Rebel Cowboys, Cowboy Poetry, & Time

(I posted this on my Facebook page):

My friend, Billy Highsmith, plays lead guitar in this band. I'm very proud of him, this is a big deal. It's being filmed in Waco next Saturday. Maybe I'll go, I don't know, but at least I can share it on Texas Tales from a Lone Star and put it here for a bit. I always change my personal page, delete stuff, add stuff, rewrite stuff, because it is where I write and create. But here's Billy and his band.

I met Billy the very same night I met my friend Andy that I've based my Texas Tales from a Lone Star TV episodes and short-stories around (and I have a dozen or so songs I've also written). They were/are best friends. I attended Billy's wedding a couple of years ago at Andy's ranch. They rode in on horses to the Saloon Billy helped Andy and friends build. It's a whole world and it is a wonderful world we all have been enjoying since I met them, in 2014 I think.

We were all at an open mic at a place called the Lone Star Bar in Jonestown, Texas. Either that time or right around then we also were sharing the stage with our 3 songs with a guy who now has a Willie Nelson cover band that is probably the best there is. So when I say open mic and you think you hear what I'm saying, you're not. We're in the "Live Music Capital of the World." Our open mics are filled with the best.

Anyway, I was living at The Island on Lake Travis, one town past Jonestown. Another musician had told me about the Lone Star, that it was a hub where local musicians hung out to meet and network with other local professional musicians. I created Texas Tales from a Lone Star a month or so after this, 2014.

The next week when I took my guitar and songs back to repeat the open mic, it became a hangout and I have several episodes there and a lot of the musician friends I have today originated from those early days, there, anyway, the next week I had printed out my original song, "Rebel Cowboy." When I saw the guy I had noticed the week before, Andy, sitting with friends at a table, probably Billy was there, if not, he was somewhere nearby, I took my song over to that table and placed it in front of Andy. Andy and I wound up signing an agreement over that song.

I sing it sometimes, around. It sounds like I'm singing about Andy but I had written it a decade earlier in Orlando, when I had met a guy with almost waist long hair (I tend to spot those guys, lol) at an Orlando venue called, of all things, "Cowboys." I had written several songs about that particular hunk of beauty and personality. Songs, so sad, most of them, they made people cry, Cowboys are tough on the heart. I let him go pretty fast but kept the great songs. I filmed Billy's wedding, it was FULL of all kinds of Cowboys and just family friends from that aspect of our beloved Texas.

So, here's Billy, you can go see him next week in Waco. I've listened to and filmed his Cowboy Poetry he has stood up and recited at Andy's Musician Circles at his ranch. I've been to places over and over where Billy is part of the regular group of whoever is there, usually having something to do with Andy, that's why I FILM Andy, he just goes out and does lots of Texas stuff. Proud of you, Billy! Thanks for your friendship all these years. Thanks for letting me sing a song or two at your wedding, I kept that private, well, because those are special, private type photos and videos, but they are really great. Best Wishes, much love, Angel

Copyright 2025 Angel Isaacs All Rights Reserved

Written August 31, 2025 at 3:50 pm

The event I'm referring to in this story is: The Texas Music Cafe, Reverend Nathan Outlaw Blues Live Taping! 7:30 pm September 6, 2025 at texasmusiccafe.com 110 S 6th St, Waco, TX 76701