For me, the true harbinger of spring is the arrival of the SXSW Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas. Or rather, spring begins for me when I arrive in Austin for SXSW. With upwards of 2,000 bands and more than 20,000 attendees from around the world, SXSW is the world’s premiere music conference. Even […]
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 […]
Ray Benson on the Day Job He’s Had for 49 Years and an Eclectic First Gig
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 […]
Mayer’s Playlist for January/February 2019, Part 2
Jingle and Go, Ryan Bingham (from the Axster Bingham Records release American Love Song) Ryan Bingham stretches out on American Love Song, offering up a roadhouse full of of songs about on love, political commentary and boisterous escapades. Opener “Jingle and Go” kicks things off playfully, recalling Little Feat with its intertwined piano and slide […]
Dale Watson on a Hand-Me-Down Tour Bus and Some Memorable Early Gigs
Eminent Honky-Tonker Dale Watson talks about rehearsing at shows, working on an assembly line and the best way to learn about music.
Monday Morning Video – Carter Sampson
There are inevitably a few albums that slip by my radar each year. Carter Sampson’s 2018 release Lucky fits into that category. The album is filled with songs that sit on the cusp of folk and country, often determined solely by the arrangements. She passed through Dallas several weeks ago and treated to two shows, […]
Monday Morning Video – Dale Watson and Big Sandy
The Ameripolitan Awards, founded six years ago by musician Dale Watson, celebrate rockabilly, western swing, outlaw and honky-tonk music. You know, authentic music. This year’s event takes place in Memphis, TN with four days of entertainment from February 22nd through the 25th. The event culminates in the annual awards show, this year hosted by Watson […]
Yola – Walk Through Fire
Yola Carter is well known in her native U.K., and soon she will be just as well known on this side of the big pond. While she has received some recognition stateside, her new album “Walk Through Fire†will no doubt put her front and center of the Americana scene. The album was produced by […]
Hayes Carll – What It Is
By the second song on the new album from Hayes Carll, What It Is, it’s already apparent that he’s moving away from the pensiveness of his last record to something more in line with his earlier work. Â But that’s also not to say he’s not improving his craft along the way. Â The dry wit and […]