Quoting Wavy Gravy at Woodstock, after the crowd knocked down the fences and the promoters had completely lost control: "it's a free concert."

As you (probably) know, back in the deep dark ages of time, I was a professional musician/performer.

No. I don't miss it.

However, I'm real proud of what I accomplished. I want to share it with you.

Here's the rules. You can download and listen to these songs. Share 'em with your friends. Put 'em on your iPod.

You may NOT use these songs as background music for your videos, or for any commercial purposes. At all. These songs are all original compositions (by me) and are published through Buffalo Gap Publishing, BMI. All rights reserved.

Let the music begin. To listen to a song, "left-click" on the name. To download, "right-click" and "save file as." On Macs, "ctrl-click."

Trash Like Me- is the only song of mine that has been recorded by another artist. Some country guy- I forget his name.

Unless otherwise noted, all songs written and performed (all instruments) by me.

Let The Girl Dance- is popular in the bars in East Germany. I like the guitar sound.

Long before I had a cabin in Terlingua, I was fascinated by the place. Mystery Wind is the story of a guy talking to the devil about breaking up with his girlfriend. I have no idea where that came from, but the track works.

Sometimes I'm asked "where do song ideas come from?"

Well, the idea for "Someday" came from me having a deadline to complete an album, and thinking that a good 6/8 blues would fit nicely with the rest of the songs.

I'd like to hear it sung by a good singer. This is a song that really worked well in the live show.

Missing You is what happens when you give a bored musician access to loops. Those drum tracks are all loops. I played all the other instruments by hand, but the drums pretty much defined where the track was going. The song itself works with just acoustic guitar and vocals- I'd definitely say this one is over-produced.

Coffee in the Morning is Betsy's favorite. The vocals were recorded first thing in the morning while I was drinking my first cup of coffee. The riff is based on "Leaving Trunk," an old blues song.

Live and Learn dates back to the early 90's, Houston. I had just had my mind blown by hearing Robin Ford's "Talk to your Daughter" album.

If you talk to other guitar players of my generation, you'll find that it traumatized a lot of them.

The guitar parts are pretty much my response to that. The arrangement is stolen from an early B.B. King song.

Blues Avenue won the Austin Songwriter's group "Song of the Year" and "Best Blues-Rock song" which severely irritated most of the hack writers who were in that organization. It was the first, and last, time they used professional songwriters as judges. I lucked out.

Now the hacks judge the contest themselves. I wouldn't stand a chance.

The distinctive guitar sound is an acoustic through a wah-wah pedal, which is a trick I learned from J.J. Cale.

Southbound Train is one of a batch of songs I wrote when I first moved to Wimberley. I was single, then.

It's obviously derivative of several old blues songs- like "trash like me," it's just Hoochie Coochie man played kinda sideways.

That's Danny Wade on bass and Dony Wyn on drums. They finished an entire liter of Jack Daniels before lunch... can you tell?

The next three songs feature my band at the time, plus Bradley Kopp, who engineered and produced the album, and played much of the lead guitar.

Drums: Justin Hess

Bass: Keith Carper

BG vocals: Jules Alexander, Andres Cantisani, Linda Sriro, Trish ____, the Wylie sisters, and others.

That's a Lot Like Heroin is from a batch of songs I wrote when I was first trying to get Betsy's attention.

The song is much better than it has any right to be- I had a lot of time on my hands.

It's basically an intellectual appeal for love. It had absolute no effect at all on the outcome I was going for.

When Lovers Lie is interesting for several reasons. It's from my CD, "Of Trains and Angels," which is far and away the best one. The background vocals were performed by a group of friends who just happened to live in Wimberley. We would party and sing together.

One of them is Jules Alexander, who was the lead singer/songwriter for The Association. If you're of my generation, you'll recognize that voice from "Along Came Mary," and "Cherish." Wimberley is weird that way. You wouldn't believe the talent hanging around here.

Emerald Eyes- Definitely my most popular song. Back in the day, the girls would crowd to the front of the stage to hear it. It was not written for anybody in particular... as usual, I was thinking I needed a certain kind of song- in this case, a love song. The chords were brazenly stolen from a Shake Russell song, which was brazenly stolen from "Willing," by Lowell George, which was brazenly stolen from "Whiter Shade of Pale," which is based on a Bach piece... (all songwriters are thieves) although the melody is all mine.

Back to "do you miss it?"

Nope. Not a bit.

Earlier in my career I toured in bands that opened for Cheap Trick, Heart, etc. B.B. King. Played with a bunch of my heroes at Antones with the W.C. Clark Blues Review. Played in Hank Thompson's band on a falt-bed truck at a rodeo in Snook, Texas. Jammed with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric Johnson... But, it was always as a member of somebody else's band.

I could see the brass ring, but I couldn't reach it.

Later, I had my own band.

As musicians go, I was successful. Not "big-time" successful, but I had a record deal with a major European indie label, a publishing deal, and could tour as much as I wanted to.

If that success had happened in my 20's or 30's- well, who knows? I might'a died from a beer overdose. I might'a been smart and created a real career. We'll never know, because I was in my mid-forties before I had any kind of success at all. Too little too late.

I was trying to be a success at 21 in my 40's. Can't be done.

By that time, the long hours in the van, the uncomfortable hotel rooms, and the time spent away from the wife and kids far outweighed the adulation and booze.

And then, there's the money.

Yesterday, I deposited my Clickbank checks for the last 2 weeks. They totaled more than I made in a year as a musician. I'm a much better Internet Marketer than I was a musician.

I still sit in with friends, play the occasionaly gig, and I use my recording studio, instruments and talent in my Internet Marketing business- but, as far as being a "professional" musician- I'm retired. I don't regret a moment, and I wouldn't do it again.

I hope you've enjoyed our little walk down memory lane. I've got five other CDs out, and I'll probably put them all online at some point.

Leave comments at www.patobryan.com/blog.

Thanks!