First let me say thank you to every one who has taken the time to listen to my music and subscribe. The kind words and encouragement mean more to me than I could ever express. It's very difficult and lonely to be the only one who feels what you are doing is worth something. To actually read the kind words I've gotten is a dream in and of itself. I can't say it enough. Thank you. In case you don't know I have uploaded two new songs for you to listen too, "Moonlight in Texas" and "Crazy Old Dog". "Moonlight in Texas" is a song I played with my band the Rustid Project. There were four of us in the band. Billy Value played the lead guitar, Jack Jetsen played the base, Frankie (the gun) Faruzzi played the drums, and I played the rhythm guitar and sang. I thought I would share the story of how I came to write "Moonlight in Texas" with you. At the time I had a day job and played with the band 3-5 nights a week. Things were really going well for the band, and of course my day job decided to send me away to Texas for several weeks. Unfortunately that job paid the bills, so I had to go. I was in Texas for about a week and my money was almost gone. I still had about two weeks to go before the project was finished and to get through I only had $30.00 to my name. The company had sent several employees with me and we were sharing a room and stuff. We had heard about a bar that offered a buffet with the purchase of a beer and we decided to check it out. At the time, the country was going through a recession, especially in Texas. It was so bad you could get a years free rent by paying one months rent and signing a two year lease. Driving down the road all you could see were topless bars, pawn shops, and used car dealers. The sights were beginning to really depress me and I was growing homesick. I had not eaten lunch that day trying to conserve my funds and was ready and willing to try to get an almost free dinner, so even if it was crackers and chicken wings washed down with beer I was willing to partake. The restaurant we were told about was located at the 14th floor of a building located in the downtown area. It was about 5 miles down the road from our hotel, so not having a car I tagged along with the crew. We entered the fancy building and boarded the elevator and headed to the top. We had just passed the eleventh floor when the elevator failed and dropped like Disney's "Tower of Terror". I will say this thank god elevators have built in brakes cause they saved our lives that night. Unfortunately they did not stop the fall of the elevator, but they did slow it down. We hit the ground with a big crash and almost everyone was knocked to the ground upon impact. I was actually the youngest and most fit in our group at the time and managed to pry open the elevator doors. When the doors opened I found our elevator was 40 inches below ground level. I climbed up and helped everyone out of the elevator. No one was really hurt and we were all still hungry and thirsty so we took a second elevator to the top while a frantic doorman was dialing for help. Once at the top we all entered the bar and bought a beer and helped ourselves to the buffet. After a beer and a dozen or so chicken wings my homesickness really started to kick in. At that point all I wanted to do was go home, so I excused myself and decided to walk home to the hotel. I forgot this was Texas and in the middle of summer. Even if it was after sundown it was still hot. I had walked about 3 miles and I was hot, thirsty, tired, and maybe a little shook up from the fall, and then I did something I was told to never do. I stuck out my thumb and began to hitch hike home. As I turned around I saw Dallas with a big beautiful full moon floating in the sky. The lights of the city mirrored the lights in the sky, and I began walking backwards with my thumb stretched out for a ride. I had walked another mile or so without attracting a ride and was extremely thirsty so I walked into the first place I came across to get a drink. This was during a recession so it should really come as no surprise that the place I stumbled into was a topless bar. I think they all were at the time. Anyway I took a seat at the bar and ordered a beer. It took about a minute for one of the girls to approach me. I looked her in the eye and explained my situation, that I was almost broke and was only there to get a quick drink. I was not there to buy a dance or anything else. She smiled and went about her job, but came back to see me and we started to talk. She asked me not to leave and bought me a beer, and in between her dances we talked all night. She told me her name was Dawn. That night I made friends with all the dancers and the bartenders and ended up going out to breakfast at a Denny's with a dozen strippers. Every guys dream right. Better still all the dancers from all the clubs were going there and I ended up making friends with hundreds of young women who were doing the only thing they could to survive life's storm. Those girls gave me a ride back to my hotel and invited me back the next night and next and I spent two week making some wonderful friends. That first night, however when I got back to my room I picked up a pen and a small notepad on the desk and wrote the words down before going to sleep. Part of it was my love for home and part of it was for Dawn and her beautiful green eyes. When I had returned back to my home outside of Chicago and the band got together for our practice, Bill pulled out his guitar and showed me a new lick he was working on. The tempo he played it at reminded me of the words I had written two weeks earlier. I convinced him to play it like a twelve bar and everything started to click. I had thought about something I heard Eric Clapton say about trying to take the blues somewhere different and said lets change the back end of the twelve bar so that it's a unique take on the blues and that's what we did. I hope I haven't rambled on to long. I could have said I wrote it while hitch hiking but where's the fun in that. Besides its not every day you get to brag about strippers buying you a beer. anyway I hope to be back soon with a shorter story about how I wrote "Crazy Old Dog" which is about my dog Jazz. I have not promoted this song at all yet but its a real fun tale I hope you check out soon Until next time Follow the path of love to happiness Rusty Clay