Any musician will tell you life is hard on the road and those guys have heaters and windshield wipers.  Dean Strickland doesn't even have a windshield.

Four the past four years, Dean has been hitchiking to all his performances.

Strickland started out in the music business much like anyone else; he taught himself the basics, spent time in college learning the finer points and then he stepped out on the road.  Literally.

From California to Tennessee and all across Texas, Strickland has depended on the kindness of strangers to make it to the next gig.  With a little luck and a couple of rides, the man who calls himself the Hitchhiking Guitarman will be playing this coming week in Fort Worth and Plano. 

On November 28, Strickland will have a gig at the Fort Worth Parade of Lights. http://www.fortworthparadeoflights.org/

Then at 9:30 a.m. on November 30, Dean is scheduled to play at Narrow Trail Cowboy Church (http://www.narrowtrail.org) in Plano, Texas.

 

Of course, hitchhiking can be risky business.  Once in South Dallas, Dean was offered a ride and he put his Martin guitar in the trunk.  Then the driver demanded money for gas.  When Strickland told the man he had no money, the car screeched to a stop and the driver hit a button that popped open the trunk. But when the musician stepped around to the back of the vehicle, the driver hit the gas. 

No musician is going to let his trusted Martin get away that easy, though.  Strickland said he grabbed the bumper and dragged behind the car until finally managing to ease over into the trunk.  When the driver pulled over to close the trunk, the Hitchhiking Guitarman figured that was his cue to take off.

But that was an exception to the rule.  Strickland said he estimates 1,000 drivers have pulled over to offer a kind word and a ride to the next gig.

"I believe I have found something that works for me, so I won't stop anytime soon," Dean says.  "Three months after I returned to Texas after graduating from a music school in Hollywood, California I said to my mother I would leave and play music with my life no matter what price I would have to pay. My mother told me then should I ever decide to settle down, she would welcome me home with open arms. As I hitchhiked from town to town I booked myself gigs, radio and television appearances, newspaper and magazine interviews, studio recording sessions, and made friends who told me that should I ever decide to settle down that they would welcome me into their homes with open arms. I recently performed at the Brownwood Reunion Festival, and now in my forth year of hitchhiking to my gigs I have more than accomplished my initial goals - one of which was to network in 50 cities by hitchhiking to them, and book shows for myself where I would play songs I wrote while hitchhiking across the country."

The Hitchhiking Guitarman has had his story published in close to 75 newspapers in Texas and Dean was featured in the July 2007 issue of the International Musician Magazine published by the Musicians Union that went all over the United States and Canada. 

Strickland's remarkable story was also published in the June/July issue of American Cowboy Magazine.  He has been featured on close to a dozen television shows in Texas, and one in Nashville, Tennessee plus about three-dozen live Texas radio shows.

Dean is also excited that, beginning in January 2009 on South Padre Island, Texas, the award-winning, documentary filmmaker Dean Augustin will begin filming a documentary special about Strickland's life and travels.  Mr. Augustin's Website is at:
http://mygoodfight.com/tgfdigitalmotionpictures.aspx