I ran into Glen Hansard walking down the street in downtown Austin during SXSW. Totally just a chance meeting. He recognized me from a cover I had done 2 years earlier and from a meeting we had at the Hollywood Bowl, and we proceeded to talk for 10 or 15 minutes right there in the street before his show at Antone’s. For me it was the greatest moment of my life… casually chatting with my musical hero as if we’ve known each other for years. During that chat he gave me a fantastic piece of advice (which i’ll keep to myself) and he asked me to come up on stage with him the next night to sing his song “High Hope”. He had to get to his upcoming show, which was only minutes away so I told him i’d see him the following night. Well, we ended up going to Antone’s anyway and sneaking in. Glen saw me in the crowd and pulled me on stage. I didn’t remember the song and planned on going home and practicing that night for the show the next day. Anyway, it was the greatest 4 minutes of my life. I was shaky, nervously chewed gum through the whole song and didn’t know all the words. But it was great.