Twangtown Throwdown

This weekend I went to Southern Pines for a fundraiser for the NC chapter of Hugs Across America. This organization strives to provide teddy bears to troubled kids all over the country for many different reason....house fires, neglect, abuse, natural disaster, etc. They want children to feel comforted in their times of despair. Mckenzies Mill (Justin & Ryan Harris, Tony Barnes, Paul Newton, Shane Hoskins and Tim ??) was the entertainment for the Twangtown Throwdown fundraiser and they put on one hell of a show (as always). One of the most heart-wrenching songs they do (and this is the first time I've heard it live) is "Houston". "Houston" is a song written about Tony's cousin and a dear friend to everyone else, Matt Barnes. Matt was 24 when he was killed in a car accident last year. A couple months before the accident, the band was in Charlotte and Matt, being the fun-loving kind of guy that he was, went to support them, hang out and have a good time. He loved music and playing guitar and was very talented at it. He and Justin came up with a good little guitar peice and started humming a tune that went with it. Matt said it would make a great song and they should work on it someday. Well, that someday never came because he left us all too soon. Justin wrote the song with the help of Tony and together, they recorded it. Justin emailed me the song quite a while ago but hearing it live for the first time was amazing. Watching grown men get choked up on stage proves that this song comes from heart or maybe even from above, where I'm sure Matt was looking down with a smile. Anyways, here is my favorite verse and some pictures from the show.....

"I remember the time, remember the place, I remember that smirky little smile on your face when you told me its a perfect melody and we belt it out two-part harmony. But the song was never written, the story never told. You left it up to me to tell it all alone. And I hope I did you justice, I hope I made you proud, I hope you'll let a little light shine on down. As we try to spread our music and we try to make our name, we're all blood brothers here on this stage and we roll, yeah we roll."