Flanfire

Ricky Stein is throwing a party at the Continental Club on May 14th.  Slowtrain opens, then Chris Brecht and the Dead Flowers Band, and about midnight Ricky [shown here at a show in 2006!] strides out on the stage.  The very next day, Ricky and his band, The .44, take off on a whirlwind tour of the Eastern U.S. — Galveston, Houston, New Orleans, Chapel Hill, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Asbury Park (home of Springsteen), New York City, Pittsburgh (home of Brett Staggs and his band the Longtime Darlings — and who played drums on Ricky’s record), Columbus (OH), Nashville, Memphis, and Dallas.  Then it’s back to the Saxon Pub on June 6th.

Oh, the band.  Longtime collaborators Phil Morris on bass, Nathaniel Klugman on keyboards, and current Baltimore resident (but former Austinite and longtime band member) Josh Weinholt on drums, plus Stuart Burns on lead guitar.  Slowtrain’s Adoniram Lipton played guitar on the record, as did “Spencer Jasper” (a local guitar legend who prefers the relative anonymity that his rockstar son may draw him out of someday).  Matt Hubbard (one of the real geniuses in this town) produced and plays organ and harmonica on the record — and Lacey SImpson adds some vocals.  And, yes, “Crazy Days” was appropriately produced at Willie Nelson’s World Headquarters in Luck, Texas (and at the Hub).

Now for me, this recording is like meeting an old friend after a long separation.  Ricky has gone from playing at the Hole in the Wall every week to solo shows at the Saxon and around to a few shows here and there at Antone’s and around to mostly working at the studio to finish up the CD.  For those of you who might be new to Ricky’s music (probably a majority of Flanfire readers), Ricky has a BIG voice and an infusive energy that keeps people on the dance floor or just dancing in place (as the venue requires).

I remember Ricky doing Chuck Berry covers and other old R&B — and he could make a nice living playing covers at dance halls and weddings.  But the guy is a SONGWRITER (and journalist, for that matter) — and a real friend.  A guy who can be conversant on a broad range of topics.  A guy who sizes people up to see if they are just chattering or actually saying something worth hearing.  We have been cheering him on as he struggled for years to find the right way to record his music — the right people, the right studio, the right sound (he toyed with doing an acoustic solo record, for example), and the right timing.  But of course he has rolled a 300 game on all of the above. 

Matt Hubbard is the right producer, Willie’s is the right studio, the players all know Ricky and his music well (as shown by their interpretation), and there could be no better time than now (even with the down economy, or maybe because of it) for songs that evoke an earlier time when all was good in America — you always leave a Ricky Stein show with a smile on your face and a bigger one in your heart.

I gotta say that the title cut — the lone truly acoustic cut on the record — is a MASTERPIECE!  This has been a favorite song of mine and so many others for a very long time — and this is classic R&B pop.  You have to think this guy is George Thorogood or someone who has “seen his share of miles” especially as you realize these songs are three or four or more years old — not the work of a guy still in his early enough twenties.

From the very first line on the record, you quickly realize that the T-Birds and the Black Joe Lewises and the Soul Track Minds of Austin music were not even on the scene in Austin when Ricky Stein was tearing it up with his R&B influenced rock and roll.  Morris’ athletic bass and Klugman’s funky keyboards for years have helped create that Ricky Stein sound. 

“One and the Same” gets you going, but “Don’t Leave Me Hangin’ On” has that energy from the thythm section that you know is about to EXPLODE!  This is CLASSIC stuff — so when you come to the Continental (and, yes, you T-BIrd and Black Joe and Donovan Keith fans, you would be wise to come) you better bring your DANCIN’ SHOES.  And your vintage Fifties clothes.  [I hope Ricky shows up with flowers for all the ladies -- cause when he sings, "maybe there's somethin' else goin' on," they will want a little reassurance and love.

"Keap St." (which I have always known as "We've Come a Long Long Way") is like butter on toast with a hot cup of coffee on a Saturday morning after a great Friday night out with your honey.  A song of reflection of good times, hard times shared together and that realization that life is good.  [And you can swing dance to this one!]  “Tarrytown” is a plea for love (of sorts) — “to find your heart, I had to lose my mind” — the cut on the record has Hubbard playing a caliope-sounding keyboard while Klugman’s piano provides a fine counterpoint.

Then comes the hard-rocking “Shreveport Blues,” which opens with “A dark day in Louisiana feeling like I’m gonna die….”  This is a screamer — I know that Sasha Ortiz used to listen to Ricky a LOT (not saying which clubs) — that only gets better live and in person.  It is a guitar player’s song!

“I Don’t Mind” is maybe the newest song on the record — sounds more like a Grateful Dead song than anything else Ricky has done.  The guitar solo here is just lovely.  Then there’s the walking blues, “Down and Out in Dallas,” which has a shout-out to “Rebel Radio” — another great song to dance to.  Maybe Drew Smith learned his vocal pacing from Ricky (who has been doing it here in Austin for years).  And, yes, there’s another (very different) guitar solo of note here (likely by that Spencer Jasper guy who may have toured with Calvin Russell a few times).  And one suspects a Hubbardian organ solo.  Did I mention these songs are all singalongs when Ricky’s crowd is in the house?  Kinda like a testosterone version of Shelley King’s songs and shows. 

“Strange Sense of Humor” opens with Hubbard on harmonica — and moves into that shuffle that once again lets you swing her in and out and back around — or better yet, a jitterbug party.   [Imagine this band outdoors on a cool summer evening in Colorado or an early spring or late fall evening in Texas!]  And while I am at it, “Crazy Days” is a great hold her tight song — both the music AND the lyrics .. “Was I wrong to treat you right … I never knew the easy life could be so hard…”  This is the guy apologizing to his lady (who may think she doesn’t love him anymore) and reassuring her that he has become the man she was always training him up to be…. and he has finally begun to appreciate her.

Which of course leads into “We’re Gonna Make It,” because now that he has changed … the future is so bring they both have to wear shades.  Or something like that.   This is a great closing song — and Ricky here goes from crooning to shouting and back to crooning all in the same song.  I hope he ends the show at the Continental with a 10-minute version and everybody who worked on the record plus his dad and half of Austin on the stage or on the dance floor — and then jumps off the stage right into the arms of …. Steve Wertheimer with a HUGE “thanks, Ricky, for doing this show HERE!”

Thanks to a “chance” encounter at Flipnotics,  Flanfire has become friends with Scottish Western Swing  King Stretch MacFayden and the lovely Gemma Donald from the band Stretch Dawrson and the Mending Hearts who just performed with the Texas Swing Kings at the Old Settlers Festival (among a number of gigs in the Lone Star State).  Stretch had a couple of days off in Austin, so I took him out on the town for some major fun and music.

Last Monday, for example, was the second anniversary of Ming’s Cafe in Austin  – yes, the same Ming’s that graced Houston’s Montrose district for over a decade — and owner (and good buddy — see photo) Fai Jow provided his friends and patrons with an amazing gumbo on top of his tasty Chinese dishes.  Ming’s is one of Austin’s hottest Monday night music venues, thanks to the Mingtones and special guests, and this night was no exception.  Pedal steel genius Gary Newcomb showed ow the instrument works in the jazz idiom, performing with Brad Houser, Eldridge Goins, and an all-star cast that included Jane Bond, Matt Hubbard, and Cole El-Saleh – and later it was Laura Scarborough showing she too can entertain on a drum kit (or just with her hands in the air).  In the house for the annual photo were such luminaries as Shelley King (new CD on the way that is awesome, baby!), Carolyn Wonderland, and others too numerous to mention.

 Later that evening, Stretch and I stopped by the Hole in the Wall to catch a preview of the big Tuesday night bash at the Continental Club at which sets by the Lonesome Heroes and Shotgun Party were wrapped around the big CD release party for Leo Rondeau (see our review, archived at this site).  Mind you, this show came right after the historic Hippie Hour and founder and sequined songbird Toni Price stuck around for the whole shebang (as did earth mother/barn dance queen Leeann Atherton and many of the Hippie Hour regulars).  Now Stretch, being an old friend of Greg Garing, is also an old friend of Shotgun Party’s Katy Rose Cox, who has also been doing shows this week in Austin with the Maybelles (including Happy Hour at the Contintental the very next night).

But let’s get down to basics here — top left below is Shotgun Party with Leo, Missy Beth, and Vaughn Walters of the Shake ‘Em Ups celebrating the debut of fellow Shake-Em-Up Andrew Thomas Austin-Petersen as Shotgun Party bassist and sometime vocalist.  Top right – same group dancing and singing along with the dancing and singing crazy audience.  Bottom left – Leeann and Toni having a ball; bottom middle -Katy Rose with the Maybelles; bottom right – Leo Rondeau and Jenny Parrott.

 Okay — Stretch was already in Bandera on Wednesday evening when Flanfire kicked off a stellar evening that began with the bluegrass trio the Maybelles (Katy Rose with Jan Bell on guitar, harmonica, and British accent, and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, native Melissa Carper on upright bass — and all three on vocals (see photo at top right below with Landry McMeans of the Lonesome Heroes with Melissa and Jan and a handsome devil in the middle). 

Then it was over to Antone’s for a powerful set from The Tiny Tin Hearts (top left below) who OWN that room with their wall of sound, followed by Chris Brecht (bottom left) with ALL of his Dead Flowers Band, and the wonderful Jess Klein (with Scrappy Jud Newcomb, no kin to Gary, apparently) who showcased songs from her forthcoming CD done at Aerie Studios here in town.  Later, a bunch of us went over to Momo’s Club for a late-night set from Deadman, featuring bassist John Michael Schoepf along with frontman Steven Collins, Scott Davis on lead guitar, Kevin McCullough on harmony vocals, Todd Pertll on pedal steel, and with special guest (from the Dead Flowers Band) Matt Mollica on Hammond B-3 (which he lugged up the stairs at Momos after a hot set with Brecht at Antone’s). 

The Whisky Priest and the Arc Angels – three nights in a row at Austin’s famed Continental Club!  April 22-24, 2009 — right before Doyle Bramhall II, Charlie Sexton, and Chris Layton leave town to play New York’s Fillmore Auditorium and then a dozen shows in London (11 at Royal Albert Hall) with the even more legendary Eric Clapton!  And all of that after Dustin Welch (whose brand-new CD is entitled, “Whiskey Priest”) celebrates the Resurrection as Easter Sunday begins at that same Continental Club after midnight on April 11th.

Okay — maybe that’s a little too heavy for the twenty-something son of longtime Nashville-based singer-songwriter Kevin Welch (with whom Dustin will be playing a BUNCH of shows next month at Gruene Hall).  But Dustin has never said that HE is the whisky priest (in fact, my pal Seth Woods, who doubles as worship leader at Mosaic, and his band Whiskey Priest are playing at the Carousel on April 13th).  Truth be told, Dustin is more of a prophet — and a storyteller of the highest order.

Witness his wonderful song, “Sparrows,” written to commemorate the lives of so many who came back less than whole from Vietnam (but equally applicable to returning Iraq war veterans).  “.. I’m stumbling down this back street of another town, upset every silo but I have yet to drown, and everywhere I turn expecting slander and scorn, for the life of me I beg to be reborn.  Gotta find somewhere to get out of the rain, this coat don’t keep the cold out anymore, and my heart don’t beat the same as it did before.” 

Maybe it his Native American heritage, maybe it is the mantle laid on five-year-old Dustin by the wonderful songwriter Harlan Howard — or maybe just the natural progression of a skinny little kid who developed his own style of banjo picking as he just naturally absorbed knowledge and energy from the belly of that Nashville songwriting culture.  What we all know about Dustin is that his songs just jump into your gut — with melodies and harmonies and, yes, layers of poetry and prose that most likely Dustin himself has to ponder over and over again as he and we search for the mysteries his music searches out and unveils.

Now, picking just ten of Dustin’s captivating songs for his first collection had to be the hardest job producer Mark Addison has done in quite a while (admittedly, with help from Dustin).  There are just so many good ones.  But here we open with “One False Move” (co-written with Willie Braun of Reckless Kelly), which just drives the ball out of the park — “At first glance, we’re still in the game, ah but there’s the desperate chance that hope just may remain … [but] until we come to see the error of our ways, we’re just one false move away.”  And that wailing guitar from Kyle Ellison and the House Band that also includes Joe Beckham on bass, Trisha Keefer on fiddle, and my favorite bagel maker Joe Humel on drums — plus Drew Smith on rhythm guitar and vocals and the glorious Savannah Welch keeping her brother happy with her positive energy and lovely voice. 

And that’s just the core of Dustin’s ever-expanding band of brothers (and sisters) who jump on stage now and then to join the chorus (that’s Drew who has the “choir”).  Other players on this CD include Mr. Addison himself, Bukka Allen (also the son of a famous songwriter), Brian Standefer, Suzanna Choffel, Jeremy Nail, Dan Dyer, Kacy Crowley, Mick Braun, Carrie Elkin and Susan Howe. 

“What Heartbreak Will Make You Do” (written with Kevin Welch and Claudia Scott) is another rocker but again with depths not noticed by the casual listener — “You keep telling yourself you’ve got it all under control but to me you’re just a long lost child … one of these days the time will come, you will find out that love is real …”  But earlier, the little slip “I’ve got all of the answers if you want ‘em but nobody ever listened to me.”  Gotta love that fiddle!  [Claudia's own version is smokier!  And you should definitely check it out -- both have that Kevin Welch tom-tom beat down at the bottom.]

Then there’s “Don’t Tell ‘Em Nothin’,” written with childhood friend Cary Ann Hearst  (see the pattern — Dustin says he likes to work with others so that his songs have different voices but what seems to be the case is that his friends and mentors act as mirrors to better help him see the vision he has had for his songs).  “Dirty Mind” has help from Sean Locke, while “Whisky Priest,” “Green Badge,” and “Two Horses” all were guided in part by Mark Germino, who will be joining Dustin on May 8th and 9th for two Austin shows.  And “Lower East Side” had help from another childhood pal, Justin Townes Earle, with whom Dustin played in The Swindlers band for years.  The all-out rocker “Empty Parking Lots” was a collaboration with Nail, Choffel, and dad (and who knows who all else?) — duly noted that Dustin gets everyone involved with his music and his life itself, and everyone who works with him gets a blessing.

I ran into Dustin on Tuesday night at the Saxon Pub, and he mentioned in passing that he was playing a set at House Wine with Kelley Mickwee and so after taking in a rare movie Thursday afternoon I headed over for a glass and some music — and found Kevin Welch also sitting in the living room.  Outside folks were prepping the “stage” (that is, the front porch) for an evening with nominees for the Texas Music Awards, so what transpired was an informal work session for Kelley and Kevin’s upcoming tour of Italy.  Afterward I stuck around for a while, stopped by Botticelli’s to check in on Jackie Bristow, and then went over to Lovejoy’s for more of Stretch Dawrson and fellow Mending Heart Gemma Donald (here from Scotland for Old Settler’s).  Then I ran into Dustin again that evening at the Hole in the Wall as we all reveled in the music of Sideshow Tragedy and celebrated Nathan Singleton’s birthday. 

But back to the review.  “Dirty Mind” is another hard-driving song that requires a jug and a jig, while “Whisky Priest” is a stomper that punches you right in the mouth:  “I am a man of faith, I am a child of the crow, and all my bed of angels, well they touch and they go, I get no self-satisfaction from salvation when it’s sold with a 10-digit digital magnetic  bar code ….” 

“Two Horses” I have written about — Dustin has placed their skulls on the back cover of the record — just to let you know that this song tells a lot more about what it is to be in his shoes than you might otherwise realize.  It is tough being able to see so much — how do you handle what you see, how to translate it into something that gets to the person(s) who need to hear but without scaring them off from that truth that might just save them from themselves.  Especially when that someone is you!

Maybe that’s a clue to the mysterious “whisky priest” on the album’s front cover — the layers of jewels and trinkets that keep you from seeing what the eyes of the priest are looking at.  But who knows?  It’s just cool.  And just listen to ”Lower East Side” – a song Lou Reed might endorse though written by two kids from Nashville who ought not know so much about his territory.  Trisha’s fiddle here is a thing of beauty — and the song is a classic.

But Dustin is, first off, a rocker — and we are back to “Empty Parking Lots,” a collaboration of the highest order and always a favorite at Dustin’s old Monday night shows at Momos.  Jeremy Nail (whose own brand-new record is nearly done – I can hardly wait!) lends his energy, and Suzanna Choffel her innate sultriness to a song that is to me like a rock and roll “The Road Goes on Forever” in that you just want to hear it over and over again.

“Green Badge” must come from Dustin’s Scotch Greens daze — the San Diego based band that opened for Flogging Molly and lived and died on the Warped tour.  The CD, as with many Dustin Welch live sets, closes with “Poorhouse,” which thankfully drains listeners (play this record L-O-U-D!) of all remaining energy and leaves them willing to wait for the next set of Dustin songs on disc.