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Amongst the star performers are , , and , but at Kerrville the song is the star, the campfire based song circles take precedence over the stage acts and the stage performers turn up at the circles anyway.

Ìý

CampCoho, where I'm staying, is one of the top circles and singers are lining up to play. The core of our circle is - a legendary New York songwriter and mentor to the likes of , etc - - an incredible picker and sideman to the late, great - and a face I recognise to be , a songwriter and singer, more well known as theÌýactor in the film 'Deliverance' who plays guitar with the strange mountain boy in 'Duelling Banjos'. Ronny gives me a hug and we begin to trade songs. I play a song of mine called "Lizzie Loved a Highwayman" about .

Jack Hardy forces a wedge of lime into a bottled beer, plops it into my handÌýand growls, "Good song Reg...for a Brit !" a big red grin spreads across his stubbly face.

"I drove 31 hours from New York to get here with 3 hours of sleep on the side of the road."

And with that affirmation of a songwriter who knows his spiritual home, Jack rolls off into one of his beautiful Celtic influenced epic story songs.

Many more singers came and went, not all of them professionals. An old hippy with an electric guitar shaped & painted like a butterfly play us "The Firefly Blues." His fingers move over the frets like tired old tobacco stained caterpillars looking for a place to die. When he accidentally happens upon a high glistening sound, his face lights up! "Listen, can you hear the fireflies ?"

Jack Hardy breaks out aÌýdrink in celebration!

The circle starts to drift around 3am and, I crawl off to sleep in the guest tent, the distant strains of campfire songs drifting through the hot Texas night. AfterÌýtwo hours of fitful sleep I reach for the ear plugs.

Reg Meuross