The Road to Recovery

Lafayette's adopted son returns home.

As soon as Scott H. Biram was physically able and had a vehicle to make the trip from Austin, he knew what he had to do.

He called the Blue Moon Saloon & Guest House and booked a show for Friday, Sept. 5.

"It's my home away from home, and that's one of the places that I missed most of all since I had all of this," says Biram, a ribald one-man hillbilly blues band. What "this" refers to is his head-on collision with an 18-wheeler.

Before the wreck, Biram was a monthly staple at the bar. Asked what he misses most about Lafayette, Biram says the food and the beautiful women. When he returns to town, he will surely tank up on at least one of those.

"I'm ready to eat some good food," he laughs. Considering that he has dropped 40 pounds since the accident - down to a skeletal 128 - the Hub City is an earned indulgence for the Kingsbury, Texas, native.

On March 25, an 18-wheeler slammed into his truck at about 75 miles an hour when it skidded across the opposing lane of traffic.

The impact left him trapped in his truck and broke his right femur, broke his right foot, split his tibia at the top of his knee and broke his right arm. It also tore his intestine from his colon, forcing the removal of a foot of his intestine. Biram says it left him, "literally scared shitless."

Recovering from the collision required 12 surgeries in a month, including five in one week. There might be another next year to remove more plates. One surgery replaced a rod in an infected leg.

"My bone was sticking out the end of my leg (at the site of the wreck); there was mud on my bone. It was pretty hardcore," says Biram. Unbelievably, he was conscious the whole time, but can't recall the ordeal.

After a month in the hospital and four months in a wheelchair, he is finally back on his feet. He limps a little and has trouble with inclines and stairs, but that hasn't stopped him from doing what keeps him going.

"A week after I got out of hospital, I played on the stage at the Continental (Club, a landmark Austin venue) in my wheelchair with my IV dangling out of my arm. I sounded like shit but I had to do it," laughs Biram about the 75- minute set.

He also had to have a plate put in his right arm, which left his fingers numb for a while. They still hurt when he plays. Despite the pain, he says that it hasn't hurt his playing.

"I pretty much didn't have anything better to do than lay in a bed for four months." he says. "So I just practiced my guitar and got back my chops. I think I ended up better then I used to be."

However, the wreck did alter some of his playing. While performing, Biram pounds on a stomp board with his foot, giving his solo act percussion and an old-time feel. Doctors had told him that was a no-go.

"Doctors said I could start tapping my foot again. I said, 'Well I don't tap. I stomp it,'" says Biram. "... that first show, I practiced for a few days before the show, trying to not stomp my foot while I was playing, because I was not supposed to do that. I got up there in front of all those people and my foot just started doing it, and I couldn't stop."

Now, his doctors have cleared him to stomp away.

Biram began his career 14 years ago in a punk band, then eight years later segued into playing the music that he grew up hearing come out of his father's stereo. Eventually, he went solo six years ago and four years ago devoted himself to a fulltime job as a musician.

Seeing him perform is like watching someone channel the spirits of Leadbelly, Lightnin' Hopkins, Bill Monroe, Woody Guthrie, The Maddox Family and maybe just a redneck, moonshine-drinking devil ... all at once. It's sure to be a raucous set, with Biram releasing tales of truck stops, prison, the good Lord and the bad devil through his guitar, harmonica and an occasional yodel, all at a level only achievable by someone who began his career in punk rock.

In October, he will hit the road again on a West Coast tour.

"I wouldn't say that I am really ready to go back on the road physically, but I have already got a 20-show tour booked," Biram says. A friend will accompany him to help with the drive and loading his equipment. Originally, the tour was booked in April, for the week after the wreck.

"I woke up in the hospital. I had all these tubes sticking in my mouth. My dad said, 'Do you know why you are here,' and I just shook my head, and he said, 'You got hit by an 18-wheeler.' I made the sign of a diesel driver, honking his horn, and I did that, then I shot the bird and then I started trying to spell out the word tour with my hand. At the time, I didn't know how bad of shape I was in and thought maybe I could still go on tour in a week. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Then, I guess I looked down and saw all of these bolts and rods sticking out of my legs."

Despite his still nagging injuries, he says he looks forward to the Lafayette date and unveiling a few new songs and a new electric guitar to the Lafayette crowd.

"It's a little bit more heavy duty than it used to be, but it's still me. I am still preaching the gospel," he cackles.