SXSW 2011

Saw an amazing amount of good music last week in Austin (list of bands on my facebook). I won't be writing about the shows this year due to time constraints, but I can tell you that this picture below, taken at Auditorium Shores (thanks DP), explains basically everything you could ever want or need to know about SXSW. You should be able to click to enlarge it to take in the full greatness.

West Texas area music calendar

Odessa/Midland
3/18 - The Band Perry - Dos Amigos
3/25 - Josh Abbott - Dos Amigos
3/26 - Jody Nix - Stardust Club
4/8 - Stoney Larue - Dos Amigos
5/12-14 - Crude Fest - Midland - Jason Boland, Turnpike Troubadours, Josh Abbott, Chris Knight, Reckless Kelly

Alpine/Marfa/Big Bend
3/11 - Matt Skinner - Lost Horse Saloon
3/12 - Alex & Bonnie Whitmore - La Kiva
3/12 - Matt Skinner - Gage Hotel
3/15 - Fergus & Geronimo - Padre's
4/11 - British Sea Power, A Classic Education - Padre's
4/17 - Yacht & Straight Gaze - Padre's
4/24 - Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, & Old Crow Medicine Show - Railroad Revival at El Cosmico
5/11 - Butch Hancock - Padre's
6/2- Fest Out West - Lajitas, featuring Reckless Kelly, Cody Canada & the Departed, Butch Hancock, Hayes Carll, The Trishas, Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen, Micky & the Motorcars, & John Evans

Snyder
3/11 - Shawn Fussell - Belle Opry House
3/18 - Zach Edwards - Belle Opry House
3/25 - Jody Nix - WTC Coliseum Annex Barn

San Angelo
3/10 - Butch Hancock - Blaine's Pub
4/29 - Ray Wylie Hubbard - Angelo Food & Wine Festival

Lubbock
4/2 - Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward - Blue Light
4/8 - Turnpike Troubadours - Blue Light
4/12 - The Felice Brothers - Blue Light
3/10 - Scott H. Biram - Jake's
6/28 - Okkervil River - Jake's

Railroad Revival Tour in Marfa - 4/24

Continuing with the theme of Marfa having the best music offerings per capita in the state, or perhaps the country, a number of the biggest bands in the country will be stopping by next month...by train.

Yes, the Railroad Revival tour will be making a stop at El Cosmico in Marfa on April 24th, Easter Sunday, in case you were wondering, with a show featuring Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show. The Marfa show will be the 4th of six stops on the tour, preceded by Oakland, San Pedro, and Chandler, and followed by Austin and New Orleans. Tickets are on sale today, March 9th.

I can only wish them the best of luck, as I once took the same train line from California to Texas, and what might have been a 24-hour drive by car turned into a 58 hour trip by train. Yes, you read that right - fifty-eight. That was from the Bay Area to San Antonio. Long story short, passenger trains on this line must yield to freight trains, who own the tracks, and so at various times we had to take a side rail and wait for a freight train to come through. At certain points, I recall sitting on a train going nowhere for upwards of 2 hours at a time in the middle of the New Mexico desert. I can only hope that the logistics of this situation have been accounted for.

Perhaps they are buying supremacy on the tracks, as tickets for the show will run you between $55 and $203. Sure, it's a real privilege I suppose to see these bands in such a small place, but folks, that's pricey. Let's remember that when Bon Iver played Marfa, tickets were $2.

Then again, if you hadn't heard, Mumford is about the biggest band in the country following their Grammy bump. If you haven't checked out their record Sigh No More, you probably should. It's brilliant. Maybe we should consider $55 a deal.

(UPDATE 3/10: Marfa sold out already. Guessing the Marfa show is going to be a lot of Austin people who couldn't get tickets there.)

Butch Hancock West Texas shows

West Texas music ambassador Butch Hancock will be playing two area shows this week. Having just had the chance to see him play with the Flatlanders earlier this year, I can assure you that seeing Butch live is an essential for any and all west Texas music fans. Hancock is of a songwriting pedigree that many songwriters aspire to, and while he has avoided the spotlight for the most part over his career, his craft has not dulled over time. Rather, he remains a productive and relevant songwriter, and perhaps most importantly, maintains a consistent presence in West Texas.

See him in Alpine and San Angelo this week:

Railroad Blues, Alpine: Wednesday, March 9th - 8 PM, $10
Blaine's Pub, San Angelo: Thursday, March 10th - 9:30 PM


And while we're on the subject, here's Butch's cover of Townes' "Dollar Bill Blues."

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.

Monahans - ACL Satellite Set

Last October (2010), Austin-based Monahans performed an Austin City Limits Satellite Sets session at the now-former ACL studio. Sources in attendance reported that it was an amazing show, and now, we can all see and hear it ourselves, as KLRU has posted the performance online. Below are the performances of "Diamonds" from the 2010 Recordings and "I Run to You" from 2009's Dim the Aurora.

Check out the main page for the session here to find video of additional performances.

Please note that videos may not play in Google Reader or other blog aggregators.

Watch the full episode. See more ACL presents Satellite Sets.

Watch the full episode. See more ACL presents Satellite Sets.

Turnpike Troubadours interview & Midland show preview, 2/24

One of my favorite new bands to emerge last year was Oklahoma-based Turnpike Troubadours. I was first drawn in by their first radio single, "Every Girl," but have since come to appreciate a good deal of the band's catalog. The good news is you can give their latest album, Diamonds and Gasoline, a listen free of charge, as the entire record is currently streaming in full on the audio section of their Web site.

Picking right up where "Every Girl" left off, the band's new single "7 & 7" is all over the airwaves right now, and I also recommend "1968" and "Whole Damn Town" for new listeners. Perhaps most importantly, Turnpike Troubadours seem to keep their focus on the songwriting, such that the song itself stands as the central element in their music, with just the right instrumentation backing the tracks. The band has clearly benefited from the Texas and Oklahoma music scenes opening up more diverse sounds, as they are by no means your run-of-the-mill bar band. Rather, I expect to see a lot of great things to come from them as they continue to pick up steam.

While I missed the band the last time they were in town, they'll be returning to the Permian Basin for a show at the Rockin' Rodeo in Midland on Thursday, Feb. 24th. The information I have about the show is limited, partly on account of the fact that the Rockin' Rodeo isn't well known for keeping their Web site or their Facebook or their Myspace consistently up to date.

The band was kind enough to take a few minutes to do an email interview with Windfarm. Check it out under the video below:





Windfarm: Can you describe the Turnpike Troubadours sound for readers?

Turnpike Troubadours: I think of it as singer/songwriter music that spent too much time in the Honky-Tonks.


WF: Artistically, who would you cite as major influences?

TT: There are hundreds of people, Robert Earl Keen, Townes Van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, The Band, Old 97's, Jason Boland and the Stragglers, The Great Divide, and Mike McClure just to name a few.


WF: What can a listener expect from a Turnpike Troubadours live show?

TT: We always have a good time on stage, there are nights when the crowd is dancing on the bar and being rowdy. We are pretty accustomed to the road house kind of environment and love it when people have a good time.


WF: As a band that spends a good deal of its time on the road, what are your favorite venues to play?

TT: Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, Iron Horse in Wichita Falls, Wormy Dog, Mercury Lounge in Tulsa, Gruene Hall, Roxie's Roost in Tahlequah, Cheatham Street, the ones that have a story or two behind them are always the best.


WF: Where do Turnpike Troubadours fit in regard to the Red Dirt music scene?

TT: If you are our age and from Oklahoma you can't help but be influenced by the Stillwater guys. Its nice to be included. We are trying to do our own thing now and just hoping its on par.


WF: Your song "1968" references an important time in our country's history. Would you be willing to talk about the significance of that song?

TT: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy both were assassinated that year. The song is about the idea of someone else coming along in present-day with their regard for the common man, hopefully it happens.


WF: What can we expect from Turnpike Troubadours in 2011?

TT: We are booked up solid throughout this year and I plan to do another album by this summer. We have new songs and are ready for it.


WF: What albums (recent or older) have been on your playlist the past few months?

TT: Steve Earle's Transcendental Blues has been stuck in my player for 5 months. My stereo literally won't eject it.
Also, check out:
John Fullbright- Live at the Blue Door
Jason Eady- When the Money's all Gone
Rodney Parker- The Lonesome Dirge/ The Apology
The Felice Brothers- The Felice Brothers
Corb Lund- Losing Lately Gambler
Mike Mcclure- Halfway Out

James Vincent McMorrow - Early in the Morning

Perhaps the most promising new artist I've heard thus far in 2011, Ireland's James Vincent McMorrow is quickly rising through the ranks, likely to become one of the more buzzed about new acts at SXSW this March. McMorrow recently released Early in the Morning on Vagrant Records, an 11-song LP. Well, the U.S. release was only in January 2011, while the U.K. release stretches back to March 2010. As such, he only recently came onto my radar. However, a number of listens and plenty of having his songs stuck in my head later, I'm pretty sure it's going to continue to build into one of the better albums of the year with continued time.

As my good friend noted, the album exhibits shades of Bon Iver in a number of ways, as has been detailed by a number of other blogs, yet I don't find it overly influenced by the group. I hear similarities to Fleet Foxes as well in the album's vocal harmonies, but yet again, I don't think the influence is overkill. While possibly classified in the recorded-in-a-cabin-in-the-woods-core genre (although in McMorrow's case, it was the beach, not the woods), the album's strength lies more in the solid songwriting than in any similarities to currently popular artists. That is, I don't want to overdo the comparisons, as I think this album stands on its own as a fantastic work that deserves a listen without being overly concerned about who it sounds like.

The album begins with maybe its strongest track, "If I Had a Boat," a slow builder that should reach out and grab many first time listeners. Songs that follow, including "Sparrow and the Wolf" and "Breaking Hearts," provide a quick indication of the consistency of the album throughout. Early in the Morning most importantly has the feel of a record made by an artist in just the way he wanted it made, and I think this element is among its greatest strengths. This is the album that many aspiring artists envision they could make if they just had the right setting and enough time. While in reality such lofty aspirations are much easier said than done, in McMorrow's case, he has found the perfect elements to bring that much-desired artistic ambition to fruition. See him at SXSW next month if you want to hear him before all the cool kids catch on.

James Vincent McMorrow - If I Had A Boat

























Download the full album from James Vincent McMorrow on iTunes here.