Chef And Song

he story of Linda and Larry Petty is a love story started over 36 years ago, at Dallas Baptist College. They met, fell in love, and got married. Unfortunately, at the time, it wasn’t to each other. I had coffee with them last week. We talk about their first marriages and what finally brought them together, including an obsessive ex promising to have her in “life or death”, a Dukes of Hazzard-style standoff between a leather clad Linda and her stalker, armed guards at their wedding, and a secret proficiency in martial arts. Since then, our own Liz and Dick have become arguably two of the most recognizable performers in the local music scene. Linda’s flame-red hair, custom designed Joan Ross wardrobe, her Texas-sized collection of jewelry, and stalwart piano man have become iconic in Dallas. It hasn’t always been that way, of course. We talk about the early days when a shy classically trained gospel singer first took the stage, in the 1980s, at an Oak Lawn nightclub. Music is so many things. It’s light. It’