Screenshot from Clayton Gardner’s Facebook page
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Austin-based country artist Clayton Gardner was playing an acoustic set last Friday at Texican Court in Las Colinas when an audience member wandered up to him and asked if he could play a song by Lee Ann Womack. “You could ask that from 7 feet away,” said Gardner, whose bandana was around his neck at the time, He was about 15 minutes into his gig. And as a now-viral 50-second video of the incident that Gardner posted to his
“I was honestly shocked and pretty defenseless sitting there holding my guitar.” – Clayton Gardner, on Facebook
Representatives of Texican Court couldn’t be reached for comment.
Musicians around North Texas have had reservations about playing live performances since the pandemic began. Grand Commander’s Sam Damask told us earlier this year that he didn’t know how safe things would be for him if he played live music. “The safety issue is a giant question mark. It just isn’t worth the risk,” he said.
Singer-songwriter Ginny Mac says she’s reluctantly taken to live-streamed sets out of concern for her safety. “For me, that’s the most gut-wrenching part. I feed off of a live audience in the room with me, energies colliding. I just can’t do it this way right now,” she says.
Many artists say they have long suffered harassment from audience members throughout their careers well before the pandemic. Stephen Ketner, a local blues guitarist (who is, incidentally, the partner of the Dallas Observer‘s music editor), says one time while he was playing in the middle of a crowd, a woman stuck her finger down the back of his underwear and kept it there. “I felt that guy’s pain in the video, especially because of COVID-19,” Ketner says. “Like, you’re not cute, lady! And you’re putting his life at risk!”
