Guest Blogger: Don Weir

After seeing some of the things Don Weir collected and speaking with him on the phone, I knew I had to have him as part of the REFUELED team. Don is the magazines contributing editor-at-large. Not only the proprietor of Open Road Antiques (set up in Uncommon Objects) in Austin, his skills expand to photography and writing. Ladies & gents, Don Weir:



"NEVER SEEM TO GET FAR ENOUGH / STAYING IN BETWEEN THE LINES"

Those, folks, are the blessed words of a musical savior named Jay Farrar - founder of long defunct Uncle Tupelo and frontman of the venerable Son Volt - and they ring dead true and honest when applied to REFUELED, the new bible of alt-country style and design. Without naming names, it seems that for years now, the traditional print magazines that focus on "country" design have rehashed the same old themes over and over again. Shabby-chic cabinets, pie safes, mantle pieces, enamel ware, watering buckets and the like fill their pages month in and month out. All worthy subjects for sure, but there's a whole 'nother world outside of those tight white lines, and Chris Brown has tapped into it hard and heavy with REFUELED.

Strange thing is, what Chris has tapped into is exactly the stuff that really gets me going - a reverential love for the unusual
remnants of yesteryear with a modernist graphic twist. Sure, I can get excited about an old piece of stoneware - but not like the beautiful decay of an ancient horse-hair stuffed doll, the worn zinc of a table used to make lightning rods in the '20s, or the folky, hand painted wonder of a warning sign from a railroad tunnel somewhere in Kansas. Then to embellish those wondrous finds and photographs with a raw yet sophisticated graphic style - well, to borrow from another midwestern tune-smith - it just "hurts so (damn) good." And it's different. Much different. Outside the lines is where Chris likes to tread, and I thank the hell out of him for asking me to be a part of REFUELED.

So, I haven't taken pen to paper in a serious way for years, but here we are. It's not The Paris Review -- but better in my opinion. Slang is accepted. Foul language is not considered foul. Dirt is good. Blood is better. Booze is welcome. It's all part of the alt-country design world that we inhabit, and Chris and I are gonna do our damndest to bring ya'll stories you'd never find in more traditional rags. Stay tuned. It's gonna be fun.