Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival 5: Recap

also on

Five years have come and gone... When I started Music of New Braunfels, I wanted to do two things... I wanted to promote the live music and songwriter community in our area, and I wanted to help produce live music events for local charities or individuals that either need help or are doing good things for the community. With the help of the TX Citizen staff, the great folks at Freiheit Country Store, our songwriters and bands, a few great volunteers, as well as our wonderful sponsors both past and present, those dreams have been realized!

This year our beneficiary was Pink Warrior Angels, and we are honored to have been able to lend some support to these sweet ladies! They pair breast cancer survivors up with newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. They do this to help them through the hard times they will surely go through, letting them know what to expect. When it is the right situation and they’re able, they help financially. This is a classy organization doing great things for people that truly need it!

This year we added a Friday night preparty with our official sound engineer and one of few who have performed at every single Blowin’ Off Steamboat Music Festival, B.J. Thibodeaux’s band Backwater Blvd. With a little creative scheduling, we ended up with a bonus set from Rumor Town as well! We are working on something really big for a Friday night kick off party next year, so stay tuned!

Video Highlights from BOSMF5!


First-timers Elisa Maria and Navy Blu kicked things off on Saturday at noon, followed by Brittney Nemec of the sister band TBA. TBA was with us in 2013 for a brief set, and this year Brittney went solo with some harmony vocals contributed by her Aunt Tisha and sister Aubrey.

We had acoustic sets with David Russell of Empty-Handed Vagabonds and Jason Scott, Dennis Jay with Bob Stafford and Mike Ethan Messick, then Tyler Derryberry and Neil Cooper finished out that run before kicking off the first full band set.

Carol Cochran and Two-Way Street, a staple in our musical diet at BOSMF, played some classic country favorites. Along with Carol, there’s Clark Grein on lead guitar, Pat Nichols on bass guitar, Kim Hanney on steel guitar, the drummer known only as “Fruit”, and vocals from every part of the stage!

An acoustic set from Billy Broome of Silo Road and Keith Hickle was up next, followed by more amazing BOSMF veterans, Kori Free and The Groove Hounds. Alli Mattice also returned for a fifth year and joined Kori for a few songs, and after Kori’s set we were treated to a full band set from the Alli Mattice Band.

Country sweetheart Kayla Ray joined the amazing Reed Brothers, Kyle and Keegan, for an acoustic set, then we closed out the night with two HUGE full band sets from Jomo & The Possum Posse and Smoke Wagon! If you’ve ever seen the “Guy On A Buffalo” YouTube series, that song is Jomo & The Possum Posse’s light-hearted albatross, much like Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Up Against The Wall Redneck Mother” or Mike Ethan Messick’s “Everclear”. Smoke Wagon is one of my favorite local bands, they’re very high energy and put on a great show with a mix of red dirt and Texas Country covers as well as a growing catalog of GREAT originals that have already tipped into the top 40!

We hope you’ll join us for the Sixth Annual Blowin’ Off Steamboat Music Festival on Friday, January 19th and Saturday, January 20th, 2018 at Freiheit Country Store. Stay tuned here for more details!



Also in the TX Citizen!

Chris Stapleton returns to River Road Ice House

When: Thursday, August 11, 2016
Where: River Road Ice House, New Braunfels, TX
Opener: Quaker City Night Hawks
Tickets: SOLD OUT

The entire country music loving world now knows who Chris Stapleton is, although that wasn't always the case... Last October, a very large percentage of hardcore music lovers that stay REALLY tuned in to what's going on bought tickets to see Stapleton perform on October 25, 2015 at River Road Ice House. The weather wasn't super cooperative, and a large rain storm early on that day forced the show inside, and those few lucky souls who were able to make it witnessed history in the making. I've had it described to me as "amazing" and "the best music I've ever heard live" as well as a few others, but they performed for a packed INDOOR crowd, with the knowledge that they would need to eventually return and perform a make-up date outside to make good on the ticket sales for a big show on the big stage.

Two weeks later, Chris Stapleton won CMA awards for album of the year, new artist of the year and male vocalist of the year. He then went on earler this year to win numerous ACM, Americana Music Honors & Awards, ACCM, Billboard, British CMA, CMT awards and last but not least, TWO Grammys for Best Country Album and Best County Solo Performance! Needless to say, options and opportunities are seemingly wide open compared to last October, so the option of NOT returning to New Braunfels for a "make good" show would certainly be the easy path.

Oh man did they ever make good at River Road Ice House last night?! The typical band is Chris, his wife Morgane singing harmonies, J.T. Cure on bass and Derek Mixon on drums. Members of the band that aren't at all shows but at many of them are Mickey Raphael on harmonica and Robby Turner on pedal steel. Raphael has played with Willie Nelson for 43 years and was there last night, and Robby Turner who toured with The Highwaymen and later Waylon Jennings until Waylon's death, but has also been a go to steel player for many over several decades.

THANK YOU River Road Ice House for being such a WORLD CLASS live music venue!

Enjoy a couple of songs from last night's show!

Tennessee Whiskey (Dean Dillon/Linda Hargrove):


Whiskey and You (Chris Stapleton):

Charlie Daniels Band & Kimberly Dunn at Gruene Hall

I love living in a town that's so cool that it has the best historic dance hall in the world hanging just outside the loop on the beautiful Guadalupe River. We can see living legends like The Charlie Daniels Band! It was a great show, everything you could hope for, and Kimberly Dunn was a fantastic and high energy opener!

In the 60's and early 70's Charlie Daniels was a hard working songwriter and multi-instrumentalist session musician who had a song he co-wrote recorded by Elvis Presley in 1964 and he played on recordings for Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, The Marshall Tucker Band and many more! In the meantime he wrote and released numerous albums of his own, and began to get some traction on the charts with his third album "Honey In The Rock". He won a Grammy for Best Performance by a Group or Duo in 1979 for "Devil Went Down To Georgia", and has won awards from just about every organization that hands them out for country, southern rock or gospel music.

Daniels turns 80 later this year, and will celebrate at his 41st Annual Volunteer Jam with guests Kid Rock, Larry the Cable Guy, and more acts to be announced at a later date. He will also be inducted into the CMA Hall of Fame later this year along with Randy Travis and Fred Foster.

Click here for tickets to the Volunteer Jam/Birthday Celebration!

Photos:

VIDEO: Recap of Willie Nelson and Ryan Bingham

Who: Willie Nelson and Family + Ryan Bingham
When: Friday April 15, 2016
Where: Whitewater Amphitheater, New Braunfels

My wife and I saw Willie Nelson at Whitewater in 2010 with Ray Wylie Hubbard and Seth Walker opening the show, and at the time that was the best live show I had ever been to. I don't know if it was the spirit of Merle Haggard hanging in the air or something else, but Ryan Bingham opened the show and then he and his band got back up toward the end of Willie's set for a couple of Merle Haggard songs and they closed the show with a gospel set. MAN what a show! Willie always speaks through some lyrics of some songs, but try singing the same stuff for 40 or 50 years just because everybody wants to hear them and I'm sure you'd lose a little of your drive for giving 100% to those songs each time too! He did, however do MUCH less of that this time than he did in 2010, and I would say everything was almost perfect! Whitewater has done a great job rebuilding from the floods last May and October, and as usual they rebuilt bigger and better!

View photos from this show on Facebook<== LOOK!

Below I'm including a sample of Willie's show, and I'll eventually get a Ryan Bingham video posted as well, but I have to get this up soon, because I want you all to see how great this show was! I also might post a few complete songs to YouTube as well, so be on the lookout!

Also, thank each and every one of you for following Music of New Braunfels and reading what I post, it really means a lot that so many of you have found this service useful! Please make sure you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, too!

video:

links:
Whitewater Music Amphitheater's 2016 Live Music Calendar
willienelson.com
binghammusic.com

Some days are better than others...

Yesterday my boss was nice enough to let me take off a little early at work so I could go do something really cool!

So for some back story, my hobby over the past few years has become loving and promoting live music, so much in fact that I've created this website and social media presence that I semi hide behind.  I book gigs for a really cool classic folk and western songwriter named Dennis Jay.  Dennis has devoted the biggest part of his adult life to writing songs in a style that many people have forgotten about. His songs are very well written, and his delivery of them is so smooth and unique that it has made me start to go back and listen to some older folk and western songwriters and musicians again like Woodie Guthrie, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell and many more.  These are the roots of where much of today's better music came from, and Dennis is very authentically continuing in that spirit.

Back to yesterday...  Dennis is currently in the studio recording his next full length album, Lloyd Maines is producing it and Pat Manske at The Zone Recording Studio is engineering it. If you don't know who Lloyd Maines is, he has produced and/or played on hundreds of albums for dozens of very talented people, he won a grammy for producing "Home" by Dixie Chicks, plus he is the father to lead singer Natalie Maines. The guys in Dennis' band "Lonesome Town" are playing on the record, there are a few other various musicians coming in to fill in some of the blanks, but Lloyd has really taken a liking to Dennis' songs and style and he is playing some rhythm and lead guitar parts, bass guitar and adding some touches of pedal steel to really round this sound out.  I can't tell you what an honor it was to watch brilliant musicians and audio engineers at work, and the previews I heard of some of the rough mixes BLEW me away! I can't wait for you all to hear it!

Benefit: Flood of Love for Wimberley

[press]

WIMBERLEY - Musicians with a heart for Wimberley will come together August 9th for a concert to benefit residents of the flood ravaged community.  Lufkin-based Brookshire Brothers reached out to Wimberley-based singer-songwriter Robyn Ludwick about sponsoring a concert to raise funds for the victims of the Memorial Day floods. Ludwick marshalled the forces and with Judy Hubbard, fellow Wimberley resident and manager/wife of Texas music legend Ray Wylie Hubbard, have put together a stunning line-up sure to strum up significant support. Austin’s Nutty Brown Café is the venue and owner Mike Farr is offering his amphitheater for the event.  The name, Texas Flood of Love, was inspired by a pencil sketch by Wimberley-based artist David Richardson.

Confirmed performing artists include Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, William Clark Green, Bob Schneider, John Fullbright, Jimmie Vaughan, Wade Bowen, Jason Boland, and Robyn Ludwick.  The musical line up (with more to come) will be a huge draw as will an auction that will feature guitars signed by The Eagles, Willie Nelson, Dixie Chicks, Robert Earl Keen as well as house concerts by Sarah Jarosz and Alejandro Escovedo.  For those unable to attend the benefit concert, there will be on-line bidding opportunities. Tickets for the August 9th event can be purchased on line at www.nuttybrown.com or on the day of the event at Nutty Brown Café’ in Austin.

Brookshire Brothers  and its Wimberley-based store team began delivering food, water, baby formula and flashlights as soon as the water began to recede. Their vendors have enhanced the ongoing effort by donating tons of food and other products for those impacted by the disaster.  More vendors have stepped up to support The Texas Flood of Love including Louisiana Fish Fry, Brown Distributing, DiLusso Meats, Angus Pride, Swift Premium, Hormel and a host of others.
Brookshire Brothers encourages folks to give to the relief effort.  Funds from the concert will go to Barnabas Connection Flood Relief – barnabasconnects.org/wimberley-flood-2015

Founded in 1921, Brookshire Brothers is 100% employee-owned. Its assets include 150 retail outlets incorporating grocery stores, convenience stores, as well as free standing pharmacy, tobacco and petro locations. New stores will open this year in Pilot Point, Hamilton and Canyon Lake.  For more information on Brookshire Brothers and its family of brands please visit brookshirebrothers.com.

Walt Wilkins' guitar is finally home

Photo: Austin PD

In short, Walt Wilkins owned a really cool, custom Gibson Americana that was given to him in 2006. The guitar was stolen in 2009, then 5 and a half years later it made it back to Walt's very grateful hands. Walt was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the guitar and its journey.

Me:	What's the story on this guitar, and how did it end up in your hands?
Walt:	It is a Gibson Americana model, which never went into full production by Gibson. Gibson made 3 of them for a benefit in conjunction with the public radio station in Marfa, TX. Willie played one at the show; there's pictures of him with one of the guitars. Its cool. The other guitar was given to Dan Rather, I don't know why. I do know that one of my life-long friends found a way to contact Mr. Rather with a request to buy his for me after mine was stolen. His email in response was brief & definitive; not interested. The band began calling the guitar 'Merica, because during a soundcheck somewhere I hit a big G chord through the house PA & my amp, and it sounded huge. I told the drummer Ray Rodriguez "that's a big AMerican G chord, man." He started calling the guitar 'Merica. It was that goofy & simple.
note: The guitar was made from wood from an old Army Base in Marfa where Willie performed to raise money for the station (from Gibson.com)
Me:	Tell me about when the guitar was taken.
Walt:	The guitar was taken from just outside the stage door at The Saxon Pub on Dec 23, 2009. I left it alone for just a few minutes, which was usually OK during load-out, except this time.
Me:	Were there any leads or major developments in the search for the guitar during those 5 plus years?
Walt:	When it was stolen, I searched through dumpsters for hours around south Austin. Then I went home and made a basic appeal on Facebook. I went to bed around 5, got up at 7 and was shocked at the response of fans & friends throughout Texas. There were immediately lots of folks checking pawn shop, like me, and websites where someone might try to sell it. But nothing ever came up. Then I didn't think about it too much, even though folks would ask me about it all over the place, even in the The Netherlands, where we tour once a year.
Me:	Where did you get the beautifully painted Gibson Americana you regularly play?
Walt:	Dallas Wayne, the great songwriter-singer & XM Radio host called to tell me that he had bought a guitar like mine because he liked mine, and he would sell his to me. I bought it; and a year or so later had it painted by Dan Taylor, one of my favorite artists. I love that guitar too.
Me:	How was this guitar finally tracked down after all these years?
Walt:	This last Friday afternoon, I received an email from an acquaintance that had seen the guitar on Craig's list right then. He recognized the guitar. I contacted a friend of mine in Dallas, a law enforcement official, who contacted a friend in Austin PD who immediately contacted the seller, undercover, as a prospective buyer. At the same time, a Sgt of Austin PD saw the Craig's List ad & contacted the seller himself. A friend of mine called the seller independently Saturday morning & told me his voice mail was full, so the guitar was getting a lot of action quickly. The seller was out of town until Monday, when the APD Metro TAC team met with the seller, told him it was stolen & recovered it. They called me Monday night, and I went to get it yesterday morning, and enjoyed the visit with the guys who brought it back. Great guys.
Me:	What kind of shape is the guitar in?
Walt:	It's in perfect shape; in fact it looks like it was never taken out of the case.

Photo: Mike Galloway

Side note: In January 2013 when Music of New Braunfels was just a few months in the making, Walt agreed to play at our innagural Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival. Here's some video! Walt is at 12:56, but the whole video is good!

links:
Willie Nelson plays benefit in Marfa
WaltWilkins.com
My review of "Wildcatpie & The Great Walapateya"

Also featured on Galleywinter!

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

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...

Rest in Peace Kent Finlay!

Recent story about Kent:
Kent Finlay: The Man, The Music and The Van

Kent Finlay: The Man, The Music and The Van

Photo by Jamie Maldonado, San Marcos Mercury

(note: Kent Finlay passed away early on the morning of Monday, March 2, 2015, nobody did more for songwriters or talented, up and coming local bands than Kent over the last 40 years, and he will be deeply missed)


On Monday, February 9, 2015, I stepped inside Cheatham Street Warehouse for the first time in over 4 years to see my friend Dennis Jay play an acoustic set at Cheatham Street owner Kent Finlay's annual 29th birthday. One note about the night, Kent was not on hand because of ongoing medical issues related to a long battle with cancer, but he was watching a video feed. The place hadn't changed much, from what I hear it never really has. I truly love Cheatham Street, Kent Finlay and everything that this place stands for, but sadly I don't have a ton of free time to venture over to San Marcos to catch shows, visit Kent's Wednesday songwriter circle or watch Dustin Welch work with veterans on Monday evenings teaching them to play guitar and write songs, or any of the other incredibly cool things they have going on over there. It's sad but true, when I have the time to catch a live show, I typically stay in New Braunfels since we have so many choices within our city limits on any day of the week or weekend. Cheatham Street Warehouse has one thing however, that New Braunfels does not, it has Kent Finlay. Kent has been supporting and helping songwriters of all skill levels at his warehouse on the tracks since 1974. There were times when Kent wasn't around because of other responsibilities including his own band "High Cotton Express", but for the largest part of the last 40 years Kent Finlay has been nurturing young talent and helping launch careers.

One of the earliest and possibly most impressive careers that started at Cheatham Street, was when a young George Strait auditioned to fill an open lead singer position in a band called "Stoney Ridge" that was playing weekly at Cheatham Street back in 1975. Needless to say he got the job, and they debuted as "Ace In The Hole Band" on October 13, 1975 where they continued to play regular Wednesday nights at Cheatham Street Warehouse for nearly two years until the crowds that came to see them would no longer fit in the building. In 1977 Kent and George loaded up in the yellow Dodge van pictured above (click photo to see more) and headed to Nashville to record a demo, and the rest they say is history.

Other notable artists that cut (or sharpened) their teeth at Cheatham Street Warehouse with guidance from Kent Finlay include Stevie Ray Vaughan, James McMurtry, Hal Ketchum, Al Barlow, Will Sexton, Charlie Sexton, Justin Trevino, John Arthur Martinez, Todd Snider, Terri Hendrix, Randy Rogers and many, many more!

I am linking to some sites below. One is a Q&A with Kent around the time of his birthday in 2013 by Brad Rollins of the San Marcos Mercury; it's a GREAT resource for lots of trivia about the history of the songwriting in the Texas Hill Country which of course has spread like wildfire into New Braunfels and left behind a wonderful community that embraces live music and supports and nurtures a growing songwriter population, and it hasn't stopped growing. The other is the "history" page on Cheatham Street Warehouse's website. They both have lots of great history on Kent, Cheatham Street and many of the careers he launched.

I leave you with this... Support live music, support the songwriters and go see them and quietly listen to them play their songs. You never know who might be the next Dean Dillon or even the next George Strait.


links:
- Q&A: Kent Finlay on the birth of San Marcos Music by Brad Rollins, San Marcos Mercury.
- Cheatham Street Warehouse: History
- "Kent Finlay, Dreamer" - autobiography by Jenni Finlay & Brian T. Atkinson
- A little about Kent's medical struggles, which are still ongoing to this day
- Photos of the yellow Dodge van

picker-uppers of the van photos:
- CMT.com
- TheBOOT.com
- CountryMusicNation.com
- Houston Chronicle (chron.com)


#PRAYFORKENT

The Big Check

also on

Very pleased to announce we presented Lauren Clawson a really big check in the amount of $3,399.18 for Callen's Castle! This is one of many fundraisers they will need to raise the money needed to build Callen's Castle, but it's a nice start! Once again thank you to everybody involved in making this year's Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival a success, and that includes all of you because without live music fans in our area, there would be no music to tell you about! Keep supporting live music so we can continue to help make a difference in our community!

Read my recap of the 3rd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival

The Aftermath

also on

According to a Scottish proverb, of which I had no idea there was such a thing, the third time is a charm. It feels as though Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival has been charmed (or more appropriately blessed) from day one! We somehow managed to have (according to Weather Underground) 68 degrees and cloudy on January 19, 2013, 69 and sunny on January 18, 2014 and this past weekend we had 71 and partly cloudy. THIS IS NOT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA! Good weather isn't the only blessing we have received, we also happen to live in a town that has so much amazing musical talent that we have managed to stay with mostly first-time bands and solo artist each year with very few exceptions.

We continued the tradition of alternating between acoustic song swaps and full bands with a few bonus solo sets thrown in as well. Every performer brought their "A" game and I am very grateful that it all worked out so well. We opened the day with an acoustic set from local singer-songwrites Gerald Burns, Buddy Vargas and RC Sanders. Nick Rogers and The Randoms rocked the next set with a hard-driving electric trio that was surprisingly a band that had never played together before last week since Nick's regular band was unavailable for this event. From here we moved on to another singer-songwriter set with Scott Morgan, Caleb Boles and Manzy Lowry. Kori Free and Steven Vee of The Groove Hounds were up next to give us a taste of what is to come when they ramp back up their performance schedule next month which includes a Heart tribute show at The Brauntex Theatre on February 26th.

Carol Cochran and Two-Way Street do primarily tunes from all eras of popular country music, focusing primarily on the 50's through the 70's. Clark Grein has been playing with most of the members of Two-Way Street for around thirty years, so they have quite an extensive arsenal of songs at their disposal and they do them all very well. Alli Mattice was back with her big, beautiful, sultry voice along with David Clary and his highly skilled and somewhat animated guitar playing. Ashley Monical joined JJ Villarreal and Doug Garrett of the JJ Garrett Band for an acoustic set of both originals and covers. Folk and western songwriter Dennis Jay was up next armed with both his stirring originals and western standards. BJ Thibodeaux was kind enough to join us this year in place of Dave Jorgenson who unfortunately had to drop out after a death in the family. BJ also took over Dave's role running sound and providing our sound system for the day. Backwater BLVD was missing a lead guitarist, and thankfully Doug Garrett stepped up and did a fantastic job filling in for their set.

Alli and Dave stepped up for a second time while Zach Nytomt, Bo Brumble and Daniel Thomas Phipps set up for their acoustic song swap. All three are very skilled and entertaining songwriters that draw in a drown with both their songs and stage presence. Zach brought a fiddle player with him for a little extra depth, and he played along with Bo and Daniel's songs as well. Smoke Wagon was up next with their highly polished Texas country covers of bands such as Turnpike Troubadours, Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers and MANY more. With a highly skilled 6 piece band including a fiddle, Smoke Wagon brings a sound that could be stacked up against many of the bands they are covering. I know for a fact that lead singer Jay Brown has songwriting chops, so I keep watching (and so should you) for some originals to start coming out of their camp too.

Dennis Jay took the stage while we prepared for our home stretch. Dennis has been writing cowboy anthems and western folk songs influenced by greats such as Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Gram Parsons, Lefty Frizzell and more for many years. K Phillips was up next by himself since Ryan Ready became sick the day before the event. K always amazes me, his songwriting is entertaining and his delivery is flawless. Apparently his genius has been noticed beyond the Wurstplex, as he was recently attending The Outlaw Roadshow (co-founded and produced by Adam Duritz of The Counting Crows) as a performer, when he found himself listening to one of HIS songs (Kat's Song) being performed live on stage by Adam Duritz himself. This was a collaboration between Nakia (Austin, TX) and Duritz.

The last two sets were both big, six piece bands. Poor J Brown is a great New Braunfels-based band with big instrumentation, great songwriting and wonderful stage presence and vocals with a bluesy, cajun-seasoned, southern rock feel. An interesting bit of trivia, a former lead singer of Poor J Brown (or Country-Fried Pickles at the time) just so happens to be Smoke Wagon lead singer Jay Brown. PJB has a lead guitar, keys/rhythm guitar, bass, drums and accordion. Yes, accordion! Devil's Hollow closed out the night with a huge sound of mostly blues with hints of influences from classic rock and even hints of latin. Justin Murray is lead singer and lead guitar when there are blues licks required, all the shredding is left to Nick Doe. Devil's Hollow throws keys and congas on top of a great four piece blues band and mixes it all into a big, tasty treat for your ears.

Aside from the beautiful weather, great music, great crowds and the best burger in New Braunfels, it was a pleasure to get to know Lauren and Colby Clawson and learn more about their journey into this noble task of raising money to build Callen's Castle, a park that is not only safe, but fun and mentally stimulating for kids of all abilities. I sincerely hope that the 3rd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival was a nice jump in the right direction for this project! Be sure to watch Music of New Braunfels for video clips of Blowin' Off Steamboat, and start preparing yourself for next year, there are plans in the works that could possibly pack more great music than ever before into one weekend.


links:
3rd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival

One more in the books

Devil's Hollow closing the 3rd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival!

The 3rd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival is now behind us. I'll be posting some random thoughts, pictures, videos, etc as soon as I can get my brain to re-congeal. It was a GREAT day and let's just say we had a 3 year record number of people through the door for this event. As soon as I find out how much money we were able to raise for Callen's Castle I will definitely get that info back to you! I want to thank our sponsors, all the wonderful musicians who came and played our event that is still trying to work on a somewhat meager budget so we can maximize our donation to Callen's Castle, plus all of you that were able to make it out and enjoy some or all of the day with us, it was a very fulfilling day and we heard 12 hours of GREAT music. We admittedly ran behind on set times all day and that never got corrected, but I hope nobody minded too terribly and hopefully most people in attendance didn't even notice.

Watch for plenty of photos and video coming soon!


Thanks,

Brian

Helping a Hero

photo credit: K Jessie Slaten (KGNB)

from KGNB.am 9/12/2014

(New Braunfels, TX)  --   On September 11th, 2001, 8th-grader Justin Lane decided to join the army.  And join he did.  Unfortunately, Justin lost his best friend, and both of his legs in Afghanistan.  Yesterday morning, hundreds turned out to attend a Welcome Home Ceremony for (retired) Specialist JP Lane.  Not because Lane was returning home, but because the organization Helping a Hero chose Lane to be the recipient of a new home in Rebecca Creek Ranch, built to his needs and requests.  Helping a Hero officials say they have helped more than 100 wounded warriors in 22 states with homes adapted to their special needs. On Thursday, George P. Bush and singer Lee Greenwood were among the dignitaries  on hand to present Lane with the keys to his new country home. Mike and Roxann Cotugno of MJ Construction Services built and designed the 2,600-square foot home where Lane will continue to recover, as he pursues a music career.

More information and event audio at KGNB.am

links:
JP's YouTube channel
JP's Twitter
JP's Website

Ray Wylie Hubbard - "The Messenger" (via KUTX)

So this whole filling Facebook up with music thing has been nice. The ice bucket challenge was fun and for a good cause, but music will always trump charity in my book. One post has jumped out above all to me. Mutha Hubbard (Ray Wylie's wife) posted this when she was given the letter "H". It's pure Wylie magic.



Thanks KUTX for capturing this magic moment!

PRAY FOR ALLAN GOODMAN!

note: Allan Goodman passed away early in the morning on May 21, 2014, more information can be found at this page. Below however is EVERY video I took that Allan is in. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!


##########################################
############### ORIGINAL POST #########
##########################################

Allan Goodman was diagnosed with cancer back in the summer of 2012. He has fought a good fight and he is at the apex of that fight AS WE SPEAK... Allan and Ashley could use your prayers RIGHT NOW. Here are some videos of Allan I took over the past couple of years...

#prayforAGoodMan
February 28, 2014 at Tavern in the Gruene with Tony Taylor and Stan Little:


July 28, 2013 at River Road Ice House with Adam Hood for Galleywinter's Greenfest:


February 17, 2013 at Billy's Ice with Dead Rock Stars at "Retro Prom":


November 13, 2012 at Tavern in the Gruene with The Blooms:


September 9, 2012 at Billy's Ice, Psycopathy Red Respawns Benefit:


August 7, 2012 at Tavern in the Gruene with The Blooms:


May 20, 2012 at Gruene Hall with Adam Hood AND The Blooms for KNBT's 16th Annual Americana Music Jam:


March 16, 2012 at Tavern in the Gruene performing "So Far Away" during happy hour:

Whitewater Amphitheater: Haggard, Bowen and Rogers

Whitewater Amphitheater set the bar high when they kicked of their 2014 live music season on Saturday, March 29th with Merle Haggard plus an opening set from Wade Bowen and Randy Rogers' "Hold My Beer and Watch This" acoustic tour.  Wade and Randy took turns performing acoustic versions of their songs with Brady Black joining in on fiddle and Todd Laningham on guitar.  If you're not familiar with this annual tour, they drink beer and swap songs and stories.

It was an early show with Wade and Randy taking the stage at 7:30, but Whitewater was already starting to fill up despite that.  Rock, Paper Scissors is apparently a tradition to see which man will start the show, and Wade won out and kicked things off with "If We Ever Make It Home". From there they played one song after another with an occasional stop for a drink of beer and some humorous conversation about life on the road, etc.

By the time Wade and Randy's set ended the place was packed, and people were of course antsy to see Merle Haggard on stage.  After a brief wait while the stage was prepared, The Strangers (Merle's band) took the stage to sing a few songs while waiting for Merle to appear.  Finally it was time, and at almost 77 years of age (he was born April, 6, 1937), Merle Haggard doesn't appear to have lost a step. His well-staffed 8 piece band performed every hit Merle Haggard song I could remember, and it truly was an honor to be able to witness such a country music legend performing live.

I just happen to have some video from the show!


Whitewater Amphitheater has now officially launched concert season for 2014, here are the shows I know about, clickable shows are links to buy tickets:
• 5/3 - Jmblya
• 5/24 - Josh Abbott Band w/Roger Creager + William Clark Green
• 5/25 - The Spazmatics
• 6/14 - Stoney LaRue & Randy Rogers Band
• 6/23 - Goo Goo Dolls, Daughtry, Plain White T's
• 7/4 - Eli Young Band w/Chase Rice
• 7/5 - Turnpike Troubadours w/Jerry Jeff Walker & Jonny Burke
• 7/26 - Pat Green & Cory Morrow
• 8/9 - Dwight Yoakam w/Jason Boland and Jason Eady

Jeff Strahan - Amen To The Blues - Live at the Bugle Boy

I LOVE this Jeff Strahan video from May 2013 in LaGrange, TX. I sure wish there was a video feed from the jam going on up in heaven right now, I'd love to see Jeff playin' with Muddy Waters and Freddy King right about now! Rest in Peace Jeff, wish I knew you better!

Wurstfest 2013 Rewind: Alex Meixner, I Like Beer

Did you miss this? Alex Meixner's song he brilliantly added to his setlist this year. I hope it stays there for years to come!



"I Like Beer" written, recorded and popularized by Tom T. Hall in the mid 1970s.