On September 6 - 8, 2007, Alex Battles and Brooklyn Country Music present the 4th Annual Brooklyn Country Music Festival in Park Slope. The fun begins at Buttermilk Bar on Thursday at 8 PM (NO COVER), and continues on Friday and Saturday at Southpaw ($10 per day or $16 for both). Friday night kicks off at 7 PM, and Saturday is an all-day extravaganza beginning at 3 PM.

Bands Featured: The Y’all Stars, Jessica Rose & the High Life, The Lonesome Prairie Dogs, Sweet William, The Two Man Gentlemen Band, The Defibulators, Andy Friedman & The Other Failures, Erin Farrell, Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co., Grizzly’s Banjo Assault, Hogzilla, Jack Grace Band, The Doc Marshalls, Alex Battles’ Whisky Rebellion, Uncle Leon & The Alibis, and The Flanks.

Buy tickets!

So, brah, here I am watching Dog the Bounty Hunter Episide #49 - “A Helping Hand” (Season 3) and there it is, a clip of Scott H. Biram’s song “Blood Sweat & Murder” in the background when Dog is on his way to the airport to help Leeland with a difficult bust. SWEET!

I’m sure I’m the only person on earth that didn’t know this, or at least the last person who listens to Scott H. Biram and watches Dog the Bounty Hunter, but there you are

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Country music star Vince Gill, singer-songwriter Mel Tillis and TV personality  Ralph Emery will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in October, an industry group said on Tuesday.

The three were introduced at a Country Music Association ceremony by stars Brenda Lee, Barbara Mandrell and others, who celebrated Tillis’ upcoming 75th birthday with a giant cake.

The trio will be inducted during the annual CMA Awards Show in October.

Gill, 50, has sold more than 22 million albums, earned 18 CMA awards and won 18 Grammy awards. Last year he released a four-disc set featuring guest performances by Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and others.

Tillis, who struggled with a stuttering problem, wrote numerous hits for himself and others, including “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town.”

Tillis’ acting gigs included appearances in the “Cannonball Run” movies and a few episodes of “The Love Boat.”

Emery, 74, launched his career in 1957 as a late-night disc jockey on WSM Nashville radio. He became an announcer on the Grand Ole Opry and starred on The Nashville Network on a show that drew guests like former President George H.W. Bush and actor Mickey Rooney.

If reading hurts your head but still keep up with real country goings-on then might I suggest you check out a little something entitled “It Burns When I Pee.”

That’s right friends, no longer just an embarrassing medical condition “It Burns When I Pee” is no also a great podcast of kindred spirits spreading the gospel of bone-fide country music and helping to fight the scourge of pop-country mediocrity!

Sound like too much for one little podcast to handle? Then head over to Section86.com, download an installment and see for your own doubting-thomas self! The newest episode features an interview with Scott H. Biram and an album review of Wayne “The Train” Hancock’s album Tulsa from Jared Morningstar.

And then there’s IHWIP’s Cheyenne. Worth the price of admission alone.

Billboard.com has a feature on ex-Trucker Jason Isbell about leaving the Drive By Truckers and working on his solo release, Sirens of the Ditch.

Isbell started writing for a solo album around four years ago. Although he didn’t initially set out with a side project in mind, he says a batch of songs came together that just didn’t feel like Drive-By Truckers material. “I was writing most of these songs on piano, which I hadn’t done for Truckers songs, and the arrangements I was hearing in my head called for different instrumentation than we had in the band.”

The illustrated man with the banjo and a voice of the ages is embarking on an extended US fall tour. According to Whitmore’s MySpace page he is currently working on a new record this summer and it should be out in the Spring of ‘08.

Fri Aug 17 2007 PICADOR IOWA CITY, IA
Sat Aug 18 2007 CLIFTON HOLLOW GOLF COURSE - DEEP BLUES FESTIVAL RIVER FALLS, WI
Fri Aug 24 2007 THE RIVER MUSIC EXPERIENCE - RIVER ROOTS LIVE MUSIC FESTIVAL DAVENPORT, IA
Sat Aug 25 2007 USHERS FERRY HISTORICAL VIL - USHERS FERRY FOLK FESTIVAL CEDAR RAPIDS, IA
Sat Sep 8 2007 THE NOTE CHICAGO, IL
Sun Sep 9 2007 STONEFLY BREWERY MILWAUKEE, WI
Mon Sep 10 2007 TRIPLE ROCK MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Wed Sep 12 2007 OFF BROADWAY NIGHTCLUB ST LOUIS, MO
Thu Sep 13 2007 MOJOS COLUMBIA, MO
Fri Sep 14 2007 JACKPOT SALOON LAWRENCE, KS
Sat Sep 15 2007 RED ROCKS MORRISON, CO MONOLITH FESTIVAL
Mon Sep 17 2007 TRACTOR TAVERN SEATTLE, WA
Tue Sep 18 2007 DANTES PORTLAND, OR
Thu Sep 20 2007 BOTTOM OF THE HILL SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Sat Sep 22 2007 THE CASBAH SAN DIEGO, CA
Sun Sep 23 2007 THE SETS TEMPE, AZ
Tue Sep 25 2007 EMOS ALTERNATIVE LOUNGING AUSTIN, TX
Wed Sep 26 2007 WALTERS ON WASHINGTON HOUSTON, TX
Sat Sep 29 2007 ROCKETOWN NASHVILLE, TN
Sun Sep 30 2007 SMITHS OLDE BAR ATLANTA, GA
Wed Oct 3 2007 NEW BROOKLYN TAVERN COLUMBIA, SC
Thu Oct 4 2007 LOCAL 506 CHAPEL HILL, NC
Tue Oct 9 2007 DC9 WASHINGTON, DC
Wed Oct 10 2007 MIDDLE EAST UPSTAIRS CAMBRIDGE, MA
Thu Oct 11 2007 IRON HORSE MUSIC HALL NORTHAMPTON, MA

If you find yourself in Austin this Friday and want to make a statement against the so-called drug war and the political idiocy and the abuse of the our countries’ legal system that has resulted from it, then mosey on over to the Austin Freedom Fest at The Backyard. The concert will benefit MPP, NORML and WAMM, and will feature Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, Jackie “The Jokeman” Martling, Carolyn Wonderland, Paula Nelson, Mark Stepnoski and others to be announced.

If you ever find yourself on Manhattan’s West Side in need of a libation  and sustinince you could do worse than to head to Hell’s Kitchen and pay a visit to Whistlin’ Dixies Texas Tavern (724 11th at 51st). The motif is Texas enough and features dancing cowgirls in bikinis on Sunday nights.

Sean (cool) and Jen (spunky) are fine barkeeps sure to keep you socially lubricated. Once they start stocking Shiner the
place will be damn near perfect.

Try the jalenoe poppers and BBQ chicken sandwich with waffle fries. Yum!

Bourbon Crow, the country side project of North Carolina’s horror punk band Wednesday 13 (ex-Murderdolls frontman) and his former bassist Rayen Belchere, will embark on a short tour of Texas between September 9 and Sepember 15. According
to a press release, “these will be stripped down, acoustic shows.  “The first confirmed performance is September 15 in Houston, Texas at The Reverend Horton Heat pre-party at the Red Room (Meridian). The Reverend Horton Heat will perform later that night with The Gore Gore Girls and The Phantom Rockers.

Bourbon Crow released its debut CD, “Highway to Hangovers”, on Horror High, LLC in October 2006. The band will return to the studio later this year to record its sophomore effort.

9.11.07 - San Antonio, TX - Rock Bottom
9.12.07 – Austin, TX – Room 710 w/ Rhoades D’Ablo & The Devil’s Right Hand
9.13.07 - Dallas, TX - DarkSide Lounge w/ GHOULTOWN, John Chaos Sideshow and the Spook City All Stars
9.14.07 - Fort Worth, TX - Wreck Room w/ GHOULTOWN
9.15.07 - Houston, TX at The Reverend Horton Heat Pre-Party at the Red Room (Meridian)

http://www.myspace.com/bourboncrow

I really hope there are “Texas as Fuck” t-shirts at the shows!

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The “Texas as Fuck” World Tour ‘86 starts next week in Roanoke, VA on August, 8th!! Funny thing is…heh!..it’s just the North Eastern and Mid Western United states really.

But I did make some great new women’s Underwear featuring an “ass-load of Texas” to help commemorate the event! I’ll also have some new “Get Off My Property” tees and I’m hoping to secure an order of the 2003 recording of Scott H. Biram’s Rehabilitation Blues EP before I leave. This is a CD made only for those of you who have everything else I’ve recorded. It was recorded while I was bed-ridden in 2003 after “the big wreck.” It’s only me and my acoustic and it’s a limited edition pressing. It ain’t the best I’ve done, but give me your money anyway. I need a new roll of duct tape and some velcro. The Black Diamond Heavies will be joining me on several dates 8.13-8.23. Come check them out. They are great friends of mine and I’m looking forward to rockin’ the fuck out with them! Keep your fingers crossed that US Justin is there with the Reverend John Wesley “James Leg” Meyers, ans Good Ol’ Van Winkle Campbell. Also, we will be touring together in the UK during October ‘07 with a few dates in the Netherlands and France on the tail end. Be there if you can! Some higlights of the upcoming August USA tour will be my show with friends, Nashville Pussy in Asbury Park, New Jersey on August, 10, and Chris Johnson’s Deep Blues Fest in River Falls, Wisconsin on August, 18th. There are so many great acts on the bill including Robert Belfour, John Schooley, Black Diamond Heavies, Mark “Pork Chop Holder”, William Elliot Whitmore, Hillstomp and so many more.
You can see more about this event at www.myspace.com/deepbluesfestival
and at www.deepbluesfestival.com.
Don’t miss the Minneapolis show the next night!!
Anyway, we’ll see y’all soon.
Sleaze out,
SHB