No sooner than I had dropped Laura at Austin Bergstrom on Tuesday did I get myself to the Contintental Club to see Dustin Welch with Steve and Mike Bernal on bass (and cello) and drums, Roberto Riggio on violin, and Eric McFadden on lead guitar and lead and/or harmony vocals. What a show — “Two Horses” as I had never seen it before, with Steve Bernal reaching notes on the cello rarely heard. Afterward, I ended up at the Korean karaoke joint on North Lamar singing and wishing Sarah Temple at happy birthday. Wednesday it was Trophy’s for Josh Buckley and Gilded Splinters with Phil Hurley sitting in on lead guitar. Thursday began with Barbara Nesbitt singing her heart out to a warm and fuzzy crowd (lots of fellow musicians) at Maria’s Taco X-press, then a quick jaunt to Baker St. to catch a set by Jennifer Ellen Cook, and off to Stubbs for shows from Les Rav and the White White Lights (with a stopover at the Mohawk in between). Barbara has a voice that melts gold into butter, and Lauren Bruno and Les Rav have added the impeccable Jenni Wieland on French horn and Andrew Noble on violin (and a little lead guitar!). Special thanks to my pal Scott Andrews, who was at the show the night before he played Houston’s House of Blues.

But Friday’s on my mind, and after a long day of work (missing day 1 of the Austin Songwriters’ Group’s annual confab) getting to the Continental Club with my pal Josh Buckley to see the Mastersons (Chris and Eleanor, with the bonus of sister Bonnie Whitmore in the house, and of course Falcon Valdez on drums. Chris has long been one of Austin’s (well, Bertram’s!) finest guitarists and songwriters but even he admits people come just as much to see and hear (and marvel at) Eleanor, who has developed from a strong side woman (violin and mandolin) to hardcore troubadour guitarist and lead singer. Their new CD, Birds Fly South (due in April, except for some advance copies the kids had with them), is just gorgeous, especially IMHO the title track! They’ll be back for SXSW so do not miss your next chance!
At the show (the reconstituted Derailers followed) Josh and I met two great new friends and he got to play them some of his own songs late into the night.
Saturday I finally got to the Omni for the ASG shindig and ran into so many old friends and met a few new ones – and got to hear Sonny Throckmorton and Joe Manuel (with Marvin Dykhuis and Will Sexton) sing some of their greatest hits, hear some top experts in booking, management, and more share their secrets, and have a wonderful time! Thanks again to Lee Duffy and Rick Busby and the whole crew for putting on such a powerful event (featuring indstrry pros from all over the place).
But life is all about Saturday night, and this one was super special — the return to the stage of Jazz Mills and Cowboy and Indian before a packed house at Hotel Vegas (which had already seen Nakia, the Dead Left and the fabulous Greyhounds). Never enough props for Neal Kassanoff’s songwriting, but adding the love of my life, Lauren Gurgiolo (if you ever watch her play guitar you will know why!), to his band (thanks in large part to the genius of Lindsay Greene!) was a stroke of genius mixed with sheer good fortune. Lauren, lead guitarist for Okkervil River, promises new things from her own group, the Dialtones, in coming months, and Neal was beaming when I asked him how his nonprofit music teaching organization for disadvantaged children, the Groundworks Music Project, was going. He had just gotten a major grant that will cover his entire budget for 2012. GOOD TIMES!!!!!! OF COURSE I cannot be objective about Cowboy and Indian — they are all family to me — Dorian, Peter, Daniel James, Jazz, Jesse and Stephanie RULE MY WORLD and are just downright wonderful! Now part of our evening (thanks, Josh and Anita for hanging with!) was spent at the hottest new country bar in Austin, the White Horse, listening to the Carper Family and later to Clyde and Clem’s Whiskey Business (who as always were a barrel of laughs and a joy to behold!) — and Denis O’Donnell, Mashall McHone and the gang also had a packed house. There was also this amazing ring around the moon — part of one magical night in Austin! And tomorrow — new adventures await, as I wait for another show from Cowboy and Indian (to help out our beloved Ruby Jane) and from the stripped down T-Bird and the Breaks quartet!

From the first time I heard Barbara Nesbitt sing at the House Wine open mike (over 2 years ago) and got the CD she made in San Diego, I have wanted to hear her with a full band.  Tonight that dream came true — and what a band!  Clint Short on drums, Sean McNulty on bass, Shaidri Alrich on violin and backing vocals, and (what can I say?) Phil Hurley playing his 1967 Gretch (the same one that he blew me away with the night before at the Saxon with the Moonlighters).  The crowd continued to swell, with Noelle Hampton and Andre Moran, Charlie Faye, the Justif duo, Josh Zee and Teal Collins (Phil’s bandmates in the Moonlighters), Nick Randolph and many more … because Barbara — like Jean — is both well worth hearing but even better worth knowing.  This Georgia Peach cut her musical teeth in Virginia Beach, then spent years becoming one of San Diego’s most sought after singers before gracing Austin with her presence (when she’s not in Hong Kong or somewhere for the summer).  To me, she STILL looks like that kid of mine caught sneaking back into the house who totally avoids being grounded by curtseying and smiling and saying, “Daddy, I love you!”  I mean, what are you gonna do but smile back!  Taking her awed audience on a musical tour through her foibles and her passions (“The Bees” is as hauntingly beautiful as her song “that includes the word ‘love’” is impishly fun), Barbara closed out the night with a rousing rendition of the Everly Brothers classic, “When Will I Be Loved?”  [Later, a few of us got a preview of the next Austin supergroup -- Barbara with Nick Randolph and Teal Collins singing the same song in three-part harmony!]  MEANWHILE — aside — catch Nick solo at Whip In next Monday at 8 pm!  Barbara has also promised a new CD of her own soon — and we all hope to see more of this hot band backing her!

Many stuck around to see Little Brave (Stephanie Briggs, K Phillips and the crew) — with Bob Hoffnar on pedal steel (first time I have seen him with this band!).  Bob is the Steve Bernal of the pedal — which is to say he makes notes with the instrument that most players, even masters, never knew could be made — at one time, he was making the pedal steel sound like a cello!  Yummy as it was, i ducked out to write this post, but not before saying Hi to Ethan Kennedy — INSTANT PLUG for his Kinky Machine show tomorrow (Thursday) at Frank (and of course the Meggan Carney-Madi Diaz-Kyle Andrews show at Frank next Wednesday).  And I note that new dad Sam Lipman has what looks to be a delightful evening of music for Momo’s patrons on Friday … something about “Nebraska” (surely he is not recreating Bruce Springsteen?).

OKAY ALREADY — Jean’s new record!  From the first acoustic notes of “You’re Only Human,” to the swingin’ “Five Things To Do Today,” the songs just roll off, each one unique and sassy.  Gosnell wrote “Be a Good Girl” and sings it with Jean on the CD (and at the show tonight).  But the record truly begins to soar with “Full Moon Eclipsing,”  juxtaposing Jean’s power pipes against Red Young’s orgasmic organ.  This is a radio hit if there ever was one — Charlie’s saucy guitar chops and Bruce’s nasty bass and my pal Rob’s on-time drums make this a very tasty cut indeed.  Then another balls to the wall ballad – “Enough Is Enough,” a New Year’s resolution song about Grace’s liquor store and car wash.  “Red Vase” is an even slower shuffle that reminds me a LOT of Sarah Vaughan (and why not?).  OMG, “Happiness Factor” says that “good girls aren’t perfect, bad boys aren’t cool, but no one need ever atone…” and starts with a sultry sax (Sosa) — in short, another pure jazz classic.  I could go on — but suffice it to say, Jean promised to do some major booking, and yeah there’s this little show at Book Woman tomorrow but that is a benefit of sorts .. we are ready for some more juicy meat and red red wine … Girls .. Good and Otherwise … yum/purr!

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.

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.

And speaking of those returning to town, here is Jackie Bristow fresh from six weeks in Australia working on her new record at the Red Shed Tavern (how about that stage built by Chad Pope?) with my favorite Austin guitarist, Van Wilks.  I think these two ought to play LOTS of shows together — Van was as energetic as I have seen him on acoustic guitar making beautiful notes happen, and my good pal Mark Addison was caught playing DRUMS on one of the songs they did together.

In the middle is that same David Ramirez whose new record I just reviewed — shown here playing at Momo’s Club just before embarking on a lengthy tour with Boerne native Matt McCloskey (last I heard the boys were chowing down at Katz’s Deli in Noo Yawk City).  And truth be told, no collection of photos of Austin music would be complete without Scrappy Jud Newcomb, shown here on the Momo’s stage backing Jess Klein just before the two left on a West Coast tour.  Jess will be back at Flipnotics on September 3rd before heading east this time — to New England where the rain has been falling every day this summer, I am told by old friends) and the Carolinas. 

There is NOBODY better as a lead singer on any stage in Austin than Drew Smith — and I mean NOBODY.  Last week Drew was set to play a trio with drummer Kyle (the Smile) Thompson and Ryan (Beef Beeferson) Bowman, but at the last minute Guitar Hero Jake Owens (who admits to being influenced by fellow San Antonian Joe Reyes) showed up, and it was the Lonely Choir in toto sans keyboardist Matt Russell — and thus a brand-new sound, edgier in some ways.  And Drew?  He was just out there sweating and shouting and bringing goosebumps to just about everybody at Momo’s Club — especially that lovely woman in the second tier of tables who inspires many of his songs.

My very next trip to Momo’s was just as good — what with Ian Stewart and the Fireants down to just three members for the night (Victor Ziolkowski and Rebecca Pledger) but with musical magician Erik Hokkanen swapping licks with Ian, nobody seemed to mind.  Just WOW!  Erik has also been spotted at Momo’s lately sitting in with Utah emigres Wisebird (a band NOT to be missed while the price of admission is still affordable).  Earlier that same evening I had stopped by Flipnotics for a RARE appearance by sultry songbird Tawnya Lorae (again, a packed house cheering her every breath).  And to my joy and surprise there was Ram Zimmerman tapping out the rhythm to her blues … but no wonder!  I had not seen Ram since the Kim Deschamps Band days of olde. 

Here we have Austin newcomer (and Berklee grad who hails from California) Michelle Alany playing fiddle with The Inheritance (featuring Amanda Kitchens on accordian) at a packed-out Flipnotics (this band is HOT and will be back there and elsewhere soon).  Next up is Sasha Ortiz in total ecstasy at a Blues Mafia show at Antone’s (opening for Gary Clark, Jr., who along with Eric Zapata and a killer rhythm section blew the walls off the storied blues venue on Saturday night.  Blues Mafia was just as impressive in a shorter set — and they will be back at Antone’s on August 27th with the Bubbles as openers at The Daze CD release party.  The rowdy Mandy Rowden, she of Girl Guitar, is shown HERE with her all girl (what else?) band, Cover Girl (playing, what else, covers!) during a nine-band, six hour showcase at Antone’s sponsored by Austin Music Marketing.  I got in early to catch a short set from my old pal James Bullard and returned later for a kicking set from The Skeletons — punkabilly at its very best!  I have long been fond of Jeremiah and Amanda Ingram (that gal can pound the skins!), and bassist Vincent Salcedo is just pure slap-happy — but the band has taken on new life with lead guitarist Dan Nettles and mandolinist Nick Wicker.  I wanted these guys to play another hour or two.