West Texas area music calendar

Lots of great shows coming up around West Texas the next few weeks. Here are a few good ones I know about. Send West Texas area music listings to windfarmblog(at)gmail(dot)com if you want your show listed on Windfarm.

Go see Lucero in Lubbock this Sunday if you can. They are one of the better touring bands who regularly visits the Hub City, and even better, The Lusitania will be opening.

Lubbock
Oct. 8 - Hayes Carll - Blue Light
Oct. 10 - Lucero, The Lusitania - Bash Riprocks
Oct. 12 - Thrift Store Cowboys - Blue Light (CD Release)
Oct. 15 - Wovenhand - Bash Riprocks

Midland/Odessa
Oct. 14 - Eli Young Band - Dos Amigos
Oct. 21 - The Deftones - Dos Amigos

San Angelo
Oct. 15 - The Derailers - Steel Penny Pub

Abilene
Oct. 16 - Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward - Lucky Mule Saloon

Alpine/Marfa
Oct. 7 - Dale Watson - Padre's
Oct. 8 - Jon Langford - Railroad Blues
Oct. 8 - The Gourds - Padre's
Oct. 9 - Jon Langford - Padre's
Oct. 15 - The Derailers - Railroad Blues
Nov. 3 - Monotonix - Padre's
Nov. 19 - Ray Wylie Hubbard - Railroad Blues
Dec. 3 - Black Joe Lewis - Padre's

The Lusitania - Rain and Rivers

El Paso-based The Lusitania have been making the rounds touring across Texas and the Southwest for the past few years, steadily making a name for themselves with great songs and high energy performances. Their quality is apparent in the fact that they have found the support of fellow El Pasoan Jim Ward, known for his work with At The Drive-In, Sparta, and Sleepercar.

The Lusitania are yet another promising band in the canon of West Texas music. Out of a seemingly sparse landscape, great music continues to emerge, and not just run-of-the-mill music, but that which could hold its own in any major music market in the U.S. right now.

Rain and Rivers, produced by Ward and Gabe Gonzalez, was recorded at Clap of Thunder Studios in El Paso and is being released on Civil Defense League Records. You can download or buy a physical copy of the record here. The record finds the band re-recording some previously released material as well as putting a good deal of new material to tape as well.

Rain and Rivers offers new versions of Lusitania staples such as "Wolves," "Bottle Neck Blues," and the Bukowski-esque "Spoils of War," as well as the previously vinyl-only songs "Down the Tracks" and "Tributaries." Beyond that, however, you'll find a number of great new songs. "Your Style" far and away stands out as my early favorite, and I find myself either playing it on my ipod or singing it aloud in not always appropriate places. However, this new song doesn't stand alone, as the growling rocker "'Til My Heart Gives Out" fits perfectly in the Lusitania's catalog, adding some great vocal harmonies into the mix for depth. Alternatively, the album's second song, "A Line in the Sand" is more uptempo and should be a fantastic song for the live show.

The Lusitania have put in a lot of dues touring the last few years, and the release of R & R will only bolster their efforts. The album is a solid full-length effort that should be appreciated by fans both old and new. These guys are deserving of a great deal of success, and this album is a good step toward getting their names out. Spread the word.

Hayes Carll - The Blue Light Lubbock, 10/08/10

Live singer/songwriter music in West Texas tends to be in the Texas Country/Red Dirt vein and rarely includes artists with a broader Americana appeal. However, if you're patient, some great acts will come through the region eventually.

In this case, one of the best up-and-coming roots rockers on the circuit, Austin-based Hayes Carll will be at the Blue Light in Lubbock this Friday, Oct. 8th, 2010. I've seen Hayes a number of times, and his shows are always well worth the money. Not only is he a great songwriter, but perhaps even better, he is a great storyteller between songs. Who knows how much of that he'll be doing given the sometimes loud Blue Light environment, but I suspect you'll get a great show nonetheless.

Last I heard, Carll was in the process of working on a new record, although I've heard no details about that release. Hear "Drunken Poet's Dream" by Carll and cowriter Ray Wylie Hubbard in the video below. And please check him out at the Blue Light this Friday.

Cory Morrow - Brand New Me

Living back in West Texas, it's inevitable I'll end up covering a bit more music that would roughly be defined as "Texas Country," although I still consider it essential to cover only those that I consider to be truly solid artists.

Cory Morrow is an elder statesman of the current Texas Country scene, so to speak, although he never quite saw the fame that others in the genre have seen. Regardless, he has continued to make good records, in spite of dealing with some very tough personal times along the way. As the press release for his new album Brand New Me notes, Morrow says this "the first sober album I've ever made."

Part of the reason I have long respected Morrow's music are his vocal melodies. In a musical landscape where many new songwriters think anyone who can write about beer and Texas is a songwriter, Morrow understands that true song craft revolves around a lot more. Brand New Me is introspective in many respects, all the while maintaining a very positive energy and a strong redemption theme. His melodies remain strong and his songwriting more refined than ever - as good or better than 2002's Outside the Lines, a record I have long considered his best.

Morrow may not necessarily be out to break down musical boundaries, as the record is a fairly straightforward mix of country and rock, but it is solid throughout on account of the always top-notch production abilities of Lloyd Maines. Rather, Brand New Me is more about personal development and the transition to a new existence, a narrative that Morrow no doubt adds to each day.

The theme of redemption that runs throughout the album provides a picture of a Cory Morrow who is thrilled to still be making music after the trials and tribulations of past years. "Second Chance" and the album's title track are upbeat songs that exemplify that theme best on the record, although one needs to listen to the entire album to understand the more complete story. The slower and more introspective "The Way I Do" and "Never Made it to My Lips" may be the best examples of Morrow's strengths as a songwriter, standing out among the 14-song album with their strong arrangement and production.

While sometimes improperly classified as being run-of-the-mill Texas Country music, Morrow continues to write good songs that likely deserve more attention than they receive. The story of Brand New Me is not one of completion, but rather one of new beginnings, and as such, I suspect you'll hear plenty more great music from Cory Morrow.

Thrift Store Cowboys - Light Fighter

After four long years of waiting, with only a live recording from the Taos Solar Music Festival and a 7" vinyl split in between, Lubbock-based Thrift Store Cowboys are set to release their fourth LP, entitled Light Fighter. The 12 song effort shows a great deal of growth from TSC since the band's last record, Lay Low While Crawling or Creeping, and clearly indicates to long-time fans that the band's continued touring has done a great deal for them in refining their sound.

Best of all, the band has recently made the album available for digital download now, ahead of the Oct. 12th physical release date. You can go to this link to get a copy on iTunes right this second. In short, I like every song on this album. However, some high points should be pointed out. If there was ever a TSC song that deserves to be a hit, "Bright Fire" is the one. This song is among the best the band has ever done. Additionally, there is the song "Nothing," a tune that has been in the band's live show for years now, but which the recording brings a whole new life to. Amanda's two songs "Scary Weeds" and "Lean Into the Sway" will each stay with you as well, and they exhibit her continued progression as a songwriter both as a member of TSC and as a solo act.

The album artwork above is by Dirk Fowler, Lubbock's renowned concert poster artist who was recently featured on Texas Country Reporter. Fowler designed the band's last record as well, and continues to support local West Texas music even when he is doing work for national acts.

If you're new to the TSC game, then check out the free track "One Gentle Inch to Nine Violent Miles," a song that displays how far the band has come from their roots rock origins. It's also the lead track on Light Fighter.

TSC are going to be on tour all fall supporting the release of the album, but to highlight a few shows, they'll be doing a short run through Texas right around the album release.

All shows below are with These United States:

Oct. 12 - The Blue Light - Lubbock
Oct. 13 - The Golden Light - Amarillo
Oct. 15 - Hole in the Wall - Austin
Oct. 16 - Fitzgerald's - Houston
Oct. 17 - Hailey's - Denton

These are but a sampling of the band's upcoming tour dates. I encourage my old Denver friends to check the band out next week (Sept. 30) at the Hi-Dive. Otherwise, keep an eye on their tour dates for a show near you.

Turnpike Troubadours

Sadly, a good deal of "urban" West Texas is pretty suburbanized and not as much Wild West as some would like to think or believe. It's a place where people go to Olive Garden for Italian food instead of a mom and pop place that's much better. Similarly, radio is mostly Top 40 country.

However, the nice thing about the strength of the Texas music scene is that because of the strong live music circuit, sometimes independent artists actually make it onto the radio here. I credit 96.1 in Midland with breaking away from the Top 40 mold just enough to introduce me to Oklahoma-based band Turnpike Troubadours. It took a bit of searching to figure out who it was singing the song I kept hearing on the station, but I finally turned up that it was these guys.

The sound of this band is a little country, a little bluegrass, and a little rock, but the most important characteristic I hear in their sound is potential. They've got something really good going with their song "Every Girl," which you can hear on their Web site or their myspace. Personally it gets stuck in my head for the better part of a day after I've heard it.























The band looks like they tour pretty consistently around Oklahoma and Texas. Check out their latest album Diamonds and Gasoline if you like what you hear. I'm just getting acquainted with their material myself.

West Texas folks you can check out Turnpike Troubadours:

Oct. 9th at Hoot's Pub in Amarillo
Oct. 23 at the Blue Light in Lubbock

(Image credit Justin Voight from Turnpiketroubadours.com)

Nathaniel Rateliff - "Shroud"

My favorite song thus far from Denver-based Nathaniel Rateliff for some reason didn't make it onto their debut record, although even more oddly, "Shroud" was included on their U.K. release of In Memory of Loss. I tried to download the track through Amazon MP3 U.K., but apparently they put regional restrictions on the download, so you can't get it in the U.S.

All that said, Rateliff's Web site indicates that the song will be released in some form in the relatively near future, although no official date has been established. In the meantime, you can hear the new version of the song in the video below:

Dirk Fowler - Texas Country Reporter

Texas Tech professor Dirk Fowler has been making concert posters for close to a decade now, at least as well as I remember, and during that time, he has come to be quite popular, making posters for national acts like Wilco, No Doubt, DeVotchKa, and the Raconteurs. Perhaps more importantly, he continues to support local music in West Texas and has brought a good deal of attention to many area artists through his poster art. Check out his Web site, or his Gigposters.com profile to see his amazing work. I was especially excited to see this recent clip featuring Fowler and his letter press printing on Texas Country Reporter. (It is no secret how well-liked he is on account of the fact that 106 people have already shared the link to this video on facebook.)