Brandless, inconspicuous shoes have helped Dean Strickland walk across Texas. They've been on his feet through rain and desert; on the bad days, they've carried him for 20 miles. Strickland, a 38-year-old musician who plays in shows all across Texas, doesn't have a car. So to get from city to city, he hitchhikes and walks.
"They're some kind of shoes from [Payless Shoe Source]. I don't know what brand - they're just brown and leather," Strickland said. "My feet get blisters a lot."
He's been all over Texas and walked his longest stretch, which he estimates was about 30 miles, last September. He normally starts in Fort Worth (where his old apartment was) and makes his way through major metropolitan areas and smaller towns like Abilene and Amarillo.
"I give myself about three days, depending how far it is, but I usually arrive a lot sooner than I plan," he said. Since he had a gun pulled on him in Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood at 1:30 a.m. in 2005, he doesn't like to travel at night anymore.
"My guitar was almost stolen," he said. "Other than that, everyone's been pretty nice."
Instead of traveling, he now camps out at night, using his Old Navy backpack, which holds his press kit, as a pillow.
Before he became a guitar-toting nomad, Strickland was a student at the University of North Texas' College of Music, studying classical voice, jazz and guitar. He didn't finish. In 2002, he packed his bags, sold his house and his truck and moved to Hollywood to audition for the Musician's Institute.
"I thought I'd never be back," he said.
He graduated from the institute, but still hasn't found fame and fortune. He moved back to Fort Worth and started playing regularly in Dallas' Deep Ellum entertainment district.
But the steady job didn't do it for Strickland, who wanted more of a challenge. So he took a risk: A one-way Greyhound bus to Austin. He spent the last of his money on the ticket so he could try out Austin's music scene. But the gamble didn't pay off, and he was stuck in Austin without a way back.
And he still had show to play back in Fort Worth. So he decided to hitch a ride.
"It was the first time I've ever hitchhiked in my entire life," he said. After the initial hitch worked, he gave up his apartment in Dallas. He hasn't had a place to call his own ever since. Now it's all hotel rooms, friends' houses and the great outdoors. Strickland uses a pay-as-you-phone cell phone, a MySpace account and e-mail to keep in touch.
Strickland has to travel from place to place in order to get gigs - only live auditions get the job done.
"If I can get them to give me 10 to 15 minutes of their time and get a live audition, then I can get a gig on the spot," he said.
Although he's been robbed while he hitchhikes, he's no angel, either. He's been called the "Asshole of the Year" by Rock City magazine and accused of violent behavior. Last Monday, he was thrown off a Greyhound bus in Waco for fighting with the driver, according to an e-mail from Strickland. When the Texan
attempted to reach Strickland for a response, his cell phone was turned off.
Since he started hitching, he has recorded one new four-minute single, "I Love Texas (Because It's My Home)," in addition to the other CD he released with a band in 2005. Although his roots are classical voice and guitar, you can't really hear it in this newest single. You can't hear the Nirvana and Rolling Stones influence either. But there's obviously a tribute to old Westerns. It's just Strickland and his lonely acoustic guitar playing to the beat of horse "moseying" into the sunset. But instead of riding into the sunset, he walks or rides a bus to glory.
Strickland will be playing at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Troubadour Saloon, at 503 E. Sixth St.
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