The Kerrville Wine and Music Festival is now part of a Labor Day Tradition in the Texas Hill Country. If you have not enjoyed the event, head out to any show any day this weekend. If you know what I’m talking about, along with me you are anticipating a great weekend of music.

  I have been thinking about “favorites” lately and realized that blues music might still be my favorite genre. Oh, I love the strong writers and great guitar players, but there is something about the rhythm of blues that gets in my soul. Or maybe it is already part of my soul.

  First, a quick report. I did enjoy the first day of school as much as I ever have. My granddaughter, Jessica, attended a freshman writing class at Schreiner University with me at 9:00 a.m. last Wednesday morning. We had a great time talking about the power of language and communication. I enjoyed having the 11-year-old perspective to add to the mix. I can already tell I’m going to learn along with this group of students.  Communication is a two-way street, and I always tell students the strength of their listening will create a great space for my teaching.

  Jimmy LaFave will be on campus September 3, for the first Texas Music Coffee House of the season. Sponsored by Student Activities, THMF, Tobin Tilley and Bret Ford, this event is free and open to the public. Bohemia Beat is Jimmy’s record label. You know I like that name! Jimmy pays tribute to Woody Guthrie as well as to Bob Dylan, a man who also paid tribute to Woody Guthrie. Jimmy has written one of my favorite love songs, and the line of women who wait to talk with him after a show reflect his power of communication. I always describe Jimmy as a troubador and poet, and his music has that interesting edge that I love. Sometimes he plays the blues.

  Another interesting edge can be found on a CD by Doyle Bramhall.  “Fitchburg Street” is his latest. Not only does it contain many of my favorite songs in my favorite genre (blues), but it is rich with the seasoned voice of Doyle Bramhall and the cast of musicians he has gathered. That list includes Gary Primich, Casper Rawls, Riley Osbourn, Mike Judge, Roscoe Beck, Doyle Bramhall II and Wayne Jackson.

  Bramhall grew up in West Dallas with a family that loved to listen to music and dance. I grew up in Ft. Worth, hearing strains of that music in cowtown. How I wish I had traveled over to visit the Dallas scene at that time. Next best experience is to listen to Bramhall as he weaves together his influences, his experience into a sound that can only be called “Texas Soul.” And I love Texas soul!

  I once heard Jimmie Reed at T.C.U. when I was a freshman in college in 1963. Bramhall gives a whole new interpretation of Reed’s classic song, “Baby, What You Want Me To Do.” He gives whole new meaning to the term “Texas shuffle.” I mean, you can’t listen to this CD sitting still. I’ve already danced around the kitchen before sitting down to write this column.

  The album, on Yep Roc Records, was released last February. The music takes me back to the time I interviewed Stevie Ray Vaughan. I found out later that  Bramhall collaborated with  Vaughan on “Change It,” “House Is Rockin’” and “Dirty Pool.” And he wrote “Life By The Drop.” I remember watching Stevie perform this song at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio. I knew he was living the song. When he finished, he stopped and talked about the power of addiction and his joy at living his life a new way. He had just gotten out of a treatment center when I interviewed him, and his joy was complete and whole. I heard it in that concert. The last time I talked with Stevie Ray was November 26, 1989, before his show with Jeff  Beck. He told me then that sitting around and playing music with his brother was his favorite thing to do.

  Bramhall captures this essence in his music, coming out of the same tradition. He and his brother, Dale, formed The Cobras, a band that also included fellow Dallas musicians and guitarist Jimmie Vaughan. The moved to Austin, transforming into The Storm, and they took Austin by storm. That band evolved into the Nightcrawlers, which included Stevie Ray on guitar. Bramhall played with Rocky Hill, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Anson Funderburgh, a roll call for significant blues contributions. He backed Mason Ruffner, playing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and played a four-year stint as Marcia Ball’s drummer. He also produced her album, “Presumed Innocent,” which won the 2002 Blues Album of the Year presented at the W.C. Handy Awards Show in Memphis. This man has the blues in his soul, his Texas soul.

  His influences contain many strong threads of the Texas heritage tapestry of music, and his music on this album adds yet another golden thread to this tapestry. Turn it on, turn it up. Get out your dancing shoes, prepare to hip shake baby. Another big surprise, this man is a grandfather! See www.doylebramhall.com for details. Free Leonard and down the road.