What I Like About Texas
As Gary P. sings, it’s a Texas thing…
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Trifecta
No, I’m not talking about the celebrity-death trifecta, even though one happened recently with Art Linkletter, Gary Coleman, and then Dennis Hopper passing away on consecutive days. I’m talking about a Texas Music trifecta that I experienced this weekend.
Friday night at Poor David’s Pub to see the legendary J.D. Souther, and even though his music pretty much defined the southern-California country-rock sound of the 70’s that catapulted artists like the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt to super-stardom, J.D.’s from Texas so I can call his songs Texas music, by cracky.
Saturday night brought it back to true native Texas Music, with Tommy Alverson’s CD release party for his new record, Texas One More Time, at Fort Worth’s legendary Casa Manana.
And finally, Sunday night wrapped up the perfect weekend - the trifecta - with Walt Wilkins and the Mystiqueros at Joni Beard’s Clubhouse Concerts, in its new uber-cool venue, Mambo’s Tapas Bar in downtown Fort Worth.
A-list performers in intimate, great-sounding venues with friends, three nights in a row. It’s a cliche, but it’s true - it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Texas One More Time
I seem to say this a lot, but good golly, what a night! Tommy Alverson, his regular band members, and a few extra special friends threw one of the best CD release parties/concerts I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending, last night at Casa Manana in Fort Worth. Tommy and his new record label, Blue Boots Records, also out of Fort Worth, is a perfect fit and last night that perfection was on display. The band (with several friends sitting in to take it to the next level) was perfect, the sound and overall venue (Casa Manana is kind of like Bass Hall, but without the stick up its —:) was perfect, and, most importantly for me, the stage lighting was perfect so I got some great shots!
Larry Joe Taylor Texas Music Festival 2010
Larry Joe and Zack Taylor graciously allowed me to shoot Larry Joe’s 2010 Texas Music Festival last month, and after 5 days, 40+ musical performances, weather ranging from gorgeous to shitty, 8,800 shutter-snaps and experiencing one of the times of my life, I have culled the images down to the best hundred or so per day of the festival. If you were there I hope this will bring back fond memories; if you weren’t, I hope it will give you a sense of just how great this festival always is, and you gotta get it on your bucket list. It is a modern, Texan version of Woodstock, but you don’t have to be a kid, only a kid at heart to be in the family.
Tuesday night opening campfire and Wednesday performances:
Love and War and Beer and Music and Friends and Fun
Tuesday night at Love and War in Texas (Plano) was a celebration of Texas Independence Day with purebred Texas music all night long, from the opening set by Randy Brown, continued with Larry Joe Taylor and his band, and brought home by Tommy Alverson and band. More photos here.
Randy Brown
Larry Joe Taylor
Tommy Alverson
Looking for the Heart of Saturday Night
This week, the heart of Saturday night was at the Granada Theater in Dallas, where a triple-bill of some of the best Texas music being made these days was featured.
The Trishas started the evening with a high energy, foot stomping set that set the pace for the rest of the night. Later described by Bruce Robison as “beautiful in so many ways,” these ladies are indeed a pleasure for the eyes and the ears. It’s especially fun to see performers who are clearly having a blast, living their dream, and basking in the glow of the stagelights. These girls have got it going - you shouldn’t miss out on your next chance to see them.
Next up was Bruce Robison with his band, and he kept the high energy vibe set by the Trishas going with a set filled with his best known songs. He filled up the dance floor with his final song, “Wrapped,” and left the stage with everyone wanting more.
And then, the headliner - the Band of Heathens. These guys are a modernized, Texanized version of the Allman Brothers Band - tight, multi-talented, and not the least bit hesitant to turn on their inner jam-band selves. They played two hours straight, including two encores, and played from start to finish with an energy level that is hard to believe they can maintain from show to show. Several of my friends who attended the show had never seen them before and were instantly won over. They are redefining the “roots rock” genre.
A slideshow of more photos from this magical night can he reached here.
It’s all about the music
2010 Clubhouse Concerts Fundraiser, Upstairs at the White Elephant Saloon, Fort Worth Stockyards. Performers included Susan Gibson, Jana Pochop, Ali Holder, Tommy Alverson, John Arthur Martinez, Joey Corpening, Autumn, Brian Langlinais, Bobby Duncan, Brad Hines, Josh Grider and Walt Wilkins.
Double dose of fun
Last weekend I managed to squeeze in a double-dose of fun things between long weekdays laboring in the salt mines. Saturday night was another retro night at the Crystal Palace Burlesque revue held at the Lakewood Theater in Dallas.
The thing I really love about these burlesque shows is how the artistic factor is 90% of the performance, and the “tittilation factor” is 10% (or less.) These girls aren’t looking for dollar bills stuffed in their G-strings, they’re looking to express themselves through a time-honored performance art style that conjures images of a different time and a very different culture, way back before, as Colonel Frank Fitts from American Beauty said, “this country is going straight to hell.” It’s kind of like stepping into an episode of “Mad Men” for a couple of hours. For a musical slideshow of the event, click here.
On Sunday, my pal Raymond and I drove down to Austin for a quickly-assembled music festival/benefit aimed at raising quick cash for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. There was a good turnout at the Austin Music Hall, even though the even twas competing with the NFL’s conference championship Sunday. Performance of the day, for me was, among many great performances, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore with Lloyd Maines sitting in on pedal steel - the Flatlanders. Those guys are just beyond great, a testament to the fact that if you do something with passion for 30-something years, you are going to become frickin’ great at it.
My Top Ten Live Performances for 2009
According to my calendar, I’ve attended 68 live music events in 2009. After much deliberation and reflection over the year in live music, following are my top 10 live performances of the year:
The executive summary:
| Rating | Date | Artist | Venue |
| 1 | October 12 | U2 | Dallas Cowboys Stadium |
| 2 | June 5 | Ryan Bingham & the Flatlanders | House of Blues |
| 3 | November 30 | Jackson Browne - solo acoustic | Bass Hall, Austin |
| 4 | June 25 | Sarah Jarosz & the Greencards | Poor David’s Pub |
| 5 | February 19 | Lucinda Williams | House of Blues |
| 6 | August 28 | Jackson Browne | Oklahoma City, OK |
| 7 | May 20 | Terri Hendrix & Indigo Girls | Lakewood Theater |
| 8 | November 6 | Shake Russell & Michael Hearne | Old Quarter, Galveston |
| 9 | May 9 | Louie C.K. | Lakewood Theater |
| 10 | April 30 | Fleetwood Mac | American Airlines Center |
#10: Fleetwood Mac, American Airlines Center Dallas, April 30: I usually have fairly low expectations for (a) large arena venues and (b) concert tours by, shall I say, “well-seasoned” bands. Fleetwood Mac has been doing it since the 60’s, so they have to qualify as well –seasoned, and the American Airlines Center surely qualifies as a large arena venue. Fortunately, my low expectations were exceeded on both counts – my daughter Jennifer and my seats perfectly fine, the sound was sublime, and Fleetwood Mac (minus Christine McVie who no longer tours) was in top form musically. Stevie Nicks is still, 4 decades running, the Queen of Rock ‘n Roll, as far as I’m concerned. She looked great and sounded great – but the surprise show stealer was actually Lindsey Buckingham, whose manic guitar playing and almost superhuman energy level took the show to a high plane I would never have predicted.
#9: Louie C.K., Lakewood Theater, Dallas, May 9: OK, I’m technically breaking my rule here when I’m listing my top 10 live music performances, but Louie C.K.’s standup routine my kids, their significant others, and I experienced this spring was just too memorable to not acknowledge for posterity. One of the frustrating things about standup comedy is it’s hilarious while you’re there, but a half-hour later you can’t remember 90% of the jokes the guy told. Not the case with Louie C.K., whose story about taking his daughters to the Italian countryside and encountering a herd of wild Italian ponies still brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. This was a totally fun evening that on the next day left me not with a hangover but instead with a set of sore ribs from laughing so hard, so long.
#8: The Shake Russell Trio and Michael Hearne, Old Quarter Acoustic Café, Galveston, November 6: This was a rare opportunity for me to mix pleasure with a business trip, and spend an evening listening to two of the best songwriters anywhere swapping songs and stories, in one of the most storied acoustic venues in Texas – Wrecks Bell’s Old Quarter in Galveston. Essentially a shrine to the late, great Townes Van Zandt (Wrecks was a running buddy of Townes’ back in the day) the intimate venue commands a respect – even a reverence – for the songwriters and their songs. To hear Shake Russell sing Dare of an Angel in a place like the Old Quarter is as close to a spiritual experience as I can get. The highlight of this show was the encore performance - a perfectly delivered, energetic version of Today’s the Day, in my humble opinion one of the best, most uplifting songs ever written.
#7: Indigo Girls (with Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines opening), Lakewood Theatre, Dallas, May 20: And now for something completely different, as the saying goes. My brother Bobby introduced me to the Indigo Girls years ago when he lived in Winston-Salem, NC and had occasion to attend a couple of their shows. Yes, it was pretty much an all-girl, girl-girl crowd (so much so that there was a line for both the ladies’ and the men’s room, but it was girls in both lines). Yes, it was a crowd sing-along from the first verse of the first song until the last line of the final encore. Perhaps Bobby and I were as out of place as Lloyd and Terri may have felt opening, but if they felt it they didn’t show it, and I know I didn’t feel out of place either. Emily and Amy are almost a female, modernized version of Simon and Garfunkel; certainly they command that kind of devotion from a huge portion of their fan base, as evidenced by the crowd participation at this show. I didn’t know all the songs they played but I knew some of them, but the mark of a truly great musical performance is the artist’s ability to connect with the listener even on those songs unfamiliar to him/her (more on this phenomenon in my notes on my #2 show of the year). The Indigo Girls made that connection with me from the get-go. And Terri Hendrix’s opening act, accompanied as usual by Lloyd (Dixie Chick-Dad) Maines was a perfect opening for the first rate folk-rock harmonies that followed.
#6: Jackson Browne, Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheater, August 28: I sprung for Guacamole Fund tickets (4th row center), and my son Kevin and I trekked to Oklahoma City to spend an August evening being entertained up close and personal by my all-time favorite singer/songwriter/performer. This was the summer 09 leg of Jackson’s “Time the Conqueror” tour, which I had already seen the Fall 08 leg of the same tour at Nokia Theater in Dallas (that show was my #1 show of 2008). My biggest fear about this particular show – that it would be unbearably hot in late August OK City, turned out to not be the case, as the evening temperature was low 80’s with plenty of breeze. The unforeseen downside to the venue was that it was in a really low-rent part of town, and sure enough my car got broken into and a GPS unit stolen while it was parked (ironically, in a church parking lot) during the venue. Fixing the broken window was more expensive than the stupid little GPS unit was worth. That unpleasantness aside, Kevin and my Oklahoma City road trip was great fun, as we also had an opportunity to visit with his friends Brian and Katy, who graciously put us up for the night.
#5: Lucinda Williams, House of Blues Dallas, February 19: If Stevie Nicks is the queen of Rock ‘n Roll, and she is, then Lucinda is the queen of Red-Dirt-Roots-Rock. Since I had seen Lucinda perform once before in 2007 at the Longhorn Ballroom (where I got some great photos) and fell in love with her, I was very much looking forward to this return engagement. This was also my first experience at the Dallas House of Blues venue. The venue and the performance were excellent. House of Blues is the best sounding room in Dallas, and second only to Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth in terms of any venue I’ve been to, anywhere. Lucinda was clearly feeling good and happy, and she was at the top of her game at this point in the tour. Where her prior Dallas show had been in support of the somber and pensive “West” record, this show, in support of her latest record “Little Honey,” was much more upbeat, rocking, and full of energy from the outset. Highlights of the show included “It’s a Long Way to the Top if you Wanna Rock ‘n Roll” and a superb cover of, of all things, the Rod Stewart classic “Every Picture Tells a Story.” In 2009, Lucinda continues to reign supreme.
#4: Sarah Jarosz & the Greencards, Poor David’s Pub, Dallas, June 25: It might surprise some that I’ve ranked this show so high, given that it’s lesser known artists in the intimate but unassuming acoustic listening room venue, Poor David’s Pub in Dallas. But Sarah Jarosz as the opener, and the Greencards as the headliner, on this particular summer evening in Dallas, created a magic that I won’t soon forget. First introduced to these folks’ music three years ago at the Rice Festival in the Texas Hill Country, I was familiar enough with both Sarah and the Greencards to be in the right frame of mind for their particular style of folk/bluegrassy acoustic melodies. What I wasn’t prepared for was the growth Sarah (who is just now 18) has experienced as a songstress in the relatively short time since I last saw her perform. Let me go on the record right now – she is on her way to a career that will be along the lines of an Alison Krauss or a Norah Jones. She is an immense talent and she is the full package - singing, playing and songwriting – not to mention a lovely and gracious young lady. On this evening I wasn’t the only one who recognized that – the near sellout crowd (there primarily for the Greencards, of course) were mesmerized by Sarah’s opening set. When Sarah was playing and singing – and she was completely solo – you could have heard a pin drop in the audience. People were not talking, they were listening to this pretty little teenager blow them away with beautiful, sophisticated melodies and lyrics. And then, the Greencards, a highly acclaimed folk band from Australia, followed up Sarah’s show-stealing performance with a set that kept the magical vibe going full blast. There’s just nothing like a live music performance that, from start to finish, opener to closer, so consistently exceeds your already high expectations. This performance, by Sarah Jarosz and the Greencards, was my 2009 example of just such a special surprise.
#3: Jackson Browne solo/acoustic, Bass Performance Hall, Austin, Texas, November 30: I’ve already said pretty much all there is to say about me and my feelings towards Jackson Browne, so I’ll just cut to the chase about this particular performance. The ticket kind of fell in my lap at the last minute thanks to my sweet friend from high school days, Molly. Based on a quick Facebook email exchange a few days before the show, I all-of-a-sudden found myself making a quick and easy road trip to my favorite city in the country, Austin, reconnecting with Molly, who I hadn’t seen since high school, making a few new friends, and being treated to a solo/acoustic performance by Jackson that was about as close to perfect as any I’ve ever seen by anybody. Including a short intermission, Jackson played two sets over the span of three hours and, other than a couple of missteps on lyrics, played and sang as perfectly as you would expect to hear on a studio recorded album. As great as the full band show I saw in August was, this performance was, to me, quintessential Jackson Browne – just him and his guitars (there were about two dozen of them with him onstage) and his piano, and a thousand or so of his closest friends in a livingroom disguised as a concert hall. Comfort music and renewed friendship goes together really, really well.
#2: Ryan Bingham and the Flatlanders, House of Blues Dallas, June 5: I went for the Ryan Bingham show, and came away a new huge fan of the Flatlanders. Not that Ryan wasn’t great, because he was, performing solo acoustic (the first time I’ve seen him without his band) and thanks to the superb House of Blues sound system and the outstanding seats I scored for this show, it was all the more special. But the highlight of this night, one of the very brightest of highlights of the whole year in fact, was the performance of Joe Ely, Jimmy Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, aka the Flatlanders. I have to confess even though I consider myself a journeyman, if not master, Texas Music fan, I had never before seen the Flatlanders perform. I saw Butch Hancock do a song-swap with Steve Fromholz once, but that was as close to any of their tunes as I’d ever gotten. So imagine my surprise at discovering what polished, professional and talented musicians these guys are as a band. I was familiar with none of the songs in their set, yet I found myself hanging on every word, every note, caught up in something I’d never heard yet felt warmly familiar. How does that happen? I can’t answer; I can only acknowledge that it did. And that makes it my #2 live performance of the year.
#1: U2, Dallas Cowboy Stadium, October 12: Thanks to my brother Bobby, I’ve been a big U2 fan for at least a couple of decades. Is it really even debatable that they’re one of, if not THE, greatest rock band of all time? Knowing that they’re not getting any younger and neither am I, this year I sprung for VIP tickets to see what Rolling Stone Magazine called “the greatest rock show of all time,” the 2009 No Line on the Horizon tour. It was worth every penny. U2’s music has a way of bringing disparate viewpoints to common ground. These Irish hippie cowboys came into Dallas Cowboys territory and owned it with their charm and the courage of their convictions. I’m not about “big” in any context in my musical tastes, but U2 and this show is the exception to the rule. It was an honor to be witness to such greatness, and, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, it was at least a little bit life-changing.
