Dale Watson Announces U.S. Tour Dates

Texas honky-tonk troubadour Dale Watson’s brand new studio album, From The Cradle To The Grave, is set for release nationwide April 24 on HYENA Records. Watson will hit the road in May to support its release with a run of East Coast and Midwest tour dates. It will mark the beginning of a year long promotional push that will find Dale performing in all corners of the United States, as well as, Europe and Australia. If you’ve never seen Dale in concert do youself, and your buddies or your gal, a favor.

On second thought don’t take your gal, you’ll never measure up after she sees Dale do his stuff.
Dale Watson’s upcoming tour dates are:
May 11 / WFPK “Live Lunch” / Louisville, KY
May 12 / Midnight Jamboree at Ernest Tubb / Nashville, TN
May 13 / Hideaway BBQ / Raleigh, NC
May 14 / Shenanigans / Richmond, VA
May 15 / The Iota Club / Arlington, VA
May 16 & 17 / The Rodeo Bar / New York, NY (Yeah!)
May 19 / Johnny D’s / Boston, MA
May 20 / The Ale House / Troy, NY
May 21 / The Sportsmen’s Tavern / Buffalo, NY
May 22 / Beachland Ballroom / Cleveland, OH
May 23 / Martyr’s / Chicago, IL
May 24 / Club Tavern / Middleton, WI
May 25 / Vnuk’s Lounge / Cudahi, WI
May 26 / Lee’s Liquor Lounge / Minneapolis, MN
May 27 / Knuckleheads / Kansas City, MO

Trilobite – Trilobite

Albuquerque, New Mexico based band Trilobite – a.k.a. Singer, songwriter, Mark Ray Lewis fancies himself a “fictionist”, but unlike most creative writing 101 wankers who strive to be the second coming of Zimmy Mr. Lewis has the literary cred to back it up.

He was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford and won the O. Henry and Pushcart awards for  his short fiction piece Scordatura — which featured an introductory note by Dave Eggers, and was nominated by Joyce Carol Oates. Not too shabby.

From the sound of this self-titled release Mr. Lewis has also studied the atmospheric Southern  Gothic gospal of Jim White. There is a nod to the old-school – fiddle, pedal steel, banjo,pump  organ – but then the music becomes a beautiful bastard hybrid that surprises.

Like White Mark Ray Lewis has a voice made for stories. Coaxing expression and depth out of his simple, straight-ahead delivery of dark myths. And like other great “fictionist” his stories are never obvious or staightforward, but the stories draw you in and keep you listening.

The release begins with Pumpkin Farmer, the strains of fiddle a loping cadence andbackground vocals Michelle Collins provides a cupie-doll rasp to harmony on this gem. Man of God uses a Wobbly pedal steel to lay the solumn mood which is then shards of a clawhammer banjo and draw of a fiddle and cello provide warmth to an otherwise chilly tune. The Ledge is a beautiful, haunting oblique tale of hunting tragedy. The Caves of Burgundy is almost a jangly, joyful tune until the whispered, fragmented, misaligned harmony weaves into a song of lust or death, hard to tell. Snakeriver is a bloody Texas two-step tha  sound like it’s being delivered from the bottom of a cavern and evolves into a Southwestern stew of schizophrenic music styles that still comes out sounding coherent and lovely. Samsara is a stormy piece laid over a muffled phone message like a call from the afterlife.

This is a dark and lovely slice of Americana that embraces tradition while it moves the genre in new and interesting directions.

Jason Isbell Leaves the Drive By Truckers

Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers posted this letter to the band’s web-site. Twang Nation says happy trails to Jason and continued success with your career, and see you at the Son Volt show in May.

Y’ALL:

It’s with a wide range of emotions and feelings that I’m announcing that we have parted ways with Jason.
The split, which I consider extremely amicable is the result of a period of personal and artistic growth from all sides which has left us with differing dreams and goals.

Jason joined our band, mid-tour, in the fall of 2001, shortly after the release of our 4th album (Southern Rock Opera). His impact on the band was immediate and profound, bringing an awe-inspiring combination of vocal range, guitar dexterity, and amazing songwriting and leading us into an era of creativity that has resulted in three albums that I will be proud of for as long as I live.

Life in a band is always a delicate balancing act of personal and musical chemistries. Having been in bands for most of my life, I still marvel that any band stays together for longer than a year. Especially if the band in question spends anywhere from 150-220 days a year on the road, as our band has done since 1998. That said, I have also likened this band to a family. A big, messy, sometimes dysfunctional one, but a family full of love all the same. It is in this spirit that I plan on Jason continuing to be a part of our lives wherever our roads and dreams take us in the immediate future.

Jason is about to embark on a tour (including a leg of dates with Son Volt) with his stellar band and will be releasing (finally) his amazing solo album “Sirens of the Ditch” < July 10 from New West Records > . We all are wishing him nothing but the absolute best on every step that plays before him.

Cooley and I will have played together for 22 years this summer and DBT is about to begin it’s 12th year of existence on the very day that we will be going into the studio to begin recording our 8th album. Cooley recently sent me a demo of five new songs and yesterday I demoed nine new ones for consideration. In addition to Shonna and Brad (who is coming up on ten years in the band) John Neff will be playing with us full time, playing both guitar and pedal steel. John was a founding member of the band in 96 and has already played on four of our albums and has been on the road with us, full time for going on two years.

It is my sincere and and adamant hope that everyone will support all of us, and by that I mean our band and Jason’s, as we deal with this transition. Jason’s tenure in this band has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me on a personal and musical level and our love for him and his music is in no way changed or endangered by our collective decision to move into different directions.

In addition to the upcoming THE DIRT UNDERNEATH tour and the recording of our next album, we will also be playing some special ROCK SHOW dates this summer and hope to do another leg or two of THE DIRT UNDERNEATH in the fall.

As always, the bond that we have with each other, as well as with the folks that come to our shows and listen to our records has always been one of the things that has set this band apart. We plan to continue on in that tradition and spirit and hope you will come with us as we attempt to tell another tale and Rock the nights away a little while longer.

Sincerely Yours,
Patterson Hood
Drive-By Truckers
April 6, 2007

by way of Twangville.

Chris Knight – The Knitting Factory -New York City – 4/6/07


Chris Knight tells stories about the down and out, the desperate, the unlucky and folks generally off societies grid and influenced by his childhood growing up in the tiny mining town of Slaughters, KY – and here in the tiny downstairs Tap Room at the Knitting Factory a near capacity crowd came to bear witness to their lives in song.

Dismissed by critics as the poor-man’s (so to speak) Steve Earle, Knight has his own stories and they tend to be more direct, more sparse and grittier then Earle would pen. Knight is also not afraid to show his redneck roots in song and onstage which Earle, with his newfound Liberalism, seems uncomfortable with is not outright embarrasses with his Texas heritage.

This cold New York eve Knight covered songs from his entire catalog, “Enough Rope” from his last release from last year by the same name, is followed by the question “Are there any PETA people here tonight? I love animals, I just don’t take any shit off of them.” Knight joked and then breaks into “Bridle on a Bull” which features the lyrics “If your mule don’t want to plow/Talk to him with a two-by-four/And if he still don’t want to plow/Talk to him just a little bit more/And if he just don’t want to listen/Haul him off to the dog food store.”

In fine Southern and country music tradition Knight told many stories about how his songs came about. He tells a story of how his song Devil Behind The When (from the CD “The Jealous Kind”) involving the hiring of a religious drummer demonic birthday card.

Next is asong of the recently release “The Trailer Tapes” (Thirty Tigers) was about “I big city boy coming to the country and stirring up trouble. Yeah, I know this is going to go over big here in New York City. Laughs and gawfaws all around. The song kiils in it’s menace and heat. “Rita’s Only Fault” from the same release follows, about a former beauty queen’s revenge after a husband’s abuse was somber and heartfelt.

The crowd was almost dead silent during the solo guitar accompanied songs (despite the loud rock band playing on the upstairs stage), but once the songs were over the crowd is clapping and whooping as much as any Mason Dixon dive (with better beer.) I met some boys a few sheets to the wind who had driven all the way from Connecticut to see the show. “We had to come seee our boy.” the tall, lanky guy with a trucker cap beamed.

Knight the tells the story about a shoe in Switzerland when a local fan came up to him after the show and asked if he was okay after what happened to his brother. Knight had performed “Down The River” (from the CD “A Pretty Good Guy”). The song tells the story of two brothers that go fishing and the older one is murdered as revenge for a pool hall brawl.

The fan said “I hope your alright since that happed to your brother.” Knight then deadpans in his Kentucky drawl “If I can make people think these things are happening to me, I’ve done my job.”

He’s got me believing.

The Dixie Chicks – Shut Up and Sing

“Freedom of speech is fine as long as you don’t do it in public.” From Shut Up and Sing.

Come with us back to a 2003 when the US was ramping up to a war that turned out to be unecessary wasted many young peoples lives, billions of dollars and trashed the reputation of this great nation for years to come.

Most celebrities played it safe and said nothing, just did goofy celebrity shit, you know..wearing silly clothes, getting divorced and starving themselves. But not Natalie Maines.

From a London stage lead Chicks singer Maines offhandedly said “Just so ya’ll know, we’re ashamed that President George W. Bush was from Texas. Funny, when I read that on a news web site I thought to myself, “Yeah, me too.”

After the statement the News show and web sites fanned the flames like they do everything else to get eyeballs to sell to their corporate masters, the rabid Right-Wing blogs picked it up because, we’ll they’re thin skinned and hate our freedoms
(especially that whole freedom of speech nonsense.)

This documentary follows the Chicks in performance around the U.S. and London between the years 2003 and 2006. And show the events leading up to the war and the personally, political and, yeas, professional ramifications of that statement heard round the world.

Filmmaker Barbara Kopple brings a real behind the scenes view of Maines and sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire in
dressing rooms, on stage, and in recording studios, and hanging with Chad Smith, Red Hot Chili Pepper drummer who played on the Chicks latest “Taking The Long Way”, and a very guru looking Rick Rubin (complete with prayer beads), who produced the album.

Recently the Chicks played at the Grammy’s and walked away with 5 Grammys for their efforts. Was it worth it? The worry, the heartache, The death threats? Only the girls can know. But it must feel nice to know your not alone and that not all country fans are Right-Wing zombies programmed to wave a flag at the strain of the Star Spangled Banner. Some of us actually remember what that flag preresents and can think past simple-minded slogans.

In the end Natalie turned put to be right and 70% of the  American public are finally comfortable enough to agree with her publically. Excpet when Natalie did it when it was not comfortable to do so, it was unpopular, it was unwise for their career and it was dangerous.

The Dixie Chicks embodied the American spirit at that moment, and that’s what being an outlaw is all about.

Last of the Breed – Radio City Music Hall – 3/22

It’s not often I get to wear my Lucchese and Stetson on the D train headed downtown to the Rockafeller stop to Radio City Music Hall but on this wet, muggy Spring evening I had an occasion to do so. The brief “Last of the Breed” tour showcasing three legends of Country Music – Ray Price, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson – accompanied by nine-time Grammy winning Western-swing band, Austin’s Asleep at the Wheel was making a stop on their brief tour in New York City.

Southern emigres and enthusiastic wanna-bes from miles around have descened on this sold-out transformed house of honky-tonk in a kind of red state / blue state détente to pay tribute to great, timeless music.

Three men with careers spanning over 150 years and 300 releases between them could easily be defined (along with George Jones and Kris Kristofferson) the most influential living figures of country music. Their paths have cross-crossed the country music landscape over the years (Willie used to be Mr. Price’s bass player, Mele and Willie topped the charts with a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho and Lefty). If there can be a unifying force between of all of them it would be the genre-bending Texas swing master Bob Wills and his fiddle-playing,improvisational style, and that style was on full display this evening.

You respect your elders, so Ray Price (81) kicked things off with a half-hour set backed by his Cherokee Cowboys. Dapper in a suit and red tie Price exudes the smooth baritone that has defined him all these years while highlighting some of his greatest work- Steel guitar and twin fiddles set down the foundation for San Antonio Rose, Crazy Arms, Heartaches by the Number, Please Release Me, Help Me Make it Through the Night. Songs of love and heartache from a man that makes you believe he’s been there.
A brief instrumental interlude and in Mele Haggard shuffles nonchalantly onto the stage as though he were just one of the band, taking center stage, takes up a fiddle and gets things moving with “Take Me Back to Tulsa.” The packed hall went nuts and I almost smell the holy hillbilly sacrament of whiskey and old leather right there on 6th Avenue. The sound of the ages rode on Merle’s voice that night, “I Wonder if You Feel the Way I Do This Morning, This Evening, So Soon”, “Silver Wings”, “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink”, songs of the downtrodden- “This goes out to all the convicts here tonight.” he announced before breaking into Sing Me Back Home, and taking sly jabs at current events – “Honey, don’t worry about what George Bush does” was slipped into the lyrics of “That’s the Way Love Goes.” Haggard was full of passion, piss and vinegar.

Then just when you think it couldn’t get any better in strolls Willie, saddle up ‘ol Trigger and he and Merle take off with the classic Haggard 60’s retort “Okie From Muskogee” where I assume Willie sang the line “We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee” with some sense of irony. Then “Pancho and Lefty” and “Reasons to Quit,” “Ramblin’ Fever” and a new song by Willie “Back to Earth.” Mickey Raphael, Willie’s faithful band harmonica wizard punctuated Willie’s off-kilter phrasing and Merle’s solid-as-stone baritone with sounds reminiscent of a whippoorwill call or a lonely train whistle.

Ray Price reappeared to cover a few songs from the release, honoring Wills with “Roly Poly” and “Please Don’t Leave Me Any More Darlin” and one of my favorites, “Night Life” this portion brought the two rambunctious youngsters to heal by the old-school elegance of a master and they followed suit willingly on support.

Willie then took the reins and did cuts he can now do in his sleep – “You Were Always on My Mind”, “Whiskey River” and “On the Road Again” introduced his song “Superman: as one he wrote while taking time off recuperate from carpal-tunnel and introduced a new song “You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore” that was genuinely hilarious.

The years of classic country music strata was unearthed before a rabid New York City crowd which was on their feet, wooping and hollering, after almost every song. For a moment the fervor was so genuine, the dotted Stetons in the crowd, the drunk in the lobby being “handled” by the cops- I felt the soul of a honky-tonk permeated the Hall that Rockefeller built leaving it altered forever. It took these legends – this music that Nashville seems hell-bent to squelch as a result of market-testing or sheer embarrassment of their hillbilly roots – to make myth live this warm city night.

Willie Nelson on the Colbert Report

The Texas yoda goes mano a mano with Steve Colbert in his no satire zone tonight.

I’m sure there will be a big dust-up concerning Stephen Colbert’s new Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor Americone Dream – vanilla ice cream loaded with caramel and fudge-covered waffle bits and Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler – peach ice cream with cinnamon sugar shortbread pieces. Steve apparently believes this a throw down and an affront to his dignity.

Kick his ass, Willie!