might have some of the bread I brought for the fish, but I am getting a little hungry.” He said, “I will stay here a little longer.”

"Would you look up places to find turtles in (the name of his subdivision)?" he requested. Off to Google I went and then we discussed a particular nature conservancy, and he knew exactly where that was. I said, “You really love turtles, don’t you?” and he agreed. He knew all the correct names of the parts of a turtle. Asked him about reading and I was delighted to hear he’d been enjoying two books recently and I said, “That’s good; I love it when you like to read.”

He said, “It didn’t used to be something I like, but I like it right now.” I said, “Well, I’ve got a series of books that may be a little old for you because the oldest boy in the family is 12, but maybe you would like it. If you like one, I have a whole series.” I’m thinking that I want to send him “The Happy Hollisters” from my young days as a budding solver of mysteries that would lead my mother to christen me “Miss Marple, Jr.” or “Nancy Drew, Jr.,” depending on her choice at the time. Only those old enough will know who or what a Miss Marple is.

My heart was thrilled when he said, “I’ll try one and see how I like it.” I’ll be wrapping up volume one for mailing soon. Fingers crossed.

He proclaimed, “Next year I’m in 4th grade!” and I said, “Yes, that’s great.” He said, “But I love 3rd grade right now. It’s my favorite so far!” and his heart soared, you could hear it over the phone. I was working on something on the computer and he was busy fishing while we conversed, just two pals hanging out while we accomplished our goals. He is one of two pals I do that with; especially during the isolation of the pandemic, it makes a difference to be on FaceTime, Skype, and Zoom with your friends and to just hang out for a while. You emerge from that renewed as it’s the next best thing to being there. The fact that he is eight is irrelevant. Any time spent with him is time well spent.

All of this to say that today the future of our country will be determined when all the votes are in and counted and the winner is announced. As long as we are alive, I hope there will always be at least two parties and room for an independent when it comes to needing an option. I hope that people will always continue to vote and remain active in each election. Whether or not they wish to share their opinions on a public social forum that can often lead to separation and bad feelings, may we always live in a society free enough to express our opinions openly, without fear or favor resulting. And may we always have gratitude for the blessings we have received in life so far and reasons to always be optimistic for the future ahead.

May each of you have a powerfully fruitful Election Day and Evening. May we improve our circumstances and quality of life to preserve life, rather than lose any more lives. That continues to be my regular prayer. And, if a miracle for Rebecca is your will, “Lord help” remains my fervent prayer. May my eight-year-old pal continue to be a fisher of men as he is today a fisher of fish. I see his future unfolding and he will be whatever he was destined to be, or wants to be, and it might just be that he will be a Supreme Court Justice. To me, he will always be supreme. As Ruthie Foster sang on "Austin City Limits" last Saturday, “Woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on freedom.” To which I add the other lyric, “Woke up this morning with my mind, stayed on Jesus.”

May God bless America, always. Amen.

Houston Musician Samantha Banks Needs Our Help

On Friday, Feb. 23, percussionist extraordinaire Samantha Banks suffered “a major hypertension event that caused bleeding in her brain” and is currently in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit in a hospital in Houston’s Texas Medical Center. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster shared this news on her Facebook page this morning. A GoFundMe account for Samantha has been established by organizer Fabian Perez to provide immediate funds for Banks’ medical expenses.

In just 14 hours, 20% of the modest $10,000 goal had been met by 26 people. There’s still a long way to go. Excitedly, after 15 hours, it was already up to $3561 given by 43 people. But $10,000 is only the minimum to meet what will be potentially high hospital expenses, plus rehabilitation in coming weeks, involving daily transportation to and from the hospital, medicine, and living expenses. So please don’t stop getting the word out. The goal is first for her to wake up and make a full recovery, as everyone is praying for and expecting, as we ask for, walking on faith. Ruthie Foster's fan base is a great start; Houston fans who watched Ms. Banks grow up is another.

A Houston musical prodigy, Banks attended HISD’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and went on to study jazz at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Studies there included Percussion Performance, Music Theory and Composition and Music Education. In the Brazos Valley, we’ve been fortunate, for almost two decades, sheer joy in fact, every time we’ve seen Banks on stage performing with Ruthie (sometimes with bassist Larry Fulcher and guitarist Renn Carson]. That’s been a magical music combination.

Samantha’s talents shine through all her music, whether using a full drum kit or creating a perfect rhythm with a set of spoons and a tambourine.

Because Samantha is presently not conscious, the power of music has shown a true healing effect on her in just the past few days. Ruthie shared that Samantha’s daughter, Briana, “played music for her, and her blood pressure lowered, so we believe she can hear us.” Messages of hope and prayers for healing, plus financial gifts in any amount are what are most needed right now.

Independent musicians are classically underinsured. In fact, anyone in the music business understands that, as a group, you play for love, not money, to pursue the dreams in your mind and the music in your heart.

Those who make it into a superstar category are the exception to the rule. The music that Texans all flock to hear, the music that Samantha plays, is heard in concert halls like the Cultural Activities Center in Temple, Texas, Kerrville’s Folk Festival, SXSW in Austin, and the Main Street Crossing in Tomball, Texas. There's every small club, outdoor venue, and path down long dirt roads involved just to play the music that fuels your spirit.

Here’s a portion of “Another Rain Song,” with the band of Ruthie and Samantha, from April, 2017.

Ruthie asks, in behalf of Samantha’s daughter and mother, for prayers and words of affirmation and joy. Everyone can go to Ruthie’s Facebook page and add your words of support there. As Foster explains, they are reading every message to Samantha, even though she remains unconscious. The power of love is mighty and strong. The power of faith is welcomed and requested.

The beauty of a collective group of strangers, one to another, when rallied for a singular goal is the power of love. As Ruthie sings and Samantha plays in Ruthie's song, "Full Circle," you know the refrain, “Everything that goes around comes back around again.” It’s time today to rush in and make a contribution to Samantha’s fund--in any amount--for the long way back to the stage. Your gift can be anonymous if you prefer.

Please share your message for Samantha on Ruthie Foster's Facebook page and the direct link to the GoFundMe account is there as well. Get well soon, Samantha; we want to be first in line for your first concert back in action! STORY UPDATE: As of 3.17.18, this is the progress on the funding goal. $33,060 of $50,000 goal Raised by 465 people in 18 days Updates are posted on the GoFundMe page, so check here for the latest information: https://www.gofundme.com/samantha-banks-medical-expenses?u=17822224

Ruthie Foster and Her Phenomenal Musical Talent

If you didn’t know where to look, you might have missed out on native Texan Ruthie Foster giving what was unequivocally the best show in Texas on Friday, March 3, 2017. Nestled in a warm and welcoming listening space that doubles as a church on Sundays, Main Street Crossing, in Tomball, Texas, the audience saw the roof raised and doors blown off by the electric-acoustic-dynamic rhythm as Foster and percussionist Samantha Banks held forth for 105 minutes that flew by far too soon. Theme for the evening was sharing love, faith, affirmations and the promise of good things to come.

For those who are newer to Ruthie’s music, the woman you see on stage—a phenomenal woman by the book of, and with the affirmation of, Dr. Maya Angelou herself—is today ever as humble, joyful, and talented as she was in 1998, when she was playing locally in Bryan-College Station at night while she ran camera and produced the early morning show at local CBS affiliate, KBTX-TV3.

When she started performing locally, everyone knew Ruthie had major talent and belonged in front of national audiences, but circumstances held her back for many years. Ruthie’s priorities of family and loyalties to friends have always come before fame or fortune all her life.

As a child Ruthie’s heart centered around the small town of Gause, Texas, which is located 11 miles from Hearne and 30 miles from Bryan-College Station. Many songs she sings on stage today were written in honor and in memory of her grandmother (Big Mama), a woman of great faith who was one of the “sisters who arrived thirty minutes before church started so they wouldn’t be late.” Friday night, as always, Ruthie’s song setups are simply conversations as though she were sitting across from the kitchen table with you, reminiscing, laughing, and wistfully looking into the distance at times, as you knew she could see the faces and hear the voices of loved ones in days gone by.

Ruthie’s powerful voice is natural, not forced, and she recalls the words of her mother, who always told her to “Sing, open your mouth and sing!” but her control of her instrument is what’s the most impressive factor to her singing. As a young woman, she took a break from studying audio engineering and music in college to join the U.S. Navy. Naturally, her musical talent was discovered and she toured with the U.S. Navy band, “Pride.” That was one way to “see the world,” for certain, even if it was on a tour bus. That would foreshadow her future in a way she could never imagine back then.

The talented young woman quickly secured a recording contract with a major label in New York City. And, she was on her way to achieving her dreams….when her mother became ill in 1993. Ruthie never gave it a second thought. She abandoned the dream and put life on hold temporarily where she and a great friend would provide tender love and care for her mother in her final days. Ruthie got a job with local KBTX-TV as camera operator and production assistant. Those early morning show hours were grueling but she had a lot of time to be with her mother, who died in 1996.

Then she had new life choices to make. Where to turn? Ruthie speaks of faith often but rarely her personal journey as it’s a personal thing to her. Much of her faith comes through in her songs, and the wisdom of her mother as well. “The secret of life is knowing when to compromise,” Ruthie’s mother often told her. There’s a song in that, she thought. She was right.

Her 2002 album “Runaway Soul” is a collaborative with the highly regarded Grammy-winner, Lloyd Maines as producer. Before she sang the title track, Ruthie modestly related what a privilege it had been to work with him early in her career. He had a great track record for excellence and he’d had tremendous success with the work of Terri Hendrix, his ongoing longtime music collaborator. Hendrix’s song, “Hole in My Pocket” is one made famous by both Terri and by Ruthie, and Foster often performs it in concert, at least when she’s in Texas.

Ruthie said, “When I got the master of “Runaway Soul” from Lloyd, I listened to it and I was astounded. I called him and asked, “When did you hire all those musicians to play the other instruments?” She knew they didn’t have a budget for that. His response was, “Oh, I just played them all myself.”

Ruthie laughed as she said, “That’s the kind of man he is; he knew we needed them and he just…recorded them all himself.” Her regard for those who knew her early in life, and in work, never wavers…that’s part of the beauty of Ruthie’s career path. She built a following that has staying power.

"Small Town Blues" is another song from Foster's 2007 album, "Full Circle" that she plays to help everyone remember "their early Ruthie" concert years.

In fact, you’ll find wherever Ruthie has found inspiration to write her songs, to record her songs, and to release her new CDs, a crowd appears. It may not be the same people each time, but anytime you are fortunate enough to see her in concert, she’s the same person you saw when you saw her the first time.

One example of her ability to recreate her original songs without change is in “Another Rain Song,” which she sang Friday night. Here’s a snippet of the song. Whether 1997 or 2017, it does not matter how long, Ruthie’s songs stand true today as yesterday as autobiographical of the passage of time.

Her voice remains unaffected by the legends she joins in concert. She has her own internal compass and knows how to navigate the waters, and she’s been honored and awarded so many times that stranger would be overwhelmed to know just how special she’s considered to be by the power players. She doesn’t say it in concert, but she’s a multiple Grammy Award Nominee (Best Blues Album)—first time was in 2010 for “The Truth According to Ruthie Foster” and in 2012 for “Let it Burn,” and in 2014 for “Promise of a Brand New Day,” but she fails to bring that up in conversation. Ruthie has also been awarded the Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist of the year in 2016 as she had in 2013, 2012, and 2011, but she didn’t bring it up that night either.

Instead, she talked ever so briefly about playing the Bugle Boy in LaGrange on Saturday night and then on Sunday she would be going to New York. There was a concert she was asked to participate in, she said—an Aretha Franklin Tribute Concert. Humbly, she described her delight on being invited to participate.

Ruthie laughed and said, “Monday night, I’m going to be taking as many selfies as I can before they come and pull me away for taking too many selfies. It’s going to be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever.” That’s where her heart is—not for a minute is she considering herself one of the crowd chosen to honor Miss Franklin.

Instead of focusing on her awards, she mentioned she’d come to performing by an unusual path. With frankness and courage, Ruthie explained how speech was sometimes difficult for her. Recognizing her little one was very shy, Big Mama, her hero, stepped in to help.

“Every Saturday, for hours during the day, and then in the afternoon Big Mama would give me a poem to practice to say the next day in church. And we’d work on it all afternoon. Then on Sunday, I’d get up and say what I was supposed to say in front of the entire church. And that….is how I came to be at home in front of large crowds. She took her time with me.” Shyness, overcome; courage, infused.

The Main Street Crossing is in fact a church, a nonprofit that doubles as a church on Sunday and as an inviting music venue for all genres of music. Future artists include Michael Martin Murphy, Larry Gatlin, Mike Zito, Mark Chestnutt, (Aggie) Roger Creager and that’s just part of what’s happening in March. Marcia Ball, a conversation with Roy Clark, the Hit Men, Suzy Bogguss, in April; The Bellamy Brothers and Bonnie Bishop, Gary Morris and Johnny Rodriguez are due in May. June is Gary Lewis and the Playboys and two nights of Mickey Gilley. Tribute bands are a popular weekend booking as well.

Before Friday night’s concert, the family-style seating at tables (150 seats were filled Friday night) invited conversation and Texas hospitality demanded it. At our table, two people said they’d seen Ruthie several times in the past few years—just loved her. My music-loving friend and fellow writer, Rhonda Brinkmann (“There’s music? Let’s go!”) and I just smiled. The lady across from us said she this was going to be her first Ruthie concert. We smiled again.

The man across from us, the newbie’s date, smiled knowingly and said he’d listened to her latest CD all the way over in the car from his drive. Mm-hmm. Yes, you did. If there was a competition, and there seemed to be one brewing, for who’d been a fan of Ruthie’s the longest, it wasn’t going to be any of them (or me) who won it.

What I knew, that they didn’t, was that Rhonda and her friends used to work at a company in town that, in the 1980s, was also where Ruthie’s brother worked. Naturally, he got folks from work to come out and hear his sister play guitar—she was “really good” her brother said. That’s how long Rhonda had been a Ruthie listener. Two tables over from us were the real winners of the evening’s “how long have you known Ruthie” contest: Renn and Connie Carson.

Renn Carson is a major guitar talent and plays in any band he wants to, whenever he wants to; Connie’s a (recently retired) teacher—their entire family has always been second family to Ruthie from the very earliest and remains so today. But you’d never hear it from them. They are just as proud of and happy for Ruthie as everyone else in the room. When Ruthie was working on her early CD in the Brazos Valley, you’d find Renn and several other local legends on her albums.

During the concert, my mind flashed back to 1998, in the new Christian Life Center of First United Methodist Church in Bryan, where my best friend in volunteering and I had the chance to invite Ruthie to be the headliner for our opening celebration of the new building. We were thrilled she’d be in town for our Sept. 11, 1999 dedication.

She’d already been a frequent performer in Austin and Houston and people just couldn’t take it for granted even then that she’d be in town because her visibility had grown prolifically. The celebration weekend was called our “Full Circle Celebration” as it marked the creation of a magnificent new all-purpose building for what was a flourishing congregation in downtown Bryan.

Very soon after that celebration, she’d relocate and make Austin her home base, where an even larger group of people would support, encourage, and cheer like crazy whenever she sang. Back then transportation was an elderly red SUV that God and a great local mechanic kept rolling down Texas highways. Those days are long in her rearview mirror but her talent and her humility have remained unchanged throughout the years.

People look at today’s famous musicians and think that one day they just woke up and had a national tour and international acclaim. Doesn’t happen that way. Few people see the hours of practice it takes to stay your course, literally and figuratively. Ruthie and her faithful team of musicians and supporters made those late-night drives on Texas highways, crashing for brief rest and food and on to the next gig. Talk about paying your dues, Ruthie’s have long been paid in full. You never have as many friends as when you are doing well.

Here, Ruthie sings “People Grinnin’ in Your Face,” from her 2007 album, “The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster.” She smiled after she performed this one, slightly shaking her head. It’s still true today.

Before the song, she recalled the sisters of the church in the “Amen corner” of the church, who’d arrived early to make sure they were not late. Among them were a very young Ruthie and her “Big Mama” who would be part of that. She recalled it was hot on Sunday mornings, and everyone would have the cardboard fans to keep them cool. There would be “praying hands on one side of the fan and on the other would be greetings from the local funeral home.” Said Foster, “You’d have thought they’d have put some lyrics from the hymnal on there, too, so we could keep up.”

Continuing the visual memory, “They’d raise the stained glass windows and pray for a breeze. You’d hear cars coming past, going down the road. The sisters would hum in unison and one by one, two by two, folks were coming in. Pretty soon you’d hear the unison of the ladies in the church singing…”Well, don’t you mind people grinning in your face.” And with that, Samantha Banks used her tambourine to keep up with Ruthie’s a cappella “Don’t You Mind People Grinnin’ in Your Face.” She invited the audience to sing in later on and it was a good thing, too, because much of the audience was already holding forth with “A good friend is hard to find, because it’s hard with people grinnin’ in your face.” The soaring high notes, though, were all Ruthie’s to proffer, as no one in the audience could match them.

It was a cappella and you thought there was a choir of 14 people up there on stage. Delivery. Presence. Authenticity. Ruthie is true to her gospel roots. She mentions Mavis Staples in reverent tones before delivering a resounding version of one of Ms. Staples’ classics, “The Ghetto.”

Ruthie also sang Patty Griffin’s “When It Don’t Come Easy,” and reflected that “Music is a healer; it brought me through a lot of things and it brought me to a lot of wonderful things.”

Ruthie’s song “People Grinnin’ in Your Face” is from her album “The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster.” If you knew Ruthie, you’d know that it’s a title she earned, one given her by those who have supported and encouraged her music over the years. She would have never chosen it for herself.

In the same breath that she spoke of her unending admiration for Maya Angelou. She shared, “On my 50th birthday I got a signed copy of one of her books; she had personalized a message for me in the book. I still prize that. She found out that I’d recorded this song, based on one of her poems, “Phenomenal Woman” (you know the one). And I happened to be performing in the area where she was living in North Carolina and I went to my dressing room after sound check, and found a beautiful bouquet of flowers from her there.” Now, her voice trailed off as she reflected on the sheer meaning of those acts in her behalf.” Quietly she said, “Ah, talk about affirmation…”

Affirmation…a litany of CDs written, recorded and released, national awards, international travels and the growing fame associated with her name didn’t mean as much to her as the affirmation of a brave woman who had survived tragedy and misfortune in her youth to rise to be a beacon of hope for all women.

Samantha Banks was Ruthie’s only band member joining her for this evening in Tomball, but she was absolutely all that Ruthie needed for her acoustic/electric evening. Banks, a multitalented percussionist, played a partial drum kit, and a tambourine, some finger shucks, wind chimes, and spoons. Samantha rocked those spoons and made it all look effortless, as she provided perfect accompaniment on every song. She’s toured with Ruthie for years and is always an audience favorite as she sings as well.

Ruthie’s newest CD, “Joy Comes Back” (on her longtime label, Blue Corn Music), is available on March 24. Nearby, there’s a CD release party set in Austin on April 1 at 8 p.m. There, she’ll be joined by Carolyn Wonderland, David Grissom, Warren Hood, and the Peterson Brothers. Tickets range from $20-$44.50 and are available here. Word to the wise: Connie Carson (being family has its perks) said the Ruthie’s new album is fantastic!

One thing Ruthie accomplished in the Bryan-College Station area in the 1990s came about while she was actively touring on the folk circuit up and down the interstate. She made many friends along the way, and she brought them to town. Longtime local music enthusiasts remember the old Double Dave’s Pizza in the two-story building in Northgate. Double Dave’s would deliver your order (upstairs) and Ruthie invited her friends to perform on their Monday nights off between tours.

Attendance was solid every week they hosted them, the musicians made enough in freewill donations and CD sales to pay for their time, and locals had the chance to see musicians like Chicago natives “Small Potatoes” (Jacquie Manning and Rich Preszioso), “The Desberardos” before they became “Chris Beraro & The Desberardos,” and guitarist, Freebo, among others. The traveling troubadours also had a solid meal before hitting the road again. It’s a hard life, living on the road, whether you stay in four-star hotels or crash at a fellow musician’s pad. But when the applause begins, the hardship fades away to an artist who is validated with every new fan who says, “Your music really moves me.”

There’s not one singular episode, record, award, or milestone that Ruthie needs to validate her work as a singer as she searches for the “next” level. The next level simply means that many new people will discover the talent that Ruthie has had all along. She’s not “new here.” Ruthie Foster has always been phenomenal because she remains true to the songs inside her, and will never let the bright lights of the big cities change her.

On Friday night, Main Street Crossing shone brightly as a jewel in Texas music, and as small town blues and runaway soul took their place in the offering, Ruthie Foster took the entire crowd to their feet this weekend, with her always professional delivery, bright spirit, and wise words.

The Brazos River called her back close to home for a visit this week, and we were all the better for it. To keep up with her, visit her web site, www.ruthiefoster.com and check out her social media links there.

Keep singing, Ruthie, just keep singing and be yourself, and thanks for the concert that took us all back to church one more time. Nineteen years later, it really did all come around again, full circle. We always knew what Maya Angelou would ultimately come to affirm before she passed: Ruthie Foster is a phenomenal woman and musical talent.