Band of Heathens CD and DVD Release Party

One of the hottest band in Texas is Austin's own The Band of Heathens! The Heathens are made up of singers/songwriters/guitar-pickers Colin Brooks, Gordy Quist and Ed Jurdi, bassist Seth Whitney and drummer John Chipman. If you are not famliar with the Band of Heathens they are bringing a fresh unique style of music with the rhythm and harmonies blended with a country rock feel. If you live in the San Antonio area you need to make plans to be at Sam's Burger Joint on Friday the 29th for their CD and DVD Release Party!

Check out The Band of Heathens' web site or MySpace sites.
Check out Sam's Burger Joint web site

Live Wilco Broadcast Tonight!

Wilco is at the end of their 5 nights run of live shows in Chicago at Riviera Theatre in which they are covering their whole catalog of stuff they have recorded. If I lived in Chicago this where I would be. Tonight's (Feb. 19th) show will be broadcast live at 93 XRT on line. Check WilcoBase for the set lists of the previous nights.

New Texas/ Red Dirt Music CD Releases

Austin Collins - Roses Are Black
Release Date: Feburary 26, 2008

Austin Collins is one of my favorite upcoming Texas Music artists. His debut CD "Something Better" was a true gem and really look forward to hearing this new album. Tracks are: 1) 11 Months 2) Broken 3) Witching Hour 4) Roses Are Black 5) Out Loud 6) Unapology 7) Bridge Street Lullaby 8) Can't Say This At Home 9)Eight Dollar Thrills 10) Today 11) House Without Windows 12) Goodbye Houston

Visit Austin Collins' MySpace to listen to six tracks from the upcoming Roses Are Black

Pre order Roses Are Black here

Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind
Release Date: April 8, 2008

Hayes is one of the top songwriters out there and his break out album "Little Rock" was an awesome CD. I am looking forward to listening to Hayes new album.

Tracks are as follows: 1) Drunken Poet's Dream 2) It's A Shame 3) Girl Downtown 4) Bad Liver And A Broken Heart 5) Beaumont 6) I Got A Gig 7) Faulkner Street 8) Wild As A Turkey 9) Don't Let Me Fall 10) A Lover Like You
11) I Don't Wanna Grow Up 12) Knockin' Over Whiskeys 13) Willing To Love Again 14) She Left Me For Jesus

Check out Hayes' MySpace Site

Pre order Trouble In Mind here

Willie Nelson Box Set

To celebrate Willie Nelson's upcoming 75th birthday (April 30th) Legacy Recordings is set to release a monumental 4 CD, 100-song box set that will cover all phases of Willie's 50 plus years in music called One Hell Of A Ride. It is set to arrive in stores on April 1, 2008 and will include any collection, recordings and performances taken from the entire career, no matter the record labels, of Willie Nelson. It will include rare early recordings like "When I've Sang My Last Hillbilly Song," which was recorded late 1954/early 1955 and "No Place For Me," which was recorded in 1957. The set will also include Willie's own early 1960s performances of "Night Life," "Funny How Time Slips Away" and "Crazy" as well as the mid '60s when he recorded with RCA and began to form his own sound of country, to the '70s when he formed his part in the outlaw country movement, as well as all the great collaborations with Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Roger Miller, Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Julio Iglesias, and many more. Also included will be the covers he did with his signature sound like: Fred Neil's "Everybody'sTalkin'," Fred Rose's "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho & Lefty," Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" and "Georgia On My Mind,” and others. This I believe as shocking as it may be will be the first ever Willie Nelson box set and will be like an audio history book of sorts. It will be a must to own for all music lovers, as Willie is one of the most influential artists in country music.

CD Review: Drew Kennedy - Dollar Theatre Movie

Drew Kennedy 's second album and debut album with Kerrville based label Sustain Records. With thirteen strong songs, all which are written or co-written by Drew, Dollar Theatre Movie is a great album that takes a great blend of instruments like the banjo, mandolin, fiddle, pedal steel and slide guitars, B3 organ, piano, and others that can be heard though out the album and all provide a great complement to Drew's strong baritone voice. A few of favorite songs are "One To Blame", "Ramblin' Heart", "Baytown", "New Me", and "The Last Waltz", however don't get me wrong there is no bad song on this album. This album will surely go a long way in Drew's continuing growth in what will sure to be a long successful musical career. I highly recommend Dollar Theatre Movie to any music lover. Go buy it today! Also check him out at a live show, for my readers that live in the San Antonio area you can check him out a couple of times at Sam's Burger Joint on Feb. 23rd when he opens for Ryan James and then on March 19th when his band headlines.

Check out other dates and info on his web site or MySpace.
Click here to order Dollar Theatre Movie

White Stripes "Conquest" CD

On Tuesday Febuary 12th The White Stripes will be selling a five track CD that includes "Conquest" and all of the B-sides that were recorded with Beck. This will sold exclusively at Best Buy. Here are the track listing:

1. Conquest

2. It's My Fault For Being Famous

3. Cash Grab Complications On The Matter

4. Honey, We Can't Afford To Look This Cheap

5. Conquest (Acoustic Mariachi Version)

Bonnaroo 2008 Line Up

While I have yet to go to Bonnaroo, I would like to go one year and this years line up is great and maybe the year to go. Pearl Jam Metallia, Jack Johnson, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, The Allman Brothers, The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, Death Cab For Cutie, Drive By Truckers, Pat Green, Iron & Wine are a few of the bands on the line up I would want to see.
Check out there web site for the complete line up

ACL Tickets

On Feb. 2nd Zeke the ACL squirrel popped out of his hole with tickets to my favorite music festival, the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Tickets are now on sale buy them quick as the 1st price tier is already sold out and second level will sell out soon. ACL Festival is three days of music with 8 stages and 130 bands and is heald in Zilker Park in Austin,TX on September 26-28 2008. The artists/bands will be announced a couple of monthes from now, however the second tier level will most likely be sold out.

I have gotten my tickets, get your today by making a quick visit to the ACL web site to order your tickets.

Best Super Bowl Commercials

Part of the Super Bowl has become watching the commercials. With 30 sec spots going for I believe around 3 million this year you expect them to be good. This year I have to say was a better year for commercials than past years. Here is my Top 5 commercials this year.

1. Wine and Cheese Party - Bud Light

2. Clydedale Rocky trainning - Budweiser

3. Fav 5 - T-Mobile

4. Fire Breath - Bud Light

5. Shaq the Jockey - Vitamin Water

Missed any commercials view them on MySpace

Great Super Bowl

WOW!! Is all I can say! What a game the biggest upset in the NFL since probably Super Bowl III when the Jets beat the Colts. I had slim thought that the Giants would win after thinking the Giants would get blown out by first the Cowboys then the Packers and to watch them fall to the Giants the momentum of playing above their heads. I just thought that there was a slim chance this momentum could continue. I was still shocked when it happened.

Super Sunday

One of my favorite days of the year is here Super Bowl Sunday! A day of stuffing your face with bar bq, queso, wings, chips-dip and washing it all down with a few cold beers and hanging out with friends watching the 10 hours of pre game, the commericals, the half time which features Tom Petty this year and then the game itself. It's also the final meaningful game for the greatest game (football) and league (NFL) for about 5-6 month. So its bitter sweet! This year's Super Bowl will be a little tough to watch as I was expecting my Cowboys to be in it this year and also not liking either team. However it would be un-American not to watch the Super Bowl a take part in what should be a national holiday the Super Bowl.

Lone Star State Jam

As most of yall may know every year I go to the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Well thanks to my friend Dave Lytle at 4 1 5 Entertainment we finally have a new festival just for the Texas/Red Dirt Music scene it is called the Lone Star State Jam. It will be held on Saturday, April 26, 2008 at Waterloo Park in Austin. It will include two stages with over ten bands playing all day. The line up so far includes some top artists such as: Cross Canadian Ragweed - Eli Young Band - Cory Morrow - Roger Creager - Wade Bowen - Adam Hood - Ryan Turner Band - Ryan James - Bart Crow Band and more to be announced including another headliner.

Check out the official web site and MySpace site