Music and other diversions from Central Texas
If you play guitar, it’s probable that you’re seeking the one true chord, The Greatest Guitar Chord of All Time, using musical laws that have been in place since before the American Revolution.
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Shelfies. I thought maybe I’d take this Friday to talk about something besides music, and as I looked around me I realized I have an awful lot of books. Around New Years Day I decided that rather than selfies, I would take shelfies – pictures of my bookshelves – this year. So we’ll take a look at a few of those #shelfies and see what we can learn about the real me. But first, just listen to that bass playing.
Continue reading “Shelfies: Reading The Real Zirque Bois d’Arc”
Someone once told me that Eric Clapton said, “acoustic guitar will teach you everything about the electric guitar; electric guitar will teach you nothing about the acoustic guitar.” Whoever said it, I believe they were mostly right. So today I nominate acoustic guitar wizard Django Reinhardt as the Greatest Guitar Player of All Time.
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Back in the 90s when I owned Austin Homebrew Supply, one of my favorite customers, Dan Martaus, worked on Austin City Limits, and as a result, I would get occasional inside scoops on upcoming tapings. One of those fantastic opportunities was to see a Son Volt taping, which I went to with my buddy Chip Tait. Son Volt was great – I think the other act taping that night was maybe Kenny Wayne Shepard? Chip was a huge Uncle Tupelo fan, and I was warming up to the genre pretty well. Fun time, free Shiner Bock, and we likely went to Lovejoys after.
Continue reading “Turn of the Century Acoustic Americana: Gillian Welch, Mountain Man, and Beyond”
Hey – the day has arrived! The Fence Cutters album, Extended Play, is now available on all major streaming services like Spotify – worldwide – and downloads and physical CDs are for sale through CD Baby.
Our sophomore record started off with another long weekend at The Library, Allan Gill’s studio in East Austin, with Jeremiah Ball at the controls. If memory serves, we recorded about 30 songs there, then, re-recorded some and mixed everything over at Barbara Kay’s studio in Tarrytown. The three biggest changes are
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Lick Lick is so good, and I am so proud of this You and Me Neither – I hope as you listen along you find as much joy in these performances as I do.
This was our third record, our second with David Hobizal on drums, and our first with Sam Arnold on the bass. Greg Yancey did the lions-share of the recording and engineering, David did the artwork, and you can buy it on 10″ vinyl!
We recorded basics in an afternoon at Michael Crow’s studio, and then did overdubs all over town – vocals at Ohm studio with Chico Jones, piano in the chapel at St. Andrews School, guitar at the Opposite Day rehearsal space, etc.
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Hey! I’ll be playing a very rare Zirque Bois d’Arc solo set in front of the Pink Elephant on Saturday, August 26. I’m going to play at 7, and then Hugh’s new band with Richie, If You Know What I Means, plays at 8.
Continue reading “Zirque Bois d’Arc Live at the Carousel Lounge August 26”
I love Texas rivers. One of my prized books is B.L. “Bud” Priddy’s Fly-Fishing the Texas Hill Country that I bought from JT Van Zandt when he was working at The Austin Angler on Congress Avenue. It’s a spiral bound volume that explains where all of the most likely fly-fishing spots on our Central Texas rivers, as well as advice on legal car access and boating/floating and so forth. I’m not much of a fisherman, although I have had a few licenses through the years; however, the spots where the fly-obsessed fish gather appear to hold the same attraction for me and my kind. Coupling this volume with a Texas Gazetteer, you could pretty much guarantee a beautiful weekend spent amongst the finest natural beauty in our state. Siri, great as she is, isn’t going to open up that level of enchantment for you.
Continue reading “Riparian Reflections: A Bucketful Of Texas River Songs”
This record, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat, was my life in high school.
If asked who my favorite band was, I didn’t even stutter before saying “Minutemen.” There are about a million reasons why, and over time I acquired all of their albums and EPs, and the occasional compilation, too. Here are a few reasons why they were the best:
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I spent many years in my youth learning and playing blues guitar, mostly electric, but some acoustic. During college, I joined a band in my hometown of Nacogdoches called Cold Shot (with Danny Britton and Richard Suggs) and played a couple of shows a month, mostly at a club called Blank and Co. We would do three sets, one acoustic and two electric, and over the years we had tons of guests join us on stage and had a great time playing mostly blues standards, maybe a little rock and roll.
Continue reading “9 Texas Blues Guitarists, and What You Can Learn From Them”