Grammy Winners Help Special Locals Take the Stage

Grammy-award winning musicians Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines have played some of the biggest stages in music. But last Wednesday they were in La Grange performing with some special folks at one of the most intimate venues around – The Bugle Boy.

On stage with them were a talented group of special needs adults from Gray Legacy Services. Hendrix and Maines had just wrapped up a two-day music workshop with the group. They performed a concert on Wednesday inside the Bugle Boy featuring some songs they wrote together.

“The people we work with have challenges, and they know they have challenges,” Hendrix said. “They know how to route around them. They just need that chance. With this, music gives them that chance.”

This was the third workshop Hendrix and Maines conducted with Gray Legacy Services. They’ve also worked with the Schulenburg nonprofit And Then, which focuses on young adults with special needs. Maines recalled one of those workshops with special needs youth. He said Hendrix asked the partici-pants to write down what they wanted to write a song about. One girl used a blue Sharpie to draw a series of circles on a page.

“She kind of filled the page up,” Maines said. “So Terri said, ‘Ok, you like blue. So that tells me maybe you like blues music. And the circles tell me you like to dance.’ So I just kind of played a sort of funky, fast blues thing on guitar. Let me tell you, this girl could dance. She stole the show.”

At last week’s workshop, some of the participants wrote lyrics, some sang, some danced, and some made music with their hands and bodies.

“When they’re able to tap into it, it becomes this magical river,” Hendrix said.

Hendrix, who was diagnosed with epilepsy as a young adult, has some unique insight into the lives of the folks she works with during these kinds of workshops. A few years ago, she underwent an operation that led to some speech issues.

“When I witness someone having a seizure, I know what that’s like and what it feels like coming out of it,” she said. “If you have a challenge that prevents you from talking about things, I still know that somewhere deep down inside you can express yourself with music.”

“One thing I’ve found out, especially with the younger ones, is that they’re fearless,” Maines said. “They take the stage like they’re on Broadway. That’s what it’s all about – to open up and discover their inner artist.”

Maines has produced records for some of the biggest names in Texas Country music, from Robert Earl Keen to Pat Green, Charlie Robison and Parker McCollum. And he’s the father of Natalie Maines of The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks).

“I still produce records and stuff, but man, I get so much out of this,” Maines said. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s my calling now. It just confirms that music is universal, and everybody has something to offer.”

Ken Gray, president of Gray Legacy Services, said he “stood in awe” the first time he experienced one of these workshops with Hendrix and Maines.

“Everybody’s got a story and a message, but sometimes our disabilities hinder us from expressing that message,” Gray said. “What we have found, especially with developmental disabilities, is that different forms of art gives them an outlet to express themselves. That’s what this songwriting workshop does.

“They get to experience a couple of moments of being a rock star,” Gray said. “But what’s great is that they have it in them already. They just usually don’t have a forum to let us see it.”

Bugle Boy Executive Director Heather Allbright said the workshop last week was made possible through funding from Second Chance Emporium and Texas Women’s League. Hendrix and Maines will conduct another workshop in March with some of the young adults from And Then.

That workshop will be funded in part by Texas Commission on the Arts.