[FairRetailRecordings] #0066 -- Damon Bramblett -- Cloud Of Doom

#0066

As good as January was musically, there was still some of 2009's residual suck in the air. I had this track all picked up before January ended with a thud (work-related stuff) and then an amazing kaboom (Chris Wall in our living room). Here's to February outperforming January.

Artist: Damon Bramblett

Date: 2010.01.20

Venue: The Mean Eyed Cat

Track: Could Of Doom

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

Memorial Day Weekend (and Prior) in the ATX

If yer in the ATX any time between now and Sunday, there's a good bit of excellent musical happenings to check out.

-Danny Schmidt is back in Austin after two months on the road and playing at the Saxon on Thursday from 8p-930p.

-Adam Carroll (with a little help from his friends) is recording a live CD at Flipnotics Barton Springs Friday at 8p and 10p.

-Adam is also doing a rehearsal gig Wednesday at Cheatham Street Warehouse from 5p-730p with Scrappy Jud.

-Damon Bramblett is doing the Friday sundown show at the Dry Creek around 8p.

-Hayes Carll is at Threadgill's South Sunday with the Sideshow Tramps starting at 8p.

Check out our calendar above, the Concert Co-Op's Austin section or the Chronicle's music listings for other stuff.

Happenings This Week In The ATX

A few big shows in Austin this week at a few of our favorite venues.

Wednesday 8/27 The Devil Makes Three (site, myspace) @ Stubbs
DM3 make their return to Austin to Stubb's (inside) after a 3 year absence. If you don't know who these guys are you are missing out.

Thursday 8/28 Corb Lund (site, myspace) @ Threadgill's South
The Canadian cowboy returns to Austin and has the Band Of Heathens opening the show for him.

Friday 8/29 Damon Bramblett (myspace) @ The Dry Creek
Friday 8/29 Chris Knight (site, myspace) & Corb Lund @ Gruene Hall

Hard pressed to go wrong with any of these events, folks. Do yourself a favor and get out to see some live music.

Huge Friday Night Goings-On In The ATX

Lots happening in Austin Friday night August 15th.

Damon Bramblett is at the Dry Creek Cafe at 8p
Joe Ely & Joel Guzman are at Threadgill's South at 10p (Colin Gilmore opens at 9p)
1100 Springs & Doug Moreland are at The Continental Club at 10p and midnight, respectively
Mark David Manders is at the Tavern in the Gruene (New Braunfels) at 8p

The Goings-On in The ATX This Week

Wednesday 8/6 Sonny Landreth @ Blues on the Green in Zilker Park
Thursday 8/7 Sonny Landreth @ the Continental Club
Friday 8/8 Damon Bramblett @ the Dry Creek Cafe
Saturday 8/9 Austin Homegrown @ Donn's Depot

Gonna try to get out and tape a couple of these shows. Should be some good ones.

Happenings This Week In The ATX

The fine folks at alt512 highly recommend all of these shows...check out the schedule above for the full listing.

Monday (6/9) Mike McClure (songwriter, producer, guitar hero, formerly of the Great Divide) @ The Cactus Cafe
Thursday (6/12) Reid Wilson & His So-Called Friends @ the Mean Eyed Cat
Thursday (6/12) Gurf Morlix & Sam Baker @ the Cactus Cafe
Friday (6/13) Damon Bramblett @ the Dry Creek Cafe
Friday (6/13) Ryan Bingham @ Threadgill's
Saturday (6/14) Mark Jungers @ South Park Meadows After Dark
Saturday (6/14) Danny Schmidt @ a House Concert somewhere in town
Saturday (6/14) La Tampiquena @ the Circle Country Club

The Goings-On in The ATX This Week

Lots of great shows in the line-up this week in Austin. Check the calendar above for the full details but I'm planning hitting about 1/2 of what's on the calendar.

Here's the deal(s) for me at least:
Monday 4/7 is a day of mowing the lawn but if you like Waylon Jennings
830p @ The Saxon Pub is the Waymores (Waylon tribute band)

Tuesday 4/8 is FREE FREE FREE HAYES CARLL
5p @ Waterloo Records w/ free Shiner
8p @ Stubb's BBQ (inside), Scott Nolan is playing after Hayes (and he's definitely worth hearing)

Wednesday 4/9 I may check out Danny Scmidt
830p @ The Cactus Cafe, tickets are 7$

Thursday 4/10 is my day of rest

Friday 4/11 has plenty of options but I'm going to Flipnotics
8p Damon Bramblett @ The Dry Creek Cafe
9p Brock Zeman & Dan Walsh @ Flipnotics on Barton Springs
9p Butch Hancock @ The Cactus Cafe

Saturday night 4/12 I'm checking out the Gougers
10p @ Cheatham Street Warehouse

To borrow a quote James William Buffett, "if I don't die by Thursday, I'll be roarin' Friday night."

45 Years Ago Today

[2008.03.07: I am reposting this entry with the audio from that evening].

Damon Bramblett should have been playing his music at the Dry Creek Cafe 45 years ago today. The Dry Creek itself wouldn't have looked much different...the old tables and chairs would still be there. Sarah would have been a spry lass of 49. Her green trailer still would have been parked out back. The contents of the 45s on the jukebox would be the same. And the bar itself would still have been, as I understand, only slightly less rickety. The only problem with this whole scenario is that Damon Bramblett wasn't born yet. I would put Damon somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 trips around the sun.

The first thing I noticed about Damon when I first heard him sing was that he sounds a lot like Johnny Cash. Well, an other-worldly version of Johnny Cash who never smoked a cigarette and never had a proclivity for popping pills. With the timelessness of Johnny Cash's music, Damon transported my wife and me back to 1962 there on Mt. Bonnell Road back when the Dry Creek had live music on a more regular basis. Warm, humid evening. Cold Lonestar. No A/C. A great little band with some great songs to play.

The band on this evening consisted of Damon on acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals, Tom Lewis on drums and Kevin Smith on upright bass. Tom and Kevin play with Heybale here in town. The guys did a bunch of Damon's tunes as well as covers of "I'm Gonna Sit On The Porch And Pick On My Old Guitar" and "Busted" (both Cash tunes) as well as Townes Van Zandt's "Loretta" and a cover of the classic "Sea of Heartbreak".

One thought I had while trying to wipe the huge grin off my face was "this must be what old Austin was like." I don't know that it's possible to miss something I never experienced first hand, but given my taste last night, I badly miss old Austin.

They created a fantastic semblance of the steady-like-a-train, sharp-like-a-razor sound that JC & Tennessee Two made famous. I closed my eyes several times and just basked in that "this is what 1962 felt like"-vibe. Moments like that are priceless but being that it came to me essentially free made it ever more sweet.

If you get the chance, go check out Damon live sometime. He's got a record floating around somewhere. Buy it if you can find it.

Damon's myspace: www.myspace.com/damonbramblett
This show on archive.org: www.archive.org/det..tt2007-08-30.ds70p.flac

ps....Damon's version of "Loretta" was fantastic. Completely not sad in the way that TVZ's interpretation can be.

The Best of 2007...Artist Discoveries

In 2007, I discovered a lot of great artists I previously had no idea about...here they are...in no particular order.

Damon Bramblett (singer/songwriter, sounds like an other-worldly Johnny Cash)
Onion Creek Crawdaddies (bluegrass/newgrass/alt-country)
Stillwater Pioneers (jamband country, great gettin' high music...if I did that sort of thing)
Rattlesnake Deer (depression country...think Chris Knight meets the Steve Earle & the Drive-By Truckers on downers)
Reid Wilson & His So-Called Friends (classic country)
The Gunhands (classic country/classic rock)
Ryan Bingham (roadhouse blues-n-country)
Hot Like Love (stripped down rock and roll 3-piece)
AJ Roach (singer/songwriter)
Dan Reeder (bluesy singer/songwriter)
La Tampiquena (mexicana death folk)
Jason Eady & The Wayward Apostles (Texas county/Americana)