INTRO: AUSTIN LUCAS

Jun 042010
 
Put The Needle Down

With Austin Lucas’s Collection coming out this week it’s time for an Intro. For your listening pleasure 9B presents: Put The Needle Down (an Intro to Austin Lucas). For someone who’s only been around for a little while Austin has quite a few records under his belt. For the intro I think I covered everything released under his name except the European only vinyl At War With Freak Folk which I do not have. However, all but two of the tracks were released on Somebody Loves You and the two that weren’t are on the forthcoming Collection. Aside from Somebody Loves You I chose tracks from Putting The Hammer Down, The Common Cold, Bristle Ridge which was Chuck Ragan along with Austin, as well as his split with The Takers to round out fourteen of what I think are not necessarily the best Austin Lucas tracks but the best tracks to represent his musical stylings, amazing vocals, and timeless lyrical ability.

Track Archive

Suburban Home Records Artist Page for Austin Lucas
Austin Lucas’s Official Site
Austin Lucas on Wikipedia

EDIT: Austin has just hit the road on a new tour. If he’s coming to your neck of the woods go check him out. Here are the dates:

Jun 4 Atlantic, Gainesville, FL
Jun 5 Village, Tavern Mount Pleasant, SC
Jun 6 Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Jun 7, House show, Richmond, VA (email: blownamps@hotmail.com for more info)
Jun 8 The Fire, Philadelphia, PA
Jun 9, Bar Nine, New York City, NY
Jun 10 Great Scott, Boston, MA
Jun 11 The Acheron, Brooklyn, New York
Jun 12 Googie’s Lounge upstairs at The Living Room, New York, NY
Jun 14 Chez Baptiste, Montréal, Québec
Jun 15 Sneaky Dees, Toronto, ON
Jun 16 Mansion House, St Catharines, ON
Jun 17 Zaphod Beeblebrox, Ottawa, ON
Jun 18 The Grist Mill, Waterloo, Ontario
Jun 19 Mac’s Bar, Lansing, MI
Jun 20 Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
Jun 22 The Bishop, Bloomington, Indiana
Jun 23 Ronny’s, Chicago, IL
Jun 24 Mad Planet, Milwaukee, WI
Jun 25 Triple Rock, Minneapolis, MN
Jun 26 Manitoba, Canada
Jun 28 Slice, Lethbridge, AB,
Jun 29 The Haven Social Club, Edmonton, AB Jun 30 Sled Island Festival, Calgary, Alberta
Jul 1 Sled Island Festival, Calgary, Alberta
Jul 2 Sled Island Festival, Calgary, Alberta
Jul 6 the Can Can, Seattle, WA
Jul 7 White Eagle, Portland, OR
Jul 8 White Eagle, Portland, OR
Jul 10 Bombay’s, Redding, CA
Jul 11 Thee Parkside, San Francisco, CA
Jul 12 Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles, CA
Jul 14 Hi-Dive, Denver, CO
Jul 15 Triple Nickel, Colorado Springs, CO
Jul 16 Vale, CO
Jul 17 Bike Doctor, Missoula, MT

INTRO: COODER GRAW

May 072010
 

Today I realized I had not done an intro in quite some time and it vexed me. I promised you folk some more Texas bands and I need to get off my ass and take care of that. So here’s an intro to a, sadly, defunct Texas band known as “Cooder Graw”. I saw these guys at the Firehouse Saloon many times over the years and their self proclaimed “Loud Country” became a staple of my music collection. I missed their last show at the Firehouse which was only a couple of days before their final show as a band and it’s one that I highly regret missing. Consisting of an assistant DA from Gray County (Matt Martindale) and a manufacturing plant manager (Kelly Turner) along with Joe Ammons, Paul Baker, Jim Wisenhunt, Nick Worely, Kelly Test and John “Fish” Hunt and with their ages ranging from 30 to 50 years old these guys weren’t the standard Stillwater crowd that was dominating the Texas/Red Dirt scene at the time. They didn’t care that they didn’t fit the mold and made music anyway and garnered a huge following consistently selling out shows all over Texas. The name “Cooder Graw” came into being because another band was using their original name “Coup de Grâce” so they took the name and Texa-fied it so to speak. They played for about eight years before launching a final tour and leaving us with six albums of great music. After the band dissolved Matt Martindale continued to play, and still does, backed by “The Matt Martindale Band” and while his music is good it ain’t no “Cooder Graw”. And much like this fine band there’s nothing left (to say) but the music…

Kick My Ass

Track Archive

Cooder Graw’s Official Website
Cooder Graw on Myspace

THE RAYS TRY TO STAY ALIVE TONIGHT…

Oct 292008
 

Game 5.33 tonight…the rays got 3 innings to win or start setting tee times.
No matter what happens at least we don’t have to live in Philadelphia.

I saw this on myspace today and found it hilarious:

PAUL BROGAN – MLB WORLD SERIES RAP

I had remove the video cause I could not figure out how to disable autostart. Follow the link though. It’s funny.

Peace, Love and Hard Liquor:

Sep 132007
 


Billy Bob Thornton and Matt Groening love him. Hank III has his face tatted onto his arm. Marty Stuart introduced him as his illegitimate brother at the Ryman. Tom Petty once came backstage to ask him how he gets his “sound” and the Rolling Stones once invited him to participate in a soundcheck session and John Rich (Lonestar/Big and Rich) requested that he be booked as entertainment for his birthday party in Nashville. All that plus four albums and odds are you best know Charlotte’s Unknown Hinson as the voice of Early Cuyler on The Squidbillies.

Looking like a character walking out of a Quentin Tarantino film with his pompadour and mutton chops the self-labeled “King of Country Western Troubadours” could easily be brushed off as a joke at first glance if you weren’t careful. With song titles like “I Cleaned Out A Room In My Trailer For You,” “Your Man Is Gay” and “Undead Blues” people might get the idea that this is just a kitschy hickabilly Tenacious D but underneath it all there are these blazing guitar solos that let you know this fella means business.

I was recently telling some friends at the bar the Unknown was coming to Tampa and they had no idea who I was talking about. It’s a god damn shame. So, if the thought of Cash in his druggy days meets Elvis and rolled in the dirty blues then check out Mr. Hinson. If you like what you hear then check out his live show (dates are on their myspace profile) and find out what ventriloquism, hoola hoop contests, target practice, monster sideburns, and hellacious guitar solos have in common…

From the cd “The Future is Unknown”:

Unknown Hinson – Rock and Roll is Straight From Hell
Unknown Hinson – I Cleaned Out A Room (in my trailer for you)
Unknown Hinson – Lingerie

From the cd “Target Practice”:

Unknown Hinson – King of Country Western Troubadors
Unknown Hinson – Barbie-Q
Unknown Hinson – Undead Blues

Unknown Hinson’s Official Site, Unknown Hinson on Myspace, Buy Unknown Hinson cds

Edit: The first time I ever heard Jason Isbell’s new cd the song, The Magician it seemed really familiar. In the process of gathering songs for this here post I realized that it was reminding me of. Mr. Hinson’s song, Torture Town. Compare:

Jason Isbell – The Magician
Unknown Hinson – Torture Town

Introducing: Laura Love

May 092007
 


I close out the trifecta of female fronted bands with my favorite; Laura Love. I first heard Laura via my local community radio station‘s morning drive show. They were playing the song I Am Wondering on a daily basis and the more I heard it the more I wanted to hear it. Eventually I made my way over to the local record store and bought the album “Octoroon” and my love affair with Laura Love’s music began.

Laura Love was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and is the daughter of the jazz saxophonist, Preston Love and Wini Winston, a jazz singer. Her father abandoned the family while Laura was still an infant and Laura did not see him again until, at the age of 16, she snuck into a nearby club to see him play. For most of her childhood she had believed he was killed in an automobile crash as her mother had told her. In addition, her mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia that would often render her hospitalized and Laura would be moved into orphanages or foster homes. Her story and struggles are quite humbling and were released as a book entitled “You Ain’t Go No Easter Clothes” published by Hyperion books.

Laura’s music is best described as an afrocentric meshing of bluegrass, funk, and folk that is impossible not to move to. Lyrically her songs run the gamut from humorous, to political at times, sometimes personal, but always thought provoking. Then there is her voice. In a word I would have to describe her voice as amazing. Listening to her cover Nirvana’s Come As You Are and the a capella song Blind Bartimus off Octoroon literally gives me chills. You never know where the songs are going. One song she’ll be reciting nursery rhymes and the next she’ll be talking about watching her ass grow. All of this meshes into pure delight.

Laura’s travelling cast of characters includes Barbara Lamb on the fiddle, Chris Leighton on drums, Rod Cook and Julie Wolf on guitars. Laura’s voice is even better live, and the sheer joy and energy that comes from her during a show makes everyone in the crowd smile. Hopping and dancing while playing the bass and using creative Chaka Kahn melodies to introduce her band makes her shows a two hour party.

All of this is why Laura Love is my favorite female artist out there. While preparing this I discovered she had just released a new cd entitled, NeGrass (pronounced: KNEE-grass) on her personal label Octoroon Biography. Her website describes it as:

a collection of original and traditional Negro spirituals, field hollers and bluegrass music: Laura’s imagined history of how it might have been for her great grandparents as they were being released from slavery and stepping into a free, yet uncertain, life. This is a joyful and heartbreaking story.

I’ll be getting this cd shortly and look forward to posting a review. Check out her material below as I believe she is one of the best artists you have never heard of.

Laura Love – Octoroon (from the album Octoroon)
Laura Love – I am Wondering (from the album Octoroon)
Laura Love – Bad Feeling (from the album Octoroon)
Laura Love – Blind Bartimus (from the album Octoroon)

Laura Love – Hey Bigelow (from the album Fourteen Days)
Laura Love – Sometimes Davey Wins (from the album Fourteen Days)
Laura Love – Fourteen Days (from the album Fourteen Days)

Laura Love – Mahbootay (from the album Shum Ticky)
Laura Love – I’m a Givin’ Way (from the album Shum Ticky)
Laura Love – Shum Ticky (from the album Shum Ticky)

Laura Love’s Official Site, Buy Laura Love’s music

Here is a video of her performing a cover of Nirvana’s Come As You Are on Sessions @ West 54th. Her version is also available on her cd, Octoroon:

 Older Entries