Blog: Farewell 2018, Welcome 2019!
Farewell 2018! You were a year filled with distant travels, new shows, homecoming concerts, and Texas Hill Country recurring performances that allowed me to provide for my family--a year my family members saw joy, heartache, recovery, and happiness. On behalf of my fellow musicians and my family we thank all of you have have touched our lives. Welcome 2019!
Farewell 2018, within your passing days my music could be heard as the soundtrack for I Miss You Already, a short film written and directed by John Dyer, now broadcast internationally on ShortsTV; the film includes some of my more traditional country songs, “San Antonio Woman” from my latest album and “From a Table Made for Two,” both co-written with the late Kent Finlay, and it included “Tennessee Left Texas,” co-written with Rick Bussey, “Loneliest Star In Texas,” and “Kiss and Make Up For Lost Time,” both co-written with Mike Blakely, the latter with Jerry Harkins, and Mike Siler,. Thank you 2018.
And, within those 2018 days, our music could be heard on public stages as far away as an Irish music festival in Ehingen-Donau, Germany to a raucous concert at the Great Northern Bar in Whitefish, Montana. Our brand of Texas country, western, Latino funk and folk could be heard along the 2018 wine trail of the Texas Hill Country at tasting rooms such as 4.0 Cellars, Torre di Pietra Winery, William Chris Vineyards, Torr Na Lochs, Flat Creek Enoteca, and at the 1st annual Fall Festival at Wildseed Farms/Wedding Oak Winery. Regionally, legendary venues like Hondo’s on Main (Fredericksburg), Gruene Hall (New Braunfels), Badu 1891 (Llano), Driskill Hotel (Austin), Uptown Art House (Marble Falls) hosted my band this past year, as well as numerous weekday venues like Trailblazer Grille (Burnet), On the Rocks (Cottonwood Shores), Blue Corn Harvest (Cedar Park), Maria’s Mexican Restaurant (Leander). And there were so many community events like the Concerts in the Park in Comfort, Blanco Concert Series, Christmas at the LBJ Boyhood Home National Park, Horseshoe Bay Cultural Enrichment Society’s event where I performed for the first time with a string quartet out of Houston and central Texas. Contact Irene Schmidt for international bookings: info@is-music.ch
Farewell 2018 and thank you for bookings of intimate house concerts from the birthday celebration in Coto de Caza, California to the Dickey Lake show near the Canadian border to the house concert for dignitaries from LSU, including Mary Matalin and George Carville, to the farm house concert in Grasswil, Switzerland, to the two airplane hangar concerts, one in Arcola, Texas, one in Tivoli, Texas, that held events with our music. And, there were numerous 2018 house concerts with Mike Blakely and Pauline Reese performed as a thank you to the significant donors to Hurricane Harvey’s relief efforts, including the music program at Port Aransas band program.
Farewell 2018 and thank you for the numerous private events you allowed my band to be part of including events at Escondido Golf and Lake Club (Horseshoe Bay, TX), Iron Horse Golf Club (Whitefish, MT) and numerous corporate events for McDermott & Bull (Laguna Niguel, CA), Chevy Buick Marble Falls, FAMA Conference (Austin), IPPA Conference (Bastrop, TX), plus the many ranch parties, weddings, rehearsal dinners, birthday parties etc. These private events allow us to pay the rent! So thank you 2018.
Farewell 2018. You brought Mark Chesnutt, Two Tons of Steel, Walt Wilkins, Drew Womack, plus a special public performance with my band with Mike Blakely and Pauline Reese, to my hometown for our rebranded Marble Falls Music Festival. MFMF was hosted for the first time by our Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce and staged by Ken-Ran Productions, which first introduced us to the stages of State Fair of Texas. Ken-Ran brought world class staging, sound, and lights to our once sleepy now bustling small town enabling our 501(c)3 to donate to youth music programs in our area--yes, musicians benefitting future musicians. Thank you 2018 for a wonderful year. Thank you local, Texas, national and international broadcast radio, streaming radio, and satellite radio for the spins that supported these shows in 2018!
Welcome 2019! We know you’ll take us to many new places and people we do not yet know. But this we do know you’ll see the creation of my 14th album of original music, an album which will include new and revised Western Swing songs and Honky Tonk creations including “For the Love of Western Swing,” “Who’s On Your Mind,” “Cherry Springs Swing,” a remake of “Gentle on My Mind,” and a swing/cumbia cover of “Take Me Back to Texas” with Los Texmaniacs. You’ll see my band Tejas, Luiz Coutinho de Souza, Chris Reeves, William Morse, Mark Epstein, Kurt Baumer, Caleb Scott Rojas, and Stefano Bertolotti making music that brings a tear or a smile to your face, that makes you stop and think or rise up out of your chair and dance. You just might see a reunion with some of my Nashville Star alumni. Welcome 2019!
Vayan con Dios,
Yvonna & john Arthur martinez
Watch I Miss You Already on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/218649894
The password is: miss
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San Antonio Woman available at CDBaby.