It’s been a while since I made a playlist featuring Dallas artist releases so I’ve got some catching up to do… This playlist is a mix of songs from albums released in 2021 and 2022.
Panhandle Wind, Isaac Hoskins (from the self-released Bender)
Denton’s Isaac Hoskins rode out Covid – no pun intended – working on a ranch so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there’s plenty of field dust to be found in the songs on Bender.
The album opens with some classic Texas country, the kind you’d expect to hear in a true honky-tonk on a Friday night. “H-Town Turnaround”, in fact, channels that experience, telling the tale of driving to – and from – Denton to Houston to play such a venue. In Hoskin’s case the song centers on getting home to a “lady friend on the other end of an H-Town Turnaround” only to get stopped by a police officer (“Go ahead and write that ticket I’ll tell you where to stick it…”.
“Back to the Saltmine” is another country dance hall gem, an ode to reluctantly working construction (“The ole 9-5’s become a 5-9, feels like I’m workin’ all the Goddamned time…”) before giving way to the freewheelin’ and dusty “Panhandle Wind”.
From there Hoskins shifts into singer-songwriter mode, at which he is equally talented. “My Memory” and “Harder Than the Blues” both reflect on heartbreak. The former song is a wistful ballad that looks back on it while trying to move on (“I think I’m finally fine with what likely comes to mind whenever you think of me, my memory ain’t what it used to be.”). The latter is another for the catalog of songs about drinking away a memory, with Hoskins responding “When the headaches hit me harder than the blues, when your leaving me behind becomes old news” to those asking when the bender will end,
The album closes with the moving and mostly spoken “Leon’s Blues”. Inspired by a paper grave marker that Hoskins saw in a Dallas cemetery, the song is written from the perspective of a young child who looks askance at an old neighbor. Hoskins imagines the man’s life and how it translated into a life lesson:
Don’t you judge a man
Until you know where he’s been
‘Till you know all the sadness in his eyes
You can learn a whole lot
Just by listenin’
An open heart will help you see past the disguise
It’s a poignant close to a wonderful album. Bender is authentic country at its finest, furthering Hoskins’ reputation as a true Texas troubadour.
Every Saturday Night, Vandoliers (from the Amerikinda Records album The Vandoliers)
There’s something to be said about staring down adversity. Case in point is Vandoliers, who after returning to their indie roots when their record label imploded, turn in their best album yet.
Although they wear their Texas pride loud and strong, they leave mostly leave behind the cowpunk that was a hallmark of their earlier work. Instead, they deliver a straight-up rock album that also veers into punk that has an Irish flair.
Case in point is “Better Run”, an in-your-face rocker with rumbling rhythm that recalls Golden Earring and other 1970’s classic rock bands. The insistent “Every Saturday Night”, released as a single last year, is one of the better songs that I’ve heard written about the pandemic. The lyrics find the band reflecting on good times spent – and greatly missed – in the before times.
I took for granted every Saturday night
With my rowdy friends and the love of my life
We should’ve danced ’til they turned out the lights
I took for granted every Saturday night
“Howlin’”, with its harmonica and fiddle, is the kind of sing-along that you’d expect to hear at an Irish pub. “Bless Your Drunken Heart”, the most cow-punk track of the collection, also calls to mind Boston legends Dropkick Murphys (now THAT would be a good tour pairing… just sayin’.). Later in the album, Cory Graves’ trumpet and Travis Curry’s fiddle give “Too Drunk to Drink” a Tex-Mex flair while “I Hope Your Heartache’s a Hit” is prime honky-tonk fodder in both musical and lyrical fashion.
If you’re looking for a feel good – and rockin’ – album, Vandoliers have you covered.
I Don’t Care If She Ever Comes Home, Billy Law (from the State Fair Records release Alone Somewhere)
Billy Law is known to many as the barefoot bass player for the raucous Ottoman Turks. Turns out that, left to his own devices, he’s one heck of a songwriter and performer. Alone Somewhere, his solo debut, is intense and beautiful.
Law leans heavily on sonic extremes to emphasize the drama of his songs. Opener “It’s Not Right” is a fine example. It begins quietly with Law accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. When he arrives at the chorus, however, the band explosively introduces themselves and then drive it forward towards an intense conclusion.
The song also introduces the lyrical thread that permeates the album. Alone Somewhere is a thoughtful rumination on emotions and relationships. examining them from a range of perspectives. Law portrays the situations but mostly leaves it to the listener to find their own meaning in the songs.
“Anything” is a sober meditation on a woman’s broken heart, made all the more haunting by a pedal steel guitar. “Voicemail” and “Houston” both find the singer pining for a lost loved one. In the case of the former, it’s an alcohol-inspired desire to call (“It ain’t the beer it’s the whiskey that made me call you tonight”) while the latter is a somber piano ballad that finds Law confiding “your voice was on my mind but it is almost every day; I try to keep from looking back, it’s a dangerous place to stay.”
“I Don’t Care If She Every Comes Home” is an epic take on a shattered relationship. Law’s a cappella intro quickly gives way to the band forcefully appearing and giving the song added weight. It builds to a cathartic burst at several moments, most notably in the final verse as Law exclaims, “Deny us the food, we’ll take the poison and keep our feelings to ourselves; the semblance of good is good for nothing, leave your memories on the shelf.”
Album closer “Slowly” is a meditative reflection on a life-long love, Law imagining what it’s like to look back on a relationship late in life. “On the last day be sure that you’ve made something real,” he proclaims as the song builds to an emotional conclusion. It’s a moving ending to a mesmerizing album.
Dying When I Met You, Brody Price (from the NIles City Records release Win a Trip to Palm Springs!)
There’s something to be said for an artist with ambition, a point well taken upon listening to Brody Price’s debut album. The Dallas singer-songwriter stretches out, pushing at the borders of Americana and fills his songs with unexpected twists, sometimes in the context of a single song. Win a Trip to Palm Springs! begins simply enough with the acoustic ballad “If I Were You” before giving way to “Dying When I Met You”, which kicks off with a similar acoustic beginning before bombastic electric guitars plunge it into early 1990’s indie rock territory (think Built to Spill or Dinosaur Jr.).
From there he settles into, sort of, a pedal steel-laced Americana vein. Songs like “Fall” and “Love I Hope You Stay” emanate melancholy as they lyrically dig into strained relationships. “The Way She Moves” mines similar territory, albeit with a more rock and roll insistence.
“It Was You” and “Outgrown” are particularly ambitious with mid-song breaks that take the respective songs in unexpected directions. The former starts with an enchanting and simple melody but veers into a quiet yet soaring musical interlude and transcendental chorus. The latter follows a similar trajectory albeit shifting into an ethereal close. Also in this category is “Satellites and Dust”, which moves from simmering but restrained electric guitars to a muddy but glorious wash of guitar noise.
Price’s ambition is clear – and well-served – with Win a Trip to Palm Springs!
Ain’t That Easy To Love, Guitar Frenchie (from the self-released Nashville Sessions)
Music is a funny business. It’s not uncommon for artists to release only a portion of the work that they produce (Prince, anyone?). Beyond collections of demos and outtakes, sometimes it’s a full EP or album, as is the case with Guitar Frenchie’s Nashville Sessions.
Recorded about ten years ago in, you guessed it – Nashville – the EP is five tracks of melodic and guitar-fueled rock and roll. Well, make that four furious rockers and one mid-tempo ballad to close out.
Opener “11/23” recalls Stone Temple Pilots while the rumbling guitars of “Farewell to Sanity” give that track a classic rock vibe. “Ain’t That Easy to Love” is a joyous ode to being difficult. Album closer “Rest of My Life” is a bluesy and soulful ballad that preshadows Frenchie’s later work with the Blues Destroyers.
Avalanche, Remy Reilly (from the self-released EP Avalanche)
Add Remy Reilly to the list of artists with musical ambition. Avalanche, her latest EP, wonderfully showcases the range of her talent. She opens and closes the EP with a pair of upbeat pop gems in the form of “Lost Without You” and “Avalanche”. In between, “Peer Pressure” has an engaging and slick R&B vibe while the acoustic ballad “One Chance” is made all the more opulent and magical by its orchestral string accompaniment. Still only in her teens, Reilly is already well down the road on her musical journey and we’re lucky to follow along.
Riverside, Guthrie Kennard (from the Rockhill Records release Riverside)
One can get quite a history lesson listening to Guthrie Kennard’s Riverside. Most of the songs transport the listener to another time and place, from Louisiana (“Tremolo Rain” and “Mama’s Cookin’”) to an early American trading post in Richmond, Virginia (“Shockoe Slip”). Kennard fills them with colorful characters and stories, all made more richly authentic by the singer’s gruff voice. In this vein, he calls to mind Ray Wylie Hubbard, who has in fact produced a couple earlier Kennard albums.
Musically, the album creaks and rumbles with a swampy blues. These range from the sinewy “Miss Honey” to the muscular title track. One notable and excellent exception, is the acoustic ballad “Across the River”, which has echoes of Texas legends Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.
Go to Hell, Clayton Smith and his Enemies (from the Rye Boy Records release Stranger)
Ft. Worth’s Clayton Smith keeps himself busy playing in two area bands (The Rye Boys and The Band Loredo). Apparently that’s not enough, so Smith set about crafting a solo album. The resulting Stranger is solo in every sense of the word, with everything written, performed, and produced by Smith. The power of the music just makes it that much more impressive.
Stranger is a song cycle about coping with difficult relationships, filled with characters as unsettled as the topic. On “Go To Hell”, for example, the song protagonist exclaims, “It’s so hard to think of others when you’re so worried about yourself, if you’re gonna be in Heaven then I’m gonna go to Hell.”
The tone becomes more introspective as the album progresses. “I just stare at the ceiling, a terrible feeling that I’ve been as far as I’ll get,” Clayton laments on “Dreams” before adding, “I’d grab a bottle but it won’t quite throttle the loneliness that’s setting in”. The haunting “How Do You Deal” grapples with the loss of friends to addiction, followed by his description of friends lost and those who remain on “Friends”.
Stranger, with its DIY ethic and hard look at life, calls to mind the late Jason Molina. Like Molina, Smith isn’t afraid to explore dark and uncomfortable places in the pursuit of art.
Gasoline, The Band Loredo (from self-released Fast Johnny)
It’s perhaps not a surprise that the Vandoliers make an appearance on The Band Loredo’s latest release. The groups share a penchant for writing catchy, often anthemic rock and roll. But while the Vandoliers lean towards the cow-punk and punk categories, The Band Loredo are more about the straight up rock. The aforementioned “duet” – “Gasoline” – is an ode to the rock and roll lifestyle with a nod to the fact that it might not be the best idea, “I should be saving all my earnings to buy myself a car but I’ve been blowing it steady on dreams I can’t afford.”
The title track kicks off the EP with a cow-punk attitude before giving way to “Pretender”, a song that starts with an indie rock vibe but reaches into power pop territory on the chorus. That blend continues through “Marigold” before the group wind up the EP with the rootsy anthems “Gasoline” and High Together”.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.