Posted on

Listen Along: You And Me Neither by Lick Lick

You and Me Neither

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.
Continue reading “Listen Along: You And Me Neither by Lick Lick”

Posted on

Riparian Reflections: A Bucketful Of Texas River Songs

Texas River Songs

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”

Posted on

Listen Along: Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat by Minutemen

Listen Along: Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat by Minutemen

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:
Continue reading “Listen Along: Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat by Minutemen”

Posted on

9 Texas Blues Guitarists, and What You Can Learn From Them

texas blues guitarists

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”

Posted on

3 Pillars of Americana: Family, Fusion, and the Hard Stuff

americana

I’ve been thinking a lot about Americana music lately, mostly because my band The Fence Sitters (aka The Fence Cutters) were firmly wedged in that category. Fair enough – we had banjos and mandolins and harmony vocals and told stories in our songs. It never really rankled me, although to us we were just making songs and having fun playing them and using what instruments we had.
Continue reading “3 Pillars of Americana: Family, Fusion, and the Hard Stuff”

Posted on

The Fifteen Best Ry Cooder Records, and Why You Should Drop Everything and Study Them Now

Ry Cooders fifteen best albums

Ry Cooder has put out, by quick reference, over 80 albums, collaborations, and soundtracks over his 50-year career. Along that time he has innovated technically (his 1979 record Bop Till You Drop was the first DDD album – recorded, mixed and mastered digitally!) and musically (his direct influence on the Rolling Stones, Little Feat, and Captain Beefheart is clear and undeniable). He also introduced many musical geniuses to the world stage – Flaco Jimenez, Gabby Pahinui, Ali Farka Toure, and the whole Buena Vista Social Club, for example. AND his soundtrack work in the 1980s painted memorable moments in Paris, Texas and a dozen or so other movies (I particularly enjoyed Alamo Bay and, yes, Crossroads).
Continue reading “The Fifteen Best Ry Cooder Records, and Why You Should Drop Everything and Study Them Now”

Posted on

John Fahey to Marisa Anderson: American Primitive Guitar Past and Present

American Primitive Guitar John Fahey to Marisa Anderson and Beyond

Like most stories for me, this one begins with memories of my father. Many of the songs he would play on the guitar (and later after arthritis set in on the piano) would be chord/melody pieces – hammering out the fundament with his thumb and plucking the melody up top – and thus definable as American Primitive Guitar. Once guitar became interesting to me, and I picked up a few of the licks from those pieces, he immediately started offering bounties on Chet Atkins tunes (“I’ll give you $50 if you learn ‘Little Roundabout'”). That was hard – there was no youtube, and very few people to ask (Chet Atkins didn’t live next door) – so I moved on to other things.
Continue reading “John Fahey to Marisa Anderson: American Primitive Guitar Past and Present”

Posted on

Listen Along: More Blue Than Green by The Fence Sitters

More Blue Than Green The Fencesitters Acoustic Americana

Hey – the day has arrived! The Fence Sitters first album, More Blue Than Green, is now available on all major streaming services like Spotify – worldwide – and downloads (and a few of the remaining copies of the physical CD) are for sale through CD Baby.

In recognition of this occasion, I have decided to launch a series called Listen Along, which is basically live blogs of my favorite albums. I think of it as a DVD commentary track – or like that VH1 show where they told you stuff about the songs and videos. Anyways….
Continue reading “Listen Along: More Blue Than Green by The Fence Sitters”