Gig Announcements

Here are a couple of shows that we have coming up this weekend.


On Friday, September 12th, we will be backing up Miss Lauren Marie at Ginny's Little Longhorn on Burnet Rd. here in Austin. Nick Curran will also be playing guitar with us on this show.

Then Saturday night--barring that we still have power after Hurrican Ike--we'll be over at Waterloo Icehouse. Dave Biller will be pickin' with us that night. It's been awhile since Dave's played with us and we're really looking forward havin' him along.

PS--If you like either of the posters, I designed them.

***Whoops!!! Thanks to Lauren Marie for pointing out my mistake--I mispelled "brothers" and didn't even notice. Weird...***

Rules and Etiquette When Hiring A Band

I found this--it was written by an anonymous Austin musician whom I tend to agree with quite often.

There are certain things that shouldn't need to be written about but, obviously, they do. So here are a few rules and basic etiquette to follow when hiring a band.

Beer
This one is very important. It's what makes us play gooder. Trust me on this one. Provide the band with decent beer and a good time will be had by all. And I'm not talking about the crappy beer either. No Budweiser, Miller, Coors, or "light" version--or any other variety from any of those beer groups. We don't like that stuff. Oh, and don't try to charge us "import" prices for Shiner Bock. Pull out a map--it's in Texas, stupid. Shiner, Texas--ever heard of it? And--to be honest--you shouldn't be charging us to drink. It's part of the deal.

Attendance
Don't act like it's up to us to pack your place out. If you run a bar that doesn't have enough appeal to bring in a dozen or so people, then maybe you should invest in something like a Ms. Pac Man arcade game or a mechanical bull. And don't give us grief about the attendance if you're located in a city other than Austin. I don't live in (insert name of town here) so you can't really expect me to promote the show. I'll put up a few posts about it on MySpace but I won't be hanging up posters and handing out flyers.

Pay
If you own a club in Austin, this is probably a foreign concept to most of you. But, yeah, believe it or not, we like to be compensated for our time. I put more effort into a gig than I put into my day job. Well, I mean, I don't have to haul in a bunch of musical gear to my job. Quit offering some sort of percentage of the bar. There are way too many what-if's and it usually ends up with me saying "what if we just say no"? If you figure out what you're willing to pay and it works out to less than minimum wage per hour per band member--don't insult us. With that being said, it's really a sliding scale when it comes to pay. And it has a lot to do with the level of difficulty. If we're going to have a great time, drink lots of beer, get a meal out of it, and you're providing a working PA--we'll work for cheap. (Note: if you're a restaraunt, two things: 1. just pay the band--you're making money on food and drinks and 2. feed the band...seriously...we get hungry, too.) If we have to load all of our gear, drive to another city (usually in rush hour, right after working all day), bring our own PA, get charged import prices for domestic beer, and pay for parking--then it's gonna cost a whole lot more. I'm sure I don't even have to draw attention to the price of gas these days. But--yeah, that all gets considered when booking a show.

Blues for Benny

Sorry I haven't written here in awhile. We were busy touring the west coast with Mike Ness (Social Distortion) for three weeks.

I guess I should start this entry with a bit of a back-story. We had been gearing up for this trip for about six weeks prior to our departure. Benny Peters (Benny & the Fly-By-Niters) had signed on to pick guitar with us. He had done his homework and was good to go on all the material.

Then he decided to help me move.

The Saturday before we were to leave, Benny and his wife, Cindy, volunteered to help me move. Bear also offered his services. So--after we got the U-Haul loaded--we went to the new house. Benny was getting ready to take the first thing off the truck when he stepped back where there was no step. Down he went...hard. He broke his leg (both bones), his left forearm (both bones), and completely shattered his left elbow. And all he could do is tell me how he was sorry he wouldn't be able to go on tour with us.

My brother and I thought we should give it 24 hours because--who knows?--maybe he can pull it together enough to still do the tour. After four hours in surgery the following day, we realized that we were in need of another guitarist for our tour.

I made a round of phone calls the next day and finally connected with Eddie Biebel. He had just left Wayne Hancock's band and, thankfully, was up for the task of learning all the material in about two days.

I'm happy to report that Benny is on the mend and has been getting around without the aid of a wheelchair lately. He's even picking up the guitar and playing for as long as he can. We hope he's back out there playing and singing soon.

This is a video of Benny from 2000.

Nat King Cole "Calypso Blues"

The first version I heard of "Calypso Blues" was by Zilla Mays on her fantastic LP, "The Men I Love (And The Songs They Sang)". Her version is fabulous. I tracked down Nat's version (on the Proper box set) and dug that as well.

Now here's a live version that features bongo great Jack Costanzo (who also played on the studio version).

The Bonebrake Syncopators "That Da Da Strain"

Fred "Virgil" Turgis' Jim Flora-inspired cover for the debut CD by LA's the Bonebrake Syncopators is the perfect gateway to the music waiting inside.

The combo features the unique combination of vibes (DJ Bonebrake), steel guitar (Jeremy 'JW' Wakefield), and guitar (TK Smith), anchored down by Dave Stuckey on drums (and vocals!) and Wally Hersom on bass.

There's a nice mix of instrumentals and vocal numbers. The vocals are handled by JW ("Porter's Love Song", "Three Little Words") and Stuckey ("Baby Won't You Please Come Home", "China Boy", "Limehouse Blues") with the balance of the songs showcasing the instrumental talents of TK, DJ, and JW.

One of the standout instrumental moments occurs about three and half minutes into "Sequence In Bb" when DJ Bonebrake launches into what can only be described as "mallet madness". He is a truly gifted percussionist as evidenced in this recording.

The arrangements are tight throughout the recording; oft-times employing all three soloists to play intricate lines together.

The Bonebrake Syncopators don't tour so be sure to pick up this CD by clicking here or drop by one of their shows when you're in the LA area.

Here they are performing "Swedish Pastry" live:

Fender Tone Volume Pedal Reissued

***UPDATE***

Ok, the pedal showed up--one day after we left for our west coast tour. Boo!! But I picked it up the day after we got back and finally had a chance to plug it in last night. It sounds fantastic! I haven't popped it open yet to see how it's set up but the tone pot sounds really good. The left to right is a bit stiff but I'm sure it will loosen up after playing it for a little while.

So if you can grab one of these pedals I highly recommend it.

Fender has decided to reissue a lot of its old pedals--including the tone/volume pedal popular with steel guitarists. I'm pretty stoked about this--especially since the new ones are cheaper than the vintage one I bought on Ebay years ago. (Tip: Don't pay the $119 asking price that you see on some websites. That's the actual manufacturer's suggested retail price--who pays that? You should be able to get it for considerably less than that.)

The new pedals are made in Korea so I'm interested to see if the workmanship is any good. But I'll have to wait for a bit. Fender underestimated the interest in these pedals so they've been on back order since January. The one I ordered isn't due in until early June.

I should mention that there's a notable difference between this new pedal and the vintage ones. The old ones had the input and the output on the right side of the pedal. And that makes a lot of since for the steel guitar. The new ones have the input on one side and the output on the other. Hope this doesn't cause too many issues. There's nothing I hate more than stepping on guitar cables. But--since I'm not playing pedal steel--it shouldn't be that big of an issue.

I'll report back once I've had the opportunity to try this thing out.

End of an Era

Last night was our final Roots Tuesday show at Ginny's Little Longhorn in Austin, Texas. We had a great time playing there over the past two years. We tried to keep things fresh by mixing it up from week to week and I think the concept worked rather nicely. We were able to showcase people like Bear, Miss Lauren Marie, Mike Barfield, Roger Wallace, Shaun Young, Nick Curran, Jim Stringer, Dale Watson, T Jarrod Bonta, Deke Dickerson, Jimmie Vaughan, Benny Peters, Derek Peterson, etc. Also, we were lucky enough to be supported by great musicians like Buck Johnson (drums), Bobby Trimble (drums), Dave Biller (guitar/pedal steel), Patrick Morrow (drums), and T Jarrod Bonta (piano).

I just want to thank everyone who came out and made Tuesday nights "the thing to do".

RIP Glenn Barber

I was really looking forward to playing steel guitar for Glenn Barber in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. But--as fate would have it--Glenn passed away on March 28th. For those of you who haven't heard of Glenn Barber, do yourself a favor and pick up the various compilations that feature his songs. His Starday gems include "Shadow My Baby", "Ice Cold Water", and "Feelin' No Pain". He also penned the honky tonk classic "Yes, Ma'am, I Met Her In A Honky Tonk" which is still performed today by Miss Leslie and her Juke Jointers out of Houston.

I got to see Glenn perform in Green Bay, Wisconsin, last year and he sounded really good. His voice was still strong and it was a pleasure to hear him sing his songs. These are tunes that have been a staple of the rockabilly scene for many years now. It's always great when the artists are invited to play in front of an audience that really digs the songs they cut many moons ago.

I was looking forward to chatting with Glenn about the other musicians on his recordings. Perhaps this information is already available but I've never read a list of session musicians used on his recordings. Who's on steel? Is that Herb Remington? What about sax--Link Davis? If anyone knows, feel free to educate me.

First Concert

A lot of people remember their first concert--but how many people still have the ticket stub? My first concert was the Beach Boys--the opening acts were Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Flash Kahan. Those guys released a record a few months later but they went nowhere fast. I think they were from Detroit.




Joan Jett was great. It was a few years after "I Love Rock'N'Roll" but the concert was really good. The Beach Boys were awesome--it was Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston. Those were the core BB's. I also remember Ed Carter being in the band--and possibly Jeff Foskett.

The concert was sponsored by Dr. Pepper and Burger King.

Letter from Jerry Byrd

Jimmie Vaughan was telling me stories about Jerry Byrd last week and it got me to thinking about the time I wrote to him in 2002. I was going to be in Hawaii and was hoping to meet him and/or hear him play live while I was there. But--as you'll read in the letter--I was a few years too late.

When I returned home, I received this handwritten letter from my biggest steel guitar idol.

Extra Jimmies

We played with Jimmie Vaughan at the University of Texas in February 2008 for a Ron Paul rally. This is a video from that show.

Miss Lauren Marie "Your True Love"

More Roots Matinee footage--this time it's Miss Lauren Marie performing Carl Perkins' "Your True Love".

Jimmie Vaughan at Roots Matinee

"Lonesome Train" by Mike Barfield

This video is a bit dark but I thought you might enjoy it. Mike Barfield--the self-proclaimed "Tyrant of Everything"--is seen here at the Horton Brothers' Roots Matinee doin' Johnny Burnette's "Lonesome Train".

I Hear You Knockin' (Live)