January in New Braunfels - Blowin' Off Steamboat

2013 wrapped up with its usual bang in New Braunfels with a big list of great New Year's Eve shows from Monty "Guitar" Tyler, Kevin Fowler and The Rankin Twins, Stewart Mann & The Statesboro Revue, Javi Garcia and Dustin Welch, Whiskey Rodeo, Tom Gillam's Kosmic Messengers and MORE! New Braunfels doesn't give you a "morning after" let down, New Year's Day has plenty to offer as well. Aaron Stephens, Guy Forsyth, Walt Wilkins & The Mystiqueros, Shinyribs, Tony Taylor and Slim Bawb and many more helped people recover not only physically, but also spiritually. Music definitely soothes the soul, and there was plenty of soul icing to help frost the 2013 cake you've been baking all year.

A new year brings New Braunfels an annual void of some of our talent that has planted their roots here, as the Dickson Productions' "The Music Fest" in Steamboat Springs, Colorado typically happens during the second week of January. Last year, TX Citizen and myself (Music of New Braunfels) built a local music festival from the dust of those left behind during "Steamboat", and we decided to take the concept of both building up a little jealousy of the folks that were able to go to "Steamboat", and a welcome home for the folks that were able to venture to Colorado for a week, so we called it the "Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival". This grew from a short evening conversation on Facebook into a fully planned and booked music festival in a period of less than 48 hours. Despite my inexperience and short tenure as a music blogger, we actually put together a really fun event, and managed to pull it off without too many issues. This year on January 18th at Freiheit Country Store we'll bring you full band shows by Tom Gillam's Kosmic Messengers, Aaron Stephens, The Groove Hounds, The Hillbilly Jug Band, The Captain Legendary Band, Slim Bawb and 2-Way Street. There will also be many great song swap sets by some of our finest singer/songwriters, as well as some amazing sets from locals such as Alli Mattice, TBA (yes, TBA) and many more! There is a full line-up on musicofnb.com as well as more information about the event, such as the fact that all proceeds are going to the New Braunfels Puppy Playland and that we have some very generous sponsors such as The Hippy Gypsy Boutique, Rambling Gypsy Productions, and M&S Engineering that have helped us start out with a nice donation to the NBPP folks before we even start.

January will also bring the sort of music we've come to expect in our fair community, such as shows from Kyle Park, Matt The Cat Trio, The Georges, Max Stalling, Chubby Knuckle Choir, Warren Hood, Jason Eady, South Austin Moonlighters, The Whiskey Sisters, Whiskey Rodeo, The Hillbilly Jug Band, Aaron Stephens and weekly appearances by a newly assembled (and amazing) acoustic group Tom Gillam's Kosmic Messengers. We will also see the return of the weekly radio broadcast Roots and Branches of Americana from KNBT. If you aren't familiar with this show, this is a brilliant piece of broadcast history where Mattson Rainer has talked Ray Wylie Hubbard into coming around weekly and interviewing amazing guests and swapping song with them for 2 hours. This has got to be the single coolest radio broadcast now or ever, and it's been happening for the last 12 years! March will be the 12th anniversary, expect something amazing!

New Braunfels truly is a unique community of writers and makers of song, and I am truly honored to be in their presence!

links:
2nd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival
Dickson Productions
Ray Wylie
KNBT