FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 4, 2000

I kept complaining about his beatup straw hat. "If you'd get rid of that hat, I'd be able to get you more places to play." He laughed. "I came to Texas to wear this hat and have this yellow rose tattooed on my arm and live in a bus at Luckenbach." He did that and played the Texas Music Coffeehouse at Schreiner University, once paying tribute to Allen Ginsberg by reading "Howl."

Al was swept away in a creek during the hard rains last week. He was close to the place he loved, Luckenbach. I first met Al when he came to my office one summer. "I have some songs to play for you," he said. And the next two hours I heard some beautiful poetry in some wonderful songs. He played for a Senate retreat at Schreiner, the coffeehouse, the freshmen experience and the Texas Heritage Living History Day in September. Al would play railroad songs in honor of Jimmie Rodgers. He always wore the hat--and he was proud of it.

Al's music always swept me away. He alludes to Yeats, the Bible, Blake and other literary greats. He sang "Old Coyote" for my mythology class, saying, "Ole Coyote, you're the fire in the water, the diamonds in the cold, cold ground." The song goes on for abot twenty minutes, interpreting Coyote as every trickster that ever existed in time. My class loved it. This year, I'll just play his tape, one he recorded in his bus for me.

John Krause, a musician who knew Al well, said, "He paints pictures with this song. It's a movie." I think John really identifies with the trickster, like many of us.

As the song plays in my office this wet Saturday night, I think about the sudden loss of this wonderful man, this poet. I'm glad I had time with him; I wish we had said goodbye. We did have one more conversation to have, and we waited too long.

Al could be seen at the songwriters' circle at the Kerrville Folk Festival each June. He loved getting the feedback from Steve Gillette. He participated in campfires, always ready to sing a song and tell a story. He left a sweetness in the big spring of life.

Al Grierson will join Blaze Foley, Glen Alyn, Townes Van Zandt, Buck Ramsey and Roxy Gordon at a bigger campfire. I knew all these men well, and they made a big difference in my life. Each distinct voice told a story that will stay with me forever.

Kathleen Hudson
Director Texas Heritage Music Foundation
www.texasheritagemusic.org

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