The bartender and I agreed on a universal truth: a band that has a trumpet or sax and a fiddle is going to be a lot of fun. The band in front of us was the Vandoliers, but the truism extends to Calexico and St. Paul & the Broken Bones, going all the way back […]
Megg Farrell & Friends – Megg Farrell & Friends
Imagine if Patsy Cline took the stage at a smoky old jazz club, backed by a string band. Or better still, Diana Krall guesting on vocals with Heybale! at the Continental on a Sunday evening in Austin. That juxtaposition is a good way to think about the self-titled, debut album from Megg Farrell & Friends. […]
Old Settler’s Music Festival 2019 – The Music
Every year in mid-April I head to Austin for the Old Settler’s Music Festival. Â Here are some of the highlights for me of the 4 day line-up. Kickin’ It Off: Â The first night of music at OSMF is always in the campground and a nice welcome to get things started right. Â The first band was […]
Old Setter’s Music Festival 2019
Every year in mid April I head to Austin for the start of the outdoor music season. Â No, I’m not headed to SXSW, but rather to the Old Settler’s Music Festival. Â It’s become my favorite outdoor festival with a mix of good vibe and good music I haven’t found elsewhere. Let’s start with the music. […]
Ted Russell Kamp Video Premiere – Home Away From Home
Life on the road is hard. Â As the glass of water metaphor describes, though, optimists and pessimists see that challenge differently. Â You can put Ted Russell Kamp firmly in the former. Â Between his own performances and as a long-time member of Shooter Jennings’ band, Kamp gets double the opportunity to travel. Â On his latest record, […]
Tim Bluhm – Sorta Surviving
There’s nothing like going to the source of your inspiration to really understand its intricacies. Â Californian Tim Bluhm, of The Mother Hips, did just that when he decided to do a country music album. Â Sorta Surviving was recorded at Johnny Cash’s cabin-cum-studio, and features A-list players like Jesse Aycock on guitar and Elizabeth Cook on […]
Son Volt – Union
The previous two Son Volt albums explored leader Jay Farrar’s musical groundings in country and blues with Honky Tonk and Notes Of Blue respectively. Â On his latest record, Farrar and his bandmates are showing some of their folk roots. Â That’s not to say Union is a folk record: far from it, this is a return […]
Robbie Walden Band – When the Rooster Crows
The opening song on the Robbie Walden Band’s latest album, When the Rooster Crows, is 50 Years Too Late. Â It’s appropriately named because the record is what it would have sounded like if Merle Haggard had done a concept album in the late sixties when The Beatles first popularized the idea. Â Lyrically the project follows […]
Roses And Cigarettes – Echoes And Silence
One of the threads that bind us here in Twangville is love for a soaring vocal, screaming guitar, driving rhythm, rock and roll song. Â Not the over-produced kind you get in some arena show, but one that has roots in a dimly lit bar in Memphis or Austin or Muscle Shoals. Â My latest find along […]
Joey McGee – El Camino Real
Although he wrote the rest of the songs on his new album, El Camino Real, the one that most epitomizes the record is a cover of Susanna & Guy Clark’s The Cape. Â Clark told the story, in his homespun way, of one of the crazy characters that inhabited his world. Â McGee adds an electric guitar […]