The Best Of 2010...Live Shows In and Around ATX

We say it every year, but it bears repeating. Fuckin' A. What a great year for live music in Austin and the surrounding Hill Country. And We even missed most of SXSW.

We didn't hit up too many of the really huge shows (skipped ACL and the aforementioned SXSW miss due to vacation) but we packed in a boatload of high quality local and smaller touring acts.

Here are some of our favorite shows. Links to the audio of the shows are provided where possible.

Leo Rondeau & Mike & The Moonpies at the Mohawk on 2010.01.01 (Leo's set, Moonpies set)
Scott Miller at the Cactus Cafe on 2010.01.19
Chris Wall at Our House Concert on 2010.01.30
Justin Townes Earle at Stubb's BBQ on 2010.02.04
The Gourds & Otis Gibbs at the Cactus Cafe on 2010.02.19 (the Gourds set, Otis Gibbs' set)
Cory Branan & Tumbledown at the Mohawk on 2010.04.12 (Cory's set, Tumbledown's set)
Roger Alan Wade and Friends at the Mean Eyed Cat on 2010.04.14
The Railbenders at Herman's Hideaway on 2010.04.23
The Gourds at Threadgill's South on 2010.05.28
Mark Jungers and Houston Marchman at Gruene Hall 2010.06.18 (Mark's set, Houston's set)
James Hyland & The Joint Chiefs at the Mean Eyed Cat on 2010.07.10
Shinyribs at the Belmont on 2010.08.03
The Sons Of Bill at Emo's on 2010.08.29
Chris Knight at the Cactus Cafe on 2010.09.18
The Old 97s at the Ghost Room on 2010.10.13
Whitey Morgan and the 78s at Lovejoy's on 2010.10.21
Joe Pug at the Cactus Cafe on 2010.11.06
Various Artists performing the Last Waltz at Club Deville on 2010.11.21
Mike & The Moonpies happy hour run at the Mohawk during September (2010.09.02 & 2010.09.30)

[FairRetailRecordings] #0108 -- Jerry Mynatt -- Bullet Zero Bottle One

#0108

From a Roger Alan Wade show where he invited Jerry up to play a couple of songs. The two songs he played were absolute killers. Here's the first. The second will be coming next week.

Artist: Jerry Mynatt w/ Jason Daly

Date: 2009.07.08

Venue: The Mean Eyed Cat

Track: Bullet Zero Bottle One

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

Some Upcoming Shows Around The Austin Area

We've got a few good shows coming up over the next week or so here in Austin.

Thursday 4/8 - Saturday 4/10

Thursday, the 8th, we'll be checking out our favorite bluegrass (?) band in Austin, the Flatcar Rattlers, at Jovita's from 8p-10p.

If that isn't your thing, you could always check out Lucero and Shooter Jennings at Emo's Thursday.

Friday night, April 9th, the Alt-512 gang will be hitting up The Triple Crown in San Marcos for Mark Jungers' monthly happy show before heading to the Broken Spoke for the rarest-of-the-rare full band show by Chris Wall.

Saturday, the 10th, Mark Stuart and The Bastard Sons (née the Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash) will be holed up at the Mean Eyed Cat.

I think we can all agree that's quite a three-day stretch. Well, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Next week, for the middle of April, has a bunch of great shows that aren't to be missed.

Sunday 4/11 - Saturday 4/17

Alt-512 perennial favorite Roger Alan Wade will be playing Poodie's on Sunday 4/11, the Saxon on 4/13 and the Mean Eyed Cat on 4/14.

Monday night will feature sort-of-odd-couple Cory Branan and Mike Herrera's Tumbledown at the Mohawk.

Gruene Hall will feature three of our favorite songwriters in the round on Tuesday: Mark Jungers, Adam Carroll and Owen Temple.

Ben Kweller and the Old 97s will drop by Stubb's on Wednesday night.

Stubb's will again be busy with Charlie Robison and sister-in-law Kelly Willis on Friday the 16th.

Finally, Saturday the 17th will find Chris Knight at Gruene Hall and Danny Schmidt at a house concert in Austin.

If you need info on any of these shows, we've got the calendar right above which has more info on set times and venue addresses than I'm inclined to include here.

Three other notes:

(1) Southern Culture On The Skids starts their five-night stand at the Continental tonight at midnight.

(2) Old Settler's Music Festival starts April 15th and has an amazing lineup, as always.

(3) Junior Brown is in the midst of a series of Sunday shows at the Continental Club that seems to run on-and-off until the end of May. Check the Continental's schedule for more details.

[FairRetailRecordings] #0012 -- Roger Alan Wade -- The American Night>Counter Man

I really enjoy both of these songs because they remind of Springsteen were the Boss from Tennessee.

Artist: Roger Alan Wade

Venue: The Mean Eyed Cat, Austin, TX

Date: 2008.07.03

Track: The American Night>Counter Man

Enjoy. And support your local music scene.

Some New, Some Old

Been a slow summer here in Austin. The mercury touching triple digits every day has presumably been keeping a lot of folks away. Not much in the way of (OKOM) touring acts coming through with the exception of Scott Miller (audio of his Cactus show) a few others that we weren't able to attend.

Some of the shows we have been able to attend included the Brock Zeman (Canadiana), Flatcar Rattlers (bluegrass), Roger Alan Wade (of Jackass notoriety), Austin Homegrown (local country/blues/reggae rockers), The Memphis Strange (former Stillwater Pioneers rocking it up) and the Happen-Ins (former Dedringer Sean Faires' new group). Here's the recordings from some of their performance.

Brock Zeman: 2009.06.10 at Riley's

The Flatcar Rattlers: 2009.07.03 at Jovita's

Roger Alan Wade: 2009.07.08 at the Mean Eyed Cat

Austin Homegrown: 2009.07.11 at the Mean Eyed Cat

The Memphis Strange: 2009.07.16 at Stubb's BBQ

The Happen-Ins: 2009.07.16 at Stubb's BBQ

Also, next Monday (August 3rd) will the latest installment of the Mean Eyed Cat Songwriter Night featuring host Lew Card, Ramsay Midwood, Jacob Jaeger and Johnny Dango. You can check out the audio from the last songwriter night at the link below.

Mean Eyed Cat Songwriter Night: 2009.07.20

Quick Recommendation

Roger Alan Wade (myspace) is in Austin tonight (June 30th) at the Saxon Pub at 8p and again next Wednesday (July 8th) at the Mean Eyed Cat. I can't recommend these two shows strongly enough. You will not be disappointed.

The Best Of 2008...Artist Discoveries

If you're gonna check out any of these folks, make it Dustin Welch, Justin Townes Earle and Joe Pug. They're all kind of at a similar point in their careers where very good things are going to happen for them / to them soon. Make no mistake, all of these artists are worth your time but a few of them don't have records out yet so just be patient and go see them live.

Leo Rondeau (myspace) Country/Folk/Americana
Joe Pug (myspace) Singer/Songwriter
Roger Alan Wade (myspace) Singer/Songwriter moving effortlessly from touching to ribald
A.A. Bondy (myspace) Singer/Songwriter
Tim Hus (site) Canadian Cowboy
American Graveyard (myspace) Alt-Country Rock
Flatcar Rattlers (myspace) large band 21st century bluegrass/jamgrass
Dustin Welch (myspace) high energy Americana Rock
Justin Townes Earle (myspace) Singer/Songwriter with a flare for the nostalgia of the past
The Diesel Kings (myspace) Rockin' Country

The Return Of Roger Alan Wade

I really loved both of Roger Alan Wade's (myspace) shows when he was in Austin back in July at the Saxon and Mean Eyed Cat. I've been listening to the recordings of the shows nonstop and really love his songwriting and sound.

He's coming back!

The Saxon Pub.
Wednesday
August 13th
2008
8p

If you missed him the first time, take this opportunity to atone for your sins. 100% worth it. I guarantee it.

Roger Alan Wade in the ATX

Roger Alan Wade (site, myspace) played at the Saxon Pub last night. I knew of his connection to the Jackass franchise but I guess I never realized it's at least partially because he's Johnny Knoxville's cousin. Anyway, in attendance last night were a big chunk of my friends from the Stillwater Pioneers, Gunhands, Rattlesnake Deer and Reid Wilson's band as well as Dale Watson and Knoxville himself.

RAW really tore it up last night playing great song after great song and really, dare I say, inspiring the crowd. I was really blown away as that was the first time I'd seen him live. He doesn't tour nearly enough (I know, I know...it's Austin and I'm music-greedy).

After the Saxon, a bunch of us went down to the Broken Spoke to hear Dale Watson (also has a Jackass/Johnny Knoxville) connection and Dale called Roger up to play a couple of songs with him and his Lonestars. They started off with a cover of Billy Joe Shaver's "Just Because You Asked Me To", his own "Reckless Kind" and another of his own whose title escapes me at the moment. It was incredible to see not only his performance of those songs (for the second time that evening) but also to see Dale's band just create the accompaniment for a couple of songs they'd probably never heard before. Wow. The things you can only see in Austin. And Johnny Knoxville was right up front through it all with his video camera rolling (and buying a dozen beers at a time for himself and his friends).

Oh yeah, Roger is still in Austin. He'll be at the Mean Eyed Cat tonight July 3rd. I have a feeling it's going to be a big time so come on out friends and neighbors. The beer'll be cold and tomorrow's a holiday.

Roger Alan Wade's All Likkered Up


Dale Watson's Hollywood Hillbilly