Kayla Ray was born and raised in Texas. She was brought up on the music of greats such as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Tanya Tucker, Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Willie Nelson. This pedigree shines through not only in Kayla's music, but in her personality and attitude. I have to say, and this isn't at all a stretch, Kayla embodies everything that was and should still be country music. Kayla is a sweet spirit with a love of music and the songwriting and performing ability to let the good times and the tough times of her upbringing shine through.
I've had Kayla Ray's record Love & Liquor in my hands for several months now. I've listened to it many times, in fact I keep coming back to it every few weeks. Kayla is relatively young, but she has already made a go as a solo performer and released a 5 song EP of all original songs Girl in the Band in 2011. Kayla launched a Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2013 to raise money to record her first full-length album. A "Kickstarter Launch" party with Jason Eady (emceed by Rawhide & Velvet's Rita Ballou) gave her a strong start, and by December 2013 she was tour managing for Jason Eady and hitting The Zone in Dripping Springs to record her album! Jason produced Kayla's record and provided some lead and harmony vocals. This was actually Jason's first time acting as producer, which is amazing as you listen to track after track of country brilliance.
Kayla released Love & Liquor on August 28, 2014 and started to travel and play as much as possible, sometimes on her own and sometimes with a band. Kayla played her first full band gig in our area in March of 2015 at Happy Cow in Hunter. I looked Kayla up and listened to samples of her record on iTunes and was instantly hooked. I got my hands on her record and listened through it several times over the next 2 months, then found out while helping with the planning of Galleywinter's Greenfest that Kayla would be playing during one of the acoustic sets on Sunday at Lone Star Float House! Kayla is in no way a studio creation like a lot of the modern day "country" they play on the radio, she truly is gifted and I hope she breaks through and helps the world see what country music needs to return to!
The players:
• Kayla Ray - Songwriter, vocals and acoustic guitar
• Jason Eady - Producer and lead/harmony vocals
• Courtney Patton - Harmony Vocals
• Nick Dennard - Electric guitar, dobro, acoustic guitar and co-writer on 2 songs
• Chris Schlotzhauer - Pedal steel guitar
• Jeremy Watkins - Fiddle and harmony vocals
• JD Miller - Bass guitar
• Jeremy Bryant - Drums and percussion
• Pat Manske - Engineer, Percussion
Kayla will be playing THIS Monday, October 5 from 7-9 at River Road Ice House and on December 10th at Riley's Tavern in Hunter!
Here's a sample of Love & Liquor!
Please buy a copy of Love & Liquor online at KaylaRayMusic.com, on iTunes or Amazon or buy a copy from her in person next time she plays near you!
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!
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)
Like many bands, I've been trying to see Smoke Wagon perform live for quite some time. I finally had the opportunity to see them last Friday at Billy D's in Universal City. The acoustics weren't optimal, but the sound was well balanced and filled the oddly arranged room well. Smoke Wagon plays primarily Texas Country and Red Dirt tunes from the more popular bands of the last decade, and they do this very well. With highly capable musicians in all corners and the recent addition of a clasically trained violinist turned fiddle queen, it really rounds out their sound and enables them to match the instrumentation of many bands such as Randy Rogers Band, Wade Bowen, Reckless Kelly, Turnpike Troubadours and more.
Smoke Wagon was formed in 2011 which involved a Craigslist post and an urge to put together a band to cover a better brand of popular music. Going back a bit, lead singer Jay Brown and bassist Dave James were already comfortable playing together as they were both founding members of the raunchy, San Antonio-based parody band "Skunkweed" since the mid-90's. Skunkweed members Jay Brown and Leon Waddy branched out and started an additional band "The Country Fried Pickles" in 2008 which played primarily in New Braunfels and achieved some level of success. However, life eventually got a little too hectic for Jay to keep up with the demands of two bands and "real life" so he had to step down as lead singer of "The Country Fried Pickles". To make a long story short, "The Country Fried Pickles" hired Dave Fenley as lead singer after Jay left, renamed the band to Poor J. Brown (because it's kinda funny), Fenley went on to become a semi-finalist in Season 8 of America's Got Talent in 2013 then moved off to Nashville to further his music career and remains there currently with his wife Eden.
Back to Smoke Wagon...
After Jay took his hiatus from being in multiple bands then joining Smoke Wagon, this nearly takes us to their current roster. Stephen Ochsner is the rhythm guitarist, backup vocalist and a lifetime musician playing piano at a young age, trumpet as a teen and later picking up the guitar. Jason Kahanek is the lead guitarist, he played saxaphone in middle school, but in 7th grade he took a guitar lesson and never looked back. Jason played in a few bands prior to Smoke Wagon, but he is now in a band that allows him to play a wide variety of styles and grab the occasional spotlight with very capable soloing. Dave James is the bassist and an over 20 year well seasoned veteran of several bands playing many styles of music all over Texas so he helps pull Smoke Wagon together into a tight, well polished unit. Brandon Neumann is the drummer, and has been playing the drums since the age of 12. Brandon has played with several bands in Austin and San Antonio before joining up with Smoke Wagon and rounding out their sound.
They finally had pulled together the right combination of musicians to pump out a sound that impressed not only fans, but music professionals as well. That is, until in January of 2013 they were playing a gig at Tavern in the Gruene in New Braunfels and a certain classically trained violinist came to the gig and watched them play. Deborah Peltier is the fiddle player, she brings a skill that almost only happens when you start playing at a very young age, which she did. Deborah started with piano then picked up the violin in the 5th grade. Aside from some time playing guitar in an all girl punk band and some coffee shop serenading, Deborah is a classical violinist who even played with the Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra for 2 years. With so many Texas Country and Red Dirt bands including fiddle parts, Deborah was a welcome and completing piece of the puzzle.
All members of Smoke Wagon have "day jobs", so they don't give us weekly opportunities to see them play, but watch their Facebook page for upcoming gigs. Of course we will let you know when they play within 25 miles, which they do regularly because they mostly burn up the northest side of San Antonio.
Here is a video sample of Smoke Wagon from September 12, 2014 at Billy D's in Universal City:
Seth James grew up on the Moorehouse Ranch in King County near his birth place of Guthrie, TX. He was no stranger to dirt, hard work, integrity and common sense. Seth has an interesting heritage; while some people come from families with either clean or dirty backgrounds, Seth has a little of both. His mother's side was made up of cowboys, ranchers or lawmen, and his father's side were all outlaws or musicians. This may sound like a tough combination, in fact his parents split when he was in elementary school. The rough and rowdy upbringing in a bunkhouse on a ranch could produce a man of a variety of temperaments, but Seth is a kind, soft-spoken man with a strong work ethic, love for family and God-given musical talent that has been worked into something truly amazing. Seth went to school in Guthrie, and graduated both salutatorian and in the bottom half of his graduating class of two.
Musical influences come from many places, Seth's came mostly from listening to the radio which he did a lot, and any exposure to live music only came from watching country or Texas Swing bands at the rodeo. Seth picked up the guitar as a child, but mostly only played in the privacy of the bunkhouse until he finally played publicly during college. Seth rode his high academic honors all the way to Texas A&M. His father played drums in a house band where Bobby Mack played from time to time, and when going to see his father play he experienced two firsts; seeing somebody play electric guitar live, and seeing Bobby Mack for the first time. Bobby's presence and skill etched a love for the blues into Seth, and this love manifests itself when he takes the stage. Whether playing an acoustic set, playing lead guitar in a band or joining up with the likes of Bobby Mack, Rick Richards and Jimmy Hartman to do a full-on blues show, Seth clearly puts his heart and soul into what he does, and he makes it all look effortless.
While still in college, Seth played with some friends in what they called Black Rose Band, playing mostly covers of Charlie Pride, Ray Price, Haggard, Fogarty, Buddy Guy and many more. Over the years Seth wrote, played and recorded many of his own songs, played with Ray Wylie Hubbard then Cody Canada and The Departed, and of course while on this journey he married his wife Jessica and they had 2 boys together and now live in New Braunfels, TX. Jessica is still a part-time vocalist with Wade Bowen, and if you're lucky you can catch Seth and Jessica singing together from time to time.
Seth and Bobby have 2 more blues shows booked at River Road Ice House on Wednesday, March 19 and 26th, and hopefully more will come in the future. Here is a sample of the first installment of this blues series at River Road Ice House!
Tom Gillam was born in Deptford, New Jersey, and was primarily raised in Camden, New Jersey. As the son of a nuclear power plant cooling system design engineer and a stay-at-home mom and member of a 5 child household with 4 boys and 1 girl, Tom says he had a great childhood. Tom's paternal grandfather and great uncle were musicians in the 1920's in Schmoken, Pennsylvania, and his brother Michael has played drums with John Waite since 2010 as well as having credits as drummer for John Waite's latest album, 2 of Tom's albums and several other records over the years. Tom picked up the guitar and played it through high school, but dropped it shortly after in lieu of taking vocal duties. Jumping into songwriting was a natural progression at the age of 22, and he also learned and added slide guitar to his arsenal. Tom's primary musical ingestion was by no surprise the "So-Cal" country rock sounds of late 60's and early 70's bands such as Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Byrds and others which finally manifested into bands like The Eagles. These and many others helped shape Tom's musical tastes and stylings, but Tom has continued to branch out and enjoy MANY genres of music over the years. This diversity wasn't limited to his musical enjoyment however, Tom even fronted a punk/new wave band in Philadelphia for awhile, and has played many different styles of music over the years in many bands including several of his own. Aside from being a professional musician his entire life, Tom has taken the occasional odd job working at a music or record store to help pay the bills, and lucky for us he has also gotten into the world of broadcast radio.
My first exposure to Tom was hearing a few of his southern/country rock songs on KNBT in New Braunfels. Tom also started hosting the Cosmic Power-Hour on February 21, 2010, and has filled KNBT's airwaves with early country rock and Americana tunes most Sunday nights ever since. Tom's show has become popular enough that the Cosmic Power-Hour was extended to a second hour, and Tom also began filling in during the morning shift from time to time when Wayne Fanning left New Braunfels Communications last summer after 21 years in Texas, most spent on the air in New Braunfels. Soon after, it was announced that Tom would co-host the morning show with Misty Malone on Tuesdays and Wednesdays with Tom going solo in the 9 o'clock hour. Tom has also been involved in a couple of the Valmark Chevrolet's Greatest Hits Live series concerts at the Brauntex Theater. Tom's band performed a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute show in November 2012, and Tom made a rare "vocals only" appearance as part of the local band Phantom 46 in February 2013 to perform a Bad Company tribute. Tom has also made numerous appearances at Gruene Hall leading song swaps, playing acoustic and full band shows, and has also played at about every other local venue you can name. Tom also does extensive traveling across the pond. He's made overseas runs as Tom Gillam Band, as part of US Rails, The Drakes and many others. Tom has built quite a large network of friends and fans on both sides of the water, and with his growing catalog of records, this fanbase will definitely continue to expand.
Tom started up a new project Tom Gillam's Kosmic Messengers that at times plays as an all acoustic ensemble, but they typically turn it up and go full electric which they did for the very first time at the 2nd Annual Blowin' Off Steamboat Music Festival back in January. We definitely got more than we bargained for, Tom and the band were beyond amazing. This "new" band is made up entirely of musicians Tom has worked with in the past, Tom of course on lead guitar and vocals, David Spencer on co-lead guitar (I love twin leads, when done correctly it will blow your socks off) Dan McCann on bass, Ian Bailey on drums and rich vocals in all directions. They kicked off this new concept back on Sunday December 29 at Gruene Hall. Knowing that this particular set was all acoustic I wasn't really sure what to expect, but with the talent packed into this band I should never have been surprised they exceeded every expectation I had. Add the extra layer of twin electric guitars and they are almost impossible to beat. Tom referred to the Kosmic Messengers as "The most comfortable band I've had in years". I would suspect this has something to do with talent and tenacity.
Tom's Kosmic Messengers will play two Gruene Hall dates in March, on Friday March 7th they will play at LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch in Katy, TX and they will also kick off the 2014 monthly live music series at a new venue "The Farmhouse" (txfarmhouse.com) which is located near 1863 and 281 in Bulverde on Saturday March 15 with Poor J Brown opening the show at 7pm. Tom will then go on the road with U.S. Rails during the month of April in Spain, Italy and France, then follow that up with a European tour with he and David Spencer in May.
Tom Gillam Discography:
2000: First of All
2001: Dallas
2004: Shake My Hand
2006: Never Look Back
2009: Play Loud Dig Deep (Tom Gillam & Tractor Pull)
2009: Had Enough?
2010: Better Than The Rest (European compilation of his first 3 records)
2011: Rustic Beauty
2013: Good For You
If you haven't already, be sure to check out Tom's great music, most of it is available on iTunes, can be purchased through his website or at a show. Also, be on the lookout for info regarding new music, as soon as I hear anything about a Kosmic Messengers record in the works, I'll be sure to let you know!
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!
New Braunfels has an amazingly high concentration of talent within its walls for a "small town". Many people have migrated here over the years because of legendary venues such as Gruene Hall and the number of folks here with strong songwriting chops that make amazing collaborators and even mentors. The other side of that coin is the number of New Braunfels natives that have joined the local, unofficial songwriter's guild. One such talent is songwriter Jonny Burke. He was born and raised in New Braunfels, and was exposed to good music at a young age. His dad gave him the beginnings of his music education, feeding him with guitar fundamentals and great music. By the age of 15, Burke had already begun playing music in public, and even formed a band in high school that had a fair amount of regional popularity.
Jonny has spent many of his adult years on the road including a few years in Los Angeles, but has always considered New Braunfels home. Much of 2013, Jonny has been in Texas and has been writing and working on many songs in preparation of his as of yet unnamed full length album that is planned for a 2014 release. Jonny's prior discography includes a 2009 EP "The Long Haul", his first LP "Distance and Fortune" which he released in early 2011, and his latest full-length record "Cup Runneth Over" that was released in 2013.
Aside from touring and perfecting his new material, Jonny has been hosting a cool, new series at River Road Ice House in New Braunfels. His Rooftop Ramble series started out upstairs on Sunday afternoons, but when the chill of December hit, the ramble had to move downstairs where the doors could shut out the cold and keep the music playing. The guests that have joined Jonny so far read straight from the pages of "who's who" in music over the last year.
2013 Rooftop Ramble:
Nov:
3 - Kevin Galloway of Uncle Lucius
10 - Chris King
17 - Evan Felker of Turnpike Troubadours
24 - Jamie Wilson of The Trishas
Dec:
1 - Rob Baird
8 - The Damn Quails
15 - Owen Temple
22 - Mike Harmeier of Mike and the Moonpies
Many great weeks have past so far, but you can still make it to the final 2013 Rooftop Ramble at River Road Ice House with Mike of Mike and the Moonpies, which will most definitely end the series for the year with a nice dose of real country. Keep watching the schedule, as Rooftop Ramble appears to be in the works again for 2014!
2014 Rooftop Ramble:
March 9: Courtney Patton
March 16: TBA
March 23: TBA
March 30: TBA
