Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Kevin Welch - Riding in the Caddy Soon!!

My wife (then hot girlfriend) knew Kevin Welch before I did. She took me to show and after he was finished mystifying the crowd he sat down and had a beer with us. I commented on a line in one of his songs that referenced a fishing knife and how I personally would like to be stabbed by that type of knife the least. That was the start of a long friendship. He was there when my first born showed up and he helped me put her right foot in some dirt from the ranch I grew up on in Texas. He has spent many a late night laughing hysterically as I shot him full of stories machine gun style due to my inability to stop talking while on the red wine. He's the God father of my kids but by God he can take a crowd and put them in a musical trance. His songs will take you on a journey and at the end you are a better person than you were when you walked in that venue's door. He is also an all around good guy.
Look for an in depth interview from brother Kev in the coming weeks.

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Become One with the Wylie!

I like hot Texas days. I like dank, live music bars. I like the blues. I like the 13th Floor Elevators. I like Lighting Hopkins and I like Texas. 

You put all that together in a martini shaker and shake the hell out of that thing and you get Ray Wylie Hubbard's album Grifter's Hymnal. I am not kidding when I say go download it...first buy it, then download it! Walt Wilkins was telling me that he heard Ray's last album and jokingly said, "What are you gonna do next? Beat on logs with sticks?" He said Ray just laughed and laughed because he knew that was pretty much what was coming! It's primal, it's sparse and it kicks all the ass!! Own it, learn it live it. I've said it before - when I grow up I'm going to play like Ray Wylie Hubbard. 


 

Jimmy Davis - An American Bad Ass

So there I am - at the Blue Bird Cafe to hear my old friend and bar fighting compadre Walt Wilkins. He had Jimmy Davis in the round with him. Now most of us have heard our share of in the rounds and usually you are ready for that circle to get back to your favorite guy. Well brothers and sisters when Jimmy Davis started telling a story about his grandma he had me. His sisters were at the bar just giggling and laughing at that story and then they had me too. Then Jimmy launched into a song and he went past "had" and moved into "owned." I am a picky alt country critic. Maybe I have heard one too many songs but it's hard to win me over. Jimmy Davis did it. I was immediately a Jimmy Davis fan. The fact he came back to the house and drank moonshine and played the blues with me didn't hurt either, but he had me way before that. So do me this, listen to some of his tunes or better yet go out and see him live. His constant smiling, from obviously loving what he does on stage, will get you smiling. When he hits you in the head with his music you will agree. Jimmy Davis is a bad ass. His sister is pretty damn cool too!

Here is the updated info Jimmy "Daddy" Davis:
08/01/2012 at 09:00 PM @ Saxon Pub in Austin, TX 

Stay tuned for my interview with Jimmy Davis to be aired in the future...and the future is pretty cool. 
 

Walt Wilkins - Plenty

Walt Wilkins New Album!Plenty” – Available now!
A few years ago I returned from a decade in Nashville to my home in the Texas Hill Country. Its an area of limestone cliffs overlooking modest mesquite and juniper trees, along with majestic, matronly live oaks.  There’s a dozen meandering blue-green rivers, with great bald cypress and cottonwood trees on their banks, and Bar-b-que, and Mexican, German & southern soul food…….and music, music everywhere.
Anchored by 2 great music cities, Austin & San Antonio, the music here is a free mix of jukebox country & soul, blues, Tejano, Storyteller folk, and cowboy songs. The folks here, like the music, are unpretentious, generous, open, and occasionally wild as all hell….and fun, always fun……
This record was made in a spirit of gratefulness for having grown up here, and having come home. These are some of my favorite songs from the last couple of sessions, played with friends who are like family……. WW

Check out Walt's web site here. 
Listen to the album here.