2011 Ramble Creek Day Party - 03/18/11

Perhaps my favorite day show from last year, the amazing folks at Ramble Creek Recording Studio will once again be providing a fantastic lineup for their 2011 day party. This year's show includes the talents of a diverse group of bands, including west Texas' own Thrift Store Cowboys and One Wolf. Last year's party was the model of a perfect SXSW day show -- great atmosphere, great music, and great people. See the schedule below and see you there!

The Ashes (Austin, TX) - 12:15pm
One Wolf (Athens, GA/Lubbock, TX) - 12:55
The Georgian Company (Austin, TX) - 1:25pm
Collin Herring (Austin, TX) - 2:05pm
Thrift Store Cowboys (Lubbock, TX) - 2:40pm
Graham Weber (Austin, TX) - 3:25pm
Seryn (Denton, TX) - 4:00pm
Brian Martin (Hot Springs, AR) - 4:55pm
Monahans (Austin, TX) 5:30pm
Telegraph Canyon (Ft Worth, TX) - 6:15pm

Find all the information you need about the show at the Facebook Event Page.

Show poster by Greg Vanderpool.

SXSW - A cold wild wind will come

Day Four - Saturday

Holy crap. Beginning around 3 AM, Saturday was a bust. That was about the time I was sleeping on my friend's couch and thought I was going to get sucked out the window because the cold front and rain hit with so much force. Hence, nice weather officially over. The cold temperature and strong winds made for the most unpleasant day I have ever witnessed in the three total SXSW's I have been able to attend.

To cut short the complaining, I'll summarize by saying I did a LOT of walking in this cold wind to a number of shows that were either canceled or postponed. We caught the end of the last song of a set by Sonny and the Sunsets and the last 2 songs by Sarah Jaffe, followed by another performance by Doug Burr, but due to some poor planning and the weather disaster, the afternoon was largely a bust.

SXSW Axiom #5: SXSW is not designed with much of a contingency plan for bad weather, and your "list" for the day is likely to be thrown into total flux if this type of weather hits.

Most of all, I was super disappointed that the Ground Control Showcase, featuring Dawes, Deer Tick, Justin Townes Earle, and Lucero was postponed to evening when I couldn't attend, but such is life, even though SXSW isn't that much like real life at all.

The only redeeming factor of the day was the showcase I attended that evening at the Ale House. This showcase first featured Denton band Telegraph Canyon, a band that has been on my radar for some time now, but whom I have not had the chance to see live yet. The many band members crammed on to the tiny stage at the Ale House and put on a fantastic showcase that was quite well received by the packed venue.

As a side note, I actually saw Vic Chesnutt at this exact venue at a SXSW five years ago, so despite the fact that the small room is really only a music venue during SXSW, it holds a special place in my musical memory.

Following Telegraph Canyon, the crowd mostly stayed put for the set by Thrift Store Cowboys. Yet another large band, at 6 pieces, TSC played a very strong set, closing with one of the most upbeat songs from their upcoming album, entitled "Bright Fires."


































In short, I was extremely happy with how SXSW turned out this year. I saw roughly 20 artists that I really wanted to see, and you just can't complain about something like that. I went to only a few of the most hyped shows, and honestly, had the best time at the shows that were more low key, and had a lower proportion of people in attendance who spent the whole time talking about all the other cool parties they went to.

SXSW Axiom #6: Hipper is not necessarily better. Yes, you'll hear all sorts of things about the hippest bands that came to SXSW, and for some reason, most sites love telling you about how they got in to see Broken Bells at SXSW, but all in all, it probably wouldn't have been worth your time to do the same. I saw {band name censored} and {band name censored}, who played the storied Fader Fort, at a few other venues, and they were just a plain let-down. If you have the chance, go to the smaller parties with smaller crowds and you'll have a much better time.

If you've never been to SXSW and you really love music, then try to go. Don't bother with the badge because you can see more than you could ever want to see at the free shows that happen each day and are increasing in number every year. The musical energy of this week is unlike any that I have otherwise been a part of and is not easily replicated, so please do yourself the favor of taking part.

SXSW - Ramble Creek and Mile Hi Fidelity parties

Day Three - Friday

Friday morning we proved to be a bit less energetic than Thursday, and without any specific early plans, we took our time before heading to the Ramble Creek day party. We arrived just before 1 PM, with the primary intention of catching the set by One Wolf, who interestingly had played a party less than an hour before across town and still somehow managed to make it on time to the Ramble Creek show, held in a perfect backyard setting.

At that precise point, the random craziness of SXSW hit full force, as H. called to inform me that she and her friends had just gotten in a minor car accident. Thus, for obvious reasons, One Wolf did not happen for us, but most importantly, everyone involved in the accident was okay. While the cars received a good bit of damage, the accident wasn't our friend's fault, and after taking care of the necessities involved with that situation, we all returned to the Ramble Creek party for some much needed stress relief.

The first act we got to see was Collin Herring, an awesome artist currently based in Austin (formerly of Fort Worth) who I've been a fan of for a number of years now. Herring played a number of tracks off of his new release, Ocho, recorded of course at Ramble Creek, and produced by Will Johnson, and also mixed in some of his earlier songs. If I hadn't mentioned this before, Collin has about the coolest steel player around, Ben Roi Herring, his dad, and their duo performance (and banter) were a real pleasure to watch/hear.


















Did someone just say Will Johnson? Yes, that's right, THE Will Johnson of Centro-matic, South San Gabriel, and most recently, the drummer for the Monsters of Folk, graced the Ramble Creek party with a beautiful solo set. I hope I didn't embarrass myself as I sat roughly 10 feet from Will with my jaw resting on the ground, but hearing "Just to Know What You've Been Dreaming" in this particular setting was on par with the very best experiences of my entire SXSW, or maybe more accurately of the past few years. Whatever it took to get him to come play at this show, I can't thank the folks at Ramble Creek enough for making this happen.























I haven't described the exact locale of the Ramble Creek show yet, but it was by far the most enjoyable day party of SXSW by far. It was held in a backyard with the perfect set-up and perfect weather to accompany, and to boot, a big tub full of Lone Star was available for all in attendance.

The next act was one I have missed seeing live ever since we moved to Colorado. Doug Burr has written some of my favorite songs of the last decade, and in my book he has about as much integrity as any artist I listen to. He has recently recorded a new album, from which he played a number of songs. In short, I couldn't be more excited for these songs, as they are absolutely phenomenal. Doug has crafted a career in exactly the fashion that he wants, and this diligence has surely paid off as more and more people begin to take notice. He was backed at this show by his frequent collaborator Glen Farris, as well as members of Seryn and Monahans drummer Roberto Sanchez for some songs.



















































Next up was Austin band Monahans, who include Ramble Creek owner/engineer Britton Beisenherz on guitar. I had not seen this band before, although a number of years ago I saw a previous project of some of the musicians called Milton Mapes, and was a fan of all of that band's material. Monahans, however, is a new project, and as I think was the intention, the transition has infused a new energy into their music. The band is tighter than ever as a performing group, and their set at this day party was absolutely flawless and one of the best of the entire SXSW for me. The band has two albums to their name, although they are in the process of a project in which they will release one song a month for download for the rest of 2010. The first track is already available, and you can check out their Web site for details on how to get in on this opportunity. Monahans is a band on the rise and I fully hope they can ride the momentum to more widespread success and notoriety in the near future.



































Alas, as much as I hated to leave, I had to take off after Monahans because I wanted my Austin friend to see Denver's Slim Cessna's Auto Club, and knew this would be our best chance. While I missed Telegraph Canyon's set at Ramble Creek, I was able to make up for my exit by catching them on Saturday night.

After some frantic traffic navigation and hurried walking, we made it to the Mile Hi Fidelity party just in time to catch the latter half of Slim Cessna's set. Do I even have to mention that Slim did not disappoint? Munly was in top form, having just arrived from the year 1840, performing an extremely high energy set as co-frontman to Slim, just as we have all come to expect out of him and the Auto Club. Very few bands can claim to hold a foot firmly in the alt country legacy of the early 1990s while also remaining relevant for modern Americana/Southern Gothic music as well. In short, SCAC brought their tent revival to Sixth Street, and the end of the set no doubt saw a new group of converts leaving their first Slim show. Please see Slim if you get the chance. Sadly, even though they were the last band, Slim's energetic finale didn't lead into any encore, despite my desire to hear their epic "He, Roger Williams."

SXSW Axiom #4: No encores necessary at SXSW. There is simply too much music during the week for 99% of crowds to ask for another song. Few listeners even catch full sets, and no matter where you go you hear more music, so the encore is largely absent at SXSW, probably to everyone's benefit.

As you can see in the pictures below (click to enlarge), Slim and Munly's crowd involvement made for some of the best action pics of the festival, although "best" is a relative term with my crappy camera. You can't see it that well in the small version, but I love Slim's look in the background of the second picture below.

SXSW preview - 2010 Spune day party

While you may see some of these bands at the Ramble Creek party on Friday, if you happen to miss it for some reason, you can catch some essentials, like Doug Burr, Telegraph Canyon, Monahans, and Doug Burr on Saturday at the Spune day party.

You can find the Facebook event page here.


































Poster design by Brandon Lesley.

SXSW preview - 2010 Ramble Creek day party

Of all the SXSW shows that we preview on Windfarm, we can't possibly attend every single one because of various time conflicts and the like, but every now and again, there's comes along a "can't miss" day party that we hope we can convince you to attend. Hopefully you've not yet grown tired of the previews, and haven't enacted any kind of a self-imposed boycott on blogs that are covering SXSW. In short, Ramble Creek has put together one of the best day show line-ups I've seen thus far. While the line-up should be enough to get you there, there's the added bonus that Lone Star Beer and Waialua Soda Works will be providing you with refreshing beverages as well.

Ramble Creek is an Austin-area recording studio that has been gaining a very solid reputation in Texas because of the great work they have produced. The studio has recorded some of my favorite albums of the last few years, most notably those from the likes of Doug Burr, Monahans, Telegraph Canyon, and Collin Herring. Additionally, they recorded forthcoming albums from Lubbock-scene stalwarts One Wolf (One Wolf II: Secret of the Wolf) and Denton-based songwriting genius Doug Burr (O Ye Devastator) that I am quite excited about, to say the least.

I'm less familiar with Seryn, Austin Collins and The Georgian Company, although I expect they will be of similar high quality as the rest of the line-up. While I hear promising rumors here and there about the "Special Guest," no official announcements have been made about who this artist might be. We'll pass that info along in coming weeks if we hear, but I expect whoever it is will be well worth your time.

Everything you need to know is on the poster below. Check out Showlush for additional details. I know I said your SXSW schedule will fall apart after the first day, but the beauty of this show is you can just show up and stay all day. See you there.

Back to music posts, finally

The new Telegraph Canyon:
is officially out. The CD is for sale on Velvet Blue right now, but still waiting for word on the vinyl.

If you've got the time:
and a place where you can watch a video (not at work preferably), there's a great new What's So Funny? posted. It's Denver related, but you don't have to be from the Mile High to understand it.

Thanks to a fellow Colorado blogger - Cause=Time:
I heard about this hilarious internet business going on between bloggers and Third Eye Blind fans. The summary of it all is basically that various bloggers said 3eb weren't really that great or important, and subsequently a horde of 3eb fans descended upon them and called them mean names. The fight started here, and then moved here and here. Clearly these bloggers haven't been listening to "The Background" on repeat for the last 13 years like I have.

This Friday at the Boulder Theater:
Delta Spirit is playing with The Wheel, a Denver band I've really been starting to like, after hearing them open for Bon Iver. Don't know much about Delta Spirit, but heard on pretty good authority from a friend that they are a little bit like Cold War Kids Jr. Maybe I'll win tickets...

No previously unheard songs on it:
but an Avett Brothers session from SXSW was just posted on Rhapsody this week, if you're into live recordings and such.

Great new song posted on youtube:
from a recent Thrift Store Cowboys show in Dallas. The first one is new, and then a remake of "Cafe," and then the old standard "Sleepy Engine" on this clip.

just stuff

As an astute reader has pointed out:
Zach Galifianakis' Visioneers is actually available on DVD now, as well as showing at some theaters. Seems kind of a shame it never got its time on the big screen.

In case you were wondering:
The winners of the 7" vinyl giveaway were from Florida and California. Nice to see we got some coastal coverage, even if the process was completely random.

New Telegraph Canyon:
is available for Pre-Order at Velvet Blue. I think I might wait for the vinyl version, which I don't think is up yet. Also, catch them with the Old 97s in Fort Worth toward the end of this month or on tour to the west coast in early September.

In the "you probably don't care, but maybe I do" department:
one of the only spoken word artists I still follow, Buddy Wakefield, will be touring the U.S. this fall on the Elephant Engine High Dive Revival, with compatriots Derrick Brown, Shira Erlichman and Anis Mojgani and many others. So glad to see they are hitting Denver and Boulder. Whether you think spoken word is so 1995 or uncool or uninteresting, you should briefly suspend such judgment, because Buddy puts on one of the most entertaining shows around. More on this to come.

No, there is no reason to mention this:
but I found some early Dwight vinyl the other day, and realized I had basically forgotten the genius of his work. Dwight may have done some odd projects over the years in some folks' minds, but of all the major label country artists of the 80s and 90s, I think he may have maintained his integrity as an artist more completely than almost any of the others. Can you think of anyone better?

Very very randomly:
ran across some Ryan Adams news on this blog today. The basic message was that Ryan may be resurrecting an old label he developed some years back to release recordings of some sort.

If you live:
in any of the hipper cities of the western United States, Tour de Fat, from New Belgium beer, may be coming to a city near you. It's a pretty great time, so check it out in your town some time. And if you've got the chance to attend the original event in Fort Collins, it comes highly recommended from me.

Festivals and stuff

Best news I've heard in some time:
Doug Burr will be heading back into the studio at the end of the summer.

Congratulations:
to Amanda Shires for her recent spotlight piece in Texas Music magazine, and also for charting on the Americana Radio charts (up to #28 so far).

If you care about this type of thing:
Bloodshot Records now lists the limited edition vinyl for Justin Townes Earle's The Good Life as sold out. You can probably still find some copies here and there, but probably not for a lot longer.

More congratulations:
to Telegraph Canyon, from Denton, whose next album will be released on Velvet Blue and Spune, which is also Doug Burr's label.

No matter how long we've had cell phones:
it turns out that it's still not a good idea to be talking to someone on the phone while you're pulling out into traffic on a busy street. Just in case you didn't know.

Austin City Limits Festival:
is looking more and more tempting. Must keep in mind how expensive it is though, and how it will be 150 degrees and 50,000 people will share 2 porta potties. But then again, there's also the Avett Brothers, Bon Iver, Devotchka, Grizzly Bear, and the Felice Brothers. Sorry to offend any major Arctic Monkeys fans, but I can't see much reason to go on Sunday.

Denver's SXSW equivalent:
is called the Underground Music Showcase (the UMS), although there's probably about 5,000 less bands in town for it. However, I count that as a plus. Hoping to make it down, with early intentions to catch Bela Karoli, Elin Palmer, The Wheel, Dressy Bessy, Adam Cayton-Holland, and Everything Absent or Distorted.

Is there any reason:

that I shouldn't go see both the Boulder AND the Denver Avett Brothers shows next month? I'm starting not to see any.

Thinking about giving away:

a few copies of the new Mt. Inadale 7" split. I'll keep you posted.

Not a lot to tell you..

But this Telegraph Canyon video is worth a watch. They are on tour out west starting next month, but Lubbock, you don't have to wait that long. They'll be at Bash's 2 with Monahans and One Wolf on April 11th.

Old Dark Hymns from Casey Parks on Vimeo.

Also, just ran across this new interview with Amanda Shires. Thanks to Chris Oglesby with Virtual Lubbock for doing this interview, and also for helping to put together the Lubbock music showcase at SXSW. Please check out his book Fire in the Water, Earth in the Air: Legends of West Texas Music, if you haven't already. Hopefully if you haven't picked up a copy of Amanda's West Cross Timbers you will do so soon. I'll try and post some more detailed thoughts on it later on.

I'm liking this

Finally got around to listening to Denton based Telegraph Canyon, and I have to say that I'm quite impressed so far. The incomparable Todd Pertll is listed as a band member, though not in the pictures. Todd, who you should know from the fabulous pedal steel (and other) sounds of Doug Burr, Kristy Kruger, Deadman, Thrift Store Cowboys et al. fame, doesn't really take on bad projects and this is no exception.

I don't feel qualified to describe their music. (Here is where a normal blog would describe their music). Instead, I have to recommend that you check them out yourselves. So far, the songs I've heard hit on quite a wide range of sounds. I have a feeling that, come next paycheck, I'm going to be checking out their first album All the Good News, which apparently you can usually find here, except for the fact that so many people beat you to the punch and now CD Baby is sold out. You can either buy the mp3s or wait until it comes back in stock.

The good news on Telegraph Canyon is twofold:
1) The band is touring a good bit coming up this spring, which maximizes your chance to see them. Also, if they are working this hard it is a good sign that they'll be back again if you miss them this time.
2) They have a new album coming out this May, and by the time it comes out, you'll be foaming at the mouth to hear more.

(Here's where most blogs would end with a clever line)