Way back in my youth there was a TV show called The A-Team. In it, the commander of the band of misfits exclaims, “I love it when a plan comes together,” after some hare-brained, seat-of-the-pants scheme turns out for the good. I think John R. Miller must have uttered something similar when he finished recording […]
Reckless Kelly – Alternate Routes
Thirty years ago in a wide-spot-in-the-road Idaho town 300 miles west of Yellowstone, Willy and Cody Braun formed their first band. As the sons and grandsons of professional musicians, their knowledge about how to do that was ahead of most of their garage band peers. One of their first decisions was to relocate to Austin. […]
Krislyn Arthurs Song Premiere – Missin’ Man
When you grow up in a small town you learn young that one thing you’ll never have is anonymity. So you quickly figure out how to smile and be polite because you just can’t avoid anyone. That does not mean people don’t make bad decisions, and then live with the results of those choices. Krislyn […]
Drayton Farley – A Heavy Duty Heart
It was just a few years ago that Drayton Farley was recording songs in his bedroom. His new release, A Heavy Duty Heart, boldly announces that though they were recent those days are long in the rearview. Like his previous album, the project was produced by Sadler Vaden, guitarist for Jason Isbell and the 400 […]
Andy Thomas – Highway Junkie
You know the saying: you gotta dance with the one who brung ya. Having spent years being the frontman and/or guitarist for a few outlaw honky tonk southern rock bands, that was the obvious choice of style for Andy Thomas’ newest record, Highway Junkie. As you might have intimated from the album’s title, he had […]
Tim Easton – fIREHORSE
I’m a sucker for a good story. Sure, there are plenty of great songs that aren’t much beyond a chant and a chord progression. But the ones that germinate in your mind to become a part of your worldview; they’re relatable in a way that goes all the way back Aesop. Someone who’s a master […]
CJ Hooper – Over Yonder
CJ Hooper. That just sounds like the name of a country musician. Or maybe a high school football star being recruited by every school in the SEC. I don’t know if Hooper played football in high school, but he was Texas-raised before moving to his now-home in Washington state. More to the point, he just […]
Craig Fort of Lightning Stills on Utilization Cooking and the Aftermath of Band Rehearsals
Craig Fort of Omaha, Nebraska’s Lightning Stills talks about his start in a hardcore punk band, being in the “investment” phase of his musical career, and the type of seats he has in his tour vehicle.
Sophie Gault – Unhinged
Somewhere in the exurbs of farming country sits the rural version of a night club. It’s a big, corrugated tin building with a puddle-filled gravel lot, nearly indistinguishable from the welding shop next door. Live music on the weekends is courtesy of a local band playing honky-tonk rock, the thematic choice for drinkin’, flirtin’, fightin’, […]
The Far West – Everything We Thought We Wanted
The great Joe Strummer once said, “rock and roll ain’t about playing all the right notes.” It was a comment on the passion and showmanship that made his, and others, success in the 80’s and 90’s. I’d argue that while the passion is still essential, the showmanship that was once necessary has evolved to become […]