Mean Eyed Cat Songwriter Night

Here's a recent show from the Mean Eyed Cat. Lew Card (from the Gunhands) has started hosting a monthly songwriter night (first Mondays) at the Cat. This was the first installment featuring, Lew, Aimie Bobruck, Brennen Leigh and Kevin Galloway (from Uncle Lucius).

They took turns at their songs for the better part of two hours. For the more twang-loving (and less singer-songwriter-loving) among you, be sure to check out all of Brennen Leigh's songs. She has some excellent country chops that she's not afraid to show off here.

http://www.archive.org/details/mecsn2009-04-06.sbd

ADDENDUM -- A Baker's Dozen Perfect Records Of The Last Ten Years

Hopy crap. We did that whole list and left off two records BY THE SAME BAND that are both fantastically brilliant (too much hyperbole?) and perfect. The list should have been fifteen records. Our editor will be getting a severe tongue lashing when he returns from happy hour.

Here's the revised list.
1 Adam Carroll -- Live At Cheatham Street Warehouse
2 Scott Miller -- Citation
3 Corb Lund -- Five Dollar Bill
4 Daddy -- At The Women's Club
5 Danny Schmidt -- Little Grey Sheep
6 Fred Eaglesmith -- Balin'
7 Guy Clark -- Cold Dog Soup
8 Mike McClure -- Twelve Pieces
9 Reckless Kelly -- Wicked Twisted Road
10 The Stillwater Pioneers -- Let's Go Pioneering
11 Verlon Thompson -- Everywhere...Yet
12 Brian Keane -- I Ain't Even Lonely
13 Deadstring Brothers -- Starving Winter Report
14 The Victrolas -- Life Like The Movies
15 The Victrolas -- Drop The Needle

**The three records in bold are, as far as we can tell, the debut offerings from these artists.

And if you happen to see the guys from the Victrolas, tell them to drop us a line and get their asses down to Austin. They can stay on the couches in the alt512 office. There's also a kegerator in there.

A Baker's Dozen Perfect Records Of The Last Ten Years

Lots of great records come out every year but so very few of them are perfect. Lots of great artists go a whole career without ever even coming close to touching the sun. Perfect means you wouldn't change the songs, the order, the arrangement, the players or anything else about the record. There's something else, something transcendent about the records on this list. After one or a dozen or a hundred listens, the record is still as fresh and brilliant and perfect as when you unwrapped it from the plastic.

Here's the list of alt512's Thirteen Perfect Records Of The Last Ten Years (1999-2008).

In no particular order other than almost alphabetical:
1 Adam Carroll -- Live At Cheatham Street Warehouse
2 Scott Miller -- Citation
3 Corb Lund -- Five Dollar Bill
4 Daddy -- At The Women's Club
5 Danny Schmidt -- Little Grey Sheep
6 Fred Eaglesmith -- Balin'
7 Guy Clark -- Cold Dog Soup
8 Mike McClure -- Twelve Pieces
9 Reckless Kelly -- Wicked Twisted Road
10 The Stillwater Pioneers -- Let's Go Pioneering
11 Verlon Thompson -- Everywhere...Yet
12 Brian Keane -- I Ain't Even Lonely
13 Deadstring Brothers -- Starving Winter Report

**The two records in bold are, as far as we can tell, the debut offerings from these artists.

Some would argue for Slaid's Broke Down or Wishbones or Bingham's Mescalito or Hayes' Flowers and Liquor or the Gourds Blood Of The Ram. Alas, great records all. Perfect...close.

The Gunhands "Mama Loves Jesus" Video

From the description: Just your typical tale about Jesus, the Devil, and a woman that sells the soul of her first born son. The debut music video from The Gunhands. Directed by Erik McCowan, Outdoor Variety Productions...

Also, you can check out the recording of the show at the Mean Eyed Cat where they debuted the video between sets:
http://www.archive.org/details/gunhands2009-03-12.matrix.flac

The Highlight Of alt512's SXSW -- Mark Jungers & Chris Wall

For all of the great things about SXSW and the secret shows and secret musical guests and everything else that we all love about the madness of SXSW, there are still shows and events that manage to fly under the radar and have low, however enthusiastic support. I'll cite the Twangfest show at Jovita's on Thursday as example one, South By Sam's Town Point as example two and this show as example three.

Mark Jungers has been hosting a weekly Americana Song Swap at Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe. Previous guests have included Adam Carroll and Houston Marchman. The Thursday of SXSW week (March 19th) it was Chris Wall's turn to swap some tunes with Mark. Chris Wall has been a favorite of the folks here at alt512 for a long, long time and we were charged up to see Chris play as he hasn't been playing regularly the last few years.

Chris pulled some great old songs out of his bag as well as a few new/newer songs to share with the eager yet sparse crowd. Early candidate for show of the year....

http://www.archive.org/details/mj_cw__2009-03-19.sbd.flac

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

Gary Floater...WTF?

www.garyfloater.com

Check this out. It's a tribute to a fake country star put together by two of my favorite Texas artists, Owen Temple and Adam Carroll. The cd is more of an ep but the songs are funny, poking fun at some classic country staples. Well worth your 25 minutes.

Whitey Morgan and the 78s From Detroit, Michigan

Whitey Morgan and the 78s (site, myspace) made a swing through the Lone Star State a few weeks ago and we were lucky enough to catch them at the Continental Club. If you like Waylon, Merle and Buck, these guys are for you.

We were also fortunate enough to get the going up on archive.org's Live Music Archive. Enjoy.

If they come through your town, go see 'em. Buy a record. Say hi.

http://www.archive.org/details/wm78s2009-01-12.at2021.flac

Looking For A Taper In Austin, TX?

You're a band and you want someone to come out and record your show in Austin? There's any easy way to find yourself a taper in any market but the example here is for Austin.

Click on this link and it will show you a bunch of shows that have been taped and shared in Austin of late. There are lots of shows and lots of tapers recording those shows.

My recommendations:
-find a show taped at the venue you're performing and contact that taper
-find a band/performer whose sound is in the ballpark with yours and contact a taper of one of their shows
-above all, find a show whose sound you like and contact that taper

Best of luck. And if you get stuck, we here at the alt512 do know a some guys who know some guys.

Dedringers No Mas

Both Sean and Jonny are tremendously talented and the alt512 wishes them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Coverage from the Austin American Statesman:

Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > January > 14 > Entry

Dedringers break up

By Michael Corcoran | Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 02:24 PM

Is there a Best New Artist curse with the AMP Awards? Less than a month after winning that recognition from Austin music pundits, Jonny Burke and Sean Faires have decided to go in different directions. All Dedringers shows on the current schedule will feature Burke and a new backup band.

Dedringers’ publicist Lorrie Lopes kept the door ctacked for a possible reconciliation. “They just want to do different things for awhile,” Lopes said. “Who knows what the future will hold.

After years of struggling, the New Braunfels band broke out big in Austin last year, garnering airplay on KGSR and moving a few thousand copies of “Sweetheart of the Neighborhood.” In recent weeks, however, the live shows have been inconsistent and there have been rumors of a rift between the two bandleaders.