Terri Hendrix
October 2016
When Terri Hendrix laced up her “Two Dollar Shoes” and began her journey as an
independent recording artist 20 years ago, there was no map or handy guidebook to
show her the way. Although she wasn’t the first artist to ever self-release an album,
the DIY road was still years away from becoming the busy thoroughfare that it is
for so many musicians today. And to be honest, it wasn’t exactly her first choice,
either. Despite having already spent half a decade building an impressive following
in her native San Antonio and the surrounding Texas Hill Country, the then 28year-old songwriter was rejected by three different record labels when she tried
shopping her 1996 debut. So when she ended up putting it out herself, it was only
for lack of any other apparent option at the time. That whole “own your own
universe” ideal Hendrix is so well known for these days? Well, that really didn’t
come about until later.
That’s “later” as in, not until she was ready to release her second album, 1998’s
“Wilory Farm.”
By then, it was Hendrix saying “no thanks” when labels came courting her —
simply because it was already clear that nobody could offer her a better deal or do
more right by her art and career than she could herself. She knew of course that
going her own way would never be easy, but she was learning more and more
every day about how to not only survive as a proud independent with her own San
Marcos, Texas-based label, Wilory Records, but thrive. She’s hauled her own gear,
managed her own e-commerce site and mailing list, booked her own gigs and
tours, and proudly maintained ownership of all of her master recordings from Day
One. Not for nothing did music legend Al Kooper once marvel, “Terri is truly a
self-made woman … She makes me jealous.”
Now two decades and thousands of miles down the line, the trail-blazing Hendrix
is still going strong — and feeling more inspired at 48 than ever before. In early
2016, she celebrated the 20th anniversary of her recording career by releasing her
15th album, the emotionally fearless and disarmingly intimate “Love You Strong.”
Embraced straight away by her fans and praised by the Austin Chronicle for its
“refreshing — and empowering — honesty,” it was just the first installment in her
most ambitious creative endeavor yet: a collection of four distinctly different but
thematically linked albums and a memoir, all under the umbrella of what she calls
“Project 5.” In October 2016, just eight months after “Love You Strong,” she
released the second album in the series, “The Slaughterhouse Sessions.” Lone Star
Music Magazine called the unabashedly politically charged and blues harp-driven
affair “far and away the most musically and lyrically assertive album Hendrix has
ever made.” The next two albums — an EP of lyrically-driven electronica called
“Who Is Ann?” and an eclectic, genre-blending songwriter set called “Talk to a
Human” — are due for release in the summer of 2017. So is the book, which
Hendrix has described as a deeply personal account of her lifelong battle with
epilepsy and the path she’s braved to wellness.
Terri had originally planned on having all five pieces of her Project 5 finished and
out before the end of 2016. But she wisely made the executive and creative
decision that it was worth taking the time to do things right rather than rushed,
because slipshod has never been her way. Nor have shortcuts. Having been a longdistance runner in high school, the award-winning songwriter, classically trained
vocalist, and deft multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, and harmonica) has run
her entire career with the determined pace and focus of a marathoner — and
demanded the best out of herself every step of the way. Recently picked by
Acoustic Guitar magazine as one of Texas’ 20 essential contemporary singerguitarists, she routinely holds her own both onstage and in the studio playing with
some of the best musicians in Texas, most notably Austin City Limits Hall of Fame
guitarist/pedal steel player Lloyd Maines. Widely renowned for his work with such
artists as Joe Ely, Terry Allen, and the Dixie Chicks, the fact that Maines has
toured with Hendrix almost exclusively now for going on two decades speaks
volumes about how highly he regards both her songwriting and musicianship.
Above and beyond all, though, the secret of Hendrix’s success comes down to her
unfailingly warm and sincere connection with her grassroots fanbase. Many of
those fans have been with her since her original, pre-email mailing list, and they’ve
followed her music faithfully from the winsome playfulness of “Two Dollar
Shoes” and “Wilory Farm” through to the eclectic folk-pop sweep of 2000’s
“Places in Between,” the strikingly progressive one-two punch of 2002’s “The
Ring” and 2004’s “The Art of Removing Wallpaper,” 2007’s open-hearted “The
Spiritual Kind,” and the starkly confessional lyrical and musical maturity of 2010’s
“Cry Till You Laugh” and both “Love You Strong” and “The Slaughterhouse
Sessions.”
No two of those records have ever sounded alike, let alone quite like anything else
on the Texas or national folk/Americana scene. But the fact that every one of them
sold enough copies through pre-orders alone to cover their recording costs
underscores the degree of mutual trust between Hendrix and her fans. The fans
have always trusted her to make great music from the heart worth supporting and
believing in, and that trust has allowed Hendrix, in turn, the freedom to follow her
creative muse wherever it leads without fear of losing her following by coloring
outside the lines. It also gave her the courage to publically address her ongoing
struggle with the seizure disorder that in recent years has led her to scale back of
her once relentlessly busy national touring schedule and redirect her focus to
building a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community arts center project in her beloved San
Marcos called the OYOU — which stands, of course, for “Own Your Own
Universe.” One of her chief goals for the OYOU is to promote the healing and
therapeutic qualities of art and music, which she can attest to firsthand as a
successful performing songwriter who has lived with epilepsy for most of her life.
Of course, managing an independent music career while coping with her health
challenges has never been “easy” for Hendrix. But she’s never wallowed in misery.
While unafraid to face hard truths head on, she’s always maintained a positive
“live with passion” outlook on both life and art, spinning sorrow into joy and
wringing wisdom from the blues with the poetic grace, engaging warmth and
uplifting melodic flair that is as much of a Terri trademark as the way she’s always
dodged genre pigeonholes by weaving folk, pop, country, blues and swinging jazz
into an eclectic style all her own. Add to that her charismatic stage presence and
reputation for delivering an energetic and feel-good live show, and it’s no wonder
why the “Terri Hendrix experience” has been embraced by three generations of
loyal fans across the country and around the globe. Be it solo, as a duo with
Maines or fronting a full band, she’s entertained crowds everywhere from intimate
listening rooms such as Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music and Austin’s
Cactus Cafe to huge outdoor events like the Austin City Limits Music Festival and
the Newport, Philadelphia and Kerrville Folk Festivals. On top of all that, she’s
also a natural at helping others to harness their own creativity, as demonstrated
through her various OYOU community outreach programs and the
songwriting/music workshops she’s taught everywhere from her own annual
“Life’s a Song” retreats to the Berklee School of Music.
Hendrix’s love of music and writing can be traced all the way back to early
childhood in her native San Antonio (and Panama, where her sergeant major father
was stationed during her first few years of grade school). “When I was a kid, I
often found escape in books and writing short stories,” she recalls. “I wrote so
often, that my Mom said she could find me by following my ‘paper trail.’ Then I
stole my sister’s guitar, and once I began to write songs, the paper trail grew
longer.”
She sang in choir all through high school, earning a scholarship to study voice at
Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. In another universe, she might have
been an opera singer; but her future in classical music was not to be. “Instead of
taking notes, I wrote lyrics all over my music theory notebooks,” she explains. She
eventually transferred to Southwest Texas State in San Marcos, the hippie-friendly
college town halfway between San Antonio and Austin that she still calls home.
But she wasn’t long for school there, either; instead, she found the most important
mentor of her life in classical musician, teacher and organic farmer Marion
Williamson. In exchange for farmhand duties (including milking goats, which
explains the mascot Hendrix later adopted for her label), Williamson taught her not
only the finer points of Mississippi John Hurt-style guitar picking, but how to book
gigs and set up her own PA system. Williamson’s sudden death, which came
shortly after the release of “Two Dollar Shoes,” was devastating to Hendrix; but
the invaluable education she received from her friend continues to guide her
through both her life and career.
It was shortly after Williamson’s passing that Hendrix began working with
producer/guitarist Maines. Their first record together, “Wilory Farm,” sparked
significant airplay and tour dates well outside of Texas, and Hendrix’s career has
only moved from strength to strength ever since. In addition to winning several
regional awards in her native San Antonio and Austin Austin (including “Best
Singer-Songwriter,” “Best Folk Act,” and “Best New Band”), her recordings and
concerts have netted her critical raves from such publications as Mojo, Texas
Monthly, the Boston Herald, Washington Post, Billboard, Harp, Texas Music
Magazine, and USA Today. She’s also had a bona fide Satellite radio hit
(“Nerves,” off of her 2005 children’s album “Celebrate the Difference”), cowritten a Grammy-winning song (the instrumental “Lil’ Jack Slade” on the Dixie
Chicks’ multi-platinum “Home” album), and shared disc-space with many of the
biggest names in Americana through her cover of “The Dark” on the Grammy
nominated “This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark.” And coincidentally, like
Clark — along with such other Lone Star legends as Kris Kristofferson and Doug
Sahm — Hendrix even has her own star on the South Texas Music Walk of Fame
in Corpus Christi.
Given how long and hard that she’s worked at her craft, Hendrix has never taken
any of her success or the aforementioned industry honors for granted. But tellingly,
the awards she’s most proud of are those that have recognized the “bigger picture”
sense of purpose that has long inspired not only her songwriting and life-affirming
performances, but her ongoing commitment and vision for the OYOU. These
include the Art of Peace Award given to her by St. Mary’s University in San
Antonio for “creating art in the service of peace, justice and human
understanding,” and more recently, her 2015 induction into the Women’s Hall of
Fame in San Marcos, in recognition of her contributions to the arts and humanities
and her community. Long after she finishes Project 5 and even when or if she ever
decides to retire from recording and touring, rest assured Hendrix will continue to
dedicate her life to living up to both of those honors.
“I’ve worked a lot on my music and on becoming the kind of writer I really want to
be over the last four years, and I feel like I’ve really found my voice as a woman
right on the threshold of middle age — a woman with something to say and the
experience to back it up,” Hendrix said at the beginning of her Project 5 “sonic
marathon.” “I feel proud of all the music I’ve done to date, but my job is to keep
reaching for a new level of artistic integrity — and to do all I can to not only make
a positive difference while I’m here on this earth, but to build something that will
hopefully continue to make a difference long after I’m gone.”