Flanfire

On the first of October I got a double dose of sad news.  I last saw that red-headed fiddler Amy Farris on stage with Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women at the Old Settler’s Festival in April (though she was with the band just two weeks ago at Antone’s).  Just 40 years young and gone, officially on September 26th.  I first saw Amy playing with Kelly Willis at Stubb’s I think for a KGSR T-Shirt show, and got to see her CD release at the Cactus Cafe not long after she had left Austin for southern California.   I will steal one comment from Austin360.com –

Our dear, sweet Amy — For now, it is almost hard to be sad because thinking of you brings back so many hilarious and wacky memories. And don’t think that you pulled the wool over our eyes as parents — we figured out:  That you spent every dime you earned as a music teacher buying rewards for the kids. That your extraordinary talent was just a means to an end, that your real objective, along with teaching a love of music, was to teach our kids how to love and accept themselves. But you knew that you first had to teach us as parents how to see our children as perfectly imperfect, glorious human beings, and to do that, you had to teach us to accept ourselves as perfectly imperfect, glorious parents. I am eternally grateful. You are pure love. I hope you will visit often.  

The other news shook me to the core – Monte Wise was the husband of my dear friend Natalie Zoe, the stepdad of my wonderful friend Sasha Ortiz, and a very kind man who lent his talents as well to the memorial service for my beloved Nancy Flanakin.  At the Blues Mafia show at the Saxon the day after Monte died over a thousand miles away, Sasha reminded the crowd that her stepdad had installed the sound systems at the Saxon, Antones, and many other places in Austin.  Monte nurtured Natalie through a debilitating injury that left her with an artificial hip and other ailments from which she was just beginning to recover (though her voice was strong as ever as she belted out songs with her band CandiLand and with the Divas at a recent benefit concert in her honor.  Now we all need to lift up Natalie like never before — just as she lifted up my family three years and some ago when my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer. 

BUS TO BROOKLYN – ep

So I got this email a week or so ago from Jesse Felder, lead singer and songwriter for the Austin band Bus to Brooklyn, and HE says that he heard about FLANFIRE from Vanessa Lively (whom I just saw at House Wine for the John Grubbs and Valerie Fremin photo exhibits party).  The band — Felder on guitar and vocals, Casey Halliburton on bass, Matt Reynolds on drums, and Spence Hughes on lead guitar — will be celebrating the release of this six-song EP at Momo’s on October 9th. 

So when I got their CD in the mail and put it on, I realized that Vanessa would never steer me wrong.  I look forward to hearing the live show, but if the record is any indication, those who come will not be disappointed.  Jesse’s voice reminds me a little of Scott Taylor of Feeding 5000 (who in turn reminds me a little of Eddie Vedder). 

The songs here are equally strong – “Oh, Serpeant” warns us against the liar and exhorts us to remember that “everybody has a path, a direction for their life,” while “Devil Release Me” is even more of a rocker that is sandwiched around the much slower, quieter “Sorrow Song’:  ”Drinking Queen,” another rocker, is a topnotch ending song.  I look forward to meeting these guys and hearing their live set on October 9th at Momo’s Club.  [I also look forward to hearing Courrier -- CD release -- and Jets Under Fire at La Zona Rosa the night before (after Jarrod Dickenson's set at Momo's).]

ALEX DUPREE AND THE TRAPDOOR BAND – CROWN & ANCHOR

The first time I saw Alex Dupree on stage (at Beerland) I immediately thought, Tim Buckley.  As I read the lengthy lyrics to his new CD, “Crown & Anchor,” I thought, James Joyce.  The Trapdoor Band includes Seth Woods (Whiskey Priest, Sad Accordians, Zookeeper) and a cast of characters that (on the record at least) includes Sean Padilla, Nicole Kern, Matt Matherne, and Aisha Burns but can include more or fewer at any time.  The liner notes, written by Drew Stout, state that this is not an album of answers, but rather “these songs ask the unanswerable questions that seem to loom indefatigable in the loneliness of experience.  But it is the terrifying vastness of these questions, their imposing persistence, that is the very possibility of life.”  This is not exactly party music.

But then again, the MUSIC that augments these poems is very engaging (and very varied).  “Little Stars,” which opens the door to this nautical adventure, is a quiet ballad (that is, until the cacaphony at the very end) in which our protagonist realizes that “it seems that my mind by some grace has already been pardoned” for having a heart that had hardened.  “Have You Built the Ship of Death?” has six stanzas and references to Zachariah, St. Francis, Evangeline, Barbara Allen, and Solomon — and the questions raised in this song alone verify Drew Stout’s analysis.  Just one line here tells enough — “ten million voices from across the sea are gasping underneath the hurricane, and the wind of their collective cry puts a creak into our rustling weathervane, a creak just like is in the captain’s bed when he stumbles home soaked with moonshire, but not loud enough to turn a sailor’s head, or to unwind my arms and alibis, bound with rosaries to Evangeline, well if you’re going to make me live here, could you give me the keys into your door?  give me consciousness?  give me quiver?  could you pull your needle out and rent me maybe one more attic room, forsaken?”

The bouncy “City of Wheels” also references Evangeline in the context of finding a room to rent, but she responds, “No Sir, I cannot spare anything for you, “well, then, white boy, why did you come down anyway?”  “If I Could Fall in Love” is another ballad of sorts, in which our poet admits his incompetence to love without feeling weighted down like the law.  “I Cannot Call Affection Sweet” takes the words of a hymn by James Montgomery and turns them in to a plea sung with a full chorus.  “Bottle Belle” is yet another quiet lament, “There are two black birds I’ve never known; one she calls me from the throne her family rents; the other one will end up walking home with my best friend.”

“Stone by Stone (Let Them Go)” is a African gospel-feeling song with that incredible line, “the children that he loves our God will surely drive insane,” while “The Holy Mountain” speaks of a love who challenges our poet, “how will you stand in the rolling wind?  in the grasses bent and whitened?  when she looks down on all the world with a solemn vow of silence…”  Alex ends with a vow to walk alone into the world “until a love for one becomes a love for every other.” 

The title cut (Alex notes the Austin bar with a similar name and Joni Mitchell’s song “Blue” which inspired him here) has even more verses than “Ship of Death,” more words than even a song from Danny Schmidt.  And just as challenging!  [I am trying to get you dear readers who seek out the deep things to take some time to listen to this tall, shy poet who is often on the road.]  This cut opens with a piano solo (with organ and violin following) and Alex’s soft voice, “for eyes that cannot look to see her features disassociate and drift away unmoved, for hands that cannot shake a man, or fold inside a bluff, or hold the door ….  good God, y’all, is there no one who will crown and anchor me?”  Somewhere in this dream/nightmare, Alex sings, “so, sick with huner, I went up to the hilltop in the last watch of the night; I demanded there an audience with the tribulator of my soul ….” only to get this answer, “for what grievances do you address yourself to me?”  And yet, at the end of the song, our protagonist agrees “to be grafted in the goodness of that indiscriminate decree,” and to “step int with the chorus then, come and crown and anchor me.” 

It is not just the lyrical symbolism that led Drew Stout to proclaim that this album is “so dominated by water.”  Listening to this music is like rolling in a small boat on a huge sea — undulating with the wind and the waves, wondering if you are about to be thrown overboard, given over to the feeding sharks, or perhaps (miraculously) rescued just as you fade out of consciousness into peace.  We need to hear the Trapdoor Band at a venue like the Cactus or the Bugle Boy — where others actually let you LISTEN and let the music and the lyrics be absorbed into your very being. 

FINALLY Flanfire gets out to the Old Settlers’ shindig — and what a lovely day (despite rain all day Friday and ominous skies early Saturday morning)!  Got there just in time to hear the 1 am set from the Fireants (while wearing one of their T-shirts) and a wee bit of Green Mountain Grass (that’s mando player Dave Wilmoth and fiddler Adam “Pickles” Moss shown below) at the Hill Country Stage before heading over to the Bluebonnet Stage for a great set from Lone Star Swing (featuring Gemma Donal on fiddle and my pal Stretch MacFayden (Dawrson) on snare. 

Lest anyone not know, Lone Star Swing is fronted by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Gary Hartman, who is director of the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State and a heluva guy.  Bassist Terry Hale and guitar virtuoso Rick McRae long ago found a young singer named George Strait and are still members of his Ace in the Hole Band, mandolin player Paul Glasse may be found with Willie or Lyle on a given day, and youngster Billy Curtis (well, he has a 2-year-old!) on fiddle, saxophone, and great vocals has done duets with Johnny Gimble.  Billy’s vocal on “Faded Love” was one of the highlights of the entire week of music.  Plus, these guys are maybe MORE fun than the Austin Lounge Lizards.

It was also a day when my pals from Stonehoney (happy birthday, Dave Phenicie) backed up legenday songwriter Dan Navarro and then did their own set on the Discovery stage.  All of these guys had told me to be sure to listen to the Lovell Sisters — and was I blown away by these three north Georgia bluegrass darlings who were debuting their brand-new (second) CD, “Time to Grow.”  Jessica (age 23, fiddle), Megan (age 19, dobro), and Rebecca (age 18, mandolin, guitar) are on their way back to MerleFest and a major world tour — well, of course, their sisterly harmonies are perfect, their musicianship is excellent, and they will hopefully remain unfazed by the publicity that may focus all too much on their good looks than on their talent (think Dolly Parton, one of the finest pure bluegrass singers I have ever heard).  Here they are on stage, and here is Rebecca with Dan Navarro, who got to know their whole family over chicken tacos he made at a festival campsite far away and long ago.

As day turned toward evening (and after listening to the McCoury brothers for a while), I had to stroll back to the Hill Country stage to catch Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women (mostly Austinites of course) — Lisa Pankratz on drums, Cindy Cashdollar on steel guitars, one-time Austinite Amy Farris (and her lovely red hair) on fiddle, the legendary Sarah Brown on bass, and Seattle’s Christy McWilson on vocals.  Earlier, I had caught only a small part of Sarah Jarosz’s wonderful set (with Alex Hargreaves on fiddle and Sam Grisman on bass)  — that’s the downside of too many stages to see everything!  I also caught just a tad of the Colorado-based Spring Creek but enough to be blown away by their banjo player.   Down there somewhere is a photo of Gemma with Billy Curtis warming up before their smokin’ set.

So here are photos of Stonehoney’s Phil Hurley and Shawn Davis with Dan Navarro, Ms. Farris, the Belleville Outfit, and Lone Star Swing.  Yeah, we COULD have stuck around to see more of the McCourys, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Robert Earl Keen (all good!), but the big “miss” was the campground jam with the “Grass” and The Blue Hit (which features Pickles’ brother David on cello), just back from their West Coast tour and with their brand-new CD ready for a May 9th party at Club DeVille.    But, heck, we were tired enough, and Stretch and Gemma had a long drive out to Turkey, Texas, for a Monday night gig with the house band at the Church of Western Swing just days before the annual Bob Wills Festival there.  But before I move on I have to mention the harmonica workshop with Jimi Lee, Dave Spalding, and Cara Cooke and the songwriter showcase featuring Jenny Reynolds and a heart-wrenching duet by Ben Mallott and Betty Soo on Gram Parsons’ “Grievous Angel.”

To catch up with missed days and nights, there was that Sunday night at Shut Up and Sing when I caught up with Alyse Black and Aly Tadros, who are about to go on tour together.  And here is the handsome (just ask Wendy!) Chad Pope on the indoor stage at the brand-new Red Shed Tavern and a photo of the tavern’s backyard that shows the SHADOW of the beautiful stage that Chad bdesigned and built for the venue, which hopes to get through the tangled web that is the city of Austin to get an outdoor venue permit.  [I also caught a set from Paul Finley, but will write about that when reviewing his new CD, Butterfly, which features both this acoustic virtuoso and artwork by Gregory Gruett Smith.]

But I cannot depart without a short diatribe condemning the city of Austin for its very trange poplicy that has already shut down live music at Freddie’s, Botticelli’s (at least amplified music), and apparently Guero’s and is having a stifling impact on the ability of the Austin  music community to earn a living — not to mention on the entire live music scene for those who want music with their meals.  It is as though the city is telling folks, you can have music or you can have dinner — but not both!  Elections for city council are coming up in just a very few days, and it is time for these candidates to go on record so that we will know for sure who are enemies are and not let them ruin Austin.

 Have to mention the set  I caught at Flipnotics by the Celestialites (Jonny Konya from Belleville, the wonderful Carley Wolf, and Najeeb Sabour), the new trio that I really like, and a very enjoyable Sunday brunch at Threadgills featuring Hank Alrich and his lovely daughter Shairdri, shown here with Threadgills’ own Melanie in what we hope will be a regular feature … their harmonies wowed us!