Mineral Wells, Amanda Shires, and SXSW

If you frequent this site, you've probably noticed the insane number of postcards I've posted for Mineral Wells, Texas (I have images of 159 postcards so far, not all of them posted...). Back in the day, some 100 years ago, Mineral Wells was a big deal, a famous resort town west of Fort Worth that warranted its own special spur of the railroad. Lawrence Welk got his start in the Baker Hotel there as did Mary Martin, she of Peter Pan fame. I worked up in Mineral Wells for a short while on water issues at nearby Fort Wolters and fell in love with its hydrogeologic history, so prominently and anomalously marked as it is by the Baker, and even saddled up to the last remaining water bar in town (word of advice: stay close to a restroom...).

A couple years ago my bride sent me a link to a song about Mineral Wells by Amanda Shires. Ms Shires grew up, in part, in Mineral Wells. I have a collection of songs about water, especially Texas water, so I was happy to add this track to the collection. But this particular song, songwriter, and singer were simply mesmerizing, so we've followed her career ever since. And so we were filled with joy to see that not only was she playing at SXSW this year, but in an intimate setting at a downtown hotel bar. "If you came for songs about murder, suicide, and depression, you came to the right place," she said starting off her set. Three-quarters through, I asked if she would play Mineral Wells, and she did. It was magical.

Mineral Wells by Amanda Shires.

And here's an awesome in-studio performance she did at NPR a bit ago, including "the train song".