Autopsy IV note: In what is becoming a regular occurance, a reader (Chuck) sent me a show review earlier this week. I hope y’all enjoy it.

Reckless & Ragged: Neighborhood Theatre – Charlotte, NC  3/5/2010

People who follow the Texas/Red Dirt music scene are familiar with the friendly “rivalry” that exists between Reckless Kelly and Cross Canadian Ragweed. The pranks these two bands have played on each other range from the harmless to the down-right disgusting. Through all of the jokes, they are the best of friends in music, having played together at countless music festivals and charitable events. When it was announced that they’d be making a run together through the southeast, I was pumped to see a date in Charlotte.

Reckless kicked off the evening and played for a little over an hour. Their new album, Somewhere In Time, was released last month. It is made up entirely of songs written by Pinto Bennett, the songwriter from Idaho who had a huge influence on the band in their early days. The set list consisted of a few tunes from the new album, including personal favorites Little Blossom and Pure Quill as well as some of their older songs, Baby’s Gone Blues, Drink Your Whiskey Down and Nobody’s Girl. They closed their set with an excellent cover of Alejandro Escovedo’s Castanets. This song has been in the rotation for the band for a while, but they’ve not got an awesome jam at the end that puts a great exclamation point on their set.

Ragweed was up next and the crowd was ready. They have built a nice following in the southeast as evidenced by the size of the crowds at their concerts here. I’ve seen them a handful of times and the crowds here are larger each time. The one thing that stood out to me was their sound – it was loud and just plain awesome. They are really on top of their game right now. Front man Cody Canada kicked it off with what they call the “Trifecta”, three songs (Overtable, Overtable Interlude and Pretty Lady) that are all strung together on their new album, Happiness and All The Other Things. A highlight of the show was the cover of Rosalie, a song written by Randy Pease about his beloved guitar. Randy was an integral part of the original Oklahoma red dirt music scene where Ragweed got their start. Cody explained that their next album, their last with Universal South, will be made up of songs written by their old Oklahoma friends (Medicine Show, Mike McClure and the Great Divide, etc.) so that their friends will get the royalties. About midway through the set, Cody Braun, Reckless’ fiddle player, came out to join in on Anywhere But Here. I wasn’t sure how a fiddle would go with Ragweed’s sound but I must say it was pretty cool. Braun came back out to join on Bad Habit, a song requested by someone in the crowd but Canada said he didn’t know the lyrics. He wasn’t lying as he completely forgot them halfway through the song. He played it off nicely and moved on. Another great moment came next when Braun brothers Cody and Willy covered Buddy Miller’s That’s How Strong My Love Is. Later, both bands were on stage for Ragweed’s Time to Move On, which included a great guitar solo by Reckless’ guitar player David Abyeta. The fun continued with the Ragweed classic Boys From Oklahoma and then Crazy Eddies Last Hurrah, a Reckless song that has been covered a lot by Ragweed. This version included Willy Braun on lead vocals with both bands playing. The night ended with a cover of Chuck Berry’s Promised Land, a song you might not think you’d ever from either of these bands. However, they pulled it off nicely.

Overall, just an awesome night of music from two bands that know how to play great music live. One of the cool things that Ragweed does at most of their concerts is offer a USB wristband that contains songs from the show. Absolutely brilliant – it’s very popular among fans and it’s another way for the band to get their music heard. I’ve included a couple of tracks from the show – enjoy.

Cross Canadian Ragweed – Dimebag
Cross Canadian Ragweed – Time To Move On

Our roving North Carolina reporter, Adam Fenwick, is back with another show report from another tour skipping Florida:

THE ROCK REPORT: Drive-By Truckers @ The Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, N.C. (Feb. 25, 2010)

When I heard that the Drive-By Truckers would be playing within 30 minutes of my current home in Concord, N.C., at the ever-popular Neighborhood Theater, I knew right away I couldn’t miss the show.

I ordered a ticket the day they became available and that ticket found its way to my fridge, stuck there via magnet to remind me of the fun that was to come Feb. 25, 2010.

And have fun I did.

I arrived early alongside my partner in crime for the evening, a dear friend of mine named Danelle who graciously agreed to come to the show with me despite not having a clue whom the Drive-By Truckers were.

Once parked, we strolled to the front and found the line to get in the door almost around the corner. I wasn’t overly surprised by this, the Neighborhood Theater is a fairly small venue and I fully expected the place to be packed. I was surely right.

The opening act, Sons of Bill, took the stage around 9 p.m. and served as an outstanding prelude to the forthcoming Rock Show. While not like DBT in terms of sound, they rocked the early goers with their own brand of country rock that resulted in me purchasing their latest CD, titled “One Town Away.”

About 30 minutes after Sons of Bill finished up, the Drive-By Truckers hit the stage with an awesome version of “This Fucking Job,” kicking off another great Rock Show.

I got to hear a number of songs I’ve somehow never heard live Thursday night, including Cooley’s “Uncle Frank” and the always classic “Buttholeville” (one of my personal favorites). Of course they also pulled out a number of new classics, including Cooley’s “Birthday Boy,” Shonna’s “I Told You So,” and Patterson’s “Daddy Learned To Fly.”

Once again I had to call it a night a bit early, after having gone to Atlanta last weekend then attended two concerts in one week I was all but spent. I left just as the band was starting “Zip City,” but just after “Daddy Learned To Fly.”

A side note, somehow I always end up near the idiots in the crowd. For some reason one gentleman (the term used loosely) decided to make the area we were standing his personal mosh pit. While he didn’t get decked, I thought Patterson was going to break his middle finger during an exchange shortly before I left.

During “Hell No, I Ain’t Happy” Patterson got on his knees to perform a solo right in front of me. This moron decided he would give Patterson the bird RIGHT IN HIS FACE. Patterson almost seemed to feed off of it, I could tell he was pissed by simply looking at his face. When he finished his solo he simply reached out and grabbed the guys finger and gave it one good yank.

I don’t know if he actually tried to break it or not, but regardless it was a slightly tense moment during an otherwise excellent Rock Show. At least there wasn’t a fight right in front of me like the last two times I’ve seen DBT.

Drive-By Truckers – Zip City (Live at Pine Hill, 2002)

P.S.: Watch what Patterson does when this dumbass starts making a scene in Raleigh, N.C., just a few days before DBT stopped in Charlotte.

(Editor’s Note: Since this tour wasn’t passing through Tampa I asked long time reader, Adam Fenwick, to cover the North Carolina show. He agreed and here we are.)

The Rock Report: Lucero & Glossary @ The Visulite Theater in Charlotte, N.C. Feb. 23, 2010

Oh. Fuck. Yeah. Those three words kept running through my head last night at Charlotte’s Visulite Theater as I got my first taste of ninebullets.net favorites Lucero and Glossary for the first time.

I’ll be the first to admit that I went into Tuesday’s show a little blind. I knew next to nothing about each band and only knew a few songs from each bands library (I spent Tuesday at work listening to as much Lucero as I could get my hands on via MySpace) but by the end of the night I was highly impressed.

Glossary took the stage earlier than expected, about 15 to 20 minutes before their 9 p.m. start time. At this point the crowd at the Visulite was thin, but that didn’t stop those who were there from getting into the show (much as I did).

I took the show in from a bar stool near the back of the venue as I’ve found standing looking up at the stage tends to make my back ache the following day (yes, I’m a wussy, get over it). On the plus side, I was able to see the stage easily and this allowed me to really enjoy the music (while head banging when appropriate).

While I have to say I was disappointed when Glossary finished their set (I wanted them to play “Save Your Money For The Weekend” again) I was stoked to finally get my first taste of Lucero. By the time the main event hit the stage the venue had filled up nicely (it wasn’t packed to the gills, but there was a pretty decent crowd on hand).

Everything I’d read about Lucero’s live act in the days before the show turned out to be absolutely true. This band of merry men hit the stage and ripped the crowd to shreds. While I wasn’t familiar with a large portion of what was played it wasn’t hard to get into the groove of things. As far as I’m concerned Lucero played rock and roll like it was supposed to be played.

I made sure to pick up copies of Lucero’s “1372 Overton Park” and Glossary’s “Feral Fire” for use in my CD player for the foreseeable future before exiting at around 11:30 p.m. While this may have been my first exposure to both bands, I have no doubt that it won’t be my last.

Glossary – Save Your Money For The Weekend
Glossary – Through The Screen Door

Lucero – Sixes and Sevens
Lucero – Darken My Door

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 gotta be honest, I go to a lot of shows. Anyone who pays any attention to the calendar page of the site knows that. An unfortunate side-effect of that is that I’ve become slightly desensitized to the excitement of seeing a concert, so I’m rarely genuinely excited about seeing a show. This past Friday’s Todd Snider show at Skipper’s, however, was one of those rare occasions.

Todd Snider brought his brand of politically charged jingle-jangle with a little folksoulcountry wit to Tampa for a sit down show at the always amicable Skipper’s Smokehouse. Mother Nature even seemed to be in a good mood, giving us a break in the rains long enough for the entire show to take place sans dripping trees. The show started out somewhat clunky. First was a full-band that opened up the show (I apologize, I came in during their set and never caught their name) very well. They played a crackling ‘78 version of Americana well enough, so I was sad I only managed to catch three songs. This mystery band was followed by Rebecca Zapen, who was, in a word, forgettable. though I’m not even sure it was her fault. I mean, she may suck outright, but I was disinterested long before I could decide if she was good or not. Why? Why, WMNF, did you sandwich a largely unfamiliar girl doing standard coffeehouse singer/songwriter fare in between a full band and Todd Snider? She had no chance from the start and the entire crowd seemed largely bored with her. Personally, I headed to the bar for libations and conversation with a fella who just moved to Tampa from Chicago and I was marvelling at his shorts and ‘flops in February attire.

Todd took the stage in pretty much the most perfect way I could have imagined. No announcement, no fanfare, no shoes. He walked out and just started playing. He even saved the “I’m Todd Snider” banter ’til he was done with the opening tune. Then after a quick introduction he plowed through a short set of pre-planned songs before opening up the floor for song requests. He then spent the next 70 or so minutes playing requests, sharing stories and offering opinions.

Now, I wanted to type a short story about this show, but whilst marinating on what I was gonna say it continually boiled down to one word; inspiring. Todd Snider’s show at Skipper’s Smokehouse was inspiring. It lived up to every hope and expectation I had and I think anyone at the show understands what I’m talking about and, odds are, they’re the only ones still reading this. However, should you still be reading this but weren’t at the show, then make a mental note to go see Todd next time he is in town. It’s well worth the effort. Hell, go early and eat dinner, after all…it is Skipper’s. I recommend the fried Catfish dinner.

Todd Snider – Is This Thing On?
Todd Snider – Money, Compliments, Publicity (Song Number Ten)
Todd Snider – Doublewide Blues
Todd Snider – Greencastle Blues

These are two live tracks with some hilarious stories attached:

Todd Snider – Vinyl Records
Todd Snider – Aaron Allen

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

The rains made the night less than hospitable but those of us that made it out were treated to some wonderful music. We arrived just as Knoxville’s Matt Woods was wrapping up his set, so I immediately hit the bar for some social lubrication. Two Red Seal Ales into the night The Most Beautiful Losers took the stage. I’ve had their CD in my computer room for a few months now, but I’ve not managed to give it a listen. Live, they’re loud, rough and everything rock n’ roll is supposed to be. Watching them play made me want, nay, need whiskey and the moment their set was complete, I made the rain hindered-sprint over to Fuma Bella’s to quell the monster with a few shots before Will Quinlan took the stage. Seems great minds think alike as the bulk of Truckstop Coffee, Matt Woods and no shortage of show attendees were doing the same thing.

One thing is for sure — when Will Quinlan is on, there are few better and this past  night, Will was as on as I’ve seen him in quite some time. Joining Will on stage was his regular drummer Jesse Martin, Have Gun Will Travel guitarist Scott Anderson and Truckstop Coffee bassist, James (Bob) Hershberger. At some point during Will’s set, I tweeted (or Facebooked) a picture of Will with the text, “Will Quinlan, if you don’t know, ask me tomorrow.” I think it was best summed up by Larry (Truckstop’s drummer) when Will started playing the opening of “Beatitudes.” I leaned over to Larry, telling him how much I loved the song and he said, “I know! I can’t believe I know the guy who wrote it.” Will Quinlan is a rare treat and we’re lucky to have him, so seriously, if you don’t know … ask me about him or go check out his Myspace.

Will Quinlan – Beatitudes
Will Quinlan – Acrimony Blues

This could have easily been called the Truckstop Coffee CD release party, Take 2. See, the band came to town a few months back for their official CD release show but the road had chewed them up pretty good by the time they got to Tampa (read here) and the show ended up being a Pete Stein solo set. This time around, all the band members were present and the rock was brought. Unfortunately much of the crowd had filtered out or were hanging inside for Truckstop’s set but those that continued to brave the lingering humidity were greeted to a highly energetic show comprised mostly of songs from TC’s new album, For Dear Life.

Highlights (for me) were my two favorite songs from the new album, “Laredo Skies” and “Ghost or an Angel” as well as a full band version of “Fly Far Blackbird,” the standout track from Pete’s solo album. By the end of the night everyone, including the band, was lubed enough to make the crowd-to-band banter alone worth the price of admission.

Truckstop Coffee – Laredo Skies
Truckstop Coffee – Ballad of Joel Carpenter

In all, it was another night that served as a huge reminder that Florida is currently flush with amazing musical talent we should be supporting in full, and you can all start with the January 30 all-Florida bill featuring The Takers, Greenland is Melting and Nessie at New World Brewery. Come be a part of it.

For more pictures from this show or others, head over to James Zambon’s site.

Man, 2009 was the year of the show for me. I saw about 35 shows in 3 different states, catching everything from Bob Log III with 8 people to Katy Perry with 3000 12 year olds. To be honest, by the end of the year I was suffering from live show burnout and I am currently on a concert hiatus through the remainder of the year. I thought I’d take a day to talk about some of the awesomeness I saw this year….

I managed to catch Malcolm Holcombe here in town on an exceptionally cold night last winter. At some point during the show I texted my wife saying I was at a concert and a comedy show broke out. Live Malcolm was nothing short of awesome, but it’s his between-song banter that immediately comes to mind when I think back on that show. Catching Old Crow at the Tampa Theater also turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Being a seated show I was expecting a lot of pent up energy, but fortunately no one sat. Next up in the review is the Counting Crows / Michael Franti show, another seated show. I’ve said this before and it bears repeating, I am an unapologetic Counting Crows fan and that was my first time ever seeing them. They which met and exceeded every expectation I could have ever had.

The year wasn’t without its disappointments, though. There’s a long list of shows that came through town that were ruined by a lack of attendance. The awesomeness that is William Elliott Whitmore came to town and played for about 10 people, and barely any more than that showed up for the life-altering event that is a Bob Log III show. The few of us that made it to those shows are better people for it.

I made it to four festivals this year; Tropical Heatwave, Nerdapalooza, Deep Blues Festival and the Suburban Home 14th Anniversary Party. Tropical Heatwave was saddled with terrible weather, but made up for it by giving me The Pack A.D. and Eileen Jewell in the same room. Nerdapalooza was just silly, and I mean that in the best way possible. The fest itself suffered horribly from being behind schedule, but that annoying fact was more than made up for by the good people in attendance. Since Nerdapalooza takes place a couple of hours down the road from my home base I will almost definitely make it back in 2010….even if it means bunking with Funky49 and his girlfriend (they don’t know that yet, though). The Deep Blues Festival this year featured an much better venue but was a minor step backwards when it came to the lineup this year. That said, the wife, our friend and myself had a great time. Unfortunately, the Deep Blues Festival is in danger of not existing anymore. Chris (DBF founder) has incurred a silly amount of debt trying to keep the fest afloat and this year’s Fest may not happen at all. I’m deeply saddened by this, ’cause not only do I love the Deep Blues Festival, I also love Minneapolis in the summer. My last festival (if you can call it that) of the year was easily my favorite, The Suburban Home 14th Anniversary Party. Knowing a lot of the bands and a good collection of the people (via the internet) just helped push this one over the top. Everyone I met was awesome, the city was awesome and the lineup just killed…Tim Barry, Two Cow Garage, Jon Snodgrass, Chad Price, The Takers, Austin Lucas….hearing Josh Small for the first time….shit. Upon arriving back home from that weekend I told my wife if we only go to one festival next year, the SH party would be it. So, join us this year. It’s gonna be a.w.e.some.

All of the great shows aside, one show stands out as the best of the year. And when I say stands out I mean there was no competition. The best show I saw in 2009 was, without a doubt, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club in St. Paul, Minneapolis. That show is the kind of shit fish tales are made of. I knew it was the best show of the year as soon as it was over, but now, some 7 months later, I can officially crown it. As a Floridian I’ll probably never get another chance to see them and I’ll be forever grateful that the stars aligned just right so I could catch them in Minneapolis. Their sound was just as big and robust live as it is on cd, while Slim & Jay’s back and forth banter is even more enjoyable in a live environment. They sang on the stage, they sang in the middle of the crowd and they sang at all points in between. Honestly, it was the best show I’d seen since the North Mississippi Allstars/Drive-By Truckers Thanksgiving show @ The Tabernacle in Atlanta way back in 2004 before this blog existed, and might be the best for some time to come…unless I happen to go to Colorado next year for their annual New Year’s Eve show.

Some days things just work together. While I was writing up the review of A Damn Good Ride I dropped by Jeremy Steding’s website to look for his bio and such and found out he was playing in town that night. I grabbed a phone number off the site, made a call, and set up some time with him before the show. As luck would have it and one thing leading to another I wasn’t as early as I wanted to be but since it was a Thursday night show there wasn’t an opening act and there was still plenty of time to meet The Band of Bastards and get to know them before the show. And a damn fine show it was…

(In case you’re wondering that is a Jason Isbell shirt on the Eric.)

What I learned is a that Jeremy is originally from Florida and came west to Austin in 2007 with an unmastered, unreleased “Whiskey Songs and Prison Songs” to pursue music in the Red Dirt scene. Having been inspired by old Pat Green (before he went Nashville), Cory Morrow, Robert Earl Keen and the like he figure Austin was the place to be if he wanted to play his kind of music.
I know our gracious host would disagree, being a huge fan of the Florida music scene and rightfully so, but Jeremy made his trek and is now making his mark on Red Dirt Music. One of the highlights of the night was finding out that Jeremy is fan and friend of Pete and Larry from Truckstop Coffee. Those boys are perennial 9B favourites and it’s always nice to find other fans.

Jeremy is at a point in his career that he says many never make it past. He’s playing decent venues and getting decent turnouts but intimates it’s fairly easy to get stuck there for a good long while and some folks can’t handle what seems like being in a rut. He handles most of his own booking, all of his merch, all of the publicity pretty much managing himself and the Band of Bastards. He uses all of the standard methods today such as twitter, myspace, facebook, and so on to get the word out about his music and his shows all while giving away his recorded music on his website. He and the band have a sponorship from Budweiser and they are touring hard. He says he loves the work and doesn’t mind all the time it takes to self manage. I did ask him specifically about giving away the albums on the website and he explained that while they sell a good number of CDs at shows that he wanted more people to discover his music. He thinks that people don’t buy as many CDs as they used to because of worrying about the investment. What if the CD sucks? So he put both albums for free, gives out business cards everywhere he goes that tell people where to go to download it, has a donate button if you want to toss a couple bucks his way, and still sells just as many plastic shiny discs at shows. And it’s working. More and more people are hearing his music and coming to shows. And that’s where Jeremy Steding and the Band of Bastards really shine…

And let me tell you: These boys can tear up a stage. I liked the album and that’s pretty clear from my review but seeing them live is just damn good. It’s not as big a difference as Cory Branan’s live vs. his studio work but it is something that has to be seen to be believed. Jeremy is a showman for sure and he pulls in the audience without even trying. He’s still young so the show isn’t as polished as some of the old timers but whether it’s belting out his original songs are having a little fun with classic covers like You Never Call Be By My Name whilst claiming it was written by “…a friend of a friend of a friend of my dad’s” on Canadian bacon in eyeliner you can tell that Jeremy is doing what he loves and the Band of Bastards is having as much fun as he is. And when I say he gets the audience involved I mean the isn’t above calling out the drunk birthday girl to help out with The Boys From Oklahoma.

…they’re too damn skinny and way too long…

In closing you shouldn’t miss the chance to see this Florida boy turned Texan play a live show. With a band that cites influences ranging from Truckstop Coffee to Jason Isbell you certainly could do worse. And as far as the more country and western shows go I am not sure you could do better these days.

The Band of Bastards is:

• Matt Winegardner – Drums
• Eric Smith – Bass
• Steve James – Lead Guitar

You can see the full gallery from the show over at romeosidvicious.com .

Here’s some tracks off of Jemery’s first album since I don’t have any live tracks (except the one from this album) from him just yet:

Jeremy Steding – Bonnie Blue
Jeremy Steding – Auburn
Jeremy Steding – The Day to Day, Today (Live)

And the Boys From Oklahoma…

Jason Boland – The Boys From Oklahoma

Jeremy Steding Official Site
Jeremy Steding on MySpace
Jeremy Steding on Facebook
Jeremy Steding on Twitter
Jeremy Steding on YouTube

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