Scott Newton Photo

This is the front cd cover shot for “Bloodless Revolution”, her most recent release. (Shot during live performance at 1/30th of a second)… Carolyn is my current favorite Austin performer who isn’t famous, yet. She’s the best woman lead guitar player I know of, right up there with Bonnie Raitt, Sue Foley and Susan Tedeschi. She’s a great blues singer, to boot. And on top of that, she’s as fine a person there is.

There’s a streak of irreverence and intelligent fun that runs through many Texans and much of Texas. This is not widely known outside of the state, where it’s assumed that everyone who resides here is a loud, obnoxious, belligerent yayhoo. Well, everyone who lives here isn’t necessarily all that bad..(said Scott, defensively)… There ARE some surprisingly colorful and original characters here, for sure. One of them was Hondo, dead almost 30 years already….(Yikes!)… A champion swimmer in his youth, he became the ringleader and Mayor of All Things Fun at his little town of Luckenbach in the early 70’s. Here he is Holding Court at his own Country Store and Post Office at Jerry Jeff and Susan Walker’s Wedding, December 1974. His influence lives on at every Chili-Cookoff and Spam-o-Rama and Cow-Chip Throwing Contest, and any other oddball event Texans seem to love so much. What a Legacy….

Of all the musicians who laid down The Soundtrack for us Boomers (we know who we are), Neil has probably stayed closer to the ideals of the ’60’s than anyone. I salute him for that, and for his constant search for newness, freshness, and vitality. Neil has done it the way it should be done. Neil’s been an inspiration of mine ever since I found his first two solo albums in a used records bin at a second hand furniture store in Dallas in 1969. “Hmmm”, I thought, “didn’t he used to be with Buffalo Springfield?” No one in Dallas had heard of him then, so it was like all those great songs were for me, their discoverer, alone…and I continue to feel that way. It still seems, for example, only I know about his early song, “The Loner”, one of the true Classic rock songs. Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World, Neil….some of us are still rockin’ right along with you.

20-25 years ago we taped many now-legendary country music icons at Austin City Limits. One of my favorites was Loretta. Loretta is one of those rare “stars” who is as authentic and vulnerable as she seems. She really cares if the audience likes her. Here, everyone can see, and feel, her Joy .

Long ago and far away I grabbed this shot during twilight, riding in an old jeep, on a dirt road on the way to a country wedding…and I haven’t been able to get the image out of my head ever since. I see this image, and others like it, in my dreams. This one time I was able to photograph it.

This image has been haunting me lately. Jumbo, the black dog in the shot, (a wonderful dog) has sufferred an apparent stroke, becoming completely paralyzed, on 2/23/05. My son Zane, a trained medical technician, has been treating him with an experimental (at least to ME) brain wave device which has actually restored much of his function. Where before he was limited to breathing, moving his eyes and slightly wagging his tail, now he can sit up and literally drag himself around the yard. We’re all praying he will soon walk again, and retake his station at the top of my driveway. Flash! Jumbo now gets up and walks! (3-20-05) Amazing! More, later….. Jumbo has retaken his place. (3-24-05) Amazing…we had his grave dug, and the vet thought we should “put him down”. Seemingly hopeless situations sometimes resolve quite well, in the end…I must remember that.

One of my best friends, Virginia Ivey, is expecting twins. Here she is at almost 36 weeks.

I haven’t been shooting much lately. I’ve found, in the past, that if I do a series of self portraits it helps budge that big ol’ Rock up the Hill. So, here I am. Maybe we can get that rock to roll…..

My son Orion tells me that “I’ll really blow minds” if I exhibit this shot. He tells me they’re the “John Lennons of our generation”….I had, like, no idea when I was shooting them…. (What is the deal with all the white kids getting their inspiration from inner city African-Americans, anyway?–Somewhere I disconnected from the cultural movement….I wish I could say I get it, but I don’t–but I CAN dance to the music…Oh, yeah–now I remember–My parents thought the same thing when most of what I wanted to dance and listen to came out of Motown…) So, here goes, Orion…Is your mind blown?

I’ve had requests for shots of my family. Well, here we are; just taken on my 56th birthday. (l-r) Hawk, Orion, Zane, Scott and Steve. The biological sons are Hawk, Orion, and Zane. Steve, coincidentally (?) a Newton, has become core Family, good friend to all of us. There is no Mrs Newton, except for Zane’s wife Karen, the mother of my two fine granddaughters Kaia and Zadie.