Conni has been writing songs since she was 15, when she began playing the guitar. "Singing other people's songs felt fake somehow." she says.

That authenticity thrives today. At any Texana Dames performance, expect to hear "Same Taste in Men", "You're Gonna Wanna Ride", and more from the countless songs in her songbook. As she says, "We like to try to keep things fresh. Every party is different."

That delight in newness and originality stems from many sources: hometown Lubbock known for mysteriously producing many musicians...impromptu family music gatherings spawned by her Grandmother 'Punk' Condray...regular weekend dances at her dad's Cotton Club where both parents played their own songs and popular songs of the time...and occasional Sunday afternoon jams by her parents, Jesse Taylor, Ponty Bone and the 'Flatlanders' who talked philosophy as much as they strummed tunes.

And there's the Supernatural Family Band, formed when the family moved to a mountain cabin in New Mexico. It was then, in the early 1970s, that Conni picked up the guitar. With no electricity, radio or TV, she took a bit of instruction from her dad and then mostly taught herself from a songbook with chord diagrams. "When I got so sick of those songs that I couldn't stand them anymore, I started writing my own."

Conni wrote songs and played with the family band throughout the 1970s and 1980s, touring the United States, Mexico and South America. The band recorded an album featuring Conni, titled "Split Personality", that was produced by the legendary guitarist Lonnie Mack. Around that time Fabulous Thunderbird's bass player, Keith Ferguson, started referring to her as "La Conni", a nickname that stuck.

In 1988, when the family band dispersed, she emerged with her mom and sister as the Texana Dames. They recorded their first album on Amazing Records ("If it's a hit, it's Amazing," producer Jim Yanaway liked to say) that led to a series of bookings in Europe, Mexico and Central America.

As one of the Dames, Conni sings and plays guitar and pedal steel, all to critical acclaim. As one reviewer said, "The number of competent female pedal steel players probably could be counted on the thumbs of one hand -- and Conni is one of them." Her unique style on the pedal steel once led Stevie Ray Vaughan to say, "You don't play pedal steel the way most do. Don't ever give up. Give all."

"The most profound things to me are the simplest and simple is what people dance to, it's roots music." she says. "So, the challenge and fun in songwriting for me is to say what I want to say but stay simple. I love to see people dance."

The Texana Dames were inducted into the Country Music Association of Texas Hall of Fame 2002.

The Supernatural Family Band was inducted into the Country Music Association of Texas Hall of Fame 2002.