I understand that most of Tampa refuses to come to St. Petersburg for almost anything. Unless the Yankees or the Red Socks are in town, y’all prefer to hang out in your overly congested urban sprawl and joke about how St. Pete is where your grandparents live. In most cases I am fine with that. Keep your car and club culture over there and we’ll ride our bikes to live shows over here. However, this weekend was a great weekend live music in the ‘Burg which kicked off for me Saturday night when Gainesville’s Against Me! brought one of my musical idols, Tim Barry, to town, and I suspect no shortage of Tampanians bitched about having to cross the Howard Frankland.

A Tim Barry show is as much a motivational speaking engagement as it is a concert, where the message is working as little and living as much as possible, instead of making as much money as possible. Even as an opener and on reduced time, Tim managed to get that message across. The show was sold out and the crowd definitely wasn’t late arriving, so I was really expecting a lot of chatter from a largely indifferent crowd. Apparently I underestimated the overall taste of an Against Me! crowd, ’cause the bulk of the crowd was not only attentive but they also managed to sing along to every Barry chorus. Tim ran a set evenly weighted with classic songs and songs from his new album, 28th & Stonewall, living up to every expectation I had.

After Barry’s set I noticed the Fire Marshall standing at the entrance on my way to the merch desk. After getting my “Raisin’ Hell & Living Cheap” shirt, I asked what was up. Seemed the place was packed to max capacity and the only way anyone could get in was if someone left. Looking out the door, there was a 30+ deep line of people just hoping someone left. At that point I decided that it was more important to leave and let in one of those kids that actually cared about Against Me! than it was for me to listen to a band I’ve never heard at all in the name of “journalism”, so I went home.

You can see more pictures from the show over at After The Hours.

Tim Barry – Thing of The Past
Tim Barry – Wait At Milano

Sunday started with me feeling energized by Tim’s “work for yourself” message, so I got up and finished getting the fence up at my house, much to the happiness of my dogs. I even managed to finish early enough that I was able to get up to the rock and roll swap meet at Shackelton’s Folly in South St. Petersburg to catch Standback, Tailgunner Joe and Have Gun Will Travel. I wasn’t sure what the “swap meet” portion of the event was gonna consist of, but I was pretty impressed by the amount of vendors there. There were easily enough to keep you occupied between bands.

Standback has recently moved back to the Bay area from New Orleans, and their blues chops are as sharp as ever. Either they’ve added a horn player or I’ve totally forgotten about him from when they lived here, both are possible, but the band is as good as ever and St. Pete’s local music scene is better for them being back in it. Tailgunner Joe was next and they mostly played material indicative of their new direction. I have to be honest, I preferred the alt.country/rock sound they used to have, but the crowd seemed really receptive of them and a quick sampling of the crowd’s opinion suggests that they’re on a good path. Have Gun Will Travel took the stage next, with the grace and power we’ve come to expect from these guys. Mowing through a stellar collection of songs from their current album, Postcards From The Friendly City, they managed to captivate a crowd complete with women, men, toddlers and dogs. For me, the highlight of their set was “Sole of Our Shoes”, easily my favorite track of the new album.

You can see more pictures of Have Gun Will Travel than you can shake a stick at over on Elawgrrl’s Flickr page.

Have Gun Will Travel – Soles of Our Shoes
Have Gun Will Travel – Come, All Ye Sinners

All in all it was a great weekend complete with rock shows, whiskey drinks, physical labor and scooter rides. It’s good to live in St. Pete.

I’m taking a break during my ski trip here in Colorado to pass along some great news: Suburban Home Records has agreed to distribute local faves Have Gun Will Travel’s new album, Postcards From The Friendly City. Now, y’all know how much I love Suburban Home and by now you should have figured out how much I love HGWT…So it should come as no surprise that I am happy as a pig in shit about this news. As is standard operating protocol for SH they’ve posted a stream of the entire album so now you too can hear what I’ve been raving about. So listen, read the news on SH and then buy the damned album.

Well, I guess it’s my turn. Kasey and RSV have already dropped their faves of the year (here and here) on y’all, so there’s just no avoiding it for me now. This year was particularly difficult due to the sheer amount of great music that came out, and had I made this list tomorrow it would certainly change. That said, you can edit forever but eventually you have to settle on something and call it your list. So, with out further ado I am gonna steal RSV’s formatting and get this show on the road:

20. Eilen Jewell – Sea of Tears
19. Those Darlins – Those Darlins
18. Strawfoot – How We Prospered
17. Justin Townes Earl – Midnight at The Movies
16. Malcolm Holcombe – For The Mission Baby
15. Jon Snodgrass – Visitor’s Band
14. Ben Nichols – The Last Pale Light In The West
13. Cam Penner – Trouble and Mercy
12. The Fox Hunt – America’s Working So We Don’t Have To
11. William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark

Top 10 (with mp3s) are under the cut…

(more…)

One of the best things about the holidays is holiday parties and college bowl games. Fortunately there will be no football to distract you from the awesomeness coming to The Emerald tonight.

The Semis seem sort of like the odd band out on this bill, soundwise. I’ve made a pass through their new CD and it seemed a lot more on the “indie” side of things than the rest of the bill. I’ve never caught them live but I have heard great things from reliable sources, so I’ll be making a point to get there early enough to see their set.

I’ve caught Nessie three or four times over the past year or so and they never disappoint. Two things are for sure when you come to a Nessie show at The Emerald. First, it will be packed. Second, it will be loud. In other words, it will be pretty awesome.

Have Gun, Will Travel has just returned from a successful trip up to Atlanta where they opened up for the Slobberbone reunion show. If you don’t know who Slobberbone is, then shame on you, but to clue you in on how big of a deal it is — Patterson Hood from the Drive-By Truckers found the show worthy enough of a road trip from Athens. There was also a car load of our own Tampons who made the road trip as well (jealous, I am). Anyway, they’re not calling this a “CD release” party or anything, but they’ll have the new one with them and if you haven’t bought it yet, you need to be picking that bitch up. Tonight night is as good a night as any.

On another note, I don’t know if y’all have heard or not, since I‘ve been trying to keep it so quiet, but I recently had some ninebullets.net shirts made and I’m selling them. If any of you local folks want one hit me up (I’ll be the dude in the ninebullets.net shirt) and I’ll sell you one….and since you actually came out and paid a cover to support local music, I’ll sell it to you for a mere $10. So find me at the show or hit me up on email prior to the show.

See y’all tonight!

Have Gun Will Travel – Come, All Ye Sinners
Have Gun Will Travel – Kerosene and Candlelight
Have Gun Will Travel – Soles of Our Shoes

This weekend managed to prove once again that I am getting too old to party like a rock star two nights in a row. The whole thing began Friday night where I set out to, and I quote myself here, “get Lucero drunk”, and I am happy to announce that the mission was a complete success. The trade off of that is that recollection of the show is slightly hazy. A lot of the reviews I read leading up to Lucero’s show here were about the crowd. That frat boy concentration levels were reportedly getting dangerously high, but I didn’t really notice it being a problem here in Tampa. That said, the only complaint about the show would have to have been the crowd, but it was a completely expected complaint. See, as a bands popularity and attending crowds grow, the devotion level of the crowd begins to get diluted. While there was no shortage of people at Czar who where there to be seen rather than to see Lucero, they didn’t hurt the quality of what was happening on the stage, so let’s talk about that…and horns.

The band arrived in town in better spirits, shape, and sanity than I’ve ever seen them. That said, the band has a reputation to uphold here in Florida and as the band took the stage the whiskey river started flowing. The band ran through a nice mix of tracks from the new album (with their newly integrated horns) and songs from the new album, 1372 Overton Park. The first twenty feet off the stage were the usual suspects you’d see at a Lucero show, glasses raised, eyes a little glazed and singing every word as if they were the backup singers. My night ended with a stirring version of “Mom” ’cause my wife (and designated driver) had to be at work quite early the next morning, but I stumbled out of Czar drunkenly slurring about how good the band sounded and promptly passed out in the truck. For the uninitiated, that means the show was a complete success.

Lucero – The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo (from their Daytrotter Session)
Lucero – Can’t Feel A Thing (from their Daytrotter Session)

YOU CAN SEE PLENTY MORE PICTURES FROM THE LUCERO SHOW HERE.

I am blessed with the inability to get a hangover. It’s a blessing and a curse, but I woke up Saturday morning no worse for wear and started getting ready for Have Gun Will Travel. The group I was supposed to be going to HGWT with slowly declined as the day wore on since most of my friends are not immune to hangovers, and by the time I needed to leave my group had dwindled to being just me. I worried that the Lucero show the night before was gonna have a similar effect on others, making HGWT’s show a sparsely attended event, but those worries we quickly put aside as the crowd continued to grow while Lauris Vidal and Whiskey Gentry played their sets.

I have to admit I missed all of Lauris Vidal and about half of Whiskey Gentry due to interviewing Whiskey Gentry and Have Gun over at Fuma Bellas (look for those to be posted next week) during the concert. I was very excited to see Whiskey Gentry, having known Lauren (singer) from her previous band, Missy Secret and the Gossip Keepers. Whiskey Gentry was way more uptempo, eschewing the “old time country” sound for a bluegrass element. I was told that they were trying to work out an arrangement with HGWT that would get them down this way more often and take HGWT up to Atlanta on a more regular basis. Hopefully that will work out, ’cause these guys had the vibe and energy that could make them become the new Weary Boys for New World. Anyone who ever came to a Weary show at New World knows what I am talking about.

Up next were the stars of the party, Have Gun Will Travel, and by now the crowd had reached the point where I was nothing short of proud of Tampa. The band noticed it too, managing to comment on how awesome it was multiple times throughout the night. Speaking of awesome, HGWT was nothing short of awesome on that Saturday night, playing every song off their new album, Postcards From The Friendly City (call me crazy but I think they played one twice), and all the crowd’s favorites from their previous album, Casting Shadows Tall As Giants. The band played well into the night and the crowd stuck with them through the whole show. I can honestly say that I was not ready for the show to be over as the band walked off stage, which is a rarity for me since it was two in the morning and I still had a 30 minute drive home. I think that’s honestly the highest compliment I can pay the show, that when it was over I wanted more. They’ll be playing around the area quite a bit in the coming weeks/months in support of the cd. You should make a point to catch them a couple of times, they truly one of Tampa’s treasures.

Have Gun Will Travel – Wolf In Shepherd’s Clothes
Have Gun Will Travel – Ol’ Death Rattle
Have Gun Will Travel – Soles Of Our Shoes


YOU CAN SEE PLENTY MORE PICTURES FROM THE HAVE GUN SHOW HERE

While those of us that live here in Tampa were able to pick up the new HGWT album, Postcards From The Friendly City, over the weekend there was no means for outsiders to pick the album up when I last talked to y’all about the cd. Well, that is no longer the case. You can (and you should) order the new album from their myspace page and iTunes downloads are around the corner. While I understand the immediate satisfaction of digital downloads I must say that the packaging of this album is the best I’ve seen since The Fox Hunts album “Americas Working So We Don’t Have To” so if you’re able to exercise a little patience I think you’ll find it rewarded.

Have Gun Will Travel – Wolf In Shepherd’s Clothes
Have Gun Will Travel – Ol’ Death Rattle
Have Gun Will Travel – Soles Of Our Shoes

Have Gun Will Travel on myspace, Purchase Postcards From The Friendly City

Who doesn’t like Eastbound and Down? I’d venture to guess that it’s only folks who haven’t seen it and I have yet to meet a single person who’s heard The Takers that doesn’t like them.

Yesterday, during a Facebook exchange Virgil hatched a plan that we should try and get a song by The Takers on Eastbound and Down and I wholeheartedly agree. One problem, neither of us know how to go about it and a couple of hours research last night got me no closer. So, your mission, should you accept it is to repost this link from the Suburban Home’s website on your Facebook, Twitter, myspace…you know the drill and if anyone out there knows how to go about getting music on a TV show please email me.

The Takers – Friends In Bottles

And if you live in the Gainesville area (I’m sorry) head out to Durty Nelly’s tonight to catch The Takers as they play with Whiskey Gentry and Have Gun Will Travel.

One of the prides of Tampa, Have Gun Will Travel, will spend this weekend playing shows around the state to celebrate the release of their new cd, Postcards From The Friendly City. The cd title is a play on the band’s hometown of Bradenton, and it acts as a foreshadowing of the regionalism the band chose to take with the songwriting this time around.

Musically, Postcards is a further continuation of their last album, Casting Shadows Tall As Giants. It would be easy to drop an “alt.country” or “americana” descriptor here and move on, but I really think that sells the band short. Sure, “folk inspired americana with a splash of bluegrass and a dash on indie rock” works, but what the fuck does that actually mean? Hell, I’ve probably typed that exact line five different times and each band probably sounded completely different from the other. So I’m gonna try (and probably fail miserably at trying) to get in depth on HGWT’s sound for a moment. It deserved it on Casting Shadows, and essentially demands it now.

Make no doubt about it, HGWT is a very full band, with Matthew Burke singing and manning the acoustic, banjo, and harmonica duties, Daniel Burke on bass, JP Beaubien playing drums, Scott Anderson on electric guitars and lap steel, and Joshua Hernandez on viola. With all those instruments you’d expect a tumultuously full sound, but what you get is decidedly different. Instead of every instrument fighting and filling in space, it’s like each player has taken a spot on a different corner of a basketball court while Matt plays and sings at center court. I know it sounds like I’m almost calling them empty but somehow they make that space feel inviting to the listener, a sonic dance floor of sorts. It welcomes you in and then the songs sort of surround and envelop you like an old friend you never met. I hope that makes sense. It’s really the best this particular blogger/writer can do.

Lyrically, Postcards really embraces its (and the band’s) hometown, painting a delicate picture of a sleepy Gulf town, complete with landmarks, legends and history. Being a Gulf Coast resident, I love hearing references and hat tips to the town(s) I live and play in but I did wonder if this would limit the album’s appeal outside of this area. Then I got to thinking about how much I love Grayson Capps and how much detail he goes into when he sings about New Orleans and the surrounding parishes and decided it probably won’t be an issue at all, provided the songs are good; which they are. Matt’s lyrics and voice when combined with the band have the ability to invoke feelings within me and that’s why I love music.

Have Gun’s last album, Casting Shadows, garnered great success, managing to secure an NPR spotlight as well as becoming a Top 20 added album on the CMJ charts at one point. Personally I expect Postcards to reach, if not exceed, those same heights, and I’ll start the award avalanche by calling it Essential Listening and the odds-on favorite to be ninebullets.net’s Local Album of the Year. I’d love to hear what y’all think….

Have Gun Will Travel – Wolf In Shepherd’s Clothes
Have Gun Will Travel – Ol’ Death Rattle
Have Gun Will Travel – Soles Of Our Shoes

Have Gun Will Travel on myspace, Contact the band via myspace to purchase Postcards From The Friendly City

HEY TAMPA/ST. PETE: Saturday night HGWT’s trip around the Gulf Coast will be stopping off at New World Brewery on Saturday night along with fellow Florida resident, Lauris Vidal and Atlanta’s Whiskey Gentry. There is no reason this show shouldn’t be sold out. Yes, I know Lucero is playing Orlando that night. Yes, I know Lucero is playing Tampa the night before. Sometimes, Tampa….sometimes, we need to come out and show the local boys some support. These are the bands that keep our rock and roll fires stoked on a week in and week out basis. The bands that play around here so much it becomes easy to brush off a show telling yourself you’ll see them next week. Lord knows I’ve done it, but what’s important to remember is that this isn’t “just another show”, this is their cd release party. Those are far and few between for any band, much less a local band, so get your ass out to New World and show these kids some love. If we don’t, one day we’ll turn around and they’ll be gone.

This time last year I was in total panic mode trying to get everything right for the wife’s 30th Birthday. This year we’re back to the annual Halloween Party and Erin has more help than she knows what to do with, so I am free to get my rock shows on. So let’s talk rock and roll this weekend….

Thursday night we have David Dondero, Whiskey and Co. and Christina Wagner kicking the Halloween weekend off at New World Brewery. David Dondero is probably best known to locals here for the following lyrics from “South of the South”; “so I jumped my pogo stick all the way to Ybor City where they burned up a couple blocks and to me seemed like a pity that was once a Cuban district and a center for the arts / was now a mall like atmosphere homogeneous and insincere they burned its heart right out down South of the South”. Fans of Bright Eyes will drop maps of Hawaii all over the place over this guy, while Whiskey and Co. have plenty of drug and whiskey-laden country songs to keep spirits high and heads higher. Oh, by the way…did I mention that this is a ninebullets.net / thxmgmt collaborative show? Well, it is. In the interest of honesty I have to say we’re (9b.net) really just riding on the coat tails of thx, but I am really happy they offered up said coat tails. I’m telling you, I want 2k10 to be the year 9b takes the next step and I’m hoping thx is gonna help us do it.

Whiskey & Co. – Nightlife
Whiskey & Co. – One Man (too many)

David Dondero – Rothko Chapel
David Dondero – Twenty Years
David Dondero – We’re All Just Babies In Our Mama’s Eyes

Saturday night is Halloween night, and like I said earlier we’re throwing a big ol’ party. If you live in Tampa / St. Pete and wanna attend…holler at me, I’ll give you the particulars.

Sunday afternoon everyone’s gonna have the same thing on their mind….last night’s revelry, and I’m sure that shit is gonna hurt. Everyone knows the best cure for a hangover is a little hair of the dog, and a little rock and roll music just helps the liquor work its magic quicker. Well fancy that, one of the prides of the local music scene, Have Gun Will Travel, will be playing at Ella’s Americana Folk Art Cafe’ for Sunday brunch and BBQ. HGWT will actually be playing a lot around town in the coming weeks/months as they support their upcoming (released in Nov.) album, Postcards From The Friendly City. Have Gun deserves your attention, and that goes for every out of town reader of this site, too. These kids write great songs and it very well might become my personal mission to make sure every single one of you hear their new album. It’s on par with every other Americana album you’ve purchased this year. I promise.

From: Casting Shadows Tall As Giants:
Have Gun, Will Travel – Blessing and A Curse
Have Gun, Will Travel – Come, All Ye Sinners
Have Gun, Will Travel – Pins And Needles

From Postcards From The Friendly City:
Have Gun, Will Travel – Sons And Daughters Of The Gilded Age

You know what they say, “when it rains, it pours”, and such is the case next week with three shows in four days. While I don’t expect anyone else to adhere to such a rigorous schedule I do think you could find something you like in one (or more) of these shows. If you do make it out to any, find me and we’ll tell fish tales over a beer.

WEDNESDAY 6/24 @ THE RITZ: GRAYSON CAPPS

I am so excited about this show. Honestly, I just assumed Grayson Capps would never come to Florida. BUT! Here he is and he’s bringing his full band, The Stumppknocker’s, with him.  If the sound of Southern soul mixed with back-country stomp with a little road-house blues sounds like something that might tickle your fancy, you need to get to The Ritz on Thurday night for this show.

When I last wrote about Grayson I said, “I find myself drawn to the drunks, whores and vagabonds that haunt Grayson’s songs. They’re like old friends you keep up with via letters in the mail, and with a new album comes new updates.” It’ll be nice to finally meet this motley crew of characters in person.

Grayson Capps – Going Back To The Country
Grayson Capps – Ike
Grayson Capps – Mermaid
Grayson Capps – Junior & The Old African Queen

THURSDAY 6/25 @ NEW WORLD BREWERY: CORY BRANAN, JOEY CAPE & JON SNODGRASS

The following night, Joey Cape (Ladwagon/Me First & The Gimmie Gimmies), Jon Snodgrass (Drag The River/Arm Chair Martian) and Cory Branan will be playing New World Brewery. All three of these guys have crossed paths and shared stages at various times in their careers, but this is the first time all three have played together. This tour was engineered by Jon (and booked by the fine folks at AES Presents) and, as I understand, it will mimic The Revival Tour where the artists will all share the stage. Should make for a fun show.

Cory Branan – The Prettiest Waitress in Memphis
Joey Cape – Errands
Jon Snodgrass – Brave With Strangers
Cory Branan & Jon Snodgrass – Wild One (Thin Lizzy Cover)

SATURDAY 6/27 @ NEW WORLD BREWEY: THE CITRUS CIRCUIT TOUR with LAURIS VIDAL, TRUCKSTOP COFFEE, HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL & THE TAKERS

After giving the liver a brief break on Friday, the musical week plans to knock us out with a right hook powered by another all-Florida band lineup brought to us by thxmgmt. This is the second all-Florida band mini-tour thxmgmt has done this month. Like the last, the idea is to get a collection of Florida bands together who can pull within their own markets and put them all on the road together with the “home band” headlining their respective market. This time we’re getting Tampa’s own Have Gun Will Travel, Lauris Vidal (Daytona Beach), Truckstop Coffee (Lake Worth) and the latest Suburban Home Records signee, Gainesville’s own The Takers.

To say this is a must-see show is a complete understatement. Everyone in the Bay Area should know how good HGWT is at this point (and if you don’t then shame on you), and the amount of love ninebullets has shown Truckstop Coffee over the years is still pitifully inadequate. In addition, I’ll finally get to see the *much hyped* honky-tonk outfit The Takers.

This will be one of the best nights of music of the year and it’s all homegrown. In addition, it’s a Saturday night so there’s no reason not to go.

Lauris Vidal – Good Years, Dark Clouds
Truckstop Coffee -Way Down South
Have Gun Will Travel -Blessing And A Curse
The Takers – Taker Easy