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)

The Best of 2007...Official Releases

Studio Records:
--Top 5, in no particular order:
Danny Schmidt Little Grey Sheep
Stillwater Pioneers Let's Go Pioneering
Josh Ritter The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
The Victrolas Drop The Needle
Corb Lund Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!

--The Best of the Rest:
Jason Eady & The Wayward Apostles Wild Eyed Serenade
Max Stalling Topaz City
Rattlesnake Deer 637 Texas Rattlesnake Rattles
Walk Wilkins and the Mystiqueros Diamonds In The Sun
Mark Jungers Silos And Smokestacks
Onion Creek Crawdaddies Irons In The Fire
Larry Hooper Rust
Deadstring Brothers Starving Winter Report
Old Crow Medicine Show Big Iron World

Live Records:
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth Reconstruction(Live at the Down Home)
The Devil Makes Three A Little Bit Faster And A Little Bit Worse

Best Record Made Pre-2007 That I Got This Year:
Onion Creek Crawdaddies Barn Burners and Bathtub Bourbon (2003)
Bob Childers Ride For The Cimarron (2006)

Introducing La Tampiquena, Mexican Death Folk?

This is the first show ever for La Tampiquena. La Tampiquena consists of Will Dupuy and Willie Pipkin (former South Austin Juggies), Matt Lahr and assorted guests including Chris Hill on drums, Marshall Hood on guitar and Warren Hood of fiddle. Their sound is something that takes elements from Doug Sahm, Townes Van Zandt and some Tejano jam band. It's solid. And as Will would say, heady.

Enjoy. More great things to come from these guys.

http://www.myspace.com/LaTampiquena
http://www.archive.org/details/latampiquena2007-11-01.matrix.flac

The Stillwater Pioneers Go Pioneering For Christmas

...with a bunch of his friends at the legendary Horseshoe Lounge in ATX. This is the 4th Annual 'A Very Dango Christmas' show. The Pioneers' lineup on this day consisted of Dango, Dr. Lewis Card III, Andy 'Lunchbox' Hogdson, Scott 'The Sauce' Carlson and Kevin 'Buffalo' Hennessy. Special guests were Ace from the Freight Train Troubadors, Kevin Fox and Reid Wilson from Reid Wilson and His So-Called Friends and Reid's buddy Reid Dixon (aka 'Team Reid').

The list of covers was plentiful and included songs originally by Gary P. Nunn, David Allan Coe, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Old Crow Medicine Show, Billy Joe Shaver, the Georgia Satellites, Steve Earle, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan and Todd Snider. The Pioneers also did a majority of ther original catalog from the debut disc Let's Go Pioneering.

This is a very fun show. Enjoy it with friends. And, as always, enjoy responsibly.

http://www.archive.org/details/stillwaterpioneers2007-12-16.matrix.flac

Danny Schmidt..CD Release Show @ The Cactus Cafe

If you haven't heard Danny Schmidt's music, there is no better time than the present to get introduced. Danny, as I have mentioned before, is flat out amazing. There's not enough adjuectives in any writer's vocabulary, let alone mine, to do his music justice.

This is from his CD release show last week at the legendary Cactus Cafe in Austin. Danny plays a pleothra of songs from his new record, Little Grey Sheep, and a bunch from his yet-to-be-started-record accompanied by Carrie Elkin.

Really, check out the new, unrecorded ones, "Southland Street" (incorrectly labeled as "Had It All" below), "Grandpa Built Bridges" and "Serpentine Cycle Of Money".

http://www.archive.org/details/dannyschmidt2007-12-13.sbd.flac

South Austin Jug Band @ The Continental Club

Ladies and gentlemen, your newly minted South Austin Jug Band. This is a recent show with their new lineup which includes several new members and special guest/former Juggie Warren Hood. Gone are all the tunes that Will Dupuy wrote and sang replaced with songs from their new record 'Strange Invitation' (which is damn fine if you ask me...I know you didn't but whatever).

The songs and the performance are both first rate but the most noticable difference here is the drums on most tunes and the electric guitar. It's different...not necessarily better or worse than the way things were when they were entirely a stringed-outfit.

Anyway, have a listen for yourself and make up your own mind.

http://www.archive.org/details/sajb2007-12-11.matrix.flac

Danny Schmidt - Little Grey Sheep

Danny Schmidt's new record Little Grey Sheep dropped into my lap from the fine folks at cdbaby a few weeks ago and I've listened to it a dozen times easy.

A combination of new material and older re-worked tunes, this record is simply amazing.

You can grab mp3s of "Drawing Board", "Cliff Song" and "Adios To Tejasito" here. You can also find some of the other tracks on previous live shows on archive.org.

Get this record. It's easily one of the best things I've listened to this year.

If you want to read more about the record or individual tracks, I can't say it better than Danny. So here's his synopsis of the whole thing...

And as always with Danny read and re-read the lyrics.

Josh Ritter @ The Parish 2007.10.29

Josh Ritter played at the Parish on 6th Street Monday night October 29th. My wife and I had never seen Josh and his band before and they did not disappoint. From the first 'howdy' to the end of the hour and forty-five minute set they were in great form. More amazing than that was the crowd which by my wife's estimation was very drunk (it is Halloween week in the ATX after all). They were hanging on Josh's words and rolling right along with the ebbs and flows of the performance. Raucous and loud during the right songs and quiet and respectful during the solo stuff. In fact, you can even hear the drums from the band (or PA) downstairs during "Wings". The Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen covers were fantastic.

Three great moments:
1) At the beginning "Monster Ballads" a girl yells "you're adorable." Josh responds: "so are you" and says he wants her to have a beer for him. No word on whether that happened or not.
2) A different girl screams during "Empty Hearts" to which Josh responds "I'm gonna buy you a tattoo". He goes on to sing a line of the chorus and then says "you can choose...whatever you want".
3) At the end of the show the band comes back onstage in roman hemlets (ala the one on the cover of Josh' latest record) and Josh says "these are Roman helmets but....we're gonna pretend they're pirate hats." To which several guys in the crowd respond "arrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!".

I can't say enough good things about this show. Listen and decide for yourself.

Here's ya go....enjoy.

http://www.archive.org/details/joshritter2007-10-29.ds70p.flac














ps, one note to would-be tapers. I didn't see this on Josh's site, but soundboard plugs aren't allowed without special permission. Make no mistake though, he's cool with recording.

Mark Jungers And Friends @ Gruene Hall

Here's a nice show from Mark Jungers and the Whistling Mules from last week at Gruene Hall. There's a bunch of tracks on this show where he and the band turn on the electric guitars.

After they close the show with a rollicking cover of "Powderfinger" featuring special guest Scott Nolan, they get a few special guests to play some songs. Namely, Adam Carroll shows off two of his new tunes "Oklahoma Hustler" and "HiFi Love" before launching into a cacophonic cover of "Werewolves of London". Duncan Walters also does a pair of his own tunes before Mark rejoins the gang for a few more to close out the night.

Thoroughly enjoyable all the way around. Enjoy.

Recommended Listening...The Gougers...Archive.org

The Gougers have a new record called A Long Day For The Weathervane that just came out Tuesday (10/16). There are a few new tunes as well as a few old ones. You can download or order the new record from lonestarmusic.com. Anyway, get it. It's good. Until then...

Here's a nice soundboard recording of the Gougers (formerly the Sidehill Gougers) opening up for Scott Miller this past June at Stubb's. I have seen them a few times as an acoustic trio but this was my first experience seeing them with the drums (John Ross Silva) and a full-time electric guitar player (Lance Smith, formerly Hayes Carll's guitar player). I really enjoyed the lineup and the way they had reworked some of the tunes. The new tunes are also quite good.

http://www.archive.org/details/gougers2007-06-07.sbd.flac