Music and other diversions from Central Texas
Hey – the day has arrived! The Fence Cutters album, Horses and Asses, downloads and physical CDs are for sale through CD Baby.
Continue reading “Listen Along: Horses and Asses by The Fence Cutters”
While preparing for my Carousel Lounge Show tomorrow (August 26, 2017) I needed to cut many songs from my set-list, and well, I don’t want to cut anymore, so I have decided to cut my banter. Here you will find my extensively crafted and artistic rendering of well-told stories to accompany my song performances. Perhaps if you are in the audience, you can follow along and consider this banter augmentation for your reality. In fact, I plan on casting my 7:00 set on my Instagram, so if you’re at home or wherever you can watch me and follow along.
Continue reading “Witty Banter From My Carousel Show Tomorrow Night”
When I was working through my First Song First Side First Album: Who Did It Best? I remembered how much I love My Aim Is True by Elvis Costello. 30 some odd years since my original obsession with the album and I still know every lyric and every guitar lick by heart. So it seems like a natural choice for a Listen Along.
Continue reading “Listen Along: My Aim Is True By Elvis Costello”
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
Continue reading “Listen Along: Extended Play by The Fence Cutters”
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”
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”
Yeah, I know 2016’s My Woman by Angel Olsen is all the rage, and now she is selling out much bigger venues and is doing real good. I also know that the 2011 Strange Cacti ep has its fans. And if I were super cool I would be doing a retrospective of her work with Bonnie Prince Billy.
Continue reading “Listen Along: Burn Your Fire for No Witness by Angel Olsen”
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”