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I’m at my desk for several hours this evening, then off to San Francisco. It is Spring Break at Schreiner College. On this brief “vacation,” I will also check in with Slim’s, a club owned by Texan, Boz Scaggs.

South by Southwest Music Conference produced a few highlights for a short, two-day stay. A late show at The Terrace (old Austin Opry House) ended with Timbuk 3 saying important things in their own unique style. Their new (relatively) bass player adds a rowdy Reggae rhythm, Pat and Barbara continue to harmonize, Barbara whips out a fiddle for one of the breaks, Pat wails background on the harmonica. What a show! I thought I was just “waiting” for Michelle Shocked to come on.

And she did, with her brother, Max, Lisa Mednik on accordion and Allison Brown on banjo. Shocked’s new album on PolyGram, Arkansas Traveler, is a perpendicular turn from the road she was traveling on Captain Swing. She performed numerous cuts off the soon-to-be released album even while an enthusiastic audience member yelled out for “East Texas Roads,” [sic] a Shocked classic.

Putting new words to traditional fiddle tunes has given Shocked an album that will thrill the purist, excite the newcomers, and bring in the young.

Her performance Thursday night at The Terrace did the same. Two young men walked up to me at midnight, saying, “We drove from the Panhandle to hear Michelle Shocked. We didn’t miss her, did we?” They didn’t.

She called up “Dollar Bill,” her dad. She did sing “East Texas Road” [sic] with another young man standing on the front row singing along with her. Her finale, “Strawberry Jam,” was the same ending I saw in San Antonio a year ago. That was the only similarity in the shows. Now Shocked is smiling, grinning, and having fun.

“I’M IN LOVE,” she explained. “I can’t believe the difference love makes in your life. I was as fragile as I appeared back then, confused. Now I want to share the love I feel.”

The audience completed her performance by joining in – “If you want the best jam in the world, you gotta make your own.” The message went far beyond advice for the kitchen.

She also delivered some “rambling” remarks at the opening of South by Southwest. I did not hear the address so that adjective belongs to someone else. I’m sure I would have followed the winding road with her – I always have.