Flanfire

Okay, so (a) I have had a long vacation from writing because (b) I was working on my house a lot and (c) I was winning a cooking contest and such things.  Now I am backed up, CD’s stacked high on my desk (and more coming all the time), and LOTS of great shows to comment on.  I will warn that I will be posting SOME comments on my Facebook page (Duggan Flanakin) because that can be quick and easy (I will not say “dirty”).  OK, my other camera broke, too, and I have not yet mastered taking prime time photos on my new one.  But let’s get started.

THE TEXAS SAPPHIRES – As He Wanders

Billy Brent Malkus is a true Southern gentleman, and I fondly recall the startup of a “side project” (that is, away from Nathan Hamilton and No Deal) with old friend Rebecca Lucille Cannon of the punk rocker band Sincola.  The Sapphires (Texas was added because of an old soul band with the same name) went through a bunch of players until one day Brent and Lucy realized they had a headlining act.  The band’s debut CD, “Valley So Steep,” was just killer, and the studio followup, “As He Wanders,” picks up where the debut left off.  The band today is Brent, Rebecca and Slim Bawb Pearce, generally Scotty Matthews, and whoever else shows up. 

The new CD is chock full of “whoever shows up,” including Billy Dee (Donahue) playing bass, Nathan Fleming on pedal steel (often found with Jesse Dayton), Tommy Detamore on dobro, Justin Kolb on upright bass, and the incomparable Dennis Ludiker on fiddle (well, he IS the 2008 and 2009 Texas State Champion).  Fleming shines just about every time he is on a track, starting off with “Nashville Moon,” written by Brent’s Baltimore buddy Arty Hill.  Ludiker’s fiddling is always “ludicrous-ly” good.  Brent, who grew up on a Maryland hog farm, does not have to fake it to be a kicker icon — it’s in his blood!

“190,” the first of many Malkus cuts, features Rebecca on vocals, is another old-time country “standard” (notably because of the style of pedal steel Fleming uses here, and you have to realize the kid is still on the short side of thirty!).  “Riddled Days” is a Malkus standard that features Detamore’s dobro and Slim Bawb on mandolin — this waltz is just good songwriting.  “Stunt Double” gets back to honkytonking — and a great idea for a two-timing man who wants to avoid his woman’s wrath.  Rebecca ( aka Lucy) wrote “Teardrops or Rain,” an old style country ballad light years better than the “songs” Taylor Swift primps through on CMT.  I just LOVE THIS SONG!

It’s back to honkytonking with Brent’s fun song, ”How Did I Get So Sloppy Drunk (When I Was Drinking Neat)?” and back to Rebecca on Brent’s ballad “Make Him Make Me” (yup, she’s singing the harmony parts too).  Another great song with some great instrumental breaks … CLASSIC!  Just play this on every radio station that ever called itself country and the Texas Sapphires will suddenly be on the bigtime rodeo circuit and the Opry on the side. 

Next up is “Baltimore Cage,” which opens with Slim Bawb on mandolin and Dennis on fiddle — this is a song about being in jail.  Another great one to hear live (as I did at the band’s Continental Club CD release party a few weeks back).  Then it’s Slim Bawb’s “Farmers Tan,” a song that also appears on Pearce’s own CD (reviewed here earlier) — one that tests the ability of the human ear to keep up with (super?)human fingers.  Back to Rebecca on vocals on “Spirits,” and then “Freiheit Rag,” with Brent and Slim Bawb picking and Justin Kolb thumping away, before you get to “Pure Land,” the destination of choice.  This song cries out against littering, potholes, and other evidences of human debris that show our failure to appreciate the gifts we have been given by the Great Spirit.  This is a gospel song much moreso than “Bring Out the Bible (We Ain’t Got a Prayer)” from “Valley So Steep.”

The Sapphires are on tour in Colorado and New Mexico until March 18th, when they play a SXSW party at the Whip In (and play again at Roadhouse Rags on the 21st of March).  These guys (and gal) are the real deal!

HANK & SHAIDRI ALRICH with DOUG HARMAN — Carry Me Home

Hank Alrich is an Austin legend if for nothing less than his service managing the original Armadillo (taking over from longtime buddy Eddie Wilson), even though he left town decades ago and moved to California where he raised a passel of daughters and son.  The Austin American-Statesman quotes Wilson as saying that, “Hank is a hero.  If not for Hank, the Armadillo would have been closed in two years instead of open for 10.”

Just one of Hank’s many daughters is the quiet Shaidri, whose talent is just off the chart.   Doug Harman makes it a trio on cello.  I will defer all of the GOOD details about Hank and Shaidri to my pal John Conquest — you should really read HIS review of this delightful recording at Third Coast Music.  This is old timey music … I can only say I am grateful to get to hear Shaidri when her dad comes to town and that I am still hopeful that she will get out more (or that Hank will just start playing a LOT more shows here), because her voice (and her fiddle and guitar playing) takes you back to a simpler, sweeter time — even when she is singing the sad ballad, “The Death of Ellenton,” about a town “that’s gone forevermore.”  Conquest reminds us that Shaidri was winning fiddle contests at age 6 and that “she glows in the dark.”  I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!  The trio cover songs from Utah Phillips, Peter Rowan, and others but include four Hank Alrich originals, including “Austin City Limits,” which opens the CD.  You get a taste of Shaidri’s Celtic music prowess on “Blarney’s Ghost Medley,” six minutes of pure joy.  Hank’s vocals shine on ”If I Don’t Get You” and Shaidri’s glisten on “Carry Me Home,” just two of the many songs Hank has written over the years.  This stuff is Carter Family good — and Shaidri joyously is beginning to get out more into the Austin music community, a light destined to shine VERY brightly over our city.

Now Hank is promoting a second valuable release — In this, the 40th Birthday year of Armadillo World Headquarters, Armadillo Records will release Taking Turns, a song swap from Austin artists, musicians, engineers and studios. It has always been Armadillo’s mission to present a wide range of quality talents, musicians and styles to satisfy and provoke the adventurous and discriminating tastes of our audiences.  Leading off this new CD is (who else?) Shaidri Alrich, but the CD also includes songs from Beto y los Fairlanes, Denim, Michael Durbin, Tommy Elskes, Greezy Wheels, Lindsay Haisley, Mady Kaye, Maryann Price, Shake Russell, Craig Toungate, and Elizabeth Wills.  Fans of old-time Austin music will line up to get this jewel.

I will never forget Labor Day at Ski Shores … Randy Weeks and Will Sexton playing for over 200 minutes straight (Randy’s songs) for a bunch of friends and with a very special guest who was the one really responsible for getting her daddy and his friends out on a sunny afternoon.  Nor will I forget one Wednesday happy hour earlier this year when I walked into Z Tejas and Will (noticing that every table was occupied) asked if someone would let his friend Duggan sit at their table.

Nor can I forget that night at the Driskill when Will was so excited about going into the studio with Mark Hallman and Andre Moran to cut all the tracks on his brand-new CD “Move the Balance” in one day.  Or his joy at getting a new MySpace page (which of course someone else is monitoring).  Then there was that night a few weeks back when Ruby James and I drove up to NXNW with some friends in from California and Will and Charlie Faye extended their set for a full hour just for us.  And that night, even more recently, when Ruby hopped on stage at the Hole in the Wall and realized that Will could not remember the words to his own songs.

I can write this last note because the whole town now knows that Will had a mild stroke — and that his friends in Austin have responded with great generosity and love to give him a cushion to rest and recuperate.  So right now the best thing we can do for Will — but even moreso for our own enjoyment — is to get down to Waterloo (or wherever good music is sold) and buy one, two, three or more copies (yeah, it’s after Christmas now, but good gifts are always in season) of the CD which has on its inner sleeve, “White Middle Aged Well Dressed Man Looking for Love.”

Will plays guitar and bass here, with Bukka Allen on B3 and accordian; Mike Thompson on piano, guitar and even trombone; and Dony Wynn on drums and percussion.  Ray Bonneville (harmonica), Bill Carter (bass), and Hallman (bass, vocals and lots more) are joined by Ruby (Red) James, Charlie Faye, and Noelle Hampton as guest vocalists for eleven songs written by Will (sometimes with friends and family).  All 11 songs, IMHO, are suitable for lots of airplay, and I even had the “bright idea” that we could raise a lot of money for Will (and get his great songs heard around the world) just by persuading some of his and brother Charlie’s high-profile friends to contribute their own vocal tracks to each of the songs here — for example, Steve Earle, who along with Charlie Sexton co-wrote “Amnesia Lights,” and why not Bob Dylan on “Pissed Off Nights”?  But then again, people worldwide just oughta hear Will singing these songs.

The title cut, “Move the Balance,” opens the CD, with Ruby on backing vocals, and Mike Thompson’s piano paves the way for this lilting, very moving song .. that you just want to play over and over again [but that's true of every song here].  One of my very favorites is “Certain Kind of Something,” with Will serenading his lady, explaining that she has “got me running round in circles with your image in my brain … “  This is like Buddy Holly meets the early Beatles … but up to date musically.  [Mind you, John, Paul & Co. modeled themselves after the Crickets!]  You just have to start singing along by the second time the chorus comes around.

But “Sunday Driver” is just as smart lyrically, with Will singing that, “and I know you’d like to be known as the world’s strongest known survivor, but I’ve done about all I can do, my Sunday driver.”   But ”Pissed Off Nights”  may be even better — “those you left behind keep getting nearer and nearer, and those you stand behind just keep on disappearing ….”  There is a LOT of Mike Thompson here, and Bukka on B3, and that’s always good.  But what about “For Always”?  A bouncy little ditty — easy to dance to — all about “my destination blues” — “but with all of the keepsakes of my heart, you know you will always be a part … for always.”  I again am hearing the ghost of Buddy Holly here …. even in the guitar solo.  And Charlie Faye!

“Best Intentions” is like Will as Tom Waits — his voice gets low and down and dirty … with Bonneville’s harmonica adding in lots of fog.  This song has Greg Goshorn and Stephanie Smith as co-writers … This is late-night music — for the 3 am club.  Next up is “Beauty Pageant,” a lament marked by some beautiful piano … that just grows on you. 

“Amnesia Lights” gets you dancing close with your honey … “we were only trying to find the time that passed us by …  if you try you just might forget it all tonight, underneath the amnesia lights …”  Now Ruby and Noelle join Will on “Little Late for Loving Me Now,” a rocker that once again evokes The Crickets (though Holly’s lads would not have added the ”whoo hoo hoo’s) and a hot guitar solo and Dony’s classic rhythm.  YUM!

All very good — and yet the final two cuts are my very very favorites.  “Closing the Airport” is like “Blue Christmas,” a sad ballad in whic ”time has tangled up all my thoughts, all I need to know no one can tell … seem to have lost, misplaced everything … close the airports and the highways in this town, close the street that I live on….”   Just beautiful.  And then there is “Happy Hour,” one of my favorite songs of all time … and so autobiographical.  Will sings, ”here comes the lonely clown, here comes the lonely clown, here comes the lonely clown with the big red heart … ” And yet, “Since time began the wisest men will meet again at happy hour.”  [Which must mean Bill Carter, Stephen Doster, and Will at Z Tejas every Wednesday.]  We get Thompson’s trombone as part of the happy hour celebration music at the end of the song … as the loneliness fades away while wise men play joyfully together….. you gotta be there!

So I was at Momo’s Club tonight (Monday) and ran into my pal Ben Mallott, and he was telling me about his trip to Dallas to see the Longhorns beat North Carolina at the new Cowboys Stadium on Saturday and how after the game he was trekking about town and ran into Graham Wilkinson who was playing a show there.  And so I got the message that it was long past time for me to post comments about Graham’s (to date) masterpiece, “Yearbook,” which Graham had given me a copy of (late even then) at his Halloween party at the Ghost Room.

Truth be told, one reason I had not reviewed it was it has been in my car CD player ever since, and I normally put records (CD’s are records) there AFTER I have finished a review.  I flat-out LOVE the Underground Township, and Graham — dreads and all — is just about larger than life.  But then I know a little something about living with more than one spirit inside … Yeah, there’s enough reggae in this big blond white guy to attract the likes of P. J. Herrington, whom I know through Kris Brown and Mr. Brown, to play guitars.  Other official band members (the “senior class” on the record yearbook) include Matt Morris on drums, Wayne Dalchau on bass, Chris Stringer on keys, and Patrick Herzfeld on drums — but there are often horns, and here and there buddies of Graham (like Alejandro and Hayes Carll) who show up to sing or maybe rap on the furniture in time.  The M&M Horns (Margaret Whitt and Meg Kemp, also known for their work in Jabarvy), Nick Warrenchuk (trombone), Mark Wilson (saxes), and Leila Hanley (alto sax and flute) are on this collection of songs.  For the whole schoolfull, get the record!

Because this column is all about SONGS!  “Let It Go” encourages us to “laugh until life makes sense” when things around us threaten to swallow us whole (such as the death of a daughter or a brother).  “Boys and Girls” yearns for a simpler time, “before the false truths were written in stone.”  After all, what we face in real life today is “criminals as politicians,” and “all this pain in so many lives….”  But this record is all about the “Ragamuffin,” Graham’s brother Aaron, and on this powerful song Lloyd Maines lends his considerable skill on pedal steel.  Indeed, the whole record was inspired (Graham tells us) by a band trip to New York City to play a gig with some of his brother’s friends that turned into a month-long tour in the summer of ‘08.

On the other hand, the record is also about Graham’s big loving heart – songs like “Star Blue – Spend All My Time with You” and “Our 1st Night,” tender love songs (okay, I just see some Red Skelton soft shoe on Star Blue).  Another one of my favorites is “Ghost,” one of many songs here where Graham talks about the discord in today’s world and wonders, “why don’t we love one another?”  The big guy with the big heart sings this great song, “Blame,” when you want to blame the mess on just about everybody else, but if you want to let love win the day you just let them blame it on you and get over it.  My decade in Baton Rouge (and eternity in Houston) makes me smile at “From Covington,” even though “sister Melody has got some felonies, thirteen class A, in all,” when the one I know best got busted mostly for walking to the Randall’s after curfew to get a soda.

“Blank Pages” is just Graham and a piano in that sepia-sounding effect singing, “scraping with worn fingertips and broken nails, I scream, ‘the living stay hungry, the dead they are not alone…..”  And so, after you listen to the 15-song set all the way through, you find yourself back at track 1, a rockin’ number, “Watertowers & Windmills,” a song about coming to grips with things you cannot understand when the world seems about to fall totally apart (the water tower is two days shy of running dry, and the old windmill has stiopped singing it’s song….”  And “Sunrise,” a toe-tapping, horn-happy ditty that must have been written on the bus on the way back from New York that ends with the sounds of real live Boys and Girls (and of course the intro to that reggae song).

I have to close out these comments by mentioning, “Personality Disorder,” a tap-dance number reminiscent of Richard Gere in Chicago — tap-dancing through the muck and mire of a world “so unbelievably full of idiotic super-natural-light-hearted wild turkey babble ….”  And I am brought back to Halloween, with Bobby Perkins playing bass wearing a grass skirt and me in my Zoot suit …

And that brings me back to why Ben and I were at Momo’s this Monday — but before that I gotta tell you Ben was the victim last Friday night of a flying skillet he had to catch with his bare left hand and all of a sudden unable to play his scheduled gig at Flipnotics.  So naturally, BettySoo and Mailman Dave came to the rescue, showing up on half an hour’s notice for unsuspecting folks like me who had been at Momo’s for an early set or two.  Oh, Ben did drop by, ostensibly to sing a duet (on a Tom Waits song) with Noelle Hampton and her band — and the guy, for some strange reason, grabbed Noelle’s guitar and painfully but poignantly gave his friends the treat of his version of “White Christmas” before yielding the floor to Will Sexton and Charlie Faye and later Jess Klein (all of whom Noelle graciously lent her stage to during the evening).

The very next night I was back at Flipnotics to catch a set from Margo Valiante after stopping by House Wine to hear some new songs from John and Kristen Nixin.  Wise birds got to Momo’s early on Monday to hear Jess Klein and Randy Weeks swap songs for an hour, whetting the appetite for the main event, one that I have a sense might one day be seen as historic.  Dustin Welch has done the string quartet show before — with violinist Trisha Keefer, bassist Joe Beckham, and cellist Brian Standefer, notably at a show I caught at Lambert’s what seems to be a lifetime ago.  This time though Dustin brought out James Duvall and Eli to record the second of two shows also featuring Phoebe Hunt and sister Savannah Welch — with dad Kevin (plus grandparents and little sister) shooting video and the rest of the family basking in the glow. 

And speaking of family week, last Wednesday I got to see Eleanor Whitmore and hubby Chris Masterson at the Scoot Inn and Vanessa and Jason Lively and full band on Vanessa Lively Day at Momo’s.  Just good stuff.  On the horizon — Christmas Night at Antone’s with Blues Mafia, Shelley King, and Carolyn Wonderland, and next Sunday at Threadgill’s North Lamar for Hank and Shadri Alrich (lunch) and then out to the iguana Grill to catch the beautiful Barbara Nesbitt.  Finally, KUDOS to Jazz Mills for collecting (and organizing into gift baskets) tons of stuff for Christmas presents for Austin’s homeless and hopeless.

There is something GOOD happening down at 5th and Brazos — the One 2 One Bar recently switched to charging a cover for their downstairs music room, stopped letting people in an out from 5th Street (you have to go to the Brazos Street entrance now), and continued their practice of bringing some of Austin’s finest players to their stage (with windows open to the street except when it is REALLY COLD outside).

Thursday night was no exception — with the early show featuring Wayne Sutton and Wayne Duncan, always a quality act.  I got there in time for the later set — the Dank Trio (Douglas Jay Boyd, Clayton Colvin, and David Jimenez) plus J. T. Holt from Dertybird sitting in.  DO check out the videos — Doug singing with JT and David jamming on one and Clayton singing on the other. 

Earlier in the evening I was up at the Nomad Bar just off Cameron Road to catch part of a set from my old friend Rich Restaino and the Obits — now an eight-piece R&B flavored band with three Ronette-style girl singers (featuring the lovely and talented Sara Shansky, Ellzie Restaino, and Roz Mandola), Lloyd Wright on keyboards, Dave Wylie on drums, Alex Sefchick on bass, and Hunt Wellborn on guitar.  Rich and the band have a new CD in the works and were handing out free samples of “Susie” (after she woke up) to anyone willing to pick one up.  Sara showed her pipes on “You Don’t Miss Your Water (till your well runs dry),” and the girls kicked on “Please Mr. Postman.”  Early in 2010 we should begin to see the band on bigger stages — I am liking this.

The night before I stopped by Maria’s Taco X-Press for Jessica Shepherd’s CD release — which was moved INDOORS due to the 34-degree weather outside.  First time I had ever seen live music INSIDE at Maria’s but with the rousing success of this evening I anticipate it will not be the last time.  Jessica was stunning in a long black and white dress and her rich vocal power — and her band began with Perry Drake on drums and Kyle Judd on acoustic guitar, and David Valley on bass.  Spicing up the mix were Laurie Gibson on fiddle and vocals, Sally Gibson, Dee Ann Smith and Eric Leikam on vocals, Washboard Judy on, well, washboard, and special guest Danny B Harvey on electric guitar.  PLUS Maria Corbalan herself was in the house looking fabulous!  [Reports that Sin City's Shilah Morrow was sipping Mexican martinis with an unidentified music reporter are just not undeniable.]  But the real star of the evening was the room itself — Maria’s is so colorful, and the sound was so very good — do not be surprised if the Argentine Angel comes up with yet another winning idea!

SHELLEY KING – Welcome Home

Nearly ten years ago, Flanfire and the late Mrs. Flanfire stepped out into the Austin music scene — our first venture was the swan song at Shaggy’s for the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers’ SXSW Sunday show featuring Dave Alvin and the late E. R. Shorts.  Just days later, though, we stopped in to Jovita’s to catch the first of our MANY shows from the Shelley King Band (Tony Velasco, Perry Drake, and Kyle Judd the Guitar Stud plus Shelley).  After the show (during which numerous toddlers danced all over the Jovita’s floor), Shelley gave us a copy of her debut CD … and we have been close friends ever since.  That includes a family cruise (that is, Shelley’s musical family as well) to Mexico and the second wedding of her mom and dad (now there’s a major story for you). 

I got to hear the songs from Shelley’s new CD, “Welcome Home,” for the first time at SXSW this past spring at a showcase at Austin Java (with Chip Dolan and Marvin Dykhuis), but this record has been in the making for over two years (I know because she had to miss my Nancy’s celebration service to meet up with the Subdudes in Colorado two Januarys ago).  Margaret Moser still hopes someone else will make Shelley a rich woman by recording some of these songs — my hope instead is that Oprah will make Shelley rich by just having her on her show.  And why not?  State Musician of Texas — and first woman ever to win that honor — in 2008.  The list could continue — but Margaret IS right that others OUGHT to record some of these songs that the whole audience always sings along with.

I also well remember how excited Shelley was a few years back to get a gig on the same bill with the Subdudes, and how she was even more excited to learn they liked HER music.  It really was not that much later on that Shelley got together with John Magnie, Tim Cook and Steve Amedée to start to work on the recording that became “Welcome Home.”  It just took seemingly forever to get the finished product — but it has been well worth the wait.

“Summer Wine,” the very first cut, has already made a splash on worldwide radio, and the Katrina-influendced title cut is likely to be sung at gospel brunches from here to eternity.  “I Remember” is a zydeco shuffle that also has its roots in old gospel music — with lots of wailing and foot stomping that gets your blood going and then the quiet moans.  Before I forget, I should mention Shelley has an “official” CD release at the Cactus Cafe on December 2nd  — though when the record came out on November 10th Shelley sang and signed CD’s at Waterloo and then at an afternoon show at the Saxon Pub.  I love this record, which combines the best of Shelley as dance band leader and gospel singer.

The dance beat picks up again with “Everything’s All Right” (written with the amazing Theresa Andersson, another of Shelley’s close friends), and trust me, you can always dance to Shelley’s music (gotta love that accordian here).  And yeah those old guys can really sing harmony.  “Asking Too Much” (written by longtime Subdudes collaborators Tim Cook and Steve Strickland) is classic country, right from the opening piano riffs … a song Patsy Cline would have killed for.  [Note to Margaret -- run this song by Margo Timmons!]  “How You Make Me Feel” is a cowrite with longtime pal Floramay Holliday (another passenger on the good ship Shelleypop a few years back), and “I Can’t Make It Easy” is a Shelley co-write with Subdude John Magnie — this is a song to squeeze your honey to on the dance floor.

“It’s Starting to Rain” gets Shelley back to belting out the ballad — soulful, funky, and again very danceable — and singable.  I would have loved to hear Janis sing this one.  “Falling Fast” is a little faster two-stepper that will get many a pretty woman swung to and fro and maybe even kissed.  This is Gruene Hall music (where Shelley recorded her first live album, BTW).  Then Shelley underscores the main theme of the album with the passionate “Grain of Sand,” reminding us of her long-time membership in the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers (this is where we came in!).  DO remember the first Sunday in every month at Maria’s Taco X-Press — and oh yeah, that’s coming up soon!  [And speaking of Papa Mali, the next big thing he has been working on is the upcoming Wendy Colonna record -- more on that in a month or three.]

COURRIER – Like the Cold of Snow in the Time of Harvest

I first saw Courrier at Stubbs a few months back opening for Austin Collins and was immediately impressed.  I caught up with the band recently at La Zona Rosa at their EP release party.  These guys come from the same tradition as The Rocketboys and Quiet Company (and several other bands with powerful themes in their music and lots of passion in their music), though they like being compared with bands like Death Cab for Cutie.  The six songs here are not likely to make dance cards, but a couple could easily be sung as anthems, particularly “Wildfire,”  or as hymns, like “The Ascendist,
which includes a song within a song — “O the answer, I looked for the answer And I found the trail, I found the trail, I don’t want to walk no more…..”

JESSIE TORRISI – Bruler, Bruler

Jessie Torrisi is originally from Philadelphia but since she lived in New York as a professional jazz drummer for the past decade, she gets props as part of that music scene — from which she has emerged as a singer-songwriter in her new-found home in Austin.  Jessie is engaging and fun, and her energy electric.  For a drummer, she is a pretty good singer — one that others are taking notice of around the country.  Jessie rooked new friend Alissa Schram into dusting off her old cello and getting back into the groove (taking her away from her day job only now and then), and pieced together one after another group of outstanding players for her various shows about town (including at times multi-instrumentalists Rob Jewett and Carley Wolf).  Indeed, Jessie’s shows are sometimes circus-like as musicians switch instruments, she gets everyone involved in singing, and that includes the entire audience.  Like the record title says, she just loves to burn and burn brighter. 

The first cut is her signature song, “Hungry Like Me,” which I recall singing with her in an impromptu performance indoors at the Irie Bean months ago.  Then there are the “travelogue” songs — “X in TeXas,” “Breeze in Carolina,” “Runaway Train,” and “So Many Miles.”  “Cannonball” has an old-time Broadway feel — or better, off- off- Broadway, Bette Midler style.  Which is to say this is a showtune dance number (I can even envision this interpreted by a mime) — and if you look at the waiflike Jessie on the cover of the EP, you can also see her with broom in hand making mischief wherever she flies (somewhere between Eastwick and Practical Magic).  “Runaway Train” has a calliope feel, and “Storm Clouds” showcases Jessie’s vocal strength.  “So Many Miles” is a true ballad — slow dance music.  “The Brighter Side” encapsulates Jessie’s own hope for her future — keep your chin up and full of smiles and magic … the piano opens up and then Jessie sings that, “I’ve been down so long I can’t tell the sky from the ground….”   But then there is her inspiration, of whom she sings – “It seems you’ve been through everything and never lose your shine…..”  A song of hope and depth — a fitting ending to a nice debut, a song that tells us she has something real to go home to after the circus tent goes down.

I remember the first time I met Grace Pettis — at Journey Imperfect Faith Community for a Wendy Colonna music show.  Only much later did I learn she is the daughter of songwriter Pierce Pettis, but even on that first encounter I knew this was a woman of considerable substance.  Sitting out at Cafe Mundi this past Thursday night, my bud Nathan Hubble added his “amen” — as Grace was singing “What You Didn’t Want to Know,” a song from her debut CD, “Grace Pettis,” which Grace will be showcasing at Journey IFC’s warehouse meeting place in North Austin on November 21st.

But before I review the CD, let me tell you how I GOT to Cafe Mundi for Naked Folk, a songwriter showcase hosted by Chase Gassaway and Lamar Stockton (who leads the Resonate worship band at River Bend Church).  And before I do that, I need to note that Lamar and Nathan go way back to grade school, and that all of these guys sing harmony vocals on Grace’s new record.  I also need to note that the third guest on this night was the lovely (above, right) Jordan Whitmire, whose songs were so good I thought they were by Carole King or maybe fellow Dallas girl Norah Jones. 

Okay, so it is Tuesday night, and my old pal Brennen Leigh, along with Noel McKay (below, left), are playing a show at House Wine.  Now, Brennen sometimes sits in with Nathan (on electric mandolin), and so it was not that big a surprise that he showed up at the gig.  So did keyboardist Lacy Quin, who is playing a show with Steven Ray Will at the Saxon later this month.  Nathan told me about this gig, and as soon as he mentioned Grace Pettis, I was down for it (having missed a couple of her recent shows).  Later that evening I stopped by the Blind Pig to see JusTif (Justin and Tiffani, below, bottom center), who had been at my house party two days earlier (and the multi-talented Scott Andrews showed up with his mandolin for a 10-minute version of “A Horse with No Name” and much more).  I even went next door to Maggie Mae’s to feast my eyes upon the saxy glam boy Greg Williams (along with Dave Madden and Glen Rexach, among others) at Live Band Karaoke (bottom, left) — a real hoot for everyone who braves the stage.  Then I met back up with Matt and Lacy at the Hole in the Wall as Brennen and Noel played twin lead guitars with Missy Beth Crisman (below, center) and her Alaskan country twang. 

Then on Wednesday, I devoted myself to my new friend Barbara Nesbitt (below, right), as she played two sets at House Wine and later let me listen to rough cuts from her forthcoming album that features Doug Pettibone and members of her old band from San Diego.  Barbara has upcoming gigs in Austin at Flipnotics (Nov. 21) and the Iguana Grill (Nov. 22) that will be well worth going to.  And after Naked Folk on Thursday, I trekked over to Ruta Maya and caught a couple of songs from Irie Jane, a full set by my friend Beth Richard (with her husband Jason on guitar and Steve Bernal on cello and Gray Parsons on vibes and keyboard), another full set from Cayce Rose and the Mind Games (I have known Cayce (bottom right, with Beth Richard) since she was 13 and now she is married to Mario Matteoli, who plays guitar in her band), and most of a set from Gabriel Siklosi and her band Beautiful Minds) before hitting yet another highlight — THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE NEW LONESOME HEROES MUSIC VIDEO (which features horses and a marisachi band and much more — but will otherwise not be widely available until after the video’s New York City premiere on December 2nd).  Folks, this video, shot by Rich Russell’s boyhood friend, Brookyln-based filmmaker Danny Stolzman of Frameless Films.  [Technically, the actual Austin premiere was earlier in the evening at Jo's Coffees but I got to the afterparty for a special showing).

GRACE PETTIS -- Self Titled

Words cannot express the heritage that Grace Pettis brings to her debut recording -- you just have to be quiet and listen to hear this very modern yet very traditionally spiritual woman who challenges anyone with claims of faith to stand up and face the music.  The self-righteous have to squirm or else be converted to the unconditional love that pours out of Grace's whole being.  Let's start with "Love Is There," about to be covered by Sara Hickman.  Grace lets us know that LOVE is there in the prison cell, in the soldier's private hell, even with the father who left us and with the battered wife, the homeless in the rain, and (believe it!) even with the stillborn and his mother.  As Grace sings, ""In the broken places, in the empty spaces, love is there somehow." 

Billy Crockett as a younger man toured with Dallas Holm, Rich Mullins, and Sandy Patty (some of the most powerful contemporary Christian artists before Nashville made that genre soupy), then he and his wife moved to the Texas Hill Country to build the Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio (and record a new record of his own as well).  Players on this beautiful disc include Colin Brooks (well, everything and vocals too), Rick Richards on drums, Chris Maresh on bass, Dirje Smith on cello, and Dave Madden on piano and vocals -- and a host of backing singers to create the choirs on "Love Is There" and the little gospel ditty, "Let a Little Light."

But this is not exactly a gospel record.  The opening cut, "The Gypsy's Code," opens our eyes to a woman who told me that right after she graduates college and gets married she plans to hit the road and tour until the cows come home:  "I am a wanderer, crossing borders, My home today will be tomorrow just another place I've been."  In "Nine to Five Girl," the hard-working waitress vents her anger at the higher paid office worker who leaves a measly dollar tip (but is this not a larger vent against anyone with wealth who disdains the poor, the servants who make the lives of the richer among us much more comfortable?). 

I was struck by Grace's live performance of "What You Didn't Want to Know," as she sings, "I'm the weatherman, I can't command the falling snow, I'm the one who tells you what you didn't want to know."  And then there's the playful "Italy" (not the town south of Dallas where Bobby Perkins grew up), a vision of a coming honeymoon where she and her man will "walk our feet on holy ground" and of course check out Michelangelo and Da Vinci and drink chianti and (of course) sing for the Italians.

Grace can also be tough: "Heard Enough Now" is a flat out rebuke of a smooth talker whose "silver tongue might wish me well, but you're good for nothing else," someone whose "money is far from your mouth" who says some "pretty things" and who has "some cause that you want me for," but Grace will not "fight your holy war."  [Uh, maybe the hypocritical church?]  And yet she can leave all of her frustrations behind and visualize a soldier and his girl “Dancing” (co-written with Sofia Echegaray) — “Threw your head back and laughed, and the ribbon flew from your hair … and we were dancing, dancing, around and around.”

Twelve cuts in all, including “Speak Tenderly” and “A Bird May Love,” and “Turning Now,” which speaks of “bicycle ribbons on the handles, you flew me over sidewalk mountains, childhood wilderness; you taught me moving grace, though it took a few scrapes; Now I ride my life like my old bike, it’s a balancing act.”  A song about growing up and dealing with what life brings — and letting go of childhood for the adventures that adulthood brings. 

The record closes with an honest lullaby, “Long Sleep,” with Grace admitting (as even Mother Teresa did many times) that “God is a long lost friend and lover, I believe once we were happy together, but faith is a fading dream, a song I sometimes sing just to remember.”  And yet this song is truly a prayer that we all awaken from our “long sleep” to breathe again as the dawn breaks over us.

I was bored, so I picked up a USA Today newspaper and turned to the Life section, and there — in all of its irradiant glory, were the paper’s airplay charts (adjacent to ads for Sting, Taylor Swift, Creed, and Breaking Benjamin).  I scanned a dozen charts — who ARE these people?  More importantly, why would ANY Texan who likes real live music spend a dime on all but a very few of these hotshots?

Which is not to say any of them are awful, or even boring, or even bad?  Some in fact are quite talented, and a few are even TEXANS!  Maybe the real problem is that USA Today has no category for the kind of music we listen to every day.  Let’s see (I will toss “Urban” which is an odd name, since Keith URBAN is not listed there; I will toss “Latin” and and “Rhythmic,” which means What?  SO let’s try
Top 40.”  Miley Cyrus — she’s no Leann Rimes.  Lady Gaga???  [Sounds like Pat Benatar to me.]  Britney Spears – what is WRONG with our country?  Kelly Clarkson — at least she’s a Texas girl.  The Kings of Leon make the chart, at least.

Peering at “Country” — Miranda Lambert — and a lot of people who can actually sing — and then there’s Taylor Swift (could this be a stage name?).  Eye candy, nowhere near as good as Sunny Sweeny, and yet rich and famous and all over the tabloids.  Carrie Underwood?  Another painted doll.  Colbie Caillat — now here’s a real girl, but “Falling for You” is just boring and yet it is a Top 40 hit — but not enough spins for her to make the “Country” chart.  The surprise – Lady Antebellum, with lyrics that actually sound real.   

Now I DID notice Matt Nathanson (for whom my pal John Thomasson plays bass) is up to No. 4 on the “Adult Contemporary” charts, along with Rob Thomas, Pink, and Daughtry (wait — was he not on American Simonized?)  And, oh yeah, Breaking Benjamin with a Youtube that provides the lyrics to their songs (others are doing this as well) — now that is a great marketing idea.  Yeah — there are lots of familiar names in “Adult Rock,” “Alternative,” and even “Active Rock” — but why, pray tell, is there no “Indie Rock” category in this esteemed newspaper?   Anyhow, it is clear to me that the best music — the best real American music — is not even on their radar.  Let’s face it — corporate music today is all about the superficial, the trivial — whether bubblegum or bawdy.

And that leads me to my topic today.  What was it that Townes said:  “Maybe she just has to sing for the sake of the song, Who do I think that I am to decide that she’s wrong?”  The music we love here in Austin and roundabout is music with lyrics that ring true.  As one friend responded to my request for their favorite Texas songwriters, “There are just too many to name.”  And yet almost none of them are on the radio or on the “charts.”

I mean, would Joni Mitchell (for example) ever make today’s “top 40″ or even the “adult contemporary” charts?  Probably not – as I can hardly see Joni writhing around on “America’s Got Talent.”  The soul of this great nation is wholly ignored by the moneychangers in our temples — our halls of Congress, state houses, city halls, and yes even our civic and religious institutions — but notably, too, our houses of music and art and even dance.

Maybe corporate radio is right.  Maybe Americans cannot take the truth!  Maybe we have become so morally bankrupt that we do not want to hear what real people’s lives are all about?  In this age of plastic (surgery and credit cards and more), maybe we cannot be confronted with our own humanity. 

Here is what I see.  Lots of places are beginning to look a little like Austin, lots of people everywhere are writing songs from the heart, songs that Townes and Guy Clark and our other heroes would listen to gladly.  Over and over again, too, I hear that Austin is a city where musicians and artists are supportive of each other’s work, where there is a genuine love of discovery of each other’s humanity and an encouraging ear and heart that enables the peeling off of layers of protective phoniness that we had wrapped ourselves in where we used to live.

I was reminded of this the other day reading a passage from Henri Nouwen, the Dutch priest who spent his most notable years in a community in Toronto that welcomed people with disabilities.  In his little book, Turn My Mourning into Dancing: Finding Hope in Hard Times, Nouwen writes:

It is our great illusion that life is a property to be owned or grasped, that people can be managed or manipulated…. This illusion sometimes puts us on the road to a frantic search for selfhood and self-fulfillment.  We want to be “true to ourselves” — or at least to our self-made image. 

Nouwen goes on to state that, “In the face of a great pain or inescapable grief, we realize how little we control our lives, how feebly our protests change reality…. Perhaps our need to hold life loosely is no more evident that in our daily relationships.  Loving someone means allowing the other person to respond in ways you have no control over.”  And then he hits us in the breadbasket.  In a section entitled, “Moving Out of the House of Fear,” Nouwen says that, “The suffering of affluent countries such as ours — our anxiousness and loneliness — comes as a hidden consequence of our ignoring those who are less fortunate.  It accompanies our unjust extravagance.” 

And it is that very act — that “leaving our possessiveness for a place of freedom” —   that so characterizes so much of the Austin community.  Sure, many of us would enjoy the fruits of record sales, big checks for live shows, and all that.  But while corporate music is ALL about shuckin’ and jivin’ for the Yankee dollar — the spirit Nouwen says “makes us conquerors who will fight for our place in the world, even at the cost of others” — we are blessed here (and in other places too) with sharing music that unveils the hidden truths of our own lives and the lives of those around us.

Now of course we never always live up to our own visions — but these words I write to remind us of why we are here, and to speak an encouraging word that one day we will realize the song that is in each heart that may all too often be locked up inside and covered by layers of fear that sometimes is masked by bravado. 

My buddy B. Sterling Archer was excited to tell me about LAZ D, a rap artist from Oregon with whom his band shared a stage last night at Beerland.  LAZ D (Cam Lasley) started out in music playing drums in his junior high band, and soon began writing lyrics that best fit the rap/hiphop style he was developing.  At 26, he has just finished work on his second full-length CD of his song, and he tours extensively (though mostly around Oregon).  LAZ D collaborated two years ago with Austin-based filmmaker Jack Gibson to make a video, “Street Anthem,” which was shown at the Sprout Film Festival.  The guy is strong. 

Then you read this line in his bio:  Despite having Down syndrome, Laz D hasn’t let the disorder deter him from writing and performing music, sending words of encouragement to everyone.

When you think of Texas songwriters, a few names quickly come to mind: Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson … and then everybody has others in their top ten.  But that is not an easy chore.  Do you include Buddy Holly?  Can a rock and roller make the list?  Is a Texas songwriter one who is from Texas and writes songs?  Or is it a person who writes “Texas songs” — and if so, what constitutes a “Texas song”?

Just for the record I will throw in one more name — and ask all of my readers to send me their own top Texas songwriter lists.  But before I get to the punch line here (and, yes, there IS a review of Kevin Higgins’ new CD, Find Your Shine, at the end of this story.  I will here and now say that Stephen Doster says this is one of the best records he has ever produced), there needs to be a little summary of how I got to Sunday night at Threadgills to see the legendary Billy Joe Shaver.

But where to start?  How about Wednesday night at the Amy Farris celebration show, where Dave Alvin, with tears in his eyes over the loss of “that red-headed brat,” playing like a man possessed (and Warren Hood sitting in for Amy on fiddle)?  Dustin Welch followed (as usual on Wednesdays), and Kelley Mickwee of the Trishas sat in with Dustin and I promised to make one of their two shows at Threadgills during the week.  Tidbit of value — piano player Scott Bucklin just moved down to Austin from Dallas and Dustin immediately got him to play in his band.  Worth the trip down just to see this guy (who reminds me a lot of Kevin Lovejoy).

I had also promised Molly Venter I would catch her “happy hour” show at Momo’s the next day, and it was easy enough to do, given that my pal Brett Randell played his first Momo’s show right after Molly.  Later, I stopped by Flipnotics, where Aimee Bobruk was hosting a bunch of songwriters, including herself, Jessie Torrisi (new CD out on October 29th at a show at Lambert’s), and Michael Hall (of the Wild Seeds).  Still later, I hopped over to the Hole in the Wall for the beginning of the farewell to Austin (and the entire US of A) tour for Jessie England, who is getting hitched and moving to Denmark (nice gig, eh?). 

Jessie’s band, the SNAFU Kitties, closed out the evening — upcoming is a CD release party that will be the actual going away party for Jessie.  Also on the bill were Jessie’s other band, Satellite or Slave,” which features Karla Mansour on guitar and vocals and Kim Vogelsang on bass and vocals.  Yeah, Jessie plays drums and sings (and slipped over to her keyboard for one song), and we all had a blast.  My other MAJOR reason for being there was to FINALLY catch a set from Lauren Gurgiolo and the Dialtons.  Lauren, who is playing lead guitar with Okkervil River, is an old friend who also plays mandolin and much more.  I know her through the Brothers Lazaroff and Elizabeth McQueen and such folk — and well remember a show some of those folk did out at the Cathedral of Junk. 

And thinking about Elizabeth leads to Willie (indirectly, perhaps) and thus to the subject at hand.  NOW I can get back to earlier on Wednesday (yeah, the same night I went to the Sessions at the Hideout!), when I was at Z Tejas to catch a set from Bill Carter, Will Sexton, and Stephen Doster — admittedly, these three Texas songwriters sang mostly other people’s songs.  But when Will and Bill were in Houston the other night at the Mucky Duck, they sang their own songs (even though my daughter asked me why Bill Carter was singing all of those “covers,” not knowing he had written so many songs she recognized).  [I have to specify that there may need to be a separate category for Texas FEMALE songwriters (we are SO blessed).]  And then there is this large in-migration of songwriters who move here, buy some cowboy boots, and develop a drawl (or not).

Now, moving on to Saturday night, I went out into the cold early to see Blues Mafia and Hector Ward and the Big Time at Tim’s Porch, then  stopped by Momo’s just to hang out.  Warren Hood was on stage, and he stuck around and sat in for a few songs with the handsome Dan Dyer, who was showing no visible effects from having most of his gear stolen earlier (in the day, or in the week, I forget).  I do know he and his band mates (Mark Williams, aka Gum B, on bass and cello, and Micheal Hale on drums) played the best set I have ever heard them play in the midst of this adversity.  Next time you stop by Momo’s, toss a dollar or two into the bucket for the Dan Dyer stolen gear fund.

But back to the Trishas — Savannah Welch just happened to be at Momo’s that evening with a couple of friends from her movie career, and once again I reminded myself that I had already missed the Trishas’ Friday show and had to get to the Sunday event — and I am glad I did.  Some of my favorite Billy Joe memories include one night at Threadgill’s when Brennen Leigh and brother Seth got to sit in and sing along on “I’m just an old lump of coal, but I’m gonna be a diamond some day,” and that night at the Broken Spoke with Kinky Friedman and Little Jewford along with Jesse Guitar Taylor — just a couple of months after Eddy Shaver’s untimely death on New Year’s Eve 2000.\

Nearing seventy, Billy Joe showed an eager Threadgill’s crowd that he is hardly an old man — dancing, singing a capella, admitting forgetting some lines to a brand new song, joking about drummer Jason MacKenzie being late to the gig, and belting out brand new songs that have the same fire and power as the ones he wrote decades ago.  First-timers included members of the Trishas, members of Stonehoney (whom I had just heard at Threadgill’s Old No. 1 for the bluegrass brunch), and members of Rosemary’s Garden, a rock band from southern California who were playing the Saxon later that evening and who missed their gig the night before at Momo’s and had the further insult of having their vehicle and trailer towed.  But what’s a little money when you end up watching a legend — a man I never get tired of going to see.  A man who just has to be one of the top Texas songwriters of all time.

KEVIN HIGGINS – Find Your Shine

All of which leads us to Kevin Higgins — better known, perhaps for his work with the Dust Devils (formerly the Cosmic Dust Devils), a band whose other lead singer is Barbara Malteze.  Kevin and Stephen Doster assembled an impressive array of musicians to help out — J. J. Johnson on drums, John Gammil on bass, John Leon on pedal steel, Chip Dolan on organ and accordian, and Warren Hood on violin and mandolin.

The liner notes for this record (written by Rob Patterson) state that Doster says of Higgins, “If William Faulkner was from West Texas, played guitar and wrote songs, they might sound like this.”  Patterson adds that, “Higgins ascends to the pantheon of eloquent and evocative American singer-songwriters [he should just say Texan] with that rare grit for articulating the fullness of human experience within splendid and alluring melodies.”  In short, Mssrs. Doster and Patterson envison Higgins as one of the real Texas troubadours — a man whose characters are “like painted portraits.”

But that’s what others are saying.  Doster told me it is important to listen to this record when there is nothing to distract you from its sheer beauty and poetry.  True right.  I recommend a late night snack after everybody else has gone to bed and the telephone will not ring.

This recording runs like a symphony — maybe like Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” –or perhaps like Aaron Copland’s ballet, Rodeo.  Which is to say, this is a song cycle that paints a consistent portrait of rural America and real people searching for a little joy.  As such, each song is like a movement in the symphony, as Higgins takes us on a journey down “Blue Highways” and byways to show us that we have a wonderful country in which to “Find Your Shine” if we will just go where the wind takes us and learn how to love those whom we meet.  [Funny, Billy Joe says the same thing.]

The very first song sets the mood — “Way out in the fields, what once was a treasure, now just pieces of steel….”  these words describe the fears of those facing the horror of a tornado as it touches down on a “small farm in Nebraska that God had spared today.”  Already you realize that this is powerful stuff — Doug Burr powerful, but even more Texas traditional.  Gentler than, say, Steve Earle, more serious, say, than Robert Earl Keen, and much more hopeful than, say, James McMurtry.

“Monahans” opens with a memory of “my sweet West Texas girl,” whom our hero laments that, ”you grab ahold of something good and it’ll slip right through your hands.”  John Leon’s pedal steel and Malteze’s piano define this tune, which opens at a Dairy Queen in a small west Texas town.  “West Texas Aggregate” is about his brother down at Ray’s Garage where he hardens his heart and works on his muscle car — and much more.  Higgins sings, “This is my home, this is my place, these are my people, descending from grace” — with shuttered storefronts and every make and model car parked outside the bar because misery loves company.

“Curtains” (again the piano and pedal steel) laments the end of a family, “always seems like a long time, always seems like a dream to me now as our home becomes a house, and it seems like only yesterday, feels like only yesterday, this was our home.”  Indeed, as the property is now up for sale, ”Freshly painted walls where family pictures used to hang, glossed over all our memories, it’s as if we never came.”  

“The Levee Boys” is a memory of youth in the Bosque, boys who broke some windows, bent some laws, barefoot warriors … all for one and one for all.”  Then this family moved in from Albuquerque, with sullen faces and a lot of fighting and a boy named Curly whom they befriended and thus protected from his abusive father — until the law came and the family moved away, likely to continue its cycle of abuse.   The title cut, “Find Your Shine,” is a travelogue of oddly names places across America and a couple who run off from their home in search of a better life. 

“Infinity” opens with ”each of us a single thread, woven to the fine fabric of the grand design, she smiles, says the stars look great tonight…. All we are is all that is, there are no two moments quite like this … and all that matters now with our eyes above the clouds is to see the light.”  This is a beautiful song about “we create what we believe, we can live in fear, we can go in peace, we can give to God or always be at odds with our mortality.”   What a meditation this song is.  The final three songs are “Hanging On,” “Kickaround Kid,” and “Alone Star,” and since I know you will want to know what they are about, I will just let you find out the old fashioned way.  Kevin and Barbara, by the way, are performing out at the Iguana Grill on Lake (?) Travis on Friday at 6:30 pm.

Flanfire decided to take the night off from carousing around town listening to live music and instead catch up a little on his backlog of unreviewed CD’s (and EP’s, for that matter).  But before we get to new music from Alyse Black, Colin de los Santos, Kevin Higgins (of the Dust Devils), and Courrier, we have a few brief announcements.

First, thanks to everyone who performed, came out, or even said a good word about the Flanfire Favorites benefit concert last Saturday at Central Market (and thanks especially to bassman Sean Hopper, who made it all possible).  We raised significant seed money for the domestic violence library project — enough we hope to pique the interest of the University of Texas in securing this unique resource for its Perry Castenada Library.  But just as important, we all had a barrel of fun.  Thanks to Jarrod Dickenson, Ben Mallott, Charlie Faye, Margo Valiante, Stonehoney, Noelle Hampton and her band (including a special thanks to Teal Collins), and the Tiny Tin Hearts.  Thanks to State Representative Valinda Bolton and to Professor Noel Busch and to Amanda Winters, without whom we could not have kept track of the donations or the people who kept coming by.  Thanks also to KUT for the many promos and to KXAN-TV for coming out and interviewing me for the Six O’Clock News.

Kudos, meanwhile, to Blues Mafia for making the finals of the HOUSTON Blues Challenge.  One more victory (October 25th at Dan Electro’s there) and it’s off to Memphis!  Meanwhile, catch the band with Hector Ward and the Big Time on October 24th at Tim’s Porch at the Backyard — or at midnight on Halloween at the Saxon Pub.  Kudos also to my pal A. J. Vincent and his bandmates in Bright Light Social Hour, who won The Sound and the Jury and got to play in the mudfest also known as the Austin City Limits Music Festival!

In other great Austin news, the Lonesome Heroes are back after an extended summer tour (no school any more for Landry McMeans), and Shelley King’s long-awaited collaboration with members of the Subdudes — entitled  “Welcome Home” — is finally ready for release.  Good stuff!

ALYSE BLACK – Hold Onto This

Alyse Black came to Austin nearly two years ago from Seattle, then went back there — with her new Austin-based band — long enough to complete work on her second CD, “Hold onto This.”  Cody Rahn on drums and percussion and Juke Wyatt on bass, with help from Jeff Miller on trumpet and Kimo Muraki on just about everything else, have created with Alyse a collection of grown-up songs whose themes range from breakups to bombers — songs that float along on clouds that all too often carry rain and too rarely yield rainbows.

Alyse, who is on tour with Aly Tadros across the Eastern U.S. right now, is a redhead full of energy and a sensuality that comes across on stage as playfully flirtatious – you know she is having a good time just being gorgeous for you, and yet she never takes herself that seriously.  Or maybe she does, but just does not want us to realize that life is more than a video game existence — hurt hurts!

I well remember the first night Alyse and Aly played on the same stage at the Shut Up and Sing! songwriters’ showcase at a “dingy bar” on Sixth Street.  Who knew these two would become musically inseparable so quickly?  OK — the songs?  I like “Into the Sunlight,” as here Alyse demonstrates her vocal range … and her romantic aspirations.  “Up in the Air (Not Too Late)” shows off the lady’s lower vocal register in the opening lines — this woman can flat out sing!

My favorite cut, though, has to be “B-17 Bomber Girl,” for which Alyse says she was inspired by the full-sized pinup girls whose images once graced the planes our servicemen flew — and how seeing such women helped her overcome youthful disdain that her own shape was more than perfect.  [Totally different genre, but one quickly recalls Susan Gibson's "My Best Feature."]  Truth be told, you can hardly keep your eyes off Alyse she is so vivacious and you never had any idea she used to be or may still be a little self-conscious on or off the stage.

COLIN DE LOS SANTOS – Songland

I know Colin de los Santos through Doug Boyd, Kalu James, and the bratpack of guys who used to hang out at Shut Up and Sing!  So the other night I was at Botticellis and Colin hands me this disc, “Songland,” and I had no idea the power he had unleashed with great help from producer (and fellow songwriter) Chris Hawkes.  The lads are all playing on Friday (October 16th) at Lambert’s (high end BBQ, expensive beer, but a great music venue) and I plan to be there.

Colin spent his last few years at Sam Houston State University along with Zach Arrington and Jon-Michael Hamman, and the three have this singer-songwriter collective known as StrangeLove.  The key word on this recording is “strings” (they get you at the outset) – kudos to Mike and Erin Ross for their work here, as well as to Joe Gerfers (drums), J. T. Holt (lap steel on “The Ripper”), A. J. Siedner (guitar strum on “You Lovin’ Me”)), Aly Tadros and Stella (sultry backing vocals on “Silhouette”), Sara Hamman-Ludwig (vocals on “Megan Rose”) , and Doug Boyd (trumpet — I did not even know he played!).

This record just SOUNDS good — I am still deciphering the lyrics, but this is just good music.  [BTW, Aimee Bobruk and sister Erin hail from Huntsville, home to SHSU.]  From the opening notes of “Texas Pearl,” though the bouncy “You Lovin’ Me,” to the funky “The Ripper,” Colin captures your attention.  “Silhouette” is like an entire suite with a broad range of emotions, notably hot passion.  “Gypsy” has some nice acoustic guitar work (well, what else, given the title?); but it is “Megan Rose” that is the CD’s signature song (or at least Colin thinks so — it is the featured cut on his website).  The strings that opened the record [with "Texas Pearl" and the two "Pink Buzz" cuts (Austin and Boston)] are back and even more beautiful — this is like a ballet set to song, and Sara Hamman’s voice is that of the ballerina (Megan herself, one supposes) searching out the elusive sun and moon.  But “maybe this is just fantasy, I suppose” ….. hmmmmmm.

I love the intro to “Old Blind Man,” maybe MY favorite song here … perhaps because I too often “remember what it was like to truly sing.”  “Shadowed Fervency” further reveals Colin as much more than superficial in his lyrical patterns — there is a humility here, though, that is uncommon in the young poets I have known (and been).  The final cut, “Something,” again opens with acoustic guitar and strings — this is a love song for two people who have been through some tough times yet have the grit to keep on going.  “The way we danced with no shoes to some old reggae blues….” Yeah!

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2 — KEVIN HIGGINS and COURRIER!

It seems that just about every day (or night) I run into yet another musician (like Brett Randell or Colin de los Santos) or music lover who has just moved to Austin to add to our city’s chorus of song.  Maybe that’s why just about every week I also get out to a brand-new (at least to me) bar, restaurant, and/or music venue — for example, Lustre Pearl (behind IHOP at IH-35 and Cesar Chavez) or Quoffer’s out in Elgin, where I recently caught up with Slim Bawb and Gator Bait (northern California music veterans who moved here a few years back).  I could also write volumes (if I ever had time) about emerging bands in Austin (like The Canvas Waiting or Bus to Brooklyn) who are playing good music.

But this column will begin by talking about the band whose members I knew long before I ever got to hear them play together as a band — I have no idea why it took so long for me to get to a porterdavis show, but I will see this amazing trio any time I can. 

PORTERDAVIS – THAT’S SIMON WALLACE, DANIEL BARRETT,AND MIKE MEADOWS (l-r)

You have to feel for Daniel Barrett.  I mean, bandmate Simon Wallace wins the Austin Music Award for best miscellaneous instrument (harmonica, in his case), and bandmate Mike Meadows wins the Austin Music Award hands down for best drummer/percussionist.  Meanwhile Daniel comes in sixth for best electric guitarist — and yet he plays acoustic guitar (and some electric slide) in porterdavis.  An all-star lineup may not always generate great music, but this band grabs at you when you hear them live, and their debut studio album (can this really be?) of music (simply titled porterdavis) is just as captivating.  [There was this "Live at Eddie's Attic" (that's in Atlanta) disc the lads used to tote around, I am told.]

It is not exactly a secret that the band’s name originates in Boston, where Daniel and Mike busked at Porter Square and Davis Square subway stations (according to the band bio), or that the lads have been in Austin since 2004 (where they found this Brit who played Chicago style blues harp).  FIVE years later Ray Wylie Hubbard gets the trio into the studio with the legendary Gurf Morlix, and at long last there is portable porterdavis for the IPOD or the late night spin using older technology (appropriate, given that this recording was done without ProTools).

Stunning!  Beautiful songs!  Yada Yada.  How do you describe this music?  I like what blogger KellieDeAnn in Louisiana said: “Their music can be classified as rootsy blues rock something or ‘nother…or just simply – good stuff!”  As Kellie DeAnn says, Meadows “can make so many differents sounds and keep various beats and rhythms going at the same time…it truly is amazing! Something you have to see to really appreciate. Now he has developed a fancier version of his instrument – the Black Swan Drum – but back then I used to tell folks, ‘He sits on and plays a wooden box!’”

Well, an acoustic guitar is also sort of a wooden box, and Daniel Barrett has darn good skills and writes (sometimes with his bandmates) some darn good songs.  Even so, two of the best songs here are from longtime friends. Atlanta native Brian Webb moved to Boston and busked at the same subway stations as Dan and Mike, and his “Strange Way to Grieve” is but one of his many powerful songs — and, oh yeah, he just might be the guy who turned our lads onto Eddie’s Attic.   “Heaven help me when I think I’m not enough, heaven help me when I think I am,” Webb wrote, and who has not felt both inadequate and overconfident at the same time?  The punch in this number is Wallace’s bouncy solo.

But my clear favorite here is “Grass (Growing Through Concrete),” from Bill Davis (aka William U. Davis or Bill Davis of Underwood), whom you may find on a Tuesday night at Trophy’s helping run the open mike.  If Austinites celebrate the songs of the late Blaze Foley, they ought to recognize in this great rendering of just one of many powerful songs from this UT grad who calls himself “positively unemployed.”  “It’s been different since you left me, some sucker stole them shackles from my feet, left me stronger than when you found me, now I feel like grass growing through concrete….”

Which is not to say that Barrett’s songs are weak — “Carter’s Tune,” which features Eliza Gilkyson on harmony vocals, sings of a wanderer who “found a home,” where he “sang my sadness, sang my love.”  But he is “never going home, tell my mama I love her so …. sometimes a man gotta make the world his own.”  When Barrett sings about reaching Baton Rouge driving down Highway 61, he notes that this is the “Old Man River of which the Gospel spoke” — and having lived there for eight years, and driven up and down Highway 61, I feel a special kinship to this delta blues influenced ballad.

But then again, there is “That Way,” which Daniel co-wrote with my pal Kevin Carroll – and this, too, is a tender love song that reaches deep inside.  “Smack You Back,” “Hey Now Jack,” and other cuts step up the beat and get you grooving as sometimes live the trio extends a number without ever sounding like a jam band.  Fittingly, the record ends with a Muddy Waters song, “Can’t Be Satisfied.”

SLIM BAWB – Hillbilly Fellini

Slim Bawb (Bob Pearce on national steel, mandolin, banjo, bass, and sometimes pedal steel and who knows what all else) and Gator Bait (James Curry, who once played with Blue Cheer, on drums) are still members of the Bay Area (that’s California) band the Beer Dogs (they play at least one show a year to roaring crowds).  But the gold in California has turned to pyrite, and so our adventurous duo wagon trained to Austin a few years back.  Bob plays often with the Texas Sapphires, and Rebecca Lucille Cannon and Justin Kolb both lend their talents to “Hillbilly Fellini,” which opens the disc with Bawb on banjo (I would swear this is a song about the Beer Dogs):  “First they play a two-step, then they play a Cajun waltz … if you don’t dance, it’s your own fault.”  And, yeah, Bawb plays banjo!

Slim Bawb’s gruff voice sounds like another instrument when he sings and plays live — as I saw the duo out in Elgin the other night.  These guys are seasoned musicians (grizzled and travel-worn) who are a lot of fun and have a lot to sing about.  With so many weapons at his disposal, Slim Bawb can make the twosome sound like Scott H. Biram sometimes and like Tom Waits at others.

Musicians on this record include Bastrop’s Tres Womack (Slim Bawb does live in Cedar Creek), Charlie Irwin, fiddler Josh Drogemueller, Perry Rowe, Kat Kairns, Bo Ely, Dave Moats, Ron Sherrod, Steve Stizzo, and Flaco Jimenez on “Barcelona Rain.”  The record is strewn through and through with Cajun music (”Louisiana,” notably — and quite a story can be found in this song), even though Bob has never lived there or even (so he says) played a Slim Bawb show in the Bayou State.

“Sophistikuts” is another song about a music venue, “a small town place” where “you can drink and you can cuss and you can know who you can really trust.”  Sounds like Sam’s Town Point, a joint that this band ought to KILL in.  “Black Jack Road” gets busy with the pedal steel and dobro — and Gator Bait’s percussive drumming (never overpowers, just keeps the beat interesting).  One of my favorites here is “Bourbon Cowboy,” even though I only drink Irish whiskey (and that for medicinal purposes).  Beer lovers get “I Need a Beer,” “No Bar Too Far,” and really the whole record.  This is danceable music, drinking music, and music to laugh and tell tall tales with your friends to.  As the boys close the bar, the final song of the night (choose your partner and hold her close) is a rendition of “Georgia on My Mind” heavily laden with Bawb’s dobro.  One final note — Bawb says that Rebecca Lucille is back with the Texas Sapphires after a “brief” leave of absence (girls just gotta have fun).  And that, too, is very good news.      

STEVE BERNAL – Decibels

I just realized I had not yet written about this other recording I have had around for a few weeks — by cello virtuoso Steve Bernal (whom I well remember holding a Scoot Inn audience gaspingly quiet one evening as he played solo).  Darwin Smith produced with Steve, with the recordings done in summer 2008 — but you may not have seen Steve perform this music or even the CD itself.  But given the number of cellists now finding work in town, and the even larger number of fans of this wonderful instrument (Steve also plays bass here), I just had to write something for all of you.

One highlight is a 19-minute piece, “Dreams and Concrete,” written with Loren Dent, which was commissioned by First Night Austin 2008 — for solo cello, electric guitar, computer and drum set.  Another is the “suite for solo cello and subsonic continuo” which Steve wrote to accompany the art of Michael Wutz.  A third set, “Pluto: Requiem for an Icy World,” was written by William Meadows and recorded at Real & Imaginary Music Studios.  The piece I most want to hear live, though, is Bernal’s “Hidden,” for three cellos and bass, which opens this recording.  Steve as been playing some shows with Aimee Bobruk, but will showcase his own music for solo cello and electronics at Flipnotics on November 12th (at 8 pm).  Lovers of the cello and just good music would be wise to attend.