Just Checkin' In: Remembering Terry Buffalo Ware

Terry Buffalo Ware has left this earth but he leaves behind so many musical memories for us all. Many were at the Blue Door where he played with Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jimmy LaFave, The Red Dirt Rangers, John Fullbright, Michael Fracasso, Eliza Gilkyson, Susan Cowsill, Jon Dee Graham, Susan Herndon, Don Conoscenti, Greg Jacobs, Ellis Paul and many more I am forgetting right now. Terry was simply one of the best friends in my life. We spoke on the phone almost weekly for as long as I can remember. Talking about sports, politics and music. He just seemed to wanna know how I was doing, so if we didn't talk for a while, I would get a text " just checkin in...." Thank you Terry for being my friend.

The smartest thing I have ever done in my music career is asking John Fullbright to hire Terry as his guitarist in 2010, which led to Terry playing on John's Grammy nominated "From The Ground Up" and a year later a gig on David Letterman, playing on the same stage as the Beatles did in 1964. Terry Ware loved music more than anyone I ever known in my life. He was the songwriter's best friend, a sideman with no purpose whatsoever than to serve the song, to accent the melody and stay out of the way. I have been doing shows for 33 years and Terry has been on the Blue Door stage more than anyone. He has also attended more shows than I can count. One night, after one of Jimmy Webb's many Blue Door shows, I had a surprise in mind. Terry had just recorded a great instrumental version of Jimmy's song "Skywriter," and I just put it on and said "Hey Jimmy, listen to this it's Buffalo doing "Skywriter." Jimmy sat at my desk as the song played. He smiled. "You got the bass notes perfect" Jimmy said. "What kind of axe did you use," as they shook hands. Not sure what Terry said, but it was a sweet moment in a life full of sweet moments. All of that you can read in Terry's memoir, "Man With Guitar & Amp," available on Amazon. I have so many Terry Buffalo Ware stories maybe someday I will write them all down, but now I can only grieve the loss of a friend and a man who changed my life. - Greg Johnson