Flanfire

This is a hodge-podge — starting at the end, working back a bit … Tonight a bunch of us gathered at Flipnotics to visit in their “living room” with Raina Rose, Drew Pressman and their handsome offspring — with the bonus of hearing Johann (or J) Wagner and special guest Wilson Marks. This was Raina’s first public performance since she was great with child, and she admitted her callouses had disappeared but she and Johann (and also Wilson) tossed out songs that in many cases were full-house sing-alongs and in some cases were heard in rapt silence. I met Jen Hitt, another Austin newcomer, songwriter and host of WAMU 88.5′s (Washington, DC) Capital Americana radio show (yeah, it streams!). She has a show upcoming at the Irie Bean! [Sidebar -- Marks, it seems, once gave a guitar lesson to a very young Matt McCloskey, which apparently worked!]

Earlier today, I got to hear the Jackie Myers Band (Jackie, Mike Brinley, Mark Williams, and Stewart Lane) for the first time since before they went into the studio to cut a new record (release date in early spring 2012). People at the Cedar Park Farmers’ Market loved what they were hearing. I did too!

Friday night Brett Randell had a welcome home to Austin show at One 2 One Bar — soon to be relocating to an as yet undisclosed location, but not before a knock-down New Year’s Eve show hosted by the venerable Donny Jones! Then it was over to Skinny’s Ballsoom (thanks Brad and Maggie for keeping this great room alive!), and I got there in time for some of Kyle Offidani’s amazing guitar work. I was there mainly to hear Digital Antique, one of my favorites (two violins, a viola, a cello, plus electric guitar and electric bass and drums) … and soon, apparently, a vocalist as well! Stay tuned! I stuck around for the second Austin show of The Bellmen (featuring Travis Sutherland of Utopia Fest fame) plus Dustin Halsell (lead guitar), Reid Faist (drums), Jeremiah Silsby (bass), and Benjamin Taylor (keys). Lots of energy there — and they rocked on in spite of equipment issues.

Thursday night was pretty special — the night before I had run into James Hyland while watching Amanda Cevallos at the Broken Spoke (happy hour, with Glen Rexach on guitar!), and he told me about a benefit he was playing the next day – at Spicewood Elementary. So I get there and it is the Stonecastle Family Band, which I had not seen since Lauryn Gould was a teenager (or so) singing with her dad (Rick Steinburg), his wife Deby, and her sisters at the Triumph Cafe (long before I actually MET Lauryn, my favorite flutist/keyboardist). The benefit was for a beloved teacher who has tongue cancer … and it was well attended! Hyland played a set with Will Dupuy on bass and Bobby Socia on guitar; Datri Bean put on an amazing show on piano and accordian; Ryan Gould and two of his fellow Jazz Pharaohs (notably the amazing Stanley Smith); and this gal playing bagpipes! It is always fun to watch Ryan sing and Lauryn dance! And, yeah, they play bass and flute (respectively) pretty well!  Later, I stopped by Baker St. to see the best set yet from JUSTIF and the Missing Pieces (Jenna G and Samantha Burge) — ran into Hector Ward and half of his band who had been dining there, and stuck around for Charlie Mason.  Good times!

[Meanwhile, I am listening to Doug Burr as I write this stuff -- and also Steve Carter!]

Wednesday was, admittedly, ridiculous! Started out at The Crow Bar for Kem Watts (her trio sounded quite good, and HalleyAnna showed up!), then to the Spoke for Amanda (where I also ran into Waldo Wittenmyer, who is now doing some booking at the Hole in the Wall), then all the way up to the NeWorld Deli to catch half a set from Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus (such dear friends!), then over to the Hole in the Wall to hear Ashley Monical (with Brian Paugh on fiddle!), then down to Trophy’s to catch a set from Austin newcomer Jason Ludwig (that boy can wail!), and finally to the Mohawk (thanks for the reminder, amazing woman Sarah Gonzales) for a super set from Danny Malone – with strings and horns (notably Steve Bernal on cello, Andrew Pressman on bass, Jenni Wieland on French horn and more, and Andrew Noble on viola — the others – violin, sax, and trumpet - were from Little Lo and Mother Falcon).

Now Monday was COLD and thus the outdoor open mike at House Wine was short but very sweet … and I was at Momo’s early and later … first for William Kelley, later as Dustin Welch sang the songs of his father Kevin.  But it is Tuesday that made this week special (not counting the amazing show out in Luckenbach by Phil Hurley, Phil Bass, Lonnie Trevino, and Josh Zee with help from Teal Collins Zee — the Moonlighters!)!!!!  SONGWRITER NIGHT at Momo’s, starting with Jenny Reynolds (who brought some really good songs new to my ears) and the awe-inspiring Nathan Hamilton (the Abilene native whose songs ought to be listened to with the reverence others hold for TVZ, Guy C, etc.).  Nathan has a brand-new CD, “Beauty, Wit and Speed,” that like all of his others is just phenomenal!    [Watch for my review!]  Nathan Hamilton is one of my role models (did I mention?) — a man who lives by his code, who speaks the truth, and who has fought through anger to find a quiet peace.

Next up was the Drew Smith-Jon Beckham-Graham Wilkinson song circle, with special guests Nathan Singleton and Will Webster.  I had encouraged new-to-Austin songwriters Jason Ludwig and Josh Buckley to come, and Shilah Morrow and a bunch of other music people were in the house for what turned out to be an amazing circle of songs by friends who supported each other with hot licks, harmonies, and sometimes witty banter.  Highlights (a few among many!) — Jon Beckham’s “Snowy River, Mountain High” (a song covered by James Hyland but sung even better with Jon’s twangy voice), Graham’s “Personality Disorder,” and Will’s song about his parents and his other song about the War Between the States.  Words cannot describe the energy in the room (the garage doors were shut on this cold, damp night, and that perhaps added to the energy!) — and the exhilaration from the love being poured out by every man on stage!  Also in the house were the Los Angeles based trio, The Fallen Stars, who played afterward …

My evening was far from over, as i hustled over to the 29th Street Ballroom at Spider House to hear Meggan Carney with her trio (Johnny Vogelsang and Drew D’Entremont) — with Meggan on electric guitar.  Meggan has a major show at Momo’s on December 23rd, where she will be releasing another new EP .. a teaser is already up on her Facebook page … words and music for “Empathy,” which includes the line, “Understand that I will never be
unwary of your heart….”

One more note — Chicago songbird Laura Jean Thompson flies into Austin on December 20th to play shows at Romeo’s (12-21), Momo’s (12-26), and the Ham Jam House Concert (12-28) — plus the Cedar Park Farmers’ Market and maybe a few surprises!  I am thrilled to be sponsoring this tour … and just as thrilled that well-known author and public speaker Jenni Schaefer will be making her singing (only) debut at the Ham Jam show.  For details just let me know via Facebook, email or slapping me upside my head!

And in Austin, “characters” means — well, you know.  [This is catching up with weeks of writing in one fell swoop – and splitting things up so each post will be manageable structurally. 

But every picture tells a story.  Pic 1 here features two of my favorite young singers in town — each from a music-driven family.  Corrina Rachel and Miranda Dawn both sing jazz — both have dads who are well-known Austin players, and both were having a lot of fun at the Belleville Outfit concert at Momo’s on July 17th.  Miranda is also singing with T-Bird and the Breaks these days (for example, this Friday at the Mohawk), while Corrina and her Dream Band are playing here and there and she is also doing some solo shows.

Pic 2 is Christian Ward, banjo player and singer-songwriter (along with Talia Sekons and Marc Lionetti) in the Lost Pines — who will play again on August 2 at the Bluegrass Brunch at Threadgills Old No. 1.  I will never forget that night at Momo’s a while back when Christian was first telling me about his great band — and another night (well, many) when he was pinching himself over the affections of a certain young lady bootmaker.  I love this band!

Pic 3 shows Dan Dyer and Suzanna Choffel, who will be sharing the stage with Joanna Barbera at Momo’s Club on Friday.  Dan used to be a very good-looking, and good, singer — but he returned from a trip to Marfa a few weeks ago with a passel of brand-new songs that come from a place deep inside this man that we fans have not seen that much of — and the result is a new power in his voice, a new spring in his step, and a new grace on and off the stage that hopefully will open many doors. 

Pic 4 is 14-year-old Ruby Jane Smith (at Threadgill’s on Riverside on July 30th) at a recent show at the Saxon Pub that was in large part a taping for some television pilot or series in which she has a major role.   This youngster with an old soul and great command of her stage is a national treasure — I strongly advise getting to one of her shows before people realize she has been touring with Willie Nelson and Ray Benson and appeared on the Grand Old Opry with the likes of Marty Stuart and Big and Rich.  Meanwhile, she is still playing free shows here in town — and jamming and learning from a whole host of Austin’s finest (or at least best) old music hands, just as she did as a young child in Mississippi before moving down here.

Pic 5 is my pal PJ Harrington, who moved to Austin to play reggae with Kris Brown and is the lead guitarist in Graham Wilkinson’s Underground Nation but has the soul of a folksinger — and a lot of chops learned from folks like John Hartford.  Not bad for a kid from Cincinnati.  Pic 6 is THE DAILY DOUBLE TRIPLE!  Justin Wade Thompson on bass (background) and Hunter Thompson Singleton (Nathan’s little brother) on vocals and guitar — at Momo’s Club a while back.  The Sideshow Tragedy served as Hunter’s backing band as he writhed and glistened to hynotize his audience with tales of the macabre and the mundane — beautifully orchestrated to hold one’s attention. 

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.