Two Gold Patch winners on the same show? That’s what transpired on the latest installment of The Hook, now available in full on YouTube.
Also, amid popular demand, you can now stream the audio of the first five episodes of The Hook via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, PocketCasts, as well as Deezer and other major podcast networks. You can also subscribe to the show’s RSS Feed. Episode 6 will be posted in audio form shortly.
Veteran Air Force combat aircraft pilot Thomas M. Pritchett absolutely stunned The Hook with his incredible song “Pilot’s Lament.” So many thoughts get stirred, so many emotions get evoked by the playing of this song. Pritchett flew in the Air Force for 20 years, and recently moved to Austin, TX after retiring.
“The way I like to tell people about the song is that you fly combat aircraft long enough, you come out feeling bent, not just physically, but also emotionally. Moral injury was a phrase I started hearing getting thrown around. I don’t know that I could claim that I have that. But I have friends that do.” Pritchett said. “You come out with a lot of questions. Maybe more questions than answers.”
The second Gold Patch winner was Kory Quinn. He wasn’t the only one weeping at the end of the performance of his unreleased song “To Dream.” He was passing through Austin after touring from Stanley, Idaho, trying to get home to Houston for Father’s Day.
The Gold Patch is only given out when a songwriter absolutely blows the panel away. During the previous two shows, nobody had won a Gold Patch. Now Thomas M. Pritchett and Kory Quinn join Katrina Cain and Tuskola as Austin area Gold Patch winners, along with the handful of Gold Patch winners in Nashville.
Above and beyond the big Gold Patch winners, the June 23rd show at Sagebrush in Austin might have been the best showcase of songs overall. Austin-based songwriter Ali Holder started off the show with her song “A Different Kind of Lonely,” and then joined Silas Lowe on the panel who was filling in for regular co-host Caitlin Cannon who was off conducting her Beyond Bars prison program.
A couple of big Austin mainstays also made appearances. Matt “The Shredder” Tedder is one of the best current guitar players in town, and helped close the show out playing his most recent single “West Is Halfway Home” co-written with Silas Lowe. Ruby Dice is the reigning “Bass Player of the Year” according to the Austin Chronicle, and she was selected randomly out of the hopper and played a song she co-wrote with Matt Tedder called ”Till The Company Comes.”
There were so many other great songs, including from the first hopper pull Nick Taylor who performed his song “Heaven,” and Cory Kosel who nearly earned a Gold Patch himself with the song “Machine of My Design.” Camille Terracina, JD Combs of the metal band Viking Sex God, full-time songwriter and musician Chuck Shaw, Brandon Hudgeons, Nathan Stevens of the band Micajah, Brandon Hudgeons, Kory Quinn, and Tyler Richards with a great song called “Undertow” also performed.
The next taping of The Hook happens on Sunday, July 12th from 3:00 – 5:00 pm at Sagebrush in Austin. If you want to sign up for a chance to perform, arrive by 2:30.
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The Hook is not just for songwriters. Fans of songwriting are also encouraged to stop by. For more information, visit savingcountrymusic.com/thehook. Please subscribe to The Hook’s YouTube Channel, and follow The Hook on Instagram and Facebook.
The Hook is sponsored by Ear Trumpet Labs, Keystone Artist Connect, The Willie Bus, Mule Kick Productions, JWA Media, and Sagebrush.
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