Weather or not you care

Weather really wreaked havoc on touring bands:
in the mountain west this week. I know Langhorne Slim and Lucero had to cancel a number of shows simply because of road closures. I think Langhorne canceled Salt Lake, but then got to Salt Lake the next day trying to make his next show in Boise, but had cancel Boise due to weather, so he ended up playing Salt Lake a night or two later. This is a real nightmare for touring bands, so I hope they are safely back on track now.

We got our fair share of that weather too (around 24 inches of it):
















So much free music out there these days:
so I understand if you don't feel like/don't have time to try out new bands. However, you should give Ha Ha Tonka's Daytrotter session and Dawes' Luxury Wafers session a try if you get the chance.

It was great while it lasted:
but having played their final show, Everything Absent or Distorted is no more. You can, however, get their final EP for free here.

I don't know how long it will stay posted:
but Ryan Adams just announced that he's got a new 7" vinyl record available for sale.

I wouldn't call him obscure:
but Collin Herring has really never gotten due credit for his great songwriting, or for his three great albums either. I was pleased to find out he's just finished his fourth studio album, entitled Ocho, at Ramble Creek studios, which is owned and operated by Britton Beisenherz of Monahans notoriety. Also, pretty cool to see from this photo album, that the album includes backing from not only Beisenherz and Roberto Sanchez of Monahans, but also Will Johnson of Centro-matic, and (I am assuming from the pictures) the man/myth/multi-instrumentalist Todd Pertll. And most importantly, of course the album includes maybe the coolest guy in all of Texas music, Collin's keyboard/steel guitar player and dad, Ben Roi Herring.

Just ran across:
this quite well written article from the 1960s, by Bud Shrake. It ran in Sports Illustrated, but wasn't really a sports article. Rather, it chronicles the growth of the Texas Hill Country up to the mid 60s, and is quite interesting in the portrait it paints, especially knowing how much the area has developed since then. And yes, you can file this one under "completely random."