(Click photo above to watch video interview/performance)
ABOVE: Photo of Dean Strickland on stage at the Nashville Music City Vistor Center in Nashville, Tennessee on August 29, 2008 taken by Allison Vague
On August 28, 2008, Dean with Billy Falcon and The Sowing Circle played the song "Dead Flowers" by the Rolling Stones at The Blue Bar in Nashville, Tennessee. On August 27, 2008, Dean was street teaming in Nashville, Tennessee sticking his Hitchhiking Guitarman sickers on poles and signs when he was approached by Bob Tangredi, Owner of
Tangedi's Italian Kitchen
located at 2323 Elliston Place in Nashville, Tennessee, and was invited to perform on the restaurant's brand new stage. That night, Dean performed a full hour set during the break of scheduled artist
David St. Romain
On August 25, 2008, Dean discussed over the phone the start of a film documentary in January of 2009 in South Padre Island, Texas with award winning Texas based writer and director,
Dean J. Augustin
(Click video still above to watch TV interview/performance)
ABOVE: Video still of Patricio and Dean Strickland on The Patricio International Variety Show on CATV-19 in Nashville, Tennessee on August 23, 2008
On the evening of August 23, 2008, Dean gave an
interview
and performed his song
"Beautiful Memories"
on The Patricio International Variety Show on
located at Nashville Tech Campus at 120 White Bridge Road in Nashville, Tennessee.
ABOVE: Photo of Billy Falcon and Dean Strickland on Lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee on August 23, 2008 taken by Teresa Lynn Weakley
On August 23, 2008, Dean met
Billy Falcon
on Lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee, and was invited to play a song with The Sowing Circle at The Blue Bar located at 1911 Broadway at 10pm on August 28, 2008. On the morning of August 23, 2008, while playing for tips on Lower Broadway in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Dean was approached by Nashville Producer, Video, TV, International Radio Host and talent scout, Patricio. On August 19, 2008, Dean received a phone call from David McCombs who booked Dean to perform at the
in Brownwood, Texas on September 20th on the Hometown Hero Stage at noon. On August 15, 2008, while in Nashville, Tennessee, Dean wrote his song:
No Discount On Your Love
CHORUS:
I found out there ain't no discount on your love
I should have respected you and expected to
Pay the full price set in Heaven above
I have no excuse I was a fool
I'm sorry that I hurt you
But I understand now
There ain't no discount on your love
Late last night the love of my life and I had a silly fight
About money and ol' dumb me
Said what was neither funny nor right
CHORUS
This mornin' I wrote down my thoughts
And with a stamped envelope I did walk
Out to our mailbox and sent her these words
In a note to her mother's
CHORUS
Please come home now I don't need no discount on your love
©2008 Dean Strickland
On August 8, 2008, Dean received a phone call from Mike Kennedy, Administrator of the AFM Local 72, who booked Dean to perform at Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas as a strolling musician on September 27, 2008 from 7-10pm. Dean sold a Hitchhiking Guitarman CD to the following people while either in Nashville, Tennessee, or while hitchhiking to Nashville, Tennessee from Fort Worth, Texas:
Billy Ray Peters, Andy Bell, Michael Pappas, Vilayvieng Sivannarath (bought 3 CDs), Frank Mangiameli, Bill Poe, Laura McDonald, Brett Swain, Lorna Ziller, Margie Gayle and Martha Mires
Then, Dean hitchhiked to Nashville, Tennessee from Fort Worth, Texas for his gig at the Nashville Cowboy Church on August 31, 2008. On August 2, 2008, Dean performed as scheduled at Sundance Square in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas. A letter Dean sent to the Eidtor of American Cowboy Magazine was published in the August/September 2008 online issue at
www.americancowboy.com/08
Dean's Hitchhiking Guitarman CD ad was published in the August/September 2008 issue of Lonestarmusic Magazine.
1/8 page ad for the Hitchhiking Guitarman CD by Dean Strickland in the Lonestarmusic Magazine's August/September 2008 issue
On July 24, 2008, Dean confirmed through email, a gig opening for the band Fahl & Folk at the Last Concert Cafe located at 1403 Nance St. in Houston, Texas at 6pm on December 14, 2008. On July 23, 2008, Dean's photograph and story was published on the front page and inside the Handley Hearald.
The Handley Harald write up on Dean Strickland
ABOVE: Photo of Dean Strickland performing at the Handley Baptist Church in Handley, Texas on June 28, 2008 taken by Wayne Ludwig
On July 20, 2008, Dean received a phone call from his friend and Single Action Shooting Society member, S. Parker Lamb AKA Perilous Parker who asked Dean to perform and then booked him a show on October 11th & 12th, 2008 at the Bar H Dude Ranch Weekend Round Up in Clarendon, Texas. After that, Dean hitchhiked to Fort Worth, Texas from Beaumont, Texas for a gig as a strolling musician in Downtown at Sundance Square at 7pm. Dean sold a Hitchhiking Guitarman CD to the following people while hitchhiking and with whom he hitched a ride from Beaumont, Texas to Fort Worth, Texas:
Sam Lyles, Brittney Bufkin, Rachel Johnson, Ray Harris, Rick Schneider, Herman Smith and Kelly Van Order
On July 16, 2008, Dean accomplished his goal that while traveling by hitchhiking to reach fifty cities where after arriving in those cities to either book there a gig, perform live on stage in front of an audience at a bar or church, perform live on television or radio a song he wrote, or record a song he wrote in a recording studio. That goal of Dean's was accomplished after he had hitchhiked to, and did business with his music in the following cities:
Abilene, TX, Albert, TX, Amarillo, TX, Austin, TX, Bandera, TX, Beaumont, TX, Boerne, TX, Brenham, TX, Brownwood, TX, Bryan, TX, Corpus Christi, TX, Dalhart, TX, Dallas, TX, Denton, TX, Driftwood, TX, El Paso, TX, Fort Worth, TX, Fredericksburg, TX, Galveston, TX, Granbury, TX, Handley, TX (Fort Worth, TX), Houston, TX, Huntsville, TX, Johnson City, TX, Kerville, TX, Kildare, TX, Kingsbury, TX, Linden, TX, Lockhart, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Lubbock, TX, Luckenbach, TX, Luling, TX, Matamoros, MX, Montague, TX, Nash, TX, Nashville, TN, Panhandle, TX, Paris, TX, Port Aransas, TX, Plano, TX, San Antonio, TX, San Marcos, TX, Seguin, TX, Sherman, TX, Sisterdale, TX, South Padre Island, TX, Texarkana, AR, Tyler, TX, Waco, TX, and Wichita Falls, TX.
Then, Dean hitchhiked from Beaumont, Texas to Bandera, Texas where on July 16, 2008, he walked into Evelyn's Club House located at 7050 College St., and spoke to the owner Matt Christopher and got himself booked to perform there on December 20, 2008 at 7pm. Dean sold a Hitchhiking Guitarman CD to the following people while hitchhiking and whith whom he hitched a ride from Bandera, Texas to Beaumont, Texas:
Dale Hardy and David Payne
On the evening of July 12, 2008, Dean hitchhiked from Bandera, Texas to Johnson City, Texas to pick up a copy of the July 10, 2008 Johnson City Record Courier which has a photograph in it of Dean performing at the July 4th Spange-Dangle. On Sunday morning, July 13, 2008, Dean was hitchhiking to Beaumont, Texas on Highway 290 in Johnson City, Texas when Dale Hardy saw Dean and invited him to church. That morning, Dean performed for the congregation his songs "The Perfect Place", "The Life Of Our Lord And Savior Jesus Christ", and "With You Step By Step" at the
A photograph of Dean performing at the 6th Annual July 4th Spange-Dangle in Johnson City, Texas taken by taken by Leon Rivers ran in the July 10, 2008 issue of the Johnson City Record Courier.
Dean Strickland's photo published in the Johnson City Record Courier
While hitchhiking in San Antonio, Texas to Bandera, Texas on July 9, 2008, and while in Bandera on July 10, Dean wrote his song:
Out On The Run
I got my guitar case in hand
I can't make myself wait on a band
My Martin D28 Guitar
I'm playin' and singin' in churches and bars
I'm unsure of where I'm gonna be tomorrow
As down long roads and highways I follow
My dream and my destiny to wherever it leads me
An awesome sense of what it is to be free
I feel as I'm hitchin' rides across the state
Hitchhiking to my next gig I can't be late
I'm havin' so much fun out on the run
every journey's a new adventure and so sweet
Thanks to all of the good folks out there that I meet
reinforcing this ol' American Cowboy's Christian beliefs
And helping to make the world not as bad a place as some would make it out to be
An awesome sense of what it is to be free
I feel as I'm hitchin' rides across the state
Hitchhiking to my next gig I can't be late
I'm havin' so much fun out on the run
I'm havin' so much fun out on the run
I'm havin' so much fun out on the run
I'm havin' so much fun out on the run
©2008 Dean Strickland
Through email, on July 7, 2008, Dean was booked to perform at the Nashville Cowboy Church in Nashville, Tennessee on August 31. 2008. On July 7, 2008, Dean began hitchhiking to Bandera, Texas from Bowie, Texas to perform at the Bandera Saloon on July 12, 2008 from noon til 4pm and made it as far as San Marcos, Texas where at the San Marcos Daily Record Building he picked up copies of the June 27, 2008 newspaper in which his story and photograph was published. Dean sold a Hitchhiking Guitarman CD to the following people while hitchhiking and with whom he hitched a ride from Bowie, Texas to Bandera, Texas:
Ken McCutcheon, Bob Habengreither, Chris Serna, Robert Rubio, Ray Tidwell, Marti & Leanne Bruton and Belle Meeks
Then from Handley, Texas, Dean caught a few rides to his mother's house in Bowie, Texas where she drove him to his gig at the VFW in Fredericksburg, Texas where he performed as scheduled on July 3, 2008, and the next day he performed as scheduled with his mother present at the 6th Annual July 4th Spange-Dangle in Johnson City, Texas at which he was photographed during his performance by jimmy Jacks (Leon Rivers) of the Johnson City Record Courier.
ABOVE: Photo of Dean Strickland performing at the 2008 July 4th Spange-Dangle in Johnson City, Texas taken by Leon Rivers