3rd Annual
Spring Planting Festival
Terri Hendrix
Fri, March 11, 7:30 pm
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Rhythms of Spring Planting
Sat, March 12, 7:30 pm
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Our Sacred Garden
Tue, March 15, 7:00 pm
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St. Patrick: What it really means to be Green!
Thur, Mar 17, 7:00 pm
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Backyard Gardening Expo
Sun, March 20, 2:00 pm
Free to the public
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3rd Annual Spring Planting Festival
Terri Hendrix
One of Texas’ most beloved songwriters
Grammy winner
In Concert with Lloyd Maines
Fri, Mar 11, 7:30 pm
$18 adv, $20 door, $25 priority seating in first 3 rows
‘Cry Till You Laugh’ with Singer, Performer and Author
A trailblazing independent artist, who lives by the motto “Own Your Own Universe,” Terri Hendrix will bring her music, new book, and stage presence to Old Town Center for the Arts for a special concert on Friday, January 14th at 7:30 PM.
“Where do you start with Terri,” commented William Eaton, OTCA Co-Director. “She’s an award winning singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author, producer, business woman, gardener, community activist, philanthropist and spokesperson for raising awareness about epilepsy, a condition that she’s fought and managed throughout a 30 year successful career in the music industry. Last Sunday she ran in Moe’s Better Half Marathon to raise awareness for the Epilepsy Foundation of Central and South Texas. That’s no easy feat. She’s quite a remarkable individual.”
A classically trained vocalist and deft multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin and harmonica), Hendrix is a firm believer in the theory that “life’s too short for one genre,” dodging musical pigeonholes by weaving folk, pop, country, blues and swinging jazz into an eclectic style all her own. Add to that her charismatic stage presence and reputation for always delivering an energetic and spiritually uplifting live show and it’s no wonder why she’s been embraced by three generations of loyal fans around the world.
“Sometimes people come to me after a show and tell me, My face hurts from smiling,and other times, they’ve been crying,” Hendrix says. “As a performer, I feel like it’s my job to get both out of an audience … and as a writer, I feel like it’s my job to get both out of a song. I want to get to the heart of the song. When I do a show, I want people to feel like, Man, we just went on a ride.”
The fourteen successful albums that Terri has produced is a testament to her taking her audience on a ride. Her latest album, appropriately enough, is entitled Cry Till You Laugh and is already one of the best-received albums of her career. WXPN’s Gene Shay, founder of the Philadelphia Folk Festival, raves Cry Till You Laugh is wonderful, with some of the best songs I’ve heard in ages. One moment she’s bluesy, the next, refreshingly cool and pure. That takes oodles of talent and musical know how.
Terri’s new book is also, aptly titled Cry Till You Laugh – The Part That Ain’t Art. It’s only fitting that this award winning singer-songwriter’s first book is two books in one: part companion piece to her latest album with lyrics, photos and essays linked to the songs on the record, and part how-to guide for going your own way in the music business. And she should know, as a veritable pioneer in the running-your-own label revolution sweeping the music industry, she has released all of her 14 albums on her own Wilory Records, and is one of the very few artists who can lay claim to owning all of her master recordings. She has been sharing her hard-earned survival tips in the music business for years, during a series of workshops from the Berklee School of Music to music festivals all over the country to her own annual Life’s a Song retreat in Port Aransas, Texas.
Terri started her career by earning a scholarship to study voice at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. She eventually transferred to Southwest Texas State in San Marcos, the hippie-friendly college town halfway between San Antonio and Austin that she still calls home. But she wasn’t long for school there, either; instead, she found the most important mentor of her life in classical musician, teacher and organic farmer Marion Williamson. In exchange for farmhand duties, including milking goats, which explains the mascot Hendrix later adopted for her label, Williamson taught her not only the finer points of Mississippi John Hurt-style guitar picking, but how to book gigs and set up her own PA system.
Later Hendrix began working with producer/guitarist Lloyd Maines. Lloyd is known for his stints with the Joe Ely Band, Terry Allen, and the Dixie Chicks. Their first record together, Wilory Farm, garnered significant airplay and tour dates well outside of Texas, and Hendrix’s career has moved from strength to strength ever since, with subsequent albums like Places in Between, The Ring, The Art of Removing Wallpaper and The Spiritual Kind receiving critical raves from such publications as Texas Monthly, the Boston Herald, Washington Post, Billboard, Harp and Mojo.
Terri’s also released four live CDs, a popular kids album, Celebrate the Difference (which featured the satellite radio hit Nerves), a Christmas EP and a decade-spanning collection of previously unreleased studio recordings, Left Over Alls.
In addition to winning several local music awards in San Antonio and Austin, including: Best Singer-Songwriter, Best Folk Act and Best New Band, Hendrix co-wrote a Grammy-winning instrumental entitled Lil’ Jack Slade on the Dixie Chicks’ multi-platinum Home album. But the biggest professional and personal honors of her career have all come about in the last year. In 2010, she was inducted into the South Texas Music Walk of Fame in Corpus Christi, joining such Lone Star luminaries as Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson and all four original Texas Tornados.
Terri also received the Art of Peace Award from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, honoring her for creating art in the service of peace, justice and human understanding. And in early 2011, she will return to Hardin-Simmons University to receive an Outstanding Alumni Award, given each year to three alumni who have attained outstanding achievements in their field of endeavor, community, state or nation.
True to her word, Hendrix is currently embracing not only the next stage of her musical evolution, but also the launch of her OYOU (Own Your Own Universe) Community Arts Center. Inspired in part by Hendrix’s own personal experiences, as well as by people with neurological challenges she has had the honor to meet and play for over the years, the official 501 (c)(3) nonprofit is dedicated to serving the greater San Marcos community with a handi-capable facility that will offer educational and therapeutic arts programs for people of all ages, ethnicities and traditions.
If you’d like to see a moving performance, that touches candidly on everything from hilarious road stories and stage-fright jitters to poignant matters of the heart and her life-long battle with epilepsy, come and ‘cry till you laugh’ with Terri Hendrix.
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