Nebraska’s Lincoln Star Journal has a nice article on Johnny Cash’s enduring legacy. From the article”
Cash’s popularity isn’t restricted to the United States. When Gerardo Meza, singer of the Mezcal Brothers, donned his black suit and took the stage in Sweden, audience members started calling him Johnny Cash. After Meza threw some Cash-like stage moves into the act, the response was even more intense.

“They’d go crazy,” he said. “In Sweden they are fanatical about Johnny Cash. I was walking down the street in Malmo and ran into a guy with a huge tattoo of  Johnny on his shoulder. When I’d get up there in my black suit, I’d hear ‘You are just like Johnny Cash.’”

For Meza, that was a compliment in many ways. A fan since he was a kid, Meza acknowledges Cash’s influence on his songwriting, performing and life.

If you like your music nice and neat and fitting within a particular predictable genre or style, then stay far, far away
from Canadian roots-rock duo Twilight Hotel.

Brandy Zdan (vocals, electric/acoustic guitar, accordion) and Dave Quanbury (vocals, electric/acoustic guitar) hail from Winnipeg on the Eastern edge of the prairie region of Western Canada (eight hours north of Minneapolis via 9513).  I don’t know much about the region, but if Twilight Hotel’s new release “Highway Prayer” is any cultural barometer of the area, it seems to be chilly, desolate albeit fertile terrain.

Twilight Hotel are no newcomers to the game. After recording their first self-titled LP in 2003, Zdan and Quanbury have been a hot item in Canadian roots circles and have played more than 200 North American dates in 2007.

Highway Prayer finds Zdan and Quanbury putting all those dues paid on full display as they artfully craft a pan-American
world placed somewhere between Andrew Bird’s jazz-gypsy-folk and and Johnny and June’s soulful-earthy duets. Halfway between the cafe’ and the roadhouse. The stories on “Highway Prayer” unfold like a dark map of the heart and carries on the fine folk/country tradition of storytelling from the point of view of those inflicting or bearing hardships.Recorded in Nashville, TN, Highway Prayer, features noable guest musicians including the late Richard Bell (Janis Joplin, The Band), Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits), and Dave Roe (Johnny Cash).

Things blasts to life with “Viva la Vinyl,” a rave-up-scat-duet ode to the joy of analog music recordings which sounds as joyous and as impromptu porch jam session with plenty of sour mash being passed and hoisted.

On “No Place for a Woman”  MS. Zdan belts out a reverb-draped lament about a family’s rough life in the coal mine. “Impatient Love” is a yearning duet that highlights the couples harmony and shimmers in it’s beauty. The title cut takes us out to the dark, desolate dirt roads made familiar by Neko Case and is made even more forbidding by Richard Bell organ work.

Slumber Queen is a a hard-coiled cha-cha in the gypsy-jazz vein of Andrew Bird and Iowalta Morningside follows hot on it’s trail with a chilly night-life narrative that Nick Cave would be proud of. On Shadow of a Man Zdan moves us into the gritty junk yard baroque jazz were Tom Waits reigns supreme and she does a fine job of marking her territory.

As mentioned before Richard Bell, the Canadian musician perhaps best remembered as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band, lent his considerable talent to what was to be his last work and “Highway Prayer” is made even more spectacular because of it. The last track Best Buds showcases Bell and dobro player Colin Linden is a great testament to the man and his talent.

 Twilight Hotel- Viva la Vinyl

Austin’s Singer/songwriter James McMurtry has never been shy about making a bold statement with his unique Americana/ Rock style. To help revive Democracy (and remind us all what that looks like) McMurtry has made his new song “Cheney’s Toy” available for free.

McMurtry and Lightning Rod Records are encouraging fans to use the free mp3 to create their own videos and post them online. McMurtry will choose the best videos and post them on his official MySpace page and website. If needed, fans can create videos using slideshow applications at RockYou.com. Creators of each of the top five video creators will receive t-shirts and autographed copies of McMurtry’s new album, Just Us Kids (in stores April 15, 2008). McMurtry’s choice for the best overall video will also receive an 8 Gb Apple iPod nano with video capabilities. Fans can send links to their videos to mcmurtryvideo@gmail.com.

Fan-made videos of “We Can’t Make It Here” have been viewed more than 170,000 times on YouTube.

James McMurtry - “We can’t make it here” 

New York City Twangers, head over the the always excellent Rodeo Bar (try the mole!) on Saturday, February 9th for the Texas troubadour himself, Dale Watson.

Dale will then be dropping in the equally delicious Hill Country Barbecue on Sunday, February 10th.

Sorry ya’ll, Dale canceled his shows with no follow up plans as of right now.

And on March, 13 at the Rodeo Bar the great honky-tonk hero Wayne “The Train” Hancock will be sharing the bill with great J.B. Beverly & the Wayward Drifters.

Both show will be great and better yet, both are FREE!!!

Calling all Metroplex twangers! Go see Texas legend, and my Daddy, Jerry Max Lane play tonight, Saturday night Feb.2nd for the grand opening of Cutters in the Fort Worth Stock Yards on West Exchange across from the Long Horn from 9:00pm to 1:00am! Come out for some great classic country music and tell him I sent you!