Grupo Fantasma (Photo by Daniel Perlaky)
Transcription
Grupo Fantasma (Photo by Daniel Perlaky)
The Backyard bows out — for now EXTRA news click here to read calendar click here to read releases click here to read A Grupo happy guys Once again, soul star Prince tapped his new favorite band, Austin’s own Grupo Fantasma, to Grupo Fantasma (Photo by Daniel Perlaky) appear with him on some high-profile gigs — The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and a headlining slot at the recent Coachella Festival in Indio, Calif. Actually, he singled out the fabulous JewMex Horns section, but that’s more than a third of the 11-member band. Grupo trumpeter Gilbert Elorreaga told Texas Music, “There is a great sense of accomplishment that comes with being chosen to play with Prince, especially since we were all influenced by his music. We were honored to have the trust of a musician of his caliber and get the chance to play Coachella. Then, when we were told that Prince wanted us to play with him for the Leno gig, too ... that just felt like another incredible gift along the way.” Prince must have given the Grupo gang quite a workout, though maybe they got to 05 08 08 artist q&a click here to read chart click here to read take a break when he covered Radiohead’s “Creep” at Coachella. Not your typical Grupo fare. Whatever. We hope they got a nice chunk of the reported $4.8 million the Purple One got for his denied-until-the-lastminute appearance. Grupo’s new album, Sonidos Gold, drops June 17. Austin concert promoter Tim O’Connor, owner of Direct Events and the Backyard Live Oak Amphitheatre, has announced he will close what was, until recently, a shining jewel on the Austin concert scene. O’Connor has reluctantly accepted the sad reality that the Shops at the Galleria shopping center, built around the once-bucolic Backyard, has ruined the ambiance it once had — not to mention created a hellacious parking situation that forces concertgoers to trek to the venue from far-flung lots. Since it opened in 1993, the outdoor venue, on Route 71 in Bee Cave, hosted new talents and old favorites. Willie played it annually; David Bowie had the Polyphonic Spree open for him there; Jimmy Buffett played when Seagram’s held the launch party there for his Margaritaville tequila. Beck, Coldplay, Rodney Crowell and Widespread Panic are just a few of the Guthrie, Nelson girls team with Trudell for health cause Several famous daughters — including two of Willie Nelson’s and one of Arlo Guthrie’s — will take to the stage at La Zona Rosa in Austin Sunday, May 11, for Give Love Give Life, a Mother’s Day concert to raise awareness about ovarian cancer, build support for women’s health and push the issue of health insurance coverage for women and children into the national spotlight. The concert is one of several occurring nationwide. The lineup will feature the Paula Nelson Band, Folk Uke (Amy Nelson and Cathy Guthrie), Herald and Mod (featuring Willie’s granddaughter, Martha Fowler) and John Trudell and Bad Dog. Trudell, a renowned Native American poet, musician and activist, is one of the Give Love Give Life movement’s founders. For more info, visit www.givelovegivelife.net. EXTRA PUBLISHER/ S T E WA R T R A M S E R EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORS LY N N E M A R G O L I S RICHARD SKANSE A S S O C I AT E E D I T O R ART DIRECTOR CODEY ALLEN T O R Q U I L S C O T T- D E WA R www.txmusic.com WEB SITE DESIGNER MAILING ADDRESS many other names who graced its treeshrouded stage. Since the Galleria was built, concertgoers weren’t the only ones lamenting. Artists such as Chris Isaak bemoaned the loss of the woodsy area where he loved to run before shows; others sounded similar complaints. O’Connor is in talks with the city of Bee Cave to resurrect the venue on another site; meanwhile, he’s closing the place with a bang: artists from Snoop Dogg to ZZ Top are slated to perform this season. Toadies return to Possum Kingdom Scream along if you remember this one (and we know you do): “Do you wanna die?” That was the question posed by Toadies frontman Vaden Todd Lewis on the Fort Worth rockers’ 1994 breakout hit, “Possum Kingdom” — and you just know it’s gonna go over like gangbusters at the band’s first “Dia De Los Toadies” throwdown Aug. 31 at Possum Kingdom Lake. Guests on the Labor Day Weekend bill will include Lions, Dove Hunter, the Backsliders and the Tejas Brothers. The Toadies should be good and limbered up by the time they take the stage; Lewis, drummer Mark Reznicek, guitarist Clark Vogeler and a stand-in bassist to be named later will kick off a handful of summer tour dates on June 20 at Sunset Station in San Antonio and June 21 at the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth. But don’t bother trying to buy a ticket to that Fort Worth show — it sold out almost immediately, as did the Toadies’ June 26 date at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. W I L LT H I N G PO BOX 50273 AUSTIN, TX 78763 SUBSCRIPTIONS: 1-877-35-TEXAS OFFICE: 512-638-8900 E-MAIL: INFO@TXMUSIC.COM COPYRIGHT © 2008 BY TEXAS MUSIC, L.L.C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. R E P R O D U C T I O N I N W H O L E O R PA R T I S P R O H I B I T E D . Big opening bow for nelo Austin roots-rock sextet nelo’s self-titled debut, released April 22, made an impressive showing its first week in stores, with sales of nearly 2,000 copies putting it at No. 21 on Billboard‘s Heatseeker chart and No. 65 on the magazine’s Independent Albums chart. The band’s next Texas show is May 9 at the Meridian in Houston. Songwriters sing for the dogs across Texas Miranda Lambert’s first “Cause for the Paws” wine tasting festival and concert, held in Tyler on April 20, raised more than $113,000 for the Humane Society of East Texas. Her own dog, Delilah, was adopted from the facility in 2007. Lambert wasn’t Susan Gibson at Perros de Mayo the only Texas artist howling in song for “man’s best friend” in recent weeks. On April 27, Rick Broussard of Two Hoots and a Holler hosted a benefit for the Austin Humane Society at Roadhouse Rags, featuring performances by Chadd Thomas, Chrissy Flatt & Eric Hisaw, Herman the German, the Ugly Beats, the TexReys and Robert Banta. And on May 4, Seela, Graham Wilkinson, Sally Allen, Terri Hendrix, Susan Gibson, Hilary York, Ian Moore and Porterdavis all performed at Perros de Mayo, a benefit for Blue Dog Rescue held at the Ginger Man in downtown Austin. Reports say Emilio Navaira intoxicated at time of crash According to various Texas news sources, Tejano singer Emilio Navaira was legally drunk when he crashed the tour bus he was driving into a median barrier on Loop 610 in Houston early on Easter Sunday (March 23). The singer, who was thrown through the windshield, was in critical condition and initially not expected to live, though he has progressed to the point that he has even played a bit of guitar, his brother Raul Navaira told news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read the San Antonio Express-News. Emilio was moved to a rehab center one month after the accident. The Express-News said the singer had also been charged with DWI in January of 2005 after rolling an SUV. Rosie Flores, T-Birds to play for Candye Kane Among the benefits taking place all over the U.S. and Europe for bawdy blues/rockabilly singer/pianist Candye Kane, who is battling pancreatic cancer, is one slated for May 29 at Antone’s in Austin. Hosted by Susan Antone, Rosie Flores and the Austin Chronicle’s Margaret Moser, the event will feature Flores, Kim Wilson & the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Paula Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver “and friends.” Tickets are $12 at www.antones.net. Meanwhile, Ray Benson, Sara Hickman, Chip Taylor, Kathy Valentine and Bobby Whitlock and Coco Carmel will take the stage at Antone’s on May 14 to raise funds for Moser’s brother, Stephen, who has prostate cancer. Los Lonely Boys’ Saxon homecoming sells out in under 40 minutes They outgrew the place years ago, but Los Lonely Boys will be returning to South Austin’s cozy Saxon Pub May 24 for a concert benefiting Music for Literacy. But don’t trip over yourself racing to get in — all tickets were gone in 37 minutes. Earlier that same day, the Garza brothers will give guitar lessons to 20 children from Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Sunshine Camp of Austin. The Boys will be back in town July 3 for an in-store at Waterloo Records to celebrate the July 1 release of their new album, Forgiven. Deadline looms for AMA Festival showcase submissions Procrastination-prone artists still hoping to score a performance spot at this year’s Americana Music Festival and Conference (Sept. 17-20 in Nashville) need to get a move on: The deadline for showcase submissions is May 30. The application form can be found at www.americanamusic.org. Registrations for the conference are on sale now. Roots Music Association conference, artists put on hold Dozens of performers from throughout Texas and the U.S., not to mention Canada, were inconvenienced — or worse — when the Wimberley-based Roots Music Association was forced to postpone its first conference, slated for June 26-29 in San Antonio, after the Alzafar Shrine Center pulled out as the host site. Though plans are being made to reschedule and relocate the Music United ’08 Radio Conference and Music Festival, artists and conference-goers who had already made travel plans could be stuck eating at least some costs for flight changes, juggled gigs, etc. Conference planners have said that all artists already accepted for showcases will still be able to showcase at the rescheduled event. For more information, go to www.rootsmusicassociation.org. McMurtry invites video makers to play with “Cheney’s Toy” Acid-tongued Austin singer-songwriter James McMurtry is looking for a few good videos to go with the sharp lyrical barbs of his latest diatribe, “Cheney’s Toy.” McMurtry has extended an invitation to amateur videographers to submit visual versions of the song, featured on his new album, Just Us Kids (which just debuted at No. 136 on Billboard’s Top 200 and at No. 2 on the magazine’s Heatseekers chart). McMurtry plans to choose five to display on his Web site, www.jamesmcmurtry.com, and news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read MySpace page. One video will earn its maker an 8-GB iPod Nano. Rolling Stone loves Waterloo Waterloo Records and Video has won “Best Record Store” so many times in the annual Austin Music Awards, they might as well change the name of the category to “Best Record Store Other Than Waterloo.” But how does it rank nationally? According to Rolling Stone’s May 1 “Best of Rock” issue, Waterloo is the third best record store in America — behind Chicago’s Dusty Groove and Los Angeles’ mammoth Amoeba Music. Blue Shoe Blues festival to showcase Blue Shoe Project’s Grammy Wanna see a real Grammy Award? You can at the Blue Shoe Blues in the Village festival May 10 in Colleyville. In addition to performances by Elvis T. Busboy and the Blues Butchers, Tutu Jones, Maquise “Big Daddy” Knox and the Hard Knox Blues Band and Gerry Moss, the 2-9 p.m. event will feature the public unveiling of the Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy that Michael Dyson, co-founder of the Blue Shoe Project, won for his role in producing Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas. Dyson’s Grammy actually got lost in the mail when the Recording Academy sent it to him after the awards show earlier this year, and only recently found its way to Texas. Eric Johnson joins all-stars on Landreth album Eric Johnson is among the players tapped by Louisiana slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth for his latest project, From the Reach, due May 20. Other collaborators include Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and Vince Gill. Landreth comes to Austin Aug. 6 for a Blues on the Green date. news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read calendar M AY 17 Homer’s Backyard Ball 6-10 Behind Splash Waterpark on I-40 Tejano Conjunto Festival Amarillo Rosedale Park www.homersbackyardball.com San Antonio www.guadalupeculturalarts.org Texas Natural & Western Swing Festival Downtown 10 San Marcos Blue Shoe Blues in the Village www.ci.san-marcos.tx.us The Village at Colleyville Colleyville 22-6/8 www.blueshoelive.com Kerrville Folk Festival Quiet Valley Ranch Kerrville www.kerrvillefolkfestival.com 23-25 Dallas Artfest Robert Earl Keen (Photo by Jay Blakesberg) Fair Park Dallas www.artfest500.com 12th Annual KNBT Americana Music Jam May 18, Gruene Hall Los Tex Maniacs will perform a free concert at the Big Squeeze accordion concert May 11. Robert Earl Keen returns to his 11 old stomping grounds at The Big Squeeze Gruene Hall to headline this Mexican American Cultural Center year’s KNBT Americana Music Austin www.texasfolklife.org Jam on Sun., May 18. Sponsored by 1st State Bank, LoneStarMusic.com, Rockin’ R Give Love Give Life Benefit Concert La Zona Rosa River Rides and NB Mattress, Austin the all-day festival will also fea- www.givelovegivelife.net ture Walt Wilkins, Cody Canada, 9-11 Wade Bowen, Scott Miller, Taste Addison Hayes Carll, Stoney LaRue, Addison Circle Park Micky & the Motorcars, Addison Reckless Kelly, Tom Gillam, www.addisontexas.net Zach Walther & the Cronkites 16-18 and the Band of Heathens. Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival Tickets are $50 and can be Galatyn Park ordered at Richardson www.gruenehall.com or by call- www.wildflowerfestival.com ing 830-629-5077. National Polka Festival Various Locations Ennis www.nationalpolkafestival.com Kevin Fowler heads north of the Red River to headline the RFT Pre-Float Festival May 30. 30-31 RFT Pre-Float Festival Washita Hideaway Davis, Okla. www.overdriveent.com 31 Denison Singer-Songwriter Series Rialto Theater Denison www.smalltownbigart.com ROBYN LUDWICK Too Much Desire (Freedom) Kicking off with the arresting “Alright” — arguably the sexiest Americana paean to lust this side of Lucinda Williams’ “Right In Time” — this sophomore set from the kid sister of Charlie and Bruce Robison lives up to its title with a vengeance. But Ludwick’s take on desire is always grounded in hardscrabble, bittersweet reality, delivered in a voice full of true grit to match. Lines as loaded as “I got lips that bleed, hunger and beguile” — and the album has such gems in spades — pretty much say it all. RICHARD SKANSE OLD 97’S Blame It On Gravity (New West) The Old 97’s’ early country punk stuff will always have its diehard enthusiasts, and 2004’s atypically mopey Drag It Up did, in retrospect, have its moments. But Blame It on Gravity stands tall next to 2001’s Satellite Rides and 1997’s Too Far to Care as one of the long-running Dallas band’s truly startto-finish perfect statements of purpose. Bookended by the opening rush of “The Fool” and the closing gleeful nudge and wink of “The One” — two songs that capture the 97’s doing everything they do best at the top of their game — the album moves from irresistible power-pop hook to hook at breakneck speed, stopping to catch its breath just long enough for the sweet relief of quieter moments like “Color of a Lonely Heart is Blue.” RICHARD SKANSE news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read JOHNNY SOLINGER Johnny Solinger (Smith Entertainment) Dallas-native Solinger, a seasoned metal head and current frontman of Skid Row, goes credibly country backed by the cream of Austin’s players and covers a wide range of twangy bases with cheeky esprit, but is best when he rural rocks on “Steel Horse” and “You Lie.” ROB PATTERSON ELEVEN HUNDRED SPRINGS Country Jam (Palo Duro) Eleven Hundred Springs wears country influences as proudly as frontman Matt Hillyer wears his cowboy hat, from George Jones to Johnny Cash to the Texas Tornadoes, but the band more than does justice to those cats — and plenty of others — with this smooth concoction of covers (dig the jumpand-jive of “Rocket 88” and the rockabilly romp of “V-8 Ford Boogie”) and sweet originals, like “Everytime I Get Close to You” and “Nobody Told You About the Love.” You’re gonna want more of this jam, for sure. LYNNE MARGOLIS new releases May 6 T Bone Burnett May 6 Johnny Solinger May 6 Eleven Hundred Springs May 6 Mike McClure Band May 13 Old 97’s May 13 The Black Angels May 13 Back Porch Mary May 20 Guy Forsyth May 20 Cory Morrow May 20 The Band of Heathens May 20 Tomcat Courtney May 27 Adam Carroll May 27 Eliza Gilkyson May 27 Lisa Loeb June 3 Mother Truckers June 3 Pinetop Perkins June 3 Lockboxx June 10 Alejandro Escovedo June 10 Kimmie Rhodes June 10 Sisters Morales June 17 Honeybrowne June 17 Rob Roy Parnell June 24Reckless Kelly June 24Alejandro Escovedo July 1 Los Lonely Boys July 1 Willie Nelson July 8 Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis Aug. 5 Carrie Rodriguez news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read Tooth of Crime Johnny Solinger Country Jam did7 Blame It On Gravity Directions to See a Ghost Time of the Broken Heart Calico Girl Vagrants & Kings The Band of Heathens Downsville Blues Old Town Rock N Roll Beautiful World Camp Lisa (children’s album) Let’s All Go to Bed Pinetop Perkins and Friends Drop Shop Real Animal (vinyl only) Walls Fall Down Talking to the River Mile By Mile Let’s Start Something Bulletproof Real Animal Forgiven Stardust (Legacy Ed.) Two Men with the Blues Nonesuch Smith Entertainment Palo Duro MikeMcClureBand.com New West Light in the Attic Smith Entertainment Small & Nimble Sustain BandofHeathens.com Blue Witch AdamCarroll.com Red House Furious Rose Funzalo Telarc Character Back Porch Songbird Luna Compadre Blue Rocket Yep Roc Back Porch Epic Columbia/Legacy Blue Note She Ain’t Me Back Porch CHAD BOYD BAND Guy Forsyth gains control again with Calico Girl Bullit (Self-Released) Plenty of acts on the Texas scene get by on boyish charm or redneck bravado, which is fine when the aim is to keep the Jäger and beer flowing. But the best songs on Chad Boyd’s debut hit like straight whiskey; he brings a realistic orneriness to his work that makes the usual frat-guy rowdiness seem downright tame. Boyd’s voice is modest and plainspoken, but lines like “If lead were gold then I’d fill your soul/Full of million dollar holes” keep you listening. ETHAN MESSICK If the track list of Guy Forsyth’s new studio album Calico Girl seems familiar to longtime fans — and songs like “Can You Live Without,” “Calico Girl” and Forsyth’s cover of Son House’s “Don’t You Mind People Grinnin’ in Your Face” certainly should ring some bells — it’s because he originally recorded all but one of the songs on his 1999 album, Can You Live Without. But as he explains in the new album’s liner notes, things went sour with his old label deal and, unable to reclaim his masters or obtain copies of the original album to sell at shows, he decided to rerecord the songs with producer and longtime friend Mark Addison. “Rather than try to recreate Dave McMair’s production of the first record, we started from scratch, let all the miles and scars weigh in, and let this recording be true to who we are now,” Forsyth writes. To celebrate, Forsyth and band will play a CD release show May 16 at Antone’s in Austin. Opening the show will be Nathan Singleton and His Sideshow Tragedy, followed by the Bluebonnets — featuring Austin-born (and now based) Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s fame. Q&A Johnny Solinger Johnny Solinger isn’t your everyday Texas country artist. For starters, he’s much more of a singer — or as he puts it, an “entertainer” — than a hearton-sleeve, guitarstrumming songwriter. And then there’s his day job: screaming his lungs out as the frontman for Skid Row, whose founding members recruited the Dallas-raised hard rocker to replace former singer Sebastian Bach when the metal band reformed eight years ago. Since then, Solinger has recorded two albums with Skid Row and toured the world sharing bills with the likes of Kiss, Vince Neil and Def Leppard, but he moved back to Texas (settling with his wife and two young children in Buda, just south of Austin) two years ago, determined to forge a side career as an equally hell-raising honky-tonker. His self-titled debut, out May 6 on Smith Entertainment, has already found a home on Texas radio via its lead single, “Too Well to Go to Work,” and he’s primed and ready for his first official home state show as Johnny Solinger, country singer, on May 10 at San Antonio’s Rolling Oaks. The following Saturday (May 17), he’ll be taking his country band to Austin’s Rock City Icehouse, which he last played with Skid Row during the joint’s grand opening back in February. When you were fronting your old Dallas metal band Solinger during the ’90s, were you hip to Jack Ingram and Pat Green and the rest of the independent Texas country news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read artists on the rise at the time? I was unaware of the Texas dudes that were doing so well. It wasn’t until I started really researching the scene about five years ago that I realized how big it was. I was amazed when Kevin Fowler first came up on my radar. I was like, “This guy’s doing 200 shows a year, and he’s not even leaving the state of Texas. And he’s got his own bus and he sold 200,000 records on his own!” I thought, man, that would be so cool, to go down to Texas and start something like that, because you can do it forever. So I started thinking about the future: How long am I going to be going out there and singing [Skid Row’s] “Youth Gone Wild?” The rest of the guys in the band are already set for life, so if they ever get tired of doing it, they’re going to quit. I don’t see it ending anytime soon, but if it does, I’ve gotta have a backup plan. How do the other guys in Skid Row feel about you doing this? The band comes together when it’s Skid Row time, and that’s everybody’s top priority, because Skid Row is what pays our bills. But everybody’s got their own things on the side. And they all know I’m just a redneck — I mean, they’re a bunch of Jersey guys, so it’s basically the Beverly Hillbillies’ Jethro fronting the Sopranos. So they’re supportive, and they’re accommodating me on scheduling for shows and things like that, which is probably a pain in their ass, but everybody’s willing to work on it. When did you first get the country bug? As a kid, that’s what my parents and grandparents listened to. I had the Statler Brothers and the Gatlin Brothers and the Oakridge Boys shoved down my throat … and I loved it. I remember falling in love with Willie Nelson’s music, and Merle Haggard, Johnny Paycheck … even the stuff that people don’t admit they liked, like Kenny Rogers. I liked it all. I’m a Texas boy. This is where I was raised, and the Smith Entertainment guys got right away that [me wanting to do this] is real and genuine. But my way of doing it is going to be little bit different from all the other guys I’ve been out to see, because I’m not going to have a guitar — I’m going to front a band, which is what I’ve always done. And I’m playing “Highway to Hell” at the end of my country show, because I grew up on AC/DC, too! Do you see any difference between your Skid Row crowds and the crowds at the Texas country shows you’ve been to? It’s all the same. You know, the Skid Row crowds, they’re nuts — they know all the material, they’re singing everything. And it’s the same at these country shows. I went out and saw a song swap in San Marcos at Cheatham Street Warehouse with Cody Canada and Stoney LaRue. I did not know any of the songs, because I’m just not schooled on the material, but that crowd of 300, they sang every single word. It was almost like a cult, and I was probably the only casual fan there. You call yourself a redneck, so here’s an easy little test for you: What’s your alltime favorite country record? I’d have to go with what’s in the player right now — Hank Sr.’s Greatest Hits. I don’t know what volume it is, but it’s got 22 songs on it, and I can’t not listen to that. I don’t cover any Hank stuff myself — I don’t think I’d be very good at it — but I love it. I mean, the guy died at 29 years old, drank himself to death! That’s classic. RICHARD SKANSE news calendar releases artist q&a chart click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read click here to read CHARTS: myspace Country TW 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 LW 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 10 12 13 14 — 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Artist George Strait Dixie Chicks Dierks Bentley Miranda Lambert Gary Allan Eli Young Band Willie Nelson Cross Canadian Ragweed Jack Ingram Randy Rogers Band Pat Green Kevin Fowler Shooter Jennings Roger Creager Johnny Solinger Reckless Kelly Wade Bowen Jason Boland & the Stragglers Brandon Rhyder Trent Willmon Cory Morrow Johnny Cooper Aaron Watson Honeybrowne No Justice Points 104,684 104,112 75,889 74,885 46,114 25,428 23,651 19,997 19,854 18,925 18,776 18,560 13,767 10,698 10,408 9,5014 8,402 7,897 7,445 6,601 6,409 5,587 5,190 5,024 4,848 Rankings for the MySpace chart are determined by a point system factoring in the number of profile views, song plays and friends on the artists’ official MySpace pages. 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