In 1977, I was part of a 3 piece acoustic group called “Cheapshot” in Houston TX. One night we were going out to play at an open mic. We were fairly new at performing and were nervous as cats about playing out for the first time.  We all barely knew 3-chords, but we had more nerve than talent and we decided to go for it.

One of the songs we were going to play was “You’ve got a lover” by Shake Russell, a local and favorite songwriter whose album ‘Songs on the Radio” had just recently been released. Just before we were to hit the stage I looked over at the bar and there was Shake himself leaning against the bar and sipping a beer.  I told my band that I’d be right back and walked up to him and said; ‘Hey, I just came over to apologize to you’.  He asked why and I told him that we were about to butcher one of his songs.  He laughed and asked which one.  When I told him, he very graciously said to go for it.  In fact he said you can perform any song of mine that you like, all I ask is that you give me credit for writing it anytime you play one. I thanked him and went on stage.  He grinned through our painfully amateurish version of his song and gave us a thumbs up sign. 

To this day I still play some of his songs in public and never fail to mention him as the songwriter.  I’ll never forget that night and will always appreciate his kindness.  Now I host a couple of open mics and try to be as kind and generous with my time and talent as Shake was to me.  It’s all about the music.  What a great fraternity we all belong to.