AUTOPSY IV NOTE: This is a feature we’ve kicked around a little and RSV finally decided to give it a go. Since drinking is as integral to the culture of ninebullets as music is it would only make since that there should be booze reviews/discussions here from time to time. So, what do you guys think? Should this become a semi-regular feature? Let us know in the comments.

I shop at a local chain of liquor stores, here in Texas called Spec’s that has been around for a long while. They even have a cartoon rabbit with glasses as their mascot/logo. The Spec’s Warehouse in downtown Houston is an icon and until 2008 was the largest liquor store in the world. I love shopping there because their selection is amazing. Like many of our readers I am a whiskey aficionado who appreciates everything from American bourbons to Irish whiskeys so a large selection is very important to me. I read reviews online, talk to friends, and generally know what my next three or four bottles will be when I walk into a liquor store. With all this I usually give the whiskey guy a polite bit of conversation and purchase what I intended when I walked in to the store. Until Christmas Eve last year I had never let one of the whiskey salesmen talk me into buying a bottle I hadn’t already intended to buy.

I went in to Spec’s on Christmas eve to get whiskey for the annual party because it’s sort of a tradition that I bring the whiskey and was planning to just pick up either a bottle of Clontarf Single Malt, which is my preferred house whiskey, or a bottle of Knob Creek, which is the backup house bottle. I was eying a bottle of Sam Houston Very Small Batch because it’s a nice whiskey when the salesman approached. Now usually this where I spend a few minutes looking at ~100 bottles of whiskey which is out of my normal price range but one has to be polite. Now this time was different. The salesman wanted to tell me about this whiskey he tried last weekend and didn’t describe it like he had just memorized the marketing materials. He was impressed by it’s flavor both straight and mixed and it was less than 45.00 for the bottle. I decided to give it a chance and walked out with a bottle of Willett Single Barrel Special Reserve.

Back at the party I poured some into a whiskey glass and added two cubes of ice, swirled it, noticed the long legs (yes I know how to describe whiskey), put the glass up to my nose and inhaled deeply. The first whiff is strong and has hints of honey. In fact I’d say the first nose is stronger than the whiskey. It’s a 94 proof whiskey and has a nose that is only slightly less than Booker’s which ~120 proof. However the first sip wasn’t harsh at all. It was amazingly smooth and rolled over the tongue in a very welcoming manner. The start is smooth and fells good and the finish is a burst of tartness with hints of vanilla, oak, and honey all the way through. It is not only an amazing whiskey for a price it deserves a place in your liquor cabinet and may well be my house whiskey for a while.

You may be asking yourself “We are all drinkers and that sounds good but how does this tie into music?” Well I got to thinking, this weekend, while drinking out of the third bottle of Willett’s I have purchased that what this whiskey needed was some music. So I put together this compilation of songs that should take about the amount time it takes to consume two decent pours of Willett Single Barrel Estate Reserve. (that’s four fingers and two cubes of ice per pour, cleaning your glass in between). With as smooth as this whiskey is I decided to go with a low key playlist to accent the flavor in your mouth and the warmth in your chest as you sample this amazing Kentucky bourbon but it is still bourbon so I didn’t go easy listening. You’ll get it if you are a whiskey drinker. So go get yourself a bottle of Willett Single Barrel Estate Reserve, come back to this post, play this little mix, and enjoy your newfound whiskey.

Track Archive

Autopsy IV added track: Murder City Devils – Rum and Whiskey

Unless you’ve been living in an isolated, internetless location for the last four years, you’re likely aware of Daytrotter. The site started in 2006 and, in the four years since, has provided listeners with nearly ten million free, live tunes from their favorite bands. I will say that again for dramatic effect and because I enjoy repeating myself: ten million tunes. Free. As important as providing music lovers with access to all of those sessions, Daytrotter offers a reminder of just how pure and rewarding it is to really love, and really appreciate, music is. Stripped of pretense, not allowing for the indulgence of that impulse to over-arrange, and entirely life, Daytrotter offers its listeners their favorite, and soon-to-be favorite, artists completely in their element. That’s something we should all be very grateful for.

Sean Moeller, the head of the Daytrotter family and the man responsible for the fantastic “liner notes” that accompany each session, took time out to answer a few questions and talk a bit about how the site started, where it might be headed, and BBQ. Enjoy.

How long had the idea for Daytrotter been in your head before you started up in 2006? Was there a moment you can pinpoint where you said, “I have to do this…”?

About two weeks. I don’t think I really felt like “I have to do this,” but it just felt like a situation of “why don’t I just do this?” It just felt like something that we could pull off and turn into something really memorable. I hoped that it could be something interesting and rare, but I don’t think I envisioned what it was actually going to become.

As much as I dig the sessions, I enjoy your writing. How difficult is it to find another angle when you have an artist back for an encore? Theoretically, if they’re doing their job, you’ve got plenty to say, but have you ever hit that point where you’re drawing a blank? No need to name names but, if so, how do you handle it?

Thanks man. It’s always kind to hear that. I majored in journalism and minored in English and have been a lifelong reader so it’s something I spend a lot of time on. I always try to make these essays something different and sometimes it works better than other times. I’m proud of everything that we post though and it’s hard some days, but I would say 90-percent of the time, I get an e-mail from a band the day the session posts saying that it was their favorite piece that they’ve ever had written about them and even if my drivel and ramblings only made sense to them, it’s better than I could ever ask for. It’s never easy writing about anything. It’s hard, but I find joy in the challenge.

Speaking of multiple sessions, you’ve got a pretty unique vantage point in that, while the audience gets to hear an artist’s maturation or progression through their records, or through their sessions, when you have an artist back, you can see their growth by the way they handle themselves in the studio. Is there a particular artist, or a few, where you could see how far they had come, just from one session to the next?

This is a tough one, only because, really, we’ve only been doing this four years and so I’d say that even when we’re talking about a band like Blitzen Trapper – which has been here four times – they’ve done all of those sessions over the course of two albums and three years. I don’t know that that’s a suitable enough time to see a huge change. I think they’ve been a solid band over that entire period. I’ve seen fantastic changes in The Dodos, but I can’t really put my finger of exactly how. But I feel that they’re so together now and it’s thrilling. I think this question becomes much easier to answer in four more years, after a single band has been back 6-7 times. I think the biggest thing that I see is the ease in session, where dudes know the studio, know us and know how to get the most out of the taping and the room. They know what worked best and what they want it to be. I think that comfort alone makes for a better session. When they know they can come in and just shoot the shit with us, know the limitations of the room and the charms of the room that can be exploited to enhance their energy and sound, it’s a good couple of hours.

Can you recall when music started to matter to you? Was there a moment or a song that just hit you and made an immediate impact or was it a gradual thing?

When I was growing up, I remember getting into Alabama big time. Singing along to their records in the family room with my sisters. Then in middle school, I started buying rap cassette singles – Heavy D, Young MC, that era. When it really hit was with Weezer and the Canadian band Chixdiggit in high school. I fell hard for all the Lookout! Records bands – Squirtgun, Groovie Ghoulies, Mr. T Experience, etc. Then when I got to Iowa City and the University of Iowa for college, it just took over. I would be at the record store every day after class and discovering Of Montreal, all the Kindercore Records bands and getting out to the bars every night – it seemed – catching all of that great stuff coming out of Lawrence, Kansas (Get Up Kids, The Anniversary, Ultimate Fakebook, Creature Comforts) that was coming through town all the time. It got ridiculous. And that’s how it started.

The way music is distributed, marketed and promoted has changed immensely, and Daytrotter has been an integral part of that – of introducing new bands to a broad audience. In a way, the playing field is more level now than it ever was for artists. How do you see things continuing to change in the next few year?

I see it getting more and more like that. It’s finally gotten to the point where bands don’t need labels for all that much – unless they really want a label, or the label is more of a partner and not just a standard “putting the record out” thing. Bands are seeing that their hard work is really their greatest wild card and I think it’s exciting as hell. I think bands and music lovers have it better than they ever had and soon enough, the Internet will officially pay off for these bands – getting money directly to their pockets, not through anyone else’s fingers.

Completely unrelated: Best BBQ joint you’ve ever been to?

Man, there’s this great place in Austin that we go to every year at SXSW, but I can’t remember the name. It’s a filthy little joint and it’s amazing. We dined in an empty diner last year except for us, Eugene Mirman, Todd Barry and a gaggle of other New York comics at like 9 pm. It was fun. The other place that I just went to in Nashville last week with Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes was Mary’s. We got a bunch of shoulder sandwiches and they were delicious.

Back on topic. Have you all ever been approached by an artist wanting to cut an entire record at Rock Island? Is that something you’d be open to or would it run contrary to what you’re doing?

We have been a couple of times, but we’re always so busy that it just never works. Sunset Rubdown wanted to cut their last record here, but it was kind of last minute and we just weren’t able to move things around enough to make it happen.

I’ve gotta ask the obligatory “What are some of your favorite sessions” question so, do you have a few that really stick out, feither or the performance, the people involved, or both?

The people who have been back more than once are always so much fun to have in. It’s just family at that point – the Delta Spirits, the Cold War Kids, the Dawes, the Snowblinks, the Paleos, the Blitzen Trappers, the Casiotones, on and on. Always greatness. I have a soft spot for the Raphael Saadiq session and having the Blind Boys of Alabama at the Horseshack was pretty special too. I love all the sessions we do though, I really do.

Aside from the sessions, what are you listening to lately?

I’ve been buying a lot of out country stuff — Kristofferson, Hank Williams, The Del McCoury Band, the Louisville Hayride box set, Willie Nelson box set. That sort of stuff.

Alright, so you’ve got the t-shirts, and now you’ve got a mascot, just how far can the Daytrotter empire spread? Where would you like to see it go from here?

I just want to keep letting it be dope in whatever ways it wants to be dope. Who knows that that means.

A Few of Ninebullets favorite Sessions

Dawn Landes – “Goodnight Lover” (from Daytrotter Session September 10, 2008)

Raphael Saadiq – “Sure Hope You Mean It” (from Daytrotter Session April 14, 2009)

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – “The Last Song I Will Write” (from Daytrotter Session July 10, 2009)

Blitzen Trapper – “Black River Killer” (from Daytrotter Session July 13, 2009)

Lucero – “That Much Further West” (from Daytrotter Session November 12, 2009)

I am pretty late on this one and for that I apologize. I was supposed to give these away back in December but life got crazy, the discs got buried in my computer room and next thing you know I’d plum forgotten about ‘em. Then, the other day I was cleaning up said computer room so I could put my beer fermenting cooler in it and I found them. That leads us up the now, where, as late as it may be, I am gonna give them away to y’all.

According to Virgil, he was inspired by a documentary he saw about mix tape culture in hip-hop and decided to put one together himself. It features bands from the Suburban Home records roster as well as artists that he’s a big fan of. And as he says on the cd cover:

Burn it, Share it, post it on your blog or send it out through Sendspace or Yousendit. If you find an artist you like please find their releases, check out their shows and tell others about them. Most of these artists are on small labels and need word of mouth to help spread the word about what they’re doing.

I can get behind that. So, here is a link to the entire cd for you to download, link to…whatever. I also, have 4 physical copies that I’ll give away with a ninebullets.net sticker to the first 4 people who email me their mailing address.

SUBURBAN HOME RECORDS Mixtape Volume 1, “Raising Hell & Living Cheap”

1. Tim Barry – Thing of the Past
2. Tim Barry – Shoulda Oughta
3. Tim Barry – Tacoma
4. Chuck Ragan – Don’t Say a Word
5. William Elliott Whitmore – Old Devils
6. Micah Schnabel – American Static
7. The Takers – Taker Easy
8. The Enablers – Whatever You Like (T.I. Cover)
9. Drive-By Truckers – Gravity’s Gone
10. Deer Tick – Straight into a Storm
11. Drag The River – Lost Angel Saloon
12. Josh Small – Fifteen Twenty Eye (demo)
13. Horse Feathers – Curse In the Weeds
14. Have Gun Will Travel – Salad Days
15. Joey Kneiser – Bruised Ribs
16. Portugal. The Man – People Say (Acoustic Version)
17. The Builders and The Butchers – Red Hands
18. Yesterday’s Ring – Quebec City Blues
19. Chad Price – Cursed
20. Lenny and the Piss Poor Boys – Lonely Days & Whiskey Nights
21. American War – Rhetoric
22. Jon Snodgrass – Wild One (Thiin Lizzy Cover)
23. Lizzie Huffman – Tumblers and Tea
24. Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Good Bye

Now, the more astute of you may have recognized the title of the mixtape, “Raising Hell and Living Cheap” as a line from Tim Barry’s song (and mixtape opening track), “Thing of the Past”.  “Thing of the Past” is also the opening track on Tim’s new album, 28th & Stonewall, which was released on January 26th. In a word, the new album is “great” and there will be a proper writeup for it on ninebullets next week but until then Virgil is allowing us to host a full-stream here on at the 9b. So check it out below, give the mixtape a listen and tell us what you think of it all!

This is sort of a complicated piece to write. As a matter of full disclosure, Kasey writes for ninebullets. As a matter of further disclosure, I had & liked Nowhere Nights before Kasey wrote for the site. However, I don’t think I can write a true “review” of the album due to his affiliation with the site, so I am gonna “report” on Kasey’s new album. From there I’ll let you decide what you wanna do. With all of that said, if you’ve read any of Kasey’s pieces here on ninebullets then you already know he is easily the best writer on the site, and extrapolating from there you can easily come to the conclusion that Kasey Anderson makes Steve Earle look like Jason Mraz.  And while you might think I’m moving into the realm of extreme hyperbole, it’s fair enough to say the kid is better than most at what he does, which is writing songs.

The reviews for Nowhere Nights are beginning to surface (you can find them here, here, here, here and here), and as the physical product hits the streets I suspect that they’ll begin flooding in. Now, if you’re actually reading this text, this is where I was gonna go into crazy depth about what all of Kasey’s songs were about, but then he went and deleted his damned blogspot blog, and with it all of his essays about the meaning and origin of every song. The important thing here is to understand that this part would have been fuckin-a awesome if Kasey would have just left the material that was already on A FREE ACCOUNT be. I mean it’s not like the guy is a social media ghost (example, example, example, example, example & example), so I can only really conclude that he did it to fuck me. I imagine he’s still bitter ’cause I said that the only way that a person could be so open, personal and honest on an album was if they were regular practitioners of tummy sticks.

His bitterness aside, while I was kidding about the tummy sticks thing with him, the album really is an up close and personal journey through Kasey’s mind and emotional state as he prepared to and then left Portland for a year in Germany. Now home, Kasey wears his songwriting influences; Steve Earle, Dylan, Springsteen, etc. on his sleeve and he delivers them with a lazy drawl that almost feels like he’s singing them directly to you. So ignore the fact that he deletes his blog material too fast, the he thinks he is the milk of human kindness*, and that he writes for this particular corner of the internets, and just check out his album. I’m sure you’ll find it to be Essential Listening.

Kasey Anderson – Bellingham Blues
Kasey Anderson – Nowhere Nights
Kasey Anderson – All Lit Up

Kasey Anderson’s Official Site, Kasey Anderson on myspace, Buy Nowhere Nights

* not really.

THIS POST CAME FROM A LONG TIME NINEBULLETS.NET READER, ADAM FENWICK:

Last Sunday I braved the icy roads in the Charlotte area and ventured into the NoDa Arts District to see one of my favorite singer/songwriters, a gentleman (using the term loosely) named Scott Miller at a small venue called The Evening Muse.

For those unfamiliar with Mr. Miller, a quick history lesson is in order. A native of Swoope, Va., Miller graduated from William and Mary and moved to Knoxville, Tenn., where he quietly began making a name for himself at any number of small-town bars.

Eventually he formed a band called the Viceroys, which morphed into The V-Roys (alongside Mic Harrison, Paxton Sellers, Jeff Bills and John Paul Keith). The V-Roys achieved mild success, becoming the first band to join Steve Earle’s E-Squared Records.

The band broke up on Jan. 1, 2000, leading to Miller venturing out on his own. He has since put out a number of records (alongside his rag-tag band called The Commonwealth), any of which you can purchase at www.thescottmiller.com.

Anyway, back to the point. This was my second time seeing Miller perform live (the first being a last-second trip to Knoxville with a former girlfriend last year) and while this show wasn’t as good as the first, it was far from disappointing.

The Evening Muse — a tiny venue that could seat anywhere between 80 and 100 by my best estimates — was jam packed despite the icy conditions outside.

Miller opened the show with his lone instrumental, titled Feel So Fair To Midland, and from there the show was on in full force.

One thing worth mentioning is how personable Miller always is. He always encourages the crowd to shout out any requests they may have at him during the show, although he regularly says jokingly, “I won’t play anything by the Eagles.”

That alone makes him a unique artist in my opinion, its not often that a musician of Miller’s stature will willingly accept requests from their entire catalog — though it does create minor issues like they did on Sunday.

Twice during requests Miller came up short when trying to remember the lyrics, but rather than get frustrated he just laughed and jokingly said after forgetting the lyrics to a song called Yes I Won’t, “Why did ya’ll request that old shit? I’ve got new music, request that!”

I swear, if Miller weren’t a musician he could easily make a living as a comedian. Between every song he was cracking jokes with crowd members, jokes mostly making fun of himself. The show was short (Miller took the stage at 9 p.m. and wrapped up around 10:45) but there wasn’t a second of down time in between.

Mr. Miller even paused long enough to take a picture with yours truly, which I now consider among my most cherished possessions. Oh yeah, I just happened to be wearing a certain NineBullets.net shirt at the time (editors note: Hell Yeah!).

If you ever happen to be in the same city as Mr. Miller on any given night, I highly encourage you to check him out. You certainly won’t regret it.

Scott Miller & The Commonwealth – Eight Miles Per Gallon
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth – Drunk All Around This Town
Scott Miller & The Commonwealth – Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WVa

Well. Fuck me.

One of the things I learned in school is that journalists (and I use the term loosely) are supposed to create a subjective distance between themselves and their subjects. One doesn’t say, “I think,” or “it seems to me.” One leaves oneself out of the equation entirely. I’m going to give it to you straight, there is not a chance I’m going to be able to do that.

I’ll start by addressing Glossary directly.

Dear Glossary, you make no-frills, unabashed rock n’ roll records with just enough elements of classic pop and country to keep me honest. Also, you named your record after a phrase from Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road. So I guess my question is, did I somehow create you? How is it that you know exactly what I’m looking for in a band? You know what, Glossary, don’t answer that. I prefer an air of mystery.

Feral Fire is as immediately arresting and impressive an album as I have heard since I discovered Six String Drag’s swan song, High Hat. Frontman and chief songwriter Joey Kneiser describes Feral Fire as an album about “figuring out everything is so massive and you’re so small,” and, as Kneiser and wife Kelly harmonize over the mammoth sound their band creates, it’s tough to imagine anything seeming large by comparison.

Whether offering perspective (“Bend With the Breeze”), or freewheeling advice (“Save Your Money for the Weekend”), Kneiser’s lyrics are so well-framed by his bandmates that he could be reading the fine print on a life insurance policy and it would still be compelling. The band is just that good.

With Feral Fire, Glossary has delivered an album that is at once swaggering and vulnerable, merciless and sublime. It is far too early in the year for predictions, but I’m tentatively reserving slots 1 – 5 on my 10 Best of 2010 list for Feral Fire which makes for a firm placement on the 2010 Essential Listening list.

Glossary – Save Your Money for the Weekend (from Feral Fire)
Glossary – Bend With the Breeze (from Feral Fire)

Glossary’s Official Site, Glossary on myspace, Buy Feral Fire

THE STORY ABOUT THE IMAGE AT THE TOP OF THIS POST:

Hey everyone, Autopsy IV here to explain the image at the top of this post. No, that’s not the album cover for Feral Fire. You can see the actual album cover here. Through some twitter conversations this week I learned that Bingham Barnes (bass player) has a massive obsession/crush on Ke$ha spurring from the fact that she’s from Nashville and apparently has a thing for “short, round, bearded dudes”. Apparently, he made the image one night to be funny and I thought it’d be funny x2 to use it in this post. That said, Kelly wanted me to make it clear to everyone that the rest of the band neither shares nor appreciates this obsession.

Too bad, I bet a Glossaryfied version of Tik Tok with Kelly manning the mic would have been pretty sweet.

Neither of these are particularly new news but I thought I’d post about them here anyway…

ninebullets faves, The Legendary Shackshakers, are ramping up to release the politically charged Agridustrial which aims to tell the tale “of an American band fighting back against a society gone mad with greed and the usurpation of basic human dignities.”

The album is set to be released on April 13th but the impatient can head over to LSS’s site and get the track “Sin Eater” for the mere cost of giving up your email address. If this track is indicative of the rest of the album we’re looking at another GREAT release from Wilkes and Co.

The Drive-By Truckers are also readying their new (and dare I say, glorious return to ROCK) album, The Big To-Do, on March 16th. Anyone who has been paying any attention has already heard the first single off the album “This Fucking Job” but those that may have missed out can check out my January podcast. It’s the opening track. Well, earlier this week they decided to offer one of Cooley’s songs, “Birthday Boy”, up for “free” download after you offer up you’re email address.

You can get it here.

Imagine, if you will, driving through East Texas heading eastbound on I-10. You are almost in Louisiana and the car starts to sputter. It’s just after midnight and there isn’t another car or filling station at night and wouldn’t you know it your cell phone has no signal at all. You think to yourself “Can you hear me now…” and start wandering down the road looking for a signal, a pay phone, a gas station, another human being, or anything except what you are doing right at this moment. You come upon a side road and down that road you see light peeking around what looks like a bend in the road. You are not sure you want to make the trek down a road that could easily be described as wagon path, and besides that it’s starting to get pretty swampy, but in the end you set off down the side road hoping your boots don’t sink too far into the mud and that whatever is making that noise, that you would swear didn’t come from anything natural, doesn’t catch up with you. As you round a bend in the road you see what looks like a roadhouse. There are a couple of Harleys parked out front, a pickup-truck or three, a neon Pearl Beer sign flickering in the window, and a bug zapper lazily zapping whatever it can. And out of the open door, cutting through the humidity, the heat, and the mosquitoes there floats a dirty guitar groove and a voice full of gravel that gives clues in that it’s A. Enlightenment B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C).

This is an album full of down and dirty grooves and subtle backbeats and it is a classic Ray Wylie album from start to finish. While I can’t say the Godfather of Texas Country has grown, matured, or is expanding his musical styling I can say that all of that wouldn’t matter one single bit. On this one Ray reaches into his bag of tricks and comes up with a tried and true Ray Wylie’s sound. Pulling from Delta Blues to Texas Country to Bluegrass and piecing it together in a way most men his age couldn’t pull off. I mean how often does a man nearly sixty years old not sound bad singing about making a woman moan? I am here to tell you that Ray Wylie is one of those that can. I can’t think of anything he could sing about and sound wrong. The grooves on this thing definitely make it a candidate for having queued up to end an amorous evening with your lady friend if you know what I mean. It’s the sort of thing that’ll make you leave the windows open in summer’s most heat in coastal Texas just so you can get the sweat mixing in with everything else and need a good shower when you are done.

Of course you probably all think I am insane after that description and you may be right so you’ll just have to decide for yourself. Here’s three tracks to listen to while you slide somewhere to grab this one. Even if you disagree with my suggestions above this one is still a must have if for no other reason than Ray’s rendition of “Drunken Poet’s Dream” is just amazing.

Autopsy IV note: I’m not much of a Ray Wylie Hubbard fan and I flat out fell in love with this album. Essential Listening regardless of which side of the RWH fence you’ve found yourself on in the past.

Ray Wylie Hubbard – Pots and Pans
Ray Wylie Hubbard – Whoop and Hollar
Ray Wylie Hubbard – Every Day Is The Day Of The Dead

Linkage:
Ray Wylie Hubbard Official Website
Wikipedia on Ray Wylie Hubbard
Ray Wylie Hubbard at the Amazon MP3 Store

..well at least some of us do. Which leads me to this top five. Without delving into my own past lets just say this was a hard list to make because it could have be a top twenty or thirty easily and with that your top 5 topic for this post is “What are your top five favorite songs about drugs”. It can be songs against drugs like Social D’s Drug Train or songs about enjoying drugs. It’s up to you. By now everyone knows how this goes but just in case you’ve been under a rock: I post this little top five, you listen to it, while you are listening to it you share your top five songs on the topic with the rest of us…

AUTOPSY IV’S ANSWERS:

Lynyrd Skynyrd – That Smell
Johnny Cash – Hurt
Old Crow Medicine Show – Tell It To Me
Kenny Rogers – Just Dropped In (to see what condition my condition was in)
Jane’s Addiction – Jane Says

After 4 years, 200+ bands, mounting debt and plenty of rain storms Chris Johnson announced yesterday that he would no longer be doing the Deep Blues Festival. I can’t say I am really all that surprised, the festival was always an ambitious undertaking that at times seemed to feature more band members than actual paid attendees, I guess I just always held out hope that Chris and crew would figure out how to scrape together another year.

The funny thing about The Deep Blues Festival was that it suffered no lack of support from the international / out of town community and it seems it’s ultimate failure may lie solely at the feet of the people in the Twin City area. Not that it matters at this point.

I just wanted to make a post to thank Chris for his efforts with DBF. I made it up there for two of the 4 festivals and had a blast both times. I met some fine folks, made a few friends and I saw bands like Charlie Parr, Possessed By Paul James, Davina and the Vagabonds, A Night In The Box and Jawbone whom I’ll likely never get to see again.

So, thanks for the memories Chris. I wish it would have worked out better for you.

Here are some bands that played DBF over the years:

A Night In The Box – Rich Man’s Table
Black Diamond Heavies – Smoothe It Out
Chris Cotton – The Gambler
Reverend Deadeye – Fuck the Devil
Jawbone – Saucy Sauce
Left Lane Cruiser – Big Mamma
Possessed By Paul James – Ferris Wheel
Scott H. Biram – Time Flies