Anytime I hear a song I've never heard or read the name of a band that's new to me, I jot it down wherever I can find. Sometimes I forget it, and I'll later find a modge-podge of random song titles, band names or even a few lyrics scribbled on a piece of paper in my car, bedroom or desk, or on a note in my phone, work computer or laptop.
Earlier this week I found this pile of notes and one of the names on it was Slow Rollin' Lows. Normally I can sort of track down and remember where I heard or read about something, but this one beats me. (Sorry if you told me about this band and I'm not giving you the credit.)
I normally check bands out on Spotify first and listen to a few songs before visiting their website and eventually buying their CD. I'm pretty hooked on this band now, even if I have no earthly idea how I found out about them.
I don't care what day of the week it is, you can never go wrong with Steve Earle. I Ain't Ever Satisfied: The Steve Earle Collection is easily one of my most listened to albums, thanks to my sister who turned me on to it years ago. If we are ever in the car together for more than 30 minutes, you can bet big money these songs will be played. He's one of our heros.
Because I live under a rock, I had never heard of Jeff Whitehead until last weekend when K Phillips tweeted me a picture of this koozie.
I had to have the koozie because I collect them and I love biscuits. K was playing keys for Jeff at the Office opening for another band. I knew I wouldn't make it early enough to see them but I HAD to have that koozie. So we showed up at about 1:30, missed both bands, but praise the Lord, K had saved me a koozie. I also got Jeff's new single and his CD that came out in '11. I'm loving them both. Hopefully they'll be back soon and I can actually see the band.
Here's the single, "Miles Down the Road." Buy it, love it, call your station and request it.
PS - I finally got to see K Phillips & The Concho Pearls a few weekends ago and I've been meaning to review the show and just haven't gotten around to it. They were everything I'd hoped for - just a great show all around. They'll be at the Blue Light again this Saturday night opening for Sons of Fathers (also a great live show) so get yourself out there, get a a badass Pinterest project t-shirt and have a good time.
I have not adjusted to this new schedule yet, so here is a late post for ya. This probably won't be the last time you hear about these from me though.
1.
I haven't listened to all of this one yet, but I've been waiting for it for forever. I love what I've heard so far. If you love West Texas - you MUST give this one a listen.
2.
Haven't bought this one yet, but it is on my list. Another West Texas girls' staple.
3.
And finally, I feel like I have been waiting on this one for a coon's age. Lucius has been my favorite Uncle for a long time and I love this band more with every concert. Their second album, Pick Your Head Up is one of my all-time favorites. It is the type where if one song comes up on shuffle, I have to stop and listen to the entire album on repeat for days. I have listened to And You Are Me a few times today and already feel like it could be the same way.
So there ya have it. I have officially spent more money on music than books this semester and I'm completely OK with that.
PS - I am currently sitting outside listening to the new Dirty River Boys CD, thanks to the beauty that is Kickstarter. All I can say after being about 3/4 of the way through it is - HOLY SHIT.
"Back to school, back to school to prove to dad I'm not a fool..."
Lord knows I need all the help I can get.
People of all ages went back to school today across Texas. I embrace this time of year because it means football tailgate season and the return of awesome concerts and festivals along with all the students coming back to town.
I think this song is pretty fitting and I couldn't agree more.... "They say that college is the best days of your life, so why would you wanna graduate?"
I've never heard of Cody Jinks until I heard this song, which has been played and requested on the radio here constantly over the past few weeks. I adore this song. It's simple, straight-forward and has a good message and theme that everyone can relate to. I listened to a some more of this guy's music when I was trying to find this song and I'm a fan so far. I'm pretty sure he could be Jamey Johnson's brother. And how can you not love a guy whose band is called the Tonedeaf Hippies and the first line of the bio reads: "Conceived in a honky tonk long, long ago, Cody now makes his living in them." Awesome.
I cannot be trusted in Hastings. They have a Texas music section and I always wind up grabbing random CDs and spending way more money than I have business spending. That happened to me a couple summers ago and one of the CDs I grabbed was Charlie Shafter's 17th and Chicago. I had only heard his name, didn't really know anything about him or any of his music, but after listening to the first song, "Not My Girl," and a few spins of the entire album later, I've been hooked ever since.
Shafter's new self-titled album came out today and I've been listening to it all day at work. I know I harp on people all the time about how important it is to BUY music and I highly encourage you to buy this and really listen to it, you won't be sorry. I usually "try it out" on Spotify at first, listening at work to see if anything jumps out at me. Then when I go home, if I find myself wanting to hear more I'll buy the whole album. I probably would have bought this one after the first listen but sadly after blowing all my money over weekend it will have to wait till payday. So you can place bets now on what I'll be doing first thing Friday morning.
I got the chance to see Shafter at Blue Light Friday night (after an awesome performance from the one and only Screamin' K Phillips and his band The Concho Pearls). I flew solo that night and ended up knowing what felt like everybody there. It was my first time seeing both bands and I was impressed with everything I heard and so was everybody else I talked to. Great night all-in-all!
(I think this is my favorite song so far. But that's all I'm giving you - go buy it for yourself now.)
I swear I planned on posting about this album for several days, then I sat down this morning and saw that a few other blogs beat me to it today (SCM, TN). That always happens to me. I feel like I'm either a copy cat or just playing catch-up. I guess it's not a bad thing because that means people like good music and I would have never heard it in the first place if there wasn't some sort of a buzz going around about it.
I've been listening to the new Corb Lund album, Cabin Fever, a little bit here and there, but when one of my friends asked specifically if I'd heard the song "Bible On the Dash" with Hayes Carll that I really sat down and listened to it and appreciated it. I'd always heard of Corb Lund, the Canadian songwriter that has a respectable fan-base in Texas and Americana music, wrote "Time to Switch to Whiskey" (Kyle Bennett Band) but I'd never listened to more than a few songs. It's time for that to change because I think I have a new love. I may be the Arrogant Texan, but I appreciate good music in any form or fashion and Corb Lund's brand of Canadian country fits the bill.
I don't know if it's possible to pick an absolute favorite from the new Turnpike album, but I do know that every time I listen to it, I start and end with "Good Lord Lorrie." I am thrilled that it's their next single because it will be played a lot, probably go to #1 and definitely be in the Top 5 at 5 on my drive home every day for who knows how long. I'll never get sick of hearing this.
I'm a big fan of words. If you know me, you know this is true. I talk a lot, I write a lot, and I listen to a lot of music - not always for the pretty voices or instruments, but for the words. It amazes me how some writers put words together. Some great writers don't just write lyrics, but poems, stories and novels as well. Today's throwback is a very random choice, but it comes from a man who made a life putting words together. An accomplished musician, lyricist, poet, artist, screenwriter, and author…..Shel Silverstein did it all. Do yourself a favor and read up on this guy. If you don't recognize his name, maybe you'll recognize this:
He has touched many lives with his work.
One of his most famous songs was "A Boy Named Sue", made famous by Johnny Cash. Here is Shel appearing on "The Johnny Cash Show."
Next, here is one of Shel's song, sung by Willie Nelson.
And lastly, for any of you that are partial to the drug induced, rock and roll party of the '70s, this is for you! This song, along with a lot of Dr. Hook's songs, were written by Mr. Silverstein.
If you haven't jumped on the Trishas bandwagon yet - you better catch up. I'll admit, it took me a while. It takes a lot of warming up for me to decide to listen to a bunch of chicks singing. But this isn't your typical chick music and even some of the toughest male critics are calling this one of the best albums of 2012 from any genre.
I'm headed to the lake this weekend with my sister and some cousins. We are staying in their camper for a few days and doing nothing but drink beer and play on the water. I just threw together this playlist since yesterday's post about Creager had me Jonesin' for some old school Texas Country. Music like this is perfect for the lake because everyone knows these songs, loves them, and they just tend to set the mood for a fun day.
I heard the new Roger Creager song "Crazy Again" yesterday morning, and to be honest, I could hardly tell it apart from his last song. Honestly, I miss good ole everclear-having-fun-all-wrong-things-look-good-around-here-Creager. But I guess I shouldn't speak until I've listened to the entire Surrender album.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you know that since their show on the acoustic stage at Larry Joe Taylor's Music Festival in April, Josh Weather's and the True Endeavors have taken Texas music by storm. I wrote about it here and I know several other websites have posted the video and gone on and on about how good Josh is. He took me by surprise at LJT so last Thursday night was my first time to see him that I was actually mentally prepared for what was about to take place.
I didn't know what type of crowd to expect. Blue Light is tough in the summer because a lot of the biggest music fans are out of town. Plus, unless these people invest as much time in finding new music as I do or were at LJT, they may not even know who Josh Weathers is because he isn't even played on the radio in Lubbock yet. The crowd was small, but I could tell right off the bat that there was a few handfuls of people who knew what was coming. I tweeted that I was almost as excited to watch the reactions from people who came unknowingly as I was to watch the band.
Charlie Stout opened the show and there was a short break before Josh came on. I was so giddy and excited I could barely stand the wait. I couldn't help but laugh at the people attempting to two-step... they were clearly the ones who didn't have a clue what was about to happen. Finally Josh and the Endeavors took the stage and kicked off with a bluesy "Fishin' in the Dark," and went into "Better Days." I don't think he was expecting to get such an awesome response from the crowd. A small group instantly clung to the front of the stage and sang along with their hands in the air and hooped and hollered in between songs. Then Josh brought out the harmonica for his new song "Keep On," which was all pretty and happy and uplifting.
The stage-crowd started to crow a little more and I found myself on the front row before too long. I've said before how amazing Josh Weathers is at engaging the crowd and keeping them focused on him and entertained. I mean, the man got a standing ovation at the acoustic stage at Larry Joe Taylor. This guy just has that quailty about him. He could control an entire arena, but he has found his place in little bars in Texas. He called us all out when he tried to get us to clap along, and said "all you white people - this is called soul clappin'!" and got us all clapping along as he took us all into a great cover. I'm feeling pretty lame now because I texted my friend saying he covered Alan Jackson, then I was fact-checking and realized "Summertime Blues" is NOT a country song. Sorry, I'm a child of the '90s, what do you expect? But for the majority of the crowd who did grow up in the '90s, this was so much fun.
After a few more songs, the rest of the band left Josh on stage to do a few songs acoustic which included lots of covers - and oh yes.... Josh Weathers totally Rick Rolled everyone at Blue Light. He loves him some '80s jams. I know this because he told us. I didn't know any of these songs. Sorry.
And of course he belted out the long-awaited "I Will Always Love You" that gave me goosebumps even in my drunkenness in the 90-something degree weather back in April that led to a standing ovation and hundreds of new super-fans like me. And let me tell you, I have watched every iPhone video of this on YouTube since then, and what I saw the other night was the best one yet. Maybe because it was live and he was an arm's-length away or maybe because I was in my favorite place in the world, but I swear, it was the best one yet.
I swear I wasn't trying to stick my phone up Josh Weathers' nose. I couldn't figure out how to zoom out! By the way, I wanted to tell the crowd to shut up. But if I hadn't had my mouth a few inches away from my phone I would have been woowooooing the entire time.
After that, the rest of the band came back up and this was when shit got real. I have never been so captivated or seen the crowd as into the band before in my life. Josh has a true gift. He can work a crowd. He covered "Big Night in the City" and climbed up on top of the amp and got the entire crowd - not just the stage-crowders, even the people in the back of the bar - to sing along and repeat verses. We even whispered a few verses of "Hey! Baby" back to him. It was so cool to see the entire crowd interacting like that.
Josh Weathers - rapping.
I'm pretty sure he played for at least two hours. He could have played till 7 a.m. and everyone would have stayed right there. After singing a very very fun "Proud Mary" for Lance the birthday boy, everybody started chanting "11 more songs!" which always cracks me up. Another thing to love about Blue Light. He played a few songs I don't remember and then he rapped. Yes, he rapped. Not real sure what this was all about, but I loved it. I think I missed something here because some other guy got on stage and rapped some too. This whole shebang was so unanticipated, it got the crowd even more worked up then I thought possible.
Josh finished up by playing some more of his own songs and at some point was laying on the ground singing - he is just balls to the wall non-stop. On the last song everyone started slinging beer and the crowd demanded an encore and he obliged. The front of the stage was packed with all kinds of people. Blue Light regulars, Josh Weathers fans, and people who had never heard of him before. We were like one big happy family. I have been to the Blue Light so many times and have never experienced anything close to this. I promise I am not exaggerating. I have seen several posts on Facebook and Twitter from people who were there who said the same thing.
Since that night, when people have asked me how it was, I answer, "I can't even describe it. It was just an experience you'll have to see for yourself." Which is so true. Everyone was dancing and singing and slinging beer. It was something you only see in movies and wish you could be a part of; these things don't happen in real life. But I'm still not convinced Josh Weathers is real life. I'm pretty sure he is a God. If you don't believe me, check out him out at your earliest convenience and get hypnotized yourself.
I'm still working on digesting and re-capping what happened at Blue Light last night with Josh Weathers. Just warning you, it will be a long post. I'm only half-way through and it was a long show, but one of the best I've ever seen ever anywhere. It's taking me a while to write and I haven't even uploaded the pictures yet so that will have to wait till Monday.
In the meantime, here is some music I've been listening to this week that I heard about through millions of posts on Twitter and Facebook that I thought I'd pass along as well. I don't think these bands could be more opposite, but I switch it up a lot.
Maybe I'm one of those people who thinks Ryan Bingham can do no wrong, but I can't help but love this song despite all the flak he's caught in the past few days. I haven't heard much more other than that some fans are disappointed in this more upbeat rock-based song. But it's just one song so I'm interested to hear the rest of the album. I liked Junky Star but it was a little dull for my taste. I prefer Mescalito and Roadhouse Sun any day so I personally hope he's getting back to that sound. What do you think? This video idea is pretty great too.
