Acousticity

We were just a couple of days past Eeyore's Birthday drum circle day when it was time for some great live music shows. We got a couple of very special tickets for the Punch Brothers' Austin City Limits TV taping! Didn't not take any pics or video (They really really prefer that you don't take video, esp. since they are filming the show anyway, and all the phone cams make the audience look dorky.) but there are lots of nice pro pics at the link.

This was only our 4th time to get to attend and ACL taping. The tickets are free but must be acquired through a lottery or a connection, it's not easy to get in. The sound is amazing, and so is the camera work on the finished product, that we may get to see on TV this Fall.

If an ACL taping with what is probably my favorite band right now was not enough, we also saw them the next night at a sold-out, little-bit rowdy show at Antone's club. If the crowd at the taping was a bit reserved, this one made up for it - and there's video to show for it. This is actually an old one that mandolinist Chris Thile first wrote and recorded back when he was about 18. It's a gorgeous instrumental that I can't listen to enough.

Punch Brothers - Song For a Young Queen


This one is a cover of a song by The Strokes, but PB has made it their own, IMO. It's not one that they played during the taping because it contains one of those words that you still can't say on TV.
Punch Brothers - Heart in a Cage


Just a couple of days after Punch Brothers came though town, we were happy to welcome The Greencards back to Austin. They have moved back here from Nashville, and it's nice to have them back. Like Punch Brothers, they really tear it up on the strings and vocals. Here's a beautiful instrumental.
The Greencards - Adelaide


Great shows! What a week. Now - a little rest.

ACL Festival Day 3

Sunday

little hurricane (whole set, near front center rail)
Got to this stage by Rock Island in order to maneuver into place for The Greencards. This is a good band with a configuration like White Stripes: guy on electric guitars ("Tone") and girl drummer ("CC"). Their band tagline/self-applied genre is “dirty blues.” CC threw her sticks to the crowd, and there was a big scuffle over one of them right by us. One man tackled another one and they both landed hard with our backpack underneath them! Luckily nothing in it was broken. We manage to yank that free, and since the area was rather cleared then, I was able to easily grab my territory. The man on the bottom continued to hold onto his prize drumstick for dear life while the man grappling on top of him refused to give up, despite security guards promising him that they’d get him another one. Totally crazy.
The Greencards (whole set, front center rail)
This is one of our favorite bands. We’ve been seeing them as often as possible since 2003. Incredible instrumental work, songwriting, and vocals. They never fail to make our day. They are amazing.
Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses (front rail far right, whole set). Bingham is hot as a firecracker right now. He worked on the Crazy Heart soundtrack with T-Bone Burnett and co-wrote "The Weary Kind". Over the past year it's won him an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, Critic's Choice for "Best Song," and Americana Music's "Artist of the Year." First time for us to see him live was on Sunday. The video below is from that very event. The film crew with Malick, Bale and Bennett was there again backstage, there were sightings of the actors (in fact, you can see Haley in the video below, the pretty girl in the black camisole). They filmed MrB a lot (close up crowd shots) and maybe Blueberry too. I was keeping my head down for the camera.
We headed for home after Bingham. We had sunburns, hurting feet, a mile yet to walk to the bus stop, and Monday morning, 4:30 AM coming around too soon.

Monday morning weekend music

A 9-minute jam from Saturday night's Greencards show, starts out with a pretty mandolin solo and then dives into "Roll On Buddy, Roll On," Bill Monroe cover.

This show (with Warren Hood opening) was the only one I had the energy for over the weekend. Running on sleep deprivation, and finally got a decent nap on Sunday afternoon. Every little bit helps.

Father Sun

[Slideshow of Stonehenge Solstice 2009 at BBC news] The caption for this picture quoted a man who claimed to be a Stonehenge Druid, and I am hoping a nice Druid and not one of those nasty cannibal types. Have you seen National Geographic's recent feature on new discoveries about Stonehenge and its creation? Fascinating stuff - pre-dates the Druids by quite a lot, and apparently the Druids just took it over at some point because it really is a pretty cool place. This day was called Midsummer from ancient time, and is still called that in many places around the world. I don't know how the day became designated as the first day of summer in the USA and other places, and I have to wonder why someone would pick the day that begins the shortening of the days as the BEGINNING of summer. Makes no sense to me. Anyway, Midsummer is always a day that I wish I could be "Pagan For a Day." Hey, I could very easily become a Pagan if it didn't involve having gods. At least their holidays are to celebrate very real earthly events, like the solstices.

As for real earthly events in this geographical spot, here's our weather forecast. That partly cloudy stuff coming later in the week is only going to run up the humidity.
[update: jun30: it ended up being several degrees hotter than predicted. whew!]

There are lots of activities coming up, but more and more I limit them in the summer. The Greencards play on Friday night (an outdoor show at Threadgill's) with Sarah Jarosz opening, and we are doing that for sure, but I believe that this year I will give a pass to KGSR's annual Fan Drive all-day concert at the same venue on the same day, because I don't want to be completely depleted from a whole day out in triple-digit heat. Here's the lineup at Threadgill's:
7am: Dean Seltzer
8am: Grupo Fantasma
9am: Rosie Flores
10am: Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox
11am: Kelly Willis
12pm: The Band of Heathens
1pm: The Gourds
2pm: Bill Carter
3pm: Surprise Guests!
4pm: Seth Walker
5pm: Bettysoo
6pm: Vallejo – Debuting their brand new single

...okay... tempting... now I am thinking I might scoot over there at least to catch Vallejo. Then I can coast into the evening after the blazing sun sets at 8:36 PM.

As for Father's Day around here, this is one of the cards received by the Dad of the house:

Music weekend

A great weekend of music, starting Friday at the Old Settler's Music Festival. Rain was coming down in buckets, along with thunder and lightning - not what you want for an outdoor festival. It caused delays but they managed to only cancel one act, and The Greencards - the main ones we were there to see - were only delayed for 1 hour. Rain continued to spit during the evening, causing rain ponchos to come off and go back on a ridiculous number of times. The band has a new record out on Tuesday, and if you are around here you can see them at Waterloo Records at 5pm for a free show and meet/greet. It's a great CD! They don't come to Austin often enough these days.

Saturday, there was a jam-packed day at Old Settler's with no rain, but we didn't go because of the Gary Louris/Mark Olson show(s). They are ex-Jayhawks frontmen, and you probably know that we looove the Jayhawks here at Texas Oasis. They did a free in-store at Waterloo Records at 5pm. Here's a pic from that, and we caught the song "Two Angels" on video at this link.

The show at Antone's had Pinetop Perkins opening.

He is 95 years years old. I got his autograph, and he seemed extremely frail. It took him a really long time to write out his name, but he sure didn't have any problem finding his way around the keyboard. He not only keeps performing, but he tours as well. There was a great backing band of some of the best blues musicians in Austin.

I was first in line (typical me) because I got dropped off in front of Antone's right after the record store show while MrB went home for cat-duties. It was an all-seated general admission show, and I was skeptical about that (Antone's seldom has chairs in it) but I have to admit that it worked out great for this. Here's a video from the show, a beauty called "Two Hearts."


Sunday we took a pass on activities and caught up on chores and work. It was a gorgeous weather day.

Some Mandolin for Monday

Left to right: Jesse Cobb (Infamous Stringdusters), Andy Falco (Infamous Stringdusters and previous oftentimes Greencards), and Kym Warner (The Greencards). Song is Salt Creek. Instruments are all from local maker Collings.

SXSW Day Crawl One

Started the day at KGSR's morning concert series at the Four Seasons where The Greencards started it off at 7:00 AM. (note that it's still dark outside!)

If you want a good seat for these FS shows, you really need to be there by 6:00. I was up around 3:00 (couldn't sleep!) and at the Park'n'Ride bus stop in time for the 5:30 bus, so it worked great. There's a $5 charge for the Four Seasons shows but that covers an all-you-can-eat continental breakfast: orange juice, coffee, tea, wonderful pastries, breakfast tacos, etc. After The Greencards, there was Matt Morris, My Jerusalem, Charlie Mars, Shawn Sahm (Doug's son) and The Gourds. The bands only play 2 songs apiece, but it's still a fun way to see them.

After going home for a short nap, MrB (who had to work the morning) and I headed back out on the bus again. We are now BIG fans of the city busses for events like these. What were we ever thinking trying to deal with parking issues? First stop was 6th Street, Radio Room, for the first Paste Magazine party. No free beer [frowny face] but we did get to see one of the hot new Austin transplant bands: The Heartless Bastards (from Ohio). Here's a pic of Erika. They are a hard-rockin' band and that's the best way I can think of to describe them.

After Radio Room, we went over to Red River to the Mohawk, but it was just way too packed so we ditched that, hopped on another bus and went to the Pop Culture Press party at the Dog and Duck. As you can see, there is no duck, but there are dogs a-plenty on the patio, and a few remnants of the St. Patty's Day party they held the previous day. It was a lot less crowded than last year, but the lack of crowd was a relief. No free beer, but there was a table to set it on, and a chair to sit in - also room to walk around and the volume was just right. This is the Handsome Family below, and we also saw Future Clouds and Radar, an Austin band with a bit of buzz.

After Future Clouds, we got back on the bus and headed to SoCo, where we saw friends at Jo's but really didn't listen to any more music.

March bands

Austin has this little festival in March - it's called SXSW (South by Southwest). OK, I'm kidding. It's humongous, huge, really big. There are 3 parts to it and they overlap days: Interactive, Film and Music. Film has already kicked in and the Music Festival officially starts on Wednesday, but the parties will be in high gear by Tuesday. The number of bands playing officially is probably around 1,900 and there are plenty more who will be playing at day/side parties thrown by magazines, record labels, PR firms, Rachael Ray, Perez Hilton, etc. They are mostly free, and many provide free beer and sometimes food while the music plays. It completely takes over the town. Yes. I love it and have been trying to plan my schedule for about 3 weeks at least. We are daycrawlers, unbanded and unbadged, wanting to see old favorites, people we wouldn't normally get to see, and people we never heard of before (new favorites).

Here are some of the best resources I'm using, as well as looking up people I want to see and trying to figure out where they will be and when. None of these list everything.

Showlist Austin
Done Waiting
Austin 360
Do512
Austin Chronicle
Oh My Rockness
Austin Metro Entertainment
Yahoo Unofficial SXSW
Officially listed parties
KGSR morning concerts

I regret that I will not be able to see the free show of the Decemberists and Gomez on Tuesday night. It goes too late and I am planning on seeing The Greencards at 7am on Wednesday (yes... AM) and it will involve city busses to avoid parking headaches so it's an early one. If you want to see the Decemberists and Gomez free, be at Waterloo Records on Monday at 10AM - one ticket per person.

Some other (free) highlights for the week: Gary Louris and Mark Olsen (ex-Jayhawks), Shearwater, hopefully Sarah Jarosz, Or The Whale, Ben Sollee, Hot Club of Cowtown, Billy Harvey, Fastball, sooo many more. Just reading through the lists of band names is entertaining, band names are just funny. Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Shitty Carwash. Ringo Deathstarr. Olympic Ass-Kickin' Machine.

Yes, this town does celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but it's eclipsed by all the rest of it... or rather... it's mixed in. Hoping that great weather will be there as promised.

Here's one for MandoMama

This is from Mandolin Mayhem, the benefit show (for Juvenile Diabetes) that happened on Sunday. Some of the best players you will hear anywhere, and all mandolins! It was wonderful. If you want to see more, I took one more video: check it out here.

My love for mandolin, this is all Chris Thile's fault. I don't play, so I'm just a fangirl and enabler (good term, MM). Kym asked if I thought it was too many mandolins at once, and I said I couldn't imagine there being too many mandolins. Thinking about that later, I do think I've seen too many guitars on stage at once. I think that's because electric guitar players (even when they play acoustic) seem to be more likely to be all about their own solos and less about playing WITH the others... so more is not better in that case. One or two is great. Five can be overwhelming and muddy. Players with a bluegrass background seem to be used to the handoffs and sharing the spotlight. Does that make sense?

Anyway, this is the second annual Mandolin Mayhem and now one of my favorite recurring events in Austin.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Mandolins, fiddles, guitars (banjo too)

Friday was The Greencards' show at Threadgill's. We have missed them since they moved to Nashville. We don't get to see them very often. They were afraid that people might have forgotten them here. Not so. The place was packed with fans and friends.

Sarah Jarosz opened. Her set was wonderful. The most surprising thing about Sarah over the years has been they way her voice has developed. Her playing (mandolin and banjo) is incredible, of course, but that was apparent way back when. Anyway, she covered a Patty Griffin song ("Be Careful") and did it absolute justice. We were floored. We are big fans of Patty, her perfect voice and amazing songs. Sarah's big announcement was that she's just been signed to Sugar Hill Records, and will be cutting a record with Gary Paczosa(puh-CHO-zuh) as Producer, who is known for working with Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Dixie Chicks, Tim O'Brien, and many more, including The Greencards.

It was a fantastic show, and The Greencards had a couple of new songs for us, never before heard in Austin. The new songs always amaze me, they are always so good and instantly likable. ("catchy tunes"). Also, I got introduced from the stage... so that's an honor that I don't often get. This is a nice bunch of folks! Here's video of The Greencards' finale with Sarah and Warren Hood (Hoodlums, Waybacks) onstage.

Saturday was a house concert (Prostate Cancer Awareness) benefit for Van Wilks, and I have video from that too, but it will need to process, and I want to get permission from Van beforehand too. This was the first of two benefits, with the next one being at Antone's on June 8 (and will include Eric Johnson). Today, Sunday, is Mandolin Mayhem, so more about that after the fact. The weather has turned beautiful, after 2 of the hottest, muggiest days of the year.

So we are benefit-poor from this weekend, but I managed to win tickets on KUT to see Cherryholmes next Sunday night, which will follow another Greencards show up in Pflugerville in the afternoon. It can sure get busy around here.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

These week in the venues - Favorites playing

Just catching up here with a quick post on our shows this week. Thursday was The South Austin Jug Band at Shady Grove. It was a free show, and we managed to get some decent seats this time (hard to do at Shady these days). I took this video that features Brian Beken (fiddle), Matt Mefford (bass) and Dennis Ludiker (mandolin). The one little spot in there where it sounds muffled is where a butt eclipses the microphone, but it's not a total eclipse and doesn't last long. I don't know the name of this song. Dennis, on the far end there, just won the Texas State Fiddle Championship. James Hyland (kind of the band leader but not in this video clip) announced it by saying that when you win something in Texas, you get a belt buckle. Brian is also an outstanding player on fiddle, mando and guitar too. I am amazed at how many great players there are around here. The Jug Band is still evolving with new vibes mixed with the old.

Dennis will be playing at Mandolin Mayhem at Threadgill's next Sunday with Sarah Jarosz and Kym Warner of The Greencards (who are playing there on Friday) and I'm sure there will be guests too, so we're looking forward to that.

Saturday night it was Del Castillo at Antone's, (pictured are guitarist brothers Rick and Mark del Castillo) and I don't think I've ever seen the band having such fun on stage. It was a fantastic show, and I'm so glad we went, even with the 5 hours of standing on concrete that is included in an Antone's show (the music takes the pain away). All the regular fans/friends were there at stage-side so it was nice to see everybody. Same thing for Shady Grove. We see friends everywhere we go.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Good on ya, Greencards!

The Greencards have had another stellar year of doing nothing but touring, burning out the van, working their asses off, and always coming up smiling. They have just gotten their first-ever Grammy nomination, so it's a big cause for celebration. We always believed in them. Always. Now I hope they win (it's for Best Country Instrumental for the song Mucky the Duck, and it's a fiery acoustic number that's unbelievably good. Listen to it on their MySpace. They're offering a free download Christmas song on there now. It's a handmade gift.

Weekend roundup

We're having a really nice weekend, some great music, and getting to visit with people we haven't seen in awhile. The Greencards (who might as well be called "Two Aussies and a Brit" as often as it's used in the media to describe them) were in town on Thursday, playing at the Saxon Pub. Seeing them now is a rare delight since they haven't been playing as much in Austin. We took this video, which is missing the first couple of seconds, but no matter -- it is just some amazing playing! That's Robbie Gjersoe on guitar.

Warren Hood opened for them (with Willie Pipkin, ex-Jug Band), and also sat in with them for a few numbers. He tells us that The Greencards are going to be on the Waybacks record that's being made right now -- and sure enough, if you go to the Waybacks site there are pics of the recording session that includes not only The Greencards but The Infamous Stringdusters as well -- all fueled up with brew and singing at the same time. It must have been a real harmonic convergence. I'm sure it will sound great and not anything like what we used to do at parties when I was in my 20s -- tape ourselves in a big group singing while drunk. Usually not a good idea if you aren't musically talented while sober, the booze only makes you think you sound good. Not the case with these guys, they are top-notch musicians to the last man and woman.

We hung around afterward to visit a little (actually it was about an hour), and also got to say Hi to a few others hanging around that we are more or less acquainted with, like Kara Grainger (another Austin-centric Aussie who we've met a couple of times -- very up-and-coming, you should definitely check her out... think 20-something Bonnie Raitt) and Kevin Connor from ME Television and KUT radio (previously KGSR radio). We have crossed paths with Kevin on quite a few occasions and for many reasons. We also saw lots of people we know at the shows, just big Greencards fans -- mostly ones who go back a few years back like us. An evening of great music, hugs, and rousing conversation.

Friday we were wiped out from going to bed at midnight and getting up at 5 for work, so we recovered that day (we are old, and require more repair time than some of you youngins). Not really soaring with the eagles on Friday.

Saturday evening there was a nice house party at Van Wilks' house. Lots of musicians at that one too, several that we know. It's great to hear the stories, sit around little "campfires" on a nice cool evening, great snacks, good jams on the stage and elsewhere. The stories are always priceless. So another evening of music, hugs and good conversation.

I am still buried in work, and working every day, but making an effort to fit in more personal time. I am turning down work left and right, and it breaks my heart because I really want to do some of these projects, but I've really got to step back for awhile. Life is too important.

Big State - Lovett or leave it

Another excursion out into the Wild Red Yonder. It was an adventure! We've never driven to College Station from Austin before and were relying on Google to get us there (not having learned our lesson from last weekend). Bless their little googly hearts, the route indicated was the shortest possible in miles, but was heavy on the back-road usage, and had a couple of non-existent or completely unmarked roads in there. After lots of turning around and doubling back, we made it to the Big State Festival in about 3.5 hours. It being afternoon when we left home, we got there in time to catch the final act of the day, which was Lyle Lovett.

Actually it was a choice between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Lyle... [rant] but the sound on the opposing stage was turned up so loud that we were front rail for Lyle -- right in the front of the stage-right speakers -- and had major sound bleedover. This festival was put together by the same people who do the ACL Festival, and obviously they don't know how NOT to do this, or they don't care. Not only that, the band before Skynyrd was still playing at equal volume when LS started and it was allowed to continue, creating (even from the front rail of the opposite end of the grounds) an ugly cacaphony. I've seen them pull the plug on bands doing that at ACL, and that's what's got to happen. Then figure out how to have more than one band playing intentionally at the same time without ruining one of them, or both. The beer was all corporate, the kind that the USA is infamous for. We DO have some good beer in Texas. Really. [/rant]

We've met Lyle. A couple of years back during South-by he was sitting in with the morning radio concert/party down at the Four Seasons, so there he is sitting on a couch, and there you are sitting nearby, and we're all just watching great bands in a living room setting, drinking coffee and having pastries. The Greencards were playing there one morning, so we went down to see them -- he looked over and me and smiled real big while they were playing! He was enjoying it. And afterward he got up and gave Carol a hug and chatted. He was having a good time. Here's a shot taken at that event, one that used to be on their website... and ahem... while I'm at it, here's my own mug with the man who needs no nametag. Oh yea, and Robert Earl Keen played there that morning too. Oh yea, it only cost $5 and included Continental breakfast. I love SXSW. I surely do.OK, enough reminiscing about 2005...aaaah. Back to Big State Festival. After another 3 hour drive home even after abandoning Google's advice (we seemed unable to be able to even one one correct turn), I don't see any need to go to it next year. I still prefer clubs and intimate settings, good quality listening and performance situations, to the big festivals.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Road to Austin, with stop in Pflugerville

Another music weekend here in Austin, Texas. That's every weekend really. More like every day, but when the weather is perfect and the shows are free...

The big "Road to Austin" concert was on Saturday. It went from 7:00 to 10:30, and since they were using a fantastic "house band" for backup there were no breaks in the show. Just continuous music with people on and off the stage. People who played:

• Stephen Bruton
• Bonnie Raitt
• Kris Kristofferson
• Eric Johnson
• Bob Schneider
• Delbert McClinton
• Joe Ely
• Malford Milligan
• David Grissom
• Carolyn Wonderland
• Ruthie Foster
• Joel Guzman & Sarah Fox
• Bobby Whitlock (Derek and the Dominoes) & Coco Carmel
• Ian McLagan (Faces, Small Faces)
• James Hand
• Stephen Barber
• "Scrappy" Jud Newcomb
• Yoggie Musgrave
• Ephraim Owens
• Brannen Temple
• Chris Maresh
• Tosca String Quartet
• Raul Salinas
• Lisa Hayes
• ...and more

It was all about Stephen Bruton, who is recovering from his throat cancer treatments. I really missed hearing his very distinctive voice, but it was great to see and hear him playing, especially with all these people that he shares history with. He was a bandmember of Bonnie Raitt's, Kristofferson's, Delbert McClinton's, Bob Schneider's, and probably a few I don't know about. He's also a producer, songwriter, and as a solo artist has recorded with plenty of folks. His bio is a mile long.

Highlights were seeing certain people together: Bonnie and Delbert, Kristofferson and Bruton, Eric Johnson and David Grissom jamming on Layla with Bobby Whitlock, Bonnie and Ruthie Foster Angel From Montgomery duet, Eric Johnson's techs running the show with Jeff Van Zandt's dog Trixie stealing the show a couple of times.

It was a corporate-staged event, sponsored by Freescale, but that was overcome by the camaraderie of the community on stage, and the people in attendance who don't want to lose another treasured musician.

Newspaper coverage of the event.

Day 2, Sunday, was much more laid-back as we went to the Deutschen Pfest in Pflugerville to see The Greencards (and work their merch table). Incredibly, here is a band now too popular for Threadgill's, the Saxon Pub, and many other Austin venues, playing before a small crowd of Pflugerville Pfairgoers and a pfew diehard pfans pfor a mere pfee of $3. Sorry!! I can't go to Pflugerville without putting a "p" in pfront of all the "f"s afterward. Sort of like being compelled to talk like a pirate after a viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean. Anyway, they played for 3 hours in beautiful weather, sold merch like hotcakes, then headed down to Gruene Hall for much more of a high-profile gig. Too short of a visit, and we probably won't see them again until November. Always hate to see them go, but they live on the road.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Raitt - Bruton

The Ides of March

We've been soaking in music vibes for a week now, but the real party started today as we are not setting the alarm clock for 5:00 a.m. anymore this week (as though I actually have to set it. I have a cat who's been making sure I got up to feed him every morning at 4:00. Luckily he does not observe Daylight Savings, so he's been allowing me to sleep until it's nearly time for the 5:00 alarm).

Let's see... last Tuesday was The Greencards' CD release at Waterloo Records. That was a great little show followed by a "real" show at Threadgill's on Saturday where it was sold out, with a big line of people waiting to get in. A great show! The following day we had the treat of going to Mandolin Mayhem, which was pretty crowded too but very laid-back. Here's Dennis Ludiker, Kym Warner, and that's young Sarah Jarosz playing behind her head! What a bunch of fantastic players. I never get enough mandolin music these days. Warren Hood also sat in for a few, and also Alex Rueb of the Grassy Knoll Boys (now if THAT's not a great bluegrass band name, I don't know what is).

Tonight (Tuesday) was our first night of SXSW. I do more extensive coverage later on when it's over. For now, I am keeping scratchy notes to help me remember all the people I see. In 5 hours we saw about 9 artists. Kara Grainger, Sonny Throckmorton and Brett Dennen are my highlights. Kara Grainger is a name to watch, I believe. She's an Aussie but she said she might move here!

Tomorrow we will start around 2:00 p.m. and maybe go until midnight (with kitty-cat-care breaks I'm sure). Off to bed now. More on this madness soon.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - SXSW

Mandolin Mayhem. My favorite kind.

Here's an event happening in Austin this Sunday at 2:00 pm, Mother Egan's. Click the poster to enlarge and read more details.

Sarah Jarosz is a 15 year old mando phenom. She has a MySpace now so you can give her a listen there. Kym Warner is with The Greencards and Dennis Ludiker is with the South Austin Jug Band. He's also a champion fiddler, and here's his MySpace for a quick listen.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

One puff piece after another

Found this pic over on Fark, they were asking for captions. Blogging here at Texas Oasis might be sporadic or just light and fluffy for a couple of weeks due to my workload -- everybody trying to get ready for South-by-Southwest (SXSW), and then me personally trying to get ready. I have spreadsheets to fill out! Plus people are asking ME for advice on stuff going on and I am no authority on that. The Greencards have a CD release on Tuesday, and I need to gush about their new album... it's amazing. Everybody needs things updated before the big shebang, and Duncan will need another vet visit if they can fit him in. It was a busy weekend with a great bluegrass show Friday night, and my friend celebrated turning 50 on Saturday. That "turning 50" business is going around.

I will be visiting my usual haunts and leaving a comment here and there (Beep Beep, I tried to join the discussion on your bone thread but my comments must have burnt up in fire and brimstone as they never appeared -- sniffle--).

March madness begins

I've been just spinning away in my hamster wheel, have to stay caught up with work so I can clear my schedule for the annual insanity in Austin known as SXSW (South by Southwest, March 9-18) plus the events already on the schedule for this week and next. Tomorrow Doyle Bramhall II (one of Eric Clapton's guitarists, raised in Austin on Stevie Ray Vaughan's knee) will be at Waterloo Records. After that we might go over and see the Mother Truckers.

Friday it's the Infamous Stringdusters and the South Austin Jug Band at the Cactus so that will be a night of hot-pickin' bluegrass. Outstanding!!

Next week The Greencards return and their new CD gets released!! (and let me tell you... I've had it for a couple of months, and it is FANTASTIC! More on specifics later) There's a Waterloo show and a regular show at Threadgill's. Patty Griffin has a Waterloo in-store the day after The Greencards have theirs.

The week after is when we get really busy. There are thousands of bands coming to town from all over the world. Yes, that's right, thousands (plus quite a number of movie stars & directors for the film events). I spend a few weeks making my spreadsheet of events, and end up following about half of it. More often than not, it's like "let's go in here! this band sounds good".

We mainly do the day shows, parties and in-stores, mostly the free and almost free stuff. We still end up with 8-12 hours of music a day even without official showcases, and this year we will have to check in at the homestead more often to medicate and feed the fur-babies. And maybe even take naps. Sleep is a luxury item we are not going to have.

The music junkie tries to narrow it down

Best concerts of the year! It's a tough one coming from the "live music capital of the world", I logged in 56 concerts, but count a day at a festival as "1" so it's skewed on the low end, I could add another 50 or more shows if I counted each festival show.

I will try to narrow down some highlights, and there are too many highlights to bother mentioning stuff that didn't impress me or a "worst list".

Top of the list is being on the front rail for the Rolling Stones at Zilker Park. It takes the entire SXSW music week to equal the intensity of that one. The rest are in no particular order. A lot of what makes them the best is purely personal. Sometimes it's a band I know or work for, and sometimes it's just the quality of the experience, the venue, and/or all of the above.

Saw James Hunter twice, but I have to go for that short acoustic show at Waterloo Records sitting cross-legged three feet away from him and his abbreviated band. He is really growing on me.

The Greencards at Momo's for SXSW, I have never heard them play any better than that, it was just smokin'. Saw them a few times, but that's the pick.

Nickel Creek: they played unplugged behind Yard Dog for SXSW where the audience is about a foot away (back up or you might get a fiddle bow in the eye!), and that was awesome!! Neil Young was nearby in the audience. They also played a fantastic sold-out show at Gruene Hall a couple of days later, I never saw them play any better than that. They played until the house pulled power, get on home now. Fantastic. Click on the Nickel Creek label for more posts on this band.

Steve Wynn and the Miracle Three are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. Check them out. Saw them several times at SXSW.

It was pretty sweet seeing Rosanne Cash at Waterloo Records.

Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar (with guest Redd Volkaert) at the Cactus Cafe. Great show in a great venue, and nice to chat with Sonny for a minute while he signed an autograph. A show at the Cactus is like seeing someone in a living room.

South Austin Jug Band, it's hard to decide between their show at ACL and the one right before at Mean-Eyed Cat in the drizzling rain. You get a dancing audience for them and it charges things up, mud, dust, sweat and all.

Clifford Antone's memorial at his club was about a 12 hour show and we only did 7-8 hours so we missed Eric Johnson (my favorite guitar player in the world) but did see an incredible heartfelt tribute. More here.

Eric Johnson, I have to pick the Antone's show with Ant B (a little extra jazz fusion flavor than usual), Mike Keller and Double Trouble, with honorable mention to a bluesier show 2 weeks previous with Keller, DT and Malford. Made extra special by having the opportunity to introduce Jeen Lilly to Eric. More here.

Calexico at Emo's, great venue for them, very up close and informal. They played Garden Ruin and more, and were super friendly at the autograph table.

Del Castillo... I'd have to pick the back-to-back nights at Antone's in July. Monte Montgomery strapped on an electric guitar and played with the electrified DC bros for the encore. I'll bet you never saw THAT before. Thought not.

You may find more pictures of these events here.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music