RAY WYLIE HUBBARD

 

RAY WYLIE HUBBARD at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar 12-18-08

Did not catch his opening set but made it in time for set #2. Ray is always fun. He tells great stories between songs, very sharp witted and downright hilarious.
The 2nd set lasted about an hour. He was accompanied by a drummer and on lead guitar was his 15 year old son. Ray mentioned he had finals the next day & wasn't at home studying and something about the "child welfare" people!
Ray writes great songs about outlaws, misfits and those who live in the cracks. He also played the great sing-a-long anthem he wrote "Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother." We, as an audience, were pathetic. When it was our turn, all by ourselves, we failed miserably. As we were struggling along, Ray said "oh my God, tempo, people, tempo." Afterward, Ray said if we brought money to buy any of his cds to forget it and use it instead on a pitch/tone machine and a metronome!

MATT The ELECTRICIAN on KUT

http://kut.org/items/show/15147

This is a great version of Matt's new song "Animal Boy," played on the air at our local NPR station, KUT. Recorded on Tuesday, December 16th.
If you have time, listen to the rest of the show, very cool.

SCRAPPY JUD NEWCOMB and MATT THE ELECTRICIAN

 
 

MATT THE ELECTRICIAN at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar 12-16-08

Matt, along with Scrappy Jud Newcomb, did 2 sets in the afternoon at the Bazaar. I heard him for the first time a couple of weeks ago with his full band and I loved him. This show was more mellow but just as enjoyable. I like the way he writes. He can be quite humorous, bouncy, sad, contemplative...he does it all. His sound, with that little guitar and banjo he plays, is real distinct, also. Having Scrappy as your lead guitarist is a big bonus, too. That guy is great.
I was wondering who Matt reminded me of, and during one of his songs he went into Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," and I thought, yep, that's it.
Check out his music on his myspace page:
http://www.myspace.com/matttheelectrician
Listen to "Animal Boy" if you only have time for one song. He has a new record coming out in the spring. I know one song on it will be "In Osaka." It sounds great! You can listen to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVPdzSDaRlI&feature=channel_page

link to PETER HIMMELMAN'S show

PETER HIMMELMAN'S Show

Nothing to do with Austin but if you are a music lover you should watch this on the internet every Tuesday evening, 9pm central time.  It's a live show.  Nobody better live than this guy.  The ultimate in creativity.

SUZANNA CHOFFEL

SUZANNA CHOFFEL at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar 12-15-08

Monday afternoon brought Suzanna and her band to the bazaar.  This has been a breakout year for Suzanna.  She's toured quite a bit and is getting a pretty good following.  The critics in Austin believe she is the next Austin artist who is going to make it big.  We'll see.  For now, we'll all continue enjoying seeing her in these small, intimate rooms.

She has a voice that is soulful, bluesy, sultry and jazz inflected.  She handles the lead guitar and surrounds herself with great players who play instruments such as the vibraphone, bass clarinet and saxophone, synth and accordion.  It's a sound all her own.

Outside the old Armadillo

ARMADILLO CHRISTMAS BAZAAR

As I mentioned previously, this bazaar originally took place at the legendary club called Armadillo World Headquarters.  Back in the day, it was the place for live music.  Willie Nelson said it was the place where the rednecks, hippies, cowboys and misfits all came together.

Now at the bazaar held in the convention center, there are some old photos from the original bar.  Here's one of them.  Look at the young guy in the cutoffs.  Willie

TONI and RICH

TONI PRICE and RICH BROTHERTON

TONI PRICE at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar 12-14-08

The Armadillo Christmas Bazaar is a yearly event with the theme of "Live Music & Art Keep Austin Cool!"  It started 33 years ago as a honky-tonk bar shopping experience at the Armadillo World Headquarters but is now held at the Austin Convention Center.  Hence, the charm is not what it once was, but it is still one heck of an event.

You know, when I think of Toni, my first reaction is laughing.  Not sure if that's good or bad since she's a singer, but that's my reaction.  She is just so darn funny.

Sunday afternoon from 3:30-6:00 Toni and Rich Brotherton took the stage.  It's neat because you can shop and hear the performer throughout the hall or you can hang out at the stage to watch and listen.

Toni was Toni with her shots of Jack lined up on a little table.  One fan brought her a Jack and coke.  Toni winced and said "well, I guess I can spit the coke out!"  She took a sip from it, winced again and said "I need a strainer!"  She didn't sip out of that glass anymore.  I still can't get over how much whiskey she can put away.  

Later in the show she mentioned she had once gone home with an Armadillo.  We all were howling, Rich almost fell off his chair and she said "yep, that's the naked truth!"  It's like that the entire time she's on stage.  You never know what's going to come out of her mouth but it is always hilarious.

I put several of the songs she did on video and late in the show she played "Doubt If It Does To You."  It was stunning.   I guess you can say what you want about her drinking but it sure seems to work for her. 

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO

DAVID PULKINGHAM

SUSAN VOELZ

BRIAN STANDEFER and SUSAN VOELZ

KURT and SAMMY of the BODEANS

KENNY ARONOFF

BODEANS

TODD SNIDER and RICH BROTHERTON

TODD SNIDER

TIFT MERRITT

KGSR ANNIVERSARY SHOW, UT Ballroom 12-13-08

KGSR, Radio Austin, puts on this bash every year.  You can't buy tickets.  You have to win them.  For the first time since moving to Austin, I finally won!  In the past, I was happy listening to the live broadcast.

I'm not sure how many tickets they give away but would guess there were no more than a 1000 people in attendance.  They provide a free buffet and this year it was catered by The Salt Lick!  The Salt Lick is one of the top bbq joints around.  We had brisket, ribs, sausage, chicken and all the fixings!

The lineup was Tift Merritt, a surprise guest, the BoDeans  and then Alejandro Escovedo to close it out.

Tift was great.  I have her music and am a big fan but I hadn't seen her live before.  She's a very enthusiastic, hard working performer.  I don't know why but I expected her to come out, strum and sing her songs.  Couldn't have been more wrong.  She's quite animated, bouncing around the stage, blowing on a harmonica, playing the guitar and piano.  I would definitely recommend seeing her live.   She was backed by a 3 piece band.

Next up was the surprise guest.  We were floored when they introduced Todd Snider.  He has a brand new record out called Peace Queer.  It's very good.  Patty Griffin sings on several songs with him.  They do a killer version of the old Creedence classic, "Fortunate Son."  So Todd is one of those guys who must have words & rhymes popping in and out of his head constantly.  Many of his songs, while bringing home a point, can be hilarious along the way.  Todd brought out a surprise guest also.  He had the local, great guitar player Rich Brotherton come out & wail away on a couple of songs.  It was great!  

After Todd came the BoDeans.  While they were getting the BoDeans set up, we see Kenny Aronoff, the great rock drummer to the stars, come up on stage and start adjusting the drum set. I almost died.  He really is one of the all time great drummers.  Needless to say, he drove the BoDeans and they put on a rocking, good show.  Not sure what happened to their regular drummer but to have Kenny "fill in," wow!

Next was Alejandro and he blew the roof off.  What can you say?  The guy has had quite the year and this was their last show of the year.  It was loud!  I think this is my 4th time seeing him this year and I never get bored.  His lead guitarist, David Pulkingham, is so, so good.  I think his drummer, Hector Munoz, is at the top of the deck along with Kenny.  Then you add the strings, Susan Voelz on violin and Brian Standefer on cello and it makes for quite a sound.

A couple of cool things happened at the end of the show.  For the encore they played the Stones' "Beast of Burden" and Alejandro had Jody Denberg, the heart and soul of KGSR, come up and sing it with him.  That was neat.  He also sang straight into my camera a few times as I was up and videoing.  Check it out on youtube.

I forgot to mention our seats.  It is a first come, first serve affair but we were a grand prize winner and therefore had 4 reserved, 2nd row, center seats.  We were maybe 5 feet away from the performers.  What a night!

RADNEY FOSTER

BETTYSOO sitting in with RADNEY FOSTER on "I'm In"

BETTYSOO

AUSTIN SONGWRITERS GROUP

AUSTIN SONGWRITERS GROUP Fundraiser at Gibson Guitar Showroom 12-12-08

This event was a first for me and a cool little thing it was.  I found out about it through BettySoo's email list.  

First of all, it was held at a place that is not open to the public.  As a music fan, to be able to go inside the Gibson Guitar showroom and look around at all of the guitars the pros buy, was pretty special.  They even had a bar set up & when I went up to get a beer, there was no charge, just a tip jar.  Admission was $20, hard to believe.

Headlining was Radney Foster, how cool is that?

Opening for him were 4 members of the ASG.  I only knew BettySoo.  The other 3, Rick Busby, Scott Joffe and  ? Welch, I hadn't heard before.  It was set up as a round robin format with each musician getting to perform 4 songs.  We enjoyed all of them.

This was a small crowd, maybe 60 people, tops?  They had seating available in what appeared to be the sound room, where musicians try out the guitars.  What was nice is everybody who was there was intent upon listening, rare these days.

Radney had a pretty good cold and sucked on cough drops the entire night but put on a great show.  There were many songwriters in the crowd so he spoke directly to them about what it takes, talked about and told stories of the old days with Townes Van Zandt.  It was really different from a typical concert, very cool.  He's in the middle of recording a new record so he played some new material along with the older songs.  When he played "I'm In," he had BettySoo come up and sing the Abra Moore part.  It was awesome!

There are videos available at my youtube sight of Radney performing "Drunk on Love," "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" and BettySoo playing "Secrets."

KELLY WILLIS and BRUCE ROBISON

KELLY WILLIS & BRUCE ROBISON at the Paramount 12-11-08

This concert was their 5th annual holiday show.  It is the 2nd one I've been to.  Of course, it's always fun to hear holiday music but I was really looking forward to this because Kelly hasn't been doing any shows the last year or so.  As far as I'm concerned, she has The Voice.  It lends itself to country but it's much more than that.  It's a Voice,  just like Ella, Patsy, Aretha,  so distinctive when you hear it, you always know who it is.    I have really missed hearing her live.  

They do a fun show, nicely mixing in not only holiday but music from their own catalogs, as well. And the holiday music is varied, some of your traditional (Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas) along with the not so traditional (Please Daddy, Don't Get Drunk) to an original Bruce wrote (Oklahoma Christmas) about the first time he went with Kelly to spend the holiday with her family. It is hilarious and as Kelly said "you don't know how true that song really is!"   They also do "Baby, It's Cold Outside" and their version is by far my favorite.

They had their 4 piece band with them; keyboards, drums, bass & lead/steel.  It was a fantastic 90 minute set.  It went by far too quickly.

They have a holiday record available and it's one of my favorites to play every year.  It's called "Happy Holidays" and you can get it at Waterloo Records or Amazon.

BETTYSOO and JENNY REYNOLDS