Joe Pug & The Hundred Mile Band Live @ The Cactus Cafe on 2010.11.06 [Live Audio]

Joe Pug and the Hundred Mile Band closed out their $10 Tour in Austin at the Cactus Cafe to a young, packed room. Accompanied by Matt Schuessler on upright bass and Jordan Hamlin on electric guitar and accordian, Pug tore through a baker's dozen of his best compositions Saturday night before closing the show with a cover of the Low Anthem's "To Ohio". Of the Joe Pug shows I've seen, this was far and away the best.

If you missed it, never fear. LMA link to MP3s and FLACs and stream below. Enjoy.

http://www.archive.org/details/joepug2010-11-06.matrix.flac

[FairRetailRecordings] #0113 -- Jack Ingram -- Barbie Doll

#0113

To say the crowd is out of tune would be a disservice to how out of tune they really are. And you know it's got to be bad because (1) I wasn't singing along [bucket/tune/no carry] and (2) I am commenting on how out of tune things get on here.

At any rate, this is from a very fun Jack Ingram show we attended shortly after moving to Austin, back in the Second Age of Ingram. The First and Third Ages of Ingram pale in comparison to the Second, in my humble opinion. I'm hoping for good things from the Fourth Age of Ingram due out any decade now.

Artist: Jack Ingram

Date: 2005.03.02

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Barbie Doll

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0111 -- I See Hawks In LA -- Slash From Guns N Roses

#0111

These guys need to come back to Austin for some shows. Been four+ years which is far too long.

Artist: I See Hawks In LA

Date: 2006.06.07

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Slash From Guns N Roses

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0104 -- Otis Gibbs -- The People's Day

#0104

Some fine, fine sing-along protest work here from Otis Gibbs.

Artist: Otis Gibbs

Date: 2010.02.19

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: The People's Day

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0096 -- Butch Hancock -- Dry Land Farm

#0096

A little late but nevertheless.

Artist: Butch Hancock

Date: 2006.07.14

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Dry Land Farm

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0090 -- Justin Townes Earle -- The Ghost Of Virginia

#0090

Of all the train songs I've ever heard for the first time in the last couple of years, this Justin Townes Earle song is far-and-away my favorite.

Artist: Justin Townes Earle

Date: 2008.12.14

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: The Ghost Of Virginia

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0089 -- Scott Miller -- The Amtrak Crescent

#0089

FRR's First Annual Month Of Train Songs keeps rolling along with Scott Miller's "Amtrak Crescent".

Artist: Scott Miller

Date: 2010.01.19

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: The Amtrak Crescent

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0086 -- Danny Schmidt -- Blue Railroad Train

#0086

Danny Schmidt is the best songwriter, dead or alive, not named Bob Dylan. There I said it. As far as I can tell this is Danny's only train song although it's really a train song in name only, which for the purposes of our First Annual Month of Train Songs, works just fine. I guess this hints at the question we'll investigate further on Tuesday: is a song about train songs a train song itself?

Artist: Danny Schmidt

Date: 2009.03.06

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Blue Railroad Train

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0082 -- Max Stalling -- Topaz City

#0082

Max Stalling is one of the most glaring examples of "popular in Texas / not too popular anywhere else." His songwriting reinforces much of the small town, family, friends and occasionally guy-stuck-in-a-cistern ethos that embodies Americana (or maybe Texicana in this case). Couple those songs with a silky smooth voice and you've got one of the best hidden treasures of Texas music. This is a song about the old hometown.

Artist: Max Stalling

Date: 2008.04.30

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Topaz City

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0077 -- Mike McClure -- Family Reserve

#0077

Last of the Mike McClure (for now). Here's a cover of a Lyle Lovett song.

Artist: Mike McClure

Date: 2008.12.10

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Family Reserve

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0076 -- Mike McClure -- North Platte Blues

#0076

Another one from Mike McClure, a song about home I guess.

Artist: Mike McClure

Date: 2008.12.10

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: North Platte Blues

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

The Gourds At The Cactus Cafe, Maybe For The Last Time [Audio]

As the blogotwitbook-o-verse (yes, guilty), reminds us every day, the Cactus Cafe is slated to be closed. In talking to Chris, one of the employees, at the Cactus this past Friday, he seemed optimistic (well, as optimistic as possible, I guess). And that made me optimistic about the prospects for keeping Austin's folk-church open. On the other end of the spectrum, Michael Corcoran over at austin360 is all but sounding the death knell.

If it is over, or ending, or whatever, I would like every band and artist who ever played there to pay tribute as the Gourds did this past Friday night. With their gear en route from Wyoming, the boys had to round up replacement gear from their garages and their friends to pull together a bit of a throwback show that was thick with favorites and rarities from their earlier albums. In between songs, they would reminisce about the shows they saw (or missed) at the Cactus and what it meant to them. A very fitting bit of tribute from one of Austin's finest live bands. The highlight for me was Kev and Keith covering Bill Wither's "Ain't No Sunshine" after a quick encore break. Intentional or not, that song is a fitting tribute to how many feel about the potential closing of the Cactus.

Audio below. Check out the full write-up over at the Gourds News (link) for pics, videos and annotated setlists.

www.archive.org/details/gourds2010-02-19.matrix.flac

[FairRetailRecordings] #0070 -- Robbie Fulks -- Cocktails

#0070

The weekend can never come soon enough. I guess this is a reminder that it doesn't have to.

Artist: Robbie Fulks

Date: 2006.04.06

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Cocktails

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[Say It Ain't So] Cactus Cafe To Close

I woke up Sunday morning to the news that the Cactus Cafe on UT's campus is closing. Here's the story from austin360.com. My commentary would only be that I hope it doesn't happen. I hope the university can come to some resolution to keep it open.

The Cactus has long been my favorite place to see and hear live music. It's a fantastic listening room with a wonderful staff and amazing local and touring acts coming through on a continual basis. The Cactus is one of the few places to see live music that's overly civilized - reverence and esteem for the music and history of the Cactus, minimal talking during performances and amazing sound that puts other Austin venues to shame.

Whatever happens to the Cactus, I encourage you to get out to the Cactus often and support as soon as possible. Fred Eaglesmith and Chris Knight are there Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Go. Now. What the hell are you waiting for?

[FairRetailRecordings] #0064 -- Scott Miller -- Earthly Pleasures

#0064

One of my favorite Scott Miller songs...very succinct.

Artist: Scott Miller

Date: 2010.01.19

Venue: The Cactus Cafe

Track: Earthly Pleasures Are The Treasures Of This World

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

Quotes From The Show, Part VII

[Ed: the best part of this quote comes after the knitting afghans bit. Gotta listen to hear it.]

"What does my mom think I do? Go out on the road and knit afghans and shit?"
-Scott Miller, The Cactus Cafe, 2010.01.19

The Goings-On For This Week

Couple of noteworthy events in Austin this week. Check out the full list on the google calendar above but here are the highlights:

-Monday 10/12 Eleven Hundred Springs at the Continental Club at 10p ($5, filling in for Dale Watson)

-Tuesday 10/13 Steve Young at the Cactus Cafe

-Wednesday 10/14 David Cross at the Paramount Theater (in case you like his stand up)

-Thursday 10/15 The Mother Truckers (630p) and later Jon Langford and Rosie Flores at the Continental Club

-Thursday 10/15 Mark Jungers at Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe (730p) finishing off his Thursday residency there

-Friday 10/16 Billy Joe Shaver at the Cactus Cafe

-Friday 10/16 The Memphis Strange, Austin Homegrown and The Gunhands at Momo's (8p)

-Saturday 10/17 AJ Roach is at the GreenHouse Concert series

-Saturday 10.17 Sam Baker is at the Cactus for his CD release show for his new record

-Sunday 10/18 Charlie Robison at playing in our living room [shameless, I know]

[FairRetailRecordings] #0027 -- Reckless Kelly -- Rider In The Rain

#0027

From our first year in Austin, here's Reckless Kelly covering Randy Newman's "Rider In The Rain".

Artist: Reckless Kelly

Venue: The Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX

Date: 2005.10.26

Track: Rider In The Rain

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0013 -- Deadman -- I'm Not Who You Think I Am

Got hipped to these guys a few years ago via their song "When The Music's Not Forgotten" and then kinda lost track of them until a recent show they played supporting Graham Weber at the Cactus. I really enjoyed what I heard from Steven Collins and the guys.

Artist: Deadman

Venue: The Cactus Cafe, Austin, TX

Date: 2009.06.06

Track: I'm Not Who You Think I Am

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

Previous mailings: here (mp3s) and here (info)

Danny Schmidt's New CD & CD Release Show Recording

Danny Schmidt (site, myspace) is releasing his latest CD Instead The Forest Rose To Sing on Red House Records today. Buy it if you haven't already. I promise you won't be disappointed. What I love about Danny's records is that you get to hear something that I don't know you would ever get to hear live: Danny and his music worked up with ornate instrumentation. Really, really amazing.

Also, Danny held his CD release show at the Cactus this past Friday evening. Here's the recording for your streaming pleasure. Enjoy...

http://www.archive.org/details/dannyschmidt2009-03-06.matrix.flac