Artist Spotlight: Devil's Hollow

Devil's Hollow was our 10:30 headliner at the 2015 Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival this year, they brought their big, 6-piece band and put on an incredible show! I recently interviewed the band, here's what came out the other end!

Devil's Hollow is a dry creek bed in north-western Comal County hanging off the Guadalupe River west of Canyon Lake. A road sign pointing toward Devil's Hollow fell on front man Justin Murray's eyes at just the right time one night when he was headed home after a gig and booking another gig over the phone. He went with it, figuring he could come up with something else later. Several years later, Devil's Hollow Trio (as it was known then) is staffed with six heavy hitters that have varied connecting ties back to previous (and current) other bands, all of which have helped develop Devil's Hollow into a blues-fueled sound interlaced with hints of funk, latin, jazz and rock. Front man Justin Murray's vocals and his blues guitar along with bassist Jimmy Hartman's deep blues roots guide the band's primary sound, but with the hints of latin from Mike Zeoli's percussion and Nick Doe's rockin' lead guitar riffs, Devil's Hollow is far from a one trick pony.

Justin Murray started a blues trio in 2007 after several years of receiving positive feedback about his guitar playing. He had remained a strictly recreational musician to this point, having mostly only sat in with a few bands from time to time. He finally decided to take things to that next level by actually gigging with his own band. Keyboardist Matt Cain was the first of the current members to join Devil's Hollow, he also played with a progressive rock band Spank along with guitarist Nick Doe, in fact Spank still gigs from time to time to this day.

By late 2008 Justin had named the band Devil's Hollow Trio, eventually dropped the "trio" portion and grew the band to considerable popularity. In December of 2008 Devil's Hollow opened up for Del Castillo, and since Mike Zeoli (Del Castillo drummer) had his rig set up on stage early, Justin invited him to play along. An instant connection and friendship began, and Mike started playing gigs with Devil's Hollow any time he wasn't busy touring with Del Castillo.

Wanting to expand and diversify the band's sound, Justin brought in Nick Doe at the recommendation of Matt Cain to audition (during a live show) for a shared lead guitarist role. Nick crushed this "audition" and joined the band in April of 2009. Justin is an incredibly accomplished blues guitarist, but Nick fills out the rock and roll side of Devil's Hollow, which not only gives the band more options on the style of songs they play, but also gave more texture to the blues style they had already developed.

In 2009 Justin began playing side gigs as part of a blues/soul band called Red Rooster Revue with a very young Adam Johnson. They shared guitar leads and featured Adam Johnson on vocals. In early 2010 Jimmy Hartman joined Red Rooster Revue on bass and soon after joined Devil's Hollow as well. Devil's Hollow continue to play more and more gigs for another year or so until they reached the crest of that wave and opened a sold out Los Lonely Boys show at Gruene Hall in October 2011. At that point things just stopped. Murray and other band members needed some time to step back and reset, they had grown so quickly as a band and they didn't really know where to go next, so they didn't.

After a two year hiatus, Justin booked a Devil's Hollow gig at the Texas Craft Brewers' Festival in Austin on September 28, 2013. He brought WJ Robinson on drums, Pat Young on bass, and even brought Adam Johnson along to play shared leads. Due to a huge downpour during the festival, they ended up finishing this show to a very receptive crowd in a packed tent. This firmed up in Justin's mind that it was time to put Devil's Hollow back together.

Justin, Nick, Jimmy and Matt came back together, along with Mike when he was available, and in early 2014 they picked up Tom Raines as full-time drummer. Tom had recently moved to San Marcos from Brownsville. He had played a show with Los Bluzanos which features Del Castitllo bassist Albert Besteiro. Albert put in a good word to Justin about Tom and he was hired.

Besides Matt and Nick's connection in the band Spank and Mike as a full time member of Del Castillo until they went on hiatus in 2014, there is also filmmaker Robert Rodriguez's band Chingon. Mike Zeoli has played numerous gigs with Chingon, and Jimmy recently started sitting in with them as well. Jimmy has also played with Jeff Strahan, Del Castillo, Bobby Mack, Seth James, Ruben V and Daniel Thomas Phipps.

Look for a funky new single called "Traffic Jam" from Devil's Hollow soon, and watch for more details on a full-length album they are currently writing and rehearsing so they can hopefully get it into the studio later this year!

Upcoming dates:
• April 1: Sam's Burger Joint (San Antonio)
• April 4: The Parish (Austin)
• April 11: Real Ale's Anniversary Party (Blanco)
• May 8: Cheatham Street Warehouse (San Marcos)
• May 9: Half Moon Saloon (Brownsville)
• May 14: Dosey Doe Music Cafe (Conroe)
• May 16: NB Blues Society Party at Oma Gruene's Secret Garten
• May 16: Cypress Creek Cafe (Wimberley)


Video from Blowin' Off Steamboat back in January:


Also featured on Galleywinter!

Kori Free & The Groove Hounds: Tribute to Heart

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

Kori Free & The Groove Hounds w/Yesenia McNett were the second tribute show to sell out The Brauntex Theatre for their Valmark Chevrolet's Greatest Hits Live series, and WHAT A SHOW! Well, they're gonna do it all over again, this time at River Road Ice House! NEXT Friday, April 3, 2015, doors open at 7, show starts at 8. Tickets are only $15 at the door, but buy them online THIS WEEK for only $10 each! You do not want to miss this show, I am astounded at the transformation this band has gone through over the past 3 years, and they just continue to amaze!

Click this banner or the link below for tickets:

tickets: ticketfly.com

Kent Finlay: Celebrated and remembered

As the reality set in this past week that long time Cheatham Street Warehouse owner, songwriter, mentor and friend of many Kent Finlay was no longer with us, it hit a lot of people in different ways. Friends and family that were able to stopped by on one night or another so they could participate in celebrating his life. Here is the best timeline I was able to put together of what happened this week. Some stunning anonymously submitted photos are below.

Monday: Blue Healer, Haley Cole and Court Nance performed plus the whole place broke into "I'll Fly Away"
Tuesday: Tessy Lou & The Shotgun Stars, Lucas Eason, Sean Makra & Scott Feigh performed plus Jamie Wilson recorded "They Call It The Hill Country" in the Woodshed studio
Wednesday: Many groups recorded as a choir to use in the last couple of choruses on "They Call It The Hill Country" the Jamie recorded on Tuesday. The Wednesday night Kent Finlay's Songwriters Circle turned into a night of tribute to Kent as many songwriters sang one song each in rememberance.
Thursday: Jamie Wilson & Courtney Patton, HalleyAnna Finlay & Kathleen O'Keefe and Ashley Monical performed
Friday: Foscoe Jones + Daniel Driver and friends are performing, and rumor has it some folks that graduated from the Kent Finlay school of life with honors may be there as well.

An impromptu gathering of musicians who frequent Cheatham Street Warehouse perform “I’ll Fly Away” in memory of Kent Finlay. Monday, March 2, 2015
Musicians gather on stage to perform “They Call It The Hill Country” in memory of Kent Finlay. Monday, March 2, 2015
A large gathering of songwriters assemble at Cheatham Street Warehouse on Wednesday night to each play one original song in memory of Kent Finlay. Wed, March 4, 2015
Engineer Russell Tanner prepares to record one of many groups of friends, family, and fellow songwriters in the chorus of Kent Finlay’s most recognized work, “They Call It The Hill Country” Wed, March 4, 2015
Kent Finlay’s son Sterling Finlay listens as in-house studio engineer Russell Tanner sings an original song for Kent Finlay, his employer of nearly a decade. Wednesday, March 4, 2015
With his father’s bandana at his feet young Sterling Finlay takes the helm of his father Kent Finlay’s renowned Wednesday night songwriter gathering, leading three generations of Texas songwriters in an emotional chorus of “They Call It The Hill Country.” Wed March 4, 2015
Photo credits withheld by request

Travis Parker Band: "Come Down"

LOVE this new video of Travis Parker (w/guitarist Spencer Whitney) by River Man Productions! Travis Parker plays Tuesday nights at Tavern in the Gruene in New Braunfels after Roots and Branches of Americana w/Ray Wylie Hubbard. You DEFINITELY need to check them out soon!

"Come Down"

Charlie Stout's videos of Kent Finlay

So not only is Charlie Stout a very talented songwriter and photographer who has an eye for beauty and the ability to turn a phrase; Charlie also had the foresight to immortalize Kent Finlay on his YouTube channel. Charlie has several video that he captured last year of Kent Finlay on his own stage at Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, TX delivering songs, poetry or just talking about his personal history. I absolutely LOVE these videos and can't thank Charlie enough for doing this...

"Meet Kent Finlay"


"The Songwriter" (spoken poem)


"They Call It The Hill Country"


"Ride Em Cowboy"


"I'll Sing You a Story"


"Hanging My Hat"


"Comfort"


"Don't Judge My Songs By How They Sell"



Thank you Kent...

Thank you Charlie...

Kent Finlay: "The Songwriter"

Thanks Charlie Stout for posting this! Here's some epic poetry from an epic Texas songwriter. (I'll stop saying "epic" now)...

We miss you Kent, I'm sorry I never took the time to come meet you in person...

OUCH!

Sometimes it's refreshing to hear what people really feel, I hope I'm never the target of feelings like this!!! You gotta love Charlie Robison!



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