Texas Tale: Tex and Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty by Barbara Johansen Newman

In a swingin' Texas spoof of the old movie theme, two talented youngsters, Tex Mex Rex and Sugar Lee Snughead, leave the ranch behind to take on the trials of the big city:

"I've tuned my guitar. I know I'll be a big star," Tex tells his parents.

"Here I come, Broadway! Farewell, El Paso!" the sweet-singin' Sugar tells her momma.

But the big city has its trials for the the Texas twosome. Alone, they struggle to survive in the Big Apple.

Tex begged all the networks to give him a spot.
But a gig washin' dishes was all that he got.

She sang and danced and flashed her big smile.
But Sugar's big part in a show was the aisle.

After sloggin' through weeks of washin' dishes and usherin' patrons to their seats at the local movie house, Tex and Sugar are ready to pack up their guitar picks and head back to Texas--until one night after work they both do a bit of solo singin':

The warm summer breeze blew their songs throughout the sky.
Such sweet soulful longing caused neighbors to cry.

The tunes were forlorn and feelin's so true
That rats and roaches and pigeons cried, too.

"Dear Dogies!" purred Sugar. "I hear my soul mate."
"Hot Froggies!" yowled Tex, " This has to be fate."

The Texas tunesmiths finally meet and form a twosome, and it's a duet made in heaven. Tex and Sugar together take the town by storm, and it's no time before they make the marquees on old Broadway:

The music was magic for Sugar and Tex.
It's hard to figure out what happened next....
Each cat searched for stardom and found a best friend.
They're still making music and will to... THE END!

Carefully crafted illustrations with many Texas-style motifs add plenty of visual emphasis to Barbara Johansen Newman's Tex & Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty that will have the listeners singin' "Deep in the Heart of Texas."