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Friday, June 21, 2013 8:00 PM
Robbie Schaefer
The Michael Clem Trio
You know them from one of our favorite bands, Eddie From Ohio!
Robbie Schaefer is an Artist—writing and recording music, playing shows, and running OneVoice (onevoicecommunity.org), a non-profit he founded that connects children around the world through music and uses those connections to affect social change. In other words, he gets to go to places like Africa and India, sings with children, and helps them to do things like create schools or provide heart surgeries for kids who need them. Music is a powerful thing.
And Eddie’s bassist, (another Artist !) Michael Clem brings together a group of seasoned musicians for his trio! This latest creation from EFO’s bass guy features Clem on guitar, mandola, harp & mouth, and he is sandwiched by two fine fellow Charlottesville, VA music chums, Rusty Speidel(of SGGL fame) on guitar & higher vocals, plus Thomas Gunn(of Lost Highway) on upright bass & lonesomer vocals.
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Saturday, June 22, 2013 8:00 PM
The Rock and Roll Jubilee!
One of our most requested customer favorites! A tribute to the Founding Fathers of Rock and Roll from station WJKS – Craig Evans, George Garrett, B. J. Kocen, Brian Sulser, Brad Tucker, and Jim Wark present an evening of The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, and Elvis Presley. Step back in time for this truly special event – get your tickets early!
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013 8:00 PM
Anthony Snape
Born in Australia, pop rock music artist and writer Anthony Snape was introduced to US audiences by virtuoso guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. NBC, ABC and PBS have all played his songs and he has since played colleges and venues such as The Birchmere , The National, The Majestic, The House of Blues LA & New Orleans, Bluebird Café , BB King’s NYC, performing arts centers in Virginia, Nashville, Texas, Kansas, Boston and Wisconsin, festivals (SXSW) and many more. He’s given goose bumps to IDOL judge Kara Dioguardi and affected the lives of people all over the world with his music. Recently Anthony ran his first Kickstarter campaign and invited fans to get involved with his new record project. In 30 days they raised over $26,000. Anthony is currently licensing his new record, Resonate, produced in the US by Andy Hunt (Good Charlotte, Smash Mouth, Jars of Clay, Olivia Newton-John, Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors) and set for release in May 2013. See him LIVE at Ashland Tea and Coffee -
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Thursday, June 27, 2013 8:00 PM
Randall Bramblett
“One of the South’s most lyrical and literate songwriters.” Rolling Stone
“You can’t do better than Randall Bramblett.” Bonnie Raitt
Randall Bramblett has kept very busy over the years, selling out shows and being sought out by the best artists in the business. 2012 found him playing with the Allman Brothers at the Beacon Theater in NYC, New Year’s Eve with Widespread Panic, (he leads the MegaBlaster Horns,) and at New Orleans JazzFest with Chuck Leavell, in addition to performing on a new CD and touring with Bonnie Raitt.
Randall’s real claim to fame is his exhilarating and heart-felt live show. An honest and true performer, Randall and his band leave it all on the stage every night, and his many devoted fans have taken notice. With headlining slots at many theaters and festivals, and numerous sold out performances, Bramblett’s already shining star continues to rise. Each performance converts a new group of listeners into die-hard fans.
A jewel of Southern music, Randall Bramblett thrives on his new release, The Bright Spots, due May 14 on New West Records. Fresh off the inclusion of one of his songs on Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-winning album Slipstream, he has put together a masterful recording soaked with the soulful feel that has defined his music and that of his Southern contemporaries like Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes. From Howlin’ Wolf to Ray Charles and “dark Motown” influences, sitar samples, gospel strains and even a snippet of water-splashing pygmies, The Bright Spots mixes diverse elements that dovetail into Randall’s finest album yet.
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Friday, June 28, 2013 8:00 PM
The Bumper Jacksons
“The Bumper Jacksons are a big, fat party. Hot and sweet, their trad jazz and pre-war country repertoire paint’s America’s story from New Orleans’ brothels to Appalachian hollers. Unafraid to scrap together new sounds from forgotten 78's, the Bumper Jacksons boldly and elegantly balance paying homage to the traditions while fashioning their own unique, DIY style."
If you like the music of Sidney Bechet, Roscoe Holcum, Meschiya Lake, Skillet Lickers, Mississippi Sheiks, Sam Chatmon, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Madeleine Peyroux, the New Orleans Jazz Vipers, the Smoking Time Jazz Club, Tom Waits, Ethel Waters, Ralph Stanley, the Mills Brothers, Hank Williams
- this band is for you!
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Saturday, June 29, 2013 7:30 PM
The Songwriter’s Showdown SHOOTOUT!!
Round 7
All of our Tuesday night Round 7 winners gather to win the BIG prize!
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Thursday, July 11, 2013 7:00 PM
Mary Flower
With her warm contralto and dazzling skills as an instrumentalist and arranger, Mary Flower has cemented her status as one of the most dynamic performers on the acoustic blues circuit. Flower is deep in the pocket of the country blues and there are few musicians in the genre bringing as much creative spark and low-key mojo to this century-old music.
– Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, guitarist and lap slide player Mary Flower is renowned for her uniquely personal vision of roots music that blends ragtime, acoustic blues and folk – technically dazzling yet grounded in the down-to-earth simplicity of early 20th century American music. With nine albums to her name, this Yellow Dog Records recording artist has earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike for her instrumental skill – a mastery of the Piedmont blues style that takes most players a lifetime to hone – for which Flower is most celebrated. Her performances around the world include Merlefest, Prairie Home Companion and the Winnipeg Folk Festival to name a few. A seasoned teacher, Mary has been on staff at many guitar workshops including Fur Peace Ranch,Centrum Blues Festival, Swannanoa and the Augusta Heritage Center.
2008 and 2012 Blues Music Award Nominee
2000 and 2002 Finalist at National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship
2011 Muddy Award Recipient from Cascade Blues Assn. for “Acoustic Guitar”
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Friday, July 12, 2013 8:00 PM
The Iguanas
The word “Americana” gets tossed around rather loosely these days; it can mean anything from a hipster with a recently-discovered acoustic guitar to a decades-long denizen of the Grand Ole Opry. But when you set aside the Johnny-come-rootly types from the real deal, it’s a sure bet that you’re going to stray into Iguana territory. Based out of New Orleans for the past couple of decades – save for a short, Katrina-imposed exile in Austin – the Iguanas define a sound of Americana that crosses cultures, styles, eras… and even languages. Their latest album, Sin to Sin, is their first studio recording since 2008’s If You Should Ever Fall on Hard Times, and its release coincides with their appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
“The title for the new album,” says sax player/vocalist Joe Cabral, “comes from one of the tracks we cut during the sessions that didn’t make it onto the record.” At this point, the band’s guitarist and vocalist Rod Hodges picks up the trail. “It’s a line from a tune called ‘Blues for Juarez,’” he says, “that goes, ‘We rode the back roads from sin to sin.’”
The Iguanas’ two-decade road may not exactly have driven them from sin to sin, but it’s taken them all over the map, both figuratively and literally. While bassist René Coman is the only member of the band who is a native of the Crescent City, a languid swampiness so deeply suffuses their sound that you can almost smell the peanut shells on the floor. But there’s far more depth to it than the N’Awlins patina that rests, sometimes lightly, sometimes heavily, on anything the city touches. It’s almost as if the Iguanas dragged sand up from Juarez and mud from the Mississippi Delta, threw them both into the white-hot crucible of rock, and built their foundation from there, with drummer Doug Garrison anchoring their sound deep in the groove.
“Spanish was spoken around the house when I was growing up,” says Cabral, “but I was listening to all kinds of stuff: Herb Alpert, Boots Randolph, country music, rock, polkas… The area of south Omaha where I grew up was the classic American blue collar ethnic melting pot of Irish, Italians, Poles, Mexican-Americans, who all sort of brought these pieces into the mix.”
“How could we not wind up in New Orleans?” asks Rod Hodges, a little rhetorically. “I mean, at Tipitina’s they might have Doug Sahm one night and Fela Kuti the next.” And sure enough, even on their first album (The Iguanas, Margaritaville/MCA 1993), the band was comfortable planting Allen Toussaint’s oft-covered “Fortune Teller” cheek-by-jowl with cumbia master Celso Piña’s “Por Mi Camino (Along My Way),” leading Entertainment Weekly to conclude, “never have accordions and saxophones been so much in love.” People echoed that sentiment in their review of Nuevo Boogaloo (Margaritaville/MCA 1994), saying “any group that can turn on a dime from a gorgeous R&B ballad like “Somebody Help Me” to the steamy tropical funk of “La Tentación” is clearly here to stay.
And stay they have, through half a dozen studio albums, countless tours and JazzFest appearances, and a flood that did it’s best to take their adopted city with it. It’s a testament to the band’s longevity and endurance that they’re still configured pretty much the way they were 20 years ago, while their onetime label, MCA, has gone the way of mousse-abused coiffures and Hammer pants.
Joe Cabral is pretty philosophical about the band’s persistence in the face of challenges that would have felled – indeed, have felled – lesser bands. “First of all, this is all we know how to do; we’re musicians. But more than that,” he continues, “we respect the power of the band as an entity, and each individual in the band steps up to play his part. When it’s good, that’s really what it’s all about.
Rod Hodges agrees. “I don’t want to get all heady and mystical about this, but it’s not really an outward reward we’re looking for. We still all enjoy playing music, we all get along, and finding a group of people who can say that after all this time is a pretty rare thing.”
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Saturday, July 13, 2013 8:00 PM
Robbin Thompson Cd Release Concert!
Virginia’s own – Richmond music legend, studio wizard, and promoter of world music… Robbin Thompson is a Virginia-based songwriter and has been recording albums since 1976. He’s been in bands with Bruce Springsteen, co-written songs with Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles, won the American Song Festival twice, and written tons of music for commercials and films. Truly a Virginia legend, join Robbin for an evening of your favorite original compositions and new songs from his latest cd, A Real Fine Day.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013 8:00 PM
The Spring Standards
The Spring Standards are an energetic force of three-part harmony from New York City circling over a rock n’ roll sound with an old country aftertaste. From small towns to big cities, they explode on stage with spirit, spontaneity, and a style all their own. MTV’s John Norris says “They willingly embrace dissonance, and their execution is impeccable, from their tight, CSN-worthy vocal harmonies to their wickedly intense percussive power.”The Spring Standards are, in no particular order: James Cleare, James Smith and Heather Robb. Each member of the band is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and they use their strengths as a trio to create a sound that listeners might expect from a band twice their size. With an emphasis on three-part harmony and a variety of instrumental switching, their range and energy make each live show a unique event.In fact, the band’s performance set-up is as distinctive as their sound: They take a drum kit and break it up among the three of them, and then they set up along the front of the stage. So, whoever is playing bass (James and James alternate between bass and guitar,) is also stepping on a kick drum…and whoever is playing guitar is also stepping on the high hat (and sometimes playing harmonica simultaneously). Heather, in the middle, switches between melodica, keys, glockenspiel and snare drum, often playing several at a time. And even with all this going on, their harmonies are astounding.
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Friday, July 19, 2013 8:00 PM
Jonathan Byrd
Jonathan Byrd is a North Carolina flatpicker and a Texas songwriter, a Gulf War veteran and a preacher’s son, and an award-winning songwriter whose songs you’ve probably heard, even if you haven’t heard Byrd sing them. Covered by Tim O’Brien, Steve James, Red Molly, Jack Lawrence, Melissa Greener and more, Byrd’s music will seem familiar to any Americana fan. A seventh generation North Carolinian, Byrd graduated from high school and spent four years in the Navy, landing Marines in Liberia, carrying supplies to Kurdish refugees, and recording songs on a four-track in his downtime. Jonathan returned to the gritty indie music scene of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and fronted several rock bands before he rediscovered Old-Time and Bluegrass music at weekend festivals. Byrd quit the bands and hit the road solo in 2000, flatpicking and singing new songs in an old style. A tip from a friend led him down to the Kerrville Folk Festival, a dusty ranch where he discovered the rich Texas songwriting culture and made it his own. The word began to spread in 2003, when Jonathan won the festival’s ‘New Folk’ songwriting competition, a milestone for Americana’s most influential artists: Steve Earle. Lucinda Williams. Nanci Griffith. Lyle Lovett. Byrd broke the record for CD sales at the festival, and has played there nearly every year since. Byrd’s 2008 release, The Law and the Lonesome is the fruit of this interstate cross-pollination, what might have happened if Townes Van Zandt had made a record with Doc Watson. Tamara Kater of Canada’s folk mag Penguin Eggs called The Law and the Lonesome her “album of the decade.” Cackalack is the newest Jonathan Byrd release, an homage to his home state. Recorded live in a day while on the road, Cackalack hit #1 on Roots Music Reports folk radio chart, #22 on the Americana chart, was the #91 Americana album of 2011, and made John Platt’s “Best of 2011,” along with strong international airplay and a dozen other “best of” lists. Most recently, Jonathan won a 2011 SESAC Americana Music Award beside Bob Dylan, Seth Avett, Hayes Carll, Jim Lauderdale, and Colin Brooks from The Band of Heathens.
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Saturday, July 20, 2013 12:00 PM
All Day Benefit Bluegrass Festival
A benefit day of music for CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation, dedicated to providing assistance to families of children with chronic and life threatening illnesses.
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Wednesday, July 24, 2013 8:00 PM
The Kickin’ Grass Band
The Kickin Grass Band…so much more than taking names. 2012 Winners of the Carolina Music Award for Best Bluegrass/Americana, this young and inspired ensemble rides on the edge of tradition, creating a sound equally vintage and progressive. They hold a traditional 5-piece bluegrass lineup yet draw on a muse stirred as much by Bill Monroe as by neo-traditional American folk, newgrass, southern rock or alt-country, a deep and wide river of inspiration made evident and come to life in the band’s stellar original tunes and distinctive sound.
The lineup consists of mandolinist Jamie Dawson, banjo player Hank Smith, bassist Patrick Walsh, fiddler Pattie Hopkins, and guitarist, songwriter and signature lead vocalist Lynda Dawson—a musician whom Nashville Public Radio’s Bluegrass Breakdown host Dave Higgs praises as, “a truly gifted songwriter.” Distinctive lead and harmony vocals from the quintet’s females are complimented by Walsh’s powerful tenor and Jamie Dawson’s retro-tinted baritone, while the instrumental arrangements spotlight individual virtuosity, most notably Smith’s banjo and Hopkins’s fiddle playing.
Their latest album, Walk With Me, has been described by the Raleigh News and Observer as attesting to the band’s, “Maturity as songwriters, instrumentalists and storytellers…it is intimate, inspiring and grand.”
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Thursday, July 25, 2013 8:00 PM
The Skipperdees
The Skipperdees (twin sisters Emily and Catherine Backus) hail from Oak Ridge, TN, a town mentioned in the 1989 film Fat Man and Little Boy, which featured Paul Newman and his mustache. They write sad songs but are happy people, currently working with producer Jim White on a debut “big girl record.” The Sisters Backus have recently had the chance to collaborate with such luminaries as Caroline Herring, Packway Handle Band, Minton Sparks, and Ben Sollee.
“The Skipperdees…are all about transcendent experiences and superhuman music. The duo has created a distinctive sound with songs that showcase their clean harmonies and provocative lyrics… Their music carries a strong southern influence, … an uncommon mixture of technology, religion, and Appalachian traditions. The duo admits the convergence of cultures from their upbringing has definitely affected their work.
Though their sound is undeniably folk, their influences vary from Beethoven to The Spice Girls. They are also avid readers enjoying poetry and the prose of William Faulkner. Musicians with a sense of humor, their comedic aspect shines as a feature in their stage banter at live shows. “We’re going to break your heart but then you’re going to laugh a little bit,” said Emily, to which Catherine added, “You’ll release some endorphins either way.” ”
-Michelle Correll, The GSC Voice
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Friday, July 26, 2013 8:00 PM
Eric Brace and Peter Cooper
Eric Brace is the lead singer and songwriter for the renowned roots rock band Last Train Home. Peter Cooper is a music journalist, professor of country music, and a highly acclaimed songwriter in his own right. When they play together, it’s something special. Their latest project is the Grammy-nominated and critically acclaimed “I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow.” The duo’s 2nd album, “Master Sessions,” is a tour de force with two of their instrumental musical heroes: Lloyd Green on pedal steel, Mike Auldridge on dobro. This follows their 2009 release, “You Don’t Have To Like Them Both,” also on Red Beet Records.
“Eric Brace and Peter Cooper bring the sound of East Nashville to my radio shows. Authentic, intelligent and beautifully played….” — Bob Harris, BBC Radio
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Friday, August 02, 2013 8:00 PM
Jimmy LaFave
Jimmy LaFave is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician born in Wills Point, Texas. After moving to Stillwater, Oklahoma, LaFave crafted a musical style called Red Dirt music and became a disciple of the state’s most famous folk musician: Woody Guthrie. LaFave is an Advisory Board member and regular performer at the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. In 1996 he received the Kerrville Folk Festival songwriter of the year award and appeared on the TV show Austin City Limits. He has recorded 15 albums and his 2007 release, Cimarron Manifesto, reached the No. 1 mark on the Americana Music Association album chart. In 2012, LaFave released the studio album Depending On The Distance. Red House recording artist, “LaFave is nothing if not a red–dirt romantic. Viewing the world from an open road and an open heart, with one eye on the girl and the other on the mythological lure of the highway. First it was Woody Guthrie and then Jack Kerouac, now it’s LaFave and his brand of dirty–boots folk–rock… Jimmy has the most expressive voice this side of Belfast… it’s the music of Jimmy LaFave that really defines this part of the land.” –– Oklahoma City Gazette
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Thursday, August 08, 2013 8:00 PM
The Ana Egge Band
Saskatchewan-born, Brooklyn-based folk troubadour Ana Egge isn’t your run-of-the-mill alternative-country singer. Using unique production and rock-based chord progressions, Egge has made a name for herself as a Gillian Welch figure with a rocker attitude. Ana’s newest album, Bad Blood was released August 23, 2011 via Ammal records. The 12-song set was produced by Steve Earle and recorded at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY. Bad Blood was mixed and mastered by Ray Kennedy (Earle and Kennedy’s production partnership includes the Grammy winning Lucinda Williams album Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, the Ron Sexsmith favorite Blue Boy, and many more. Steve Earle stated, “Ana Egge’s songs are low and lonesome, big square-stare noir ballads which she plays on a guitar she built with her own two hands and sings like she’s telling us her deepest, darkest secrets.”
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Saturday, August 10, 2013 8:00 PM
Mandolin Orange
Over the last few years, Mandolin Orange has shared bills with Rosanne Cash, Chatham County Line, the Steep Canyon Rangers and Abigail Washburn, and traveled as far as the UK to perform at festivals, including Ulster’s 21st Annual Bluegrass Festival, Shakori Hills Grassroots, and Hopscotch Music Festival. ”Mandolin Orange carries an understanding of tradition and shape it into a thing of beauty. They craft simple songs that go beyond chord progressions and vocal harmonies, leading somehow toward something pure. Using acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin and a hand-me-down fiddle, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz allure with a heart-worn sensibility. Last year’s Haste Make/ Hard Hearted Stanger combines bluegrass, rock and country for lullabies that swoon.” —Ashleigh Phillips, Independent Weekly
Long one of the Triangle’s more popular young bands, Mandolin Orange is now taking a big step toward the national spotlight. In an announcement earlier this week via CMT Edge—the country TV station’s online sounding board for alternative Americana—the Carrboro folk duo revealed that This Side of Jordan, the group’s third album, will be released by Yep Roc Records, the N.C. label that claims such stalwarts as Nick Lowe and Robyn Hitchcock. The album drops on Aug. 6.
Arriving on the scene with the 2010 debut, Quiet Little Room, Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz began as an intimate, stripped-back folk pair with hypnotic melodies and earnest wordplay. But Quiet Little Room‘s confines soon became too limiting. 2011's double-wide follow-up, Haste Make/Half Hearted Stranger, split the difference, setting aside one disc for the duo’s standard acoustic prettiness, while using the other as an opportunity to expand into meditative folk-rock graced by patient bass lines, shimmers of electric guitar and unobtrusive drumming.
“House of Stone” finds Mandolin Orange becoming more comfortable with this full-band approach. The song starts with wisps of fiddle and calm picking, recalling the group’s bare-bones beginnings. Skittering drums enter soon thereafter, joined by subdued bass and rich electric fills. The sound grows more robust as the tune progresses. Marlin and Frantz’s harmonies find devils and dreams grappling for metaphorical space as her fiddle melts into tender guitar melodies. It’s the most beautiful sound the band has yet to create.
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Saturday, August 17, 2013 8:00 PM
The Honky Tonk Experience
Formed in the spring of 2003, The Honky Tonk Experience brings country classics to life while at the same time performing songs of current artists whose music is true to what country music used to be and still should be. From Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings to Dwight Yoakam and Dale Watson. From Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson and Buck Owens to BR5-49 and The Derailers. A Honky Tonk Experience show brings young and old together on the dance floor. The “Experience” is a true “hard-core” country music band!!!!
The “Experience” is comprised of five of Richmond, Virginia’s most respected musicians. Each member has forged their own reputation by playing in a variety of other bands over the past 20 years. Brad Spivey provides the classic country lead vocals. Mike Lucas is well known for his distinctive Tele picking. Mark Watts has spent 20+ years drumming up and down the East Coast. Randy Cook provides the “cryin” steel guitar and harmony vocals. Clark Ball, bassist, provides the solid foundation for the band to build their sound upon.
The “Experience” has performed at several high profile shows over the past few years. The 2005 “High on the Hog” was the first time in the 29 year history of that event that a band has been asked to play two years in a row. The “Experience” also performed this year at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts popular Thursday night concert series, Third Thursdays. The Honky Tonk Experience has also shared the stage with several national acts. These include Travis Tritt, BR5-49, Dale Watson, Webb Wilder and Junior Brown.
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Friday, August 23, 2013 8:00 PM
Dale Ann Bradley
She’s the 2007, 2008 , 2009, 2011, &20 12 IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year and has been hailed by Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs as one of the greatest vocalists in country and bluegrass music. A former Coon Creek Girl and mainstay at Kentucky’s Renfro Valley Barn Dance, Bradley commands a list of awards as long as Highway 40, yet a few minutes with her tells you she is something even more than extraordinarily gifted – she’s extraordinarily human. A Primitive Baptist preacher’s daughter out of the hills of Kentucky where no musical instruments were allowed, Bradley grew up in a self-described “backwoods holler” down a rural road where electricity and running water weren’t available until she was in high school – something she has more in common with the first generation of bluegrass than her contemporaries in today’s scene.
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Saturday, August 24, 2013 8:00 PM
Jesse Harper
former Old School Freight Train guitarist and front man, and current Love Canon font man brings his talents to the stage at 8 PM. You never know, Daniel Clarke may join in the fun!
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Thursday, August 29, 2013 8:00 PM
Donna Ulisse
Country music fans remember Ulisse from her days when she was signed to Atlantic Records in the early 1990’s where she released a critically acclaimed album Trouble at The Door with three singles and two videos. She was also a guest on many national television shows including Hee Haw, Nashville Now, Crook and Chaseand NBC’s Hot Country Nights.
These days Donna Ulisse is becoming a key figure in the bluegrass, folk and acoustic music scene as a singer/performer and songwriter. She has recorded five albums in the past five years of her original material which have charted prominently in the Bluegrass Unlimited charts, The Folk DJ National chart, The Americana Music Charts and Billboard Bluegrass chart. Her 2012 Christmas album All The Way To Bethlehem was called “a masterpiece” by Kyle Cantrell, host of Bluegrass Junction on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Edward Morris, writer for CMT.com dubs her “one of the most commanding voices in bluegrass music.”
As a songwriter she has had songs recorded by bluegrass artists Claire Lynch, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, The Bankesters, Nu-Blu and was an International Bluegrass Music Association 2012 Songwriter of the Year Nominee.
Ulisse grew up in the Hampton area and graduated from Bethel High School.
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Friday, August 30, 2013 8:00 PM
Robyn Ludwick
Many a green song writer has squeezed callow lyric from near-empty diaries, hoping that one day life might catch up with their words. Robyn Ludwick entered the world of song primed by years of life lived. When pen did come to paper, it teemed with ink—and was driven by a hand softened by love and strengthened by life. Her earliest nights found her sprawled across the folding chairs of many a Hill Country dancehall, eyelids closing on
her grandparents, as they twirled each other over creaky wooden floors. Her older brothers would grow to be Two of Texas’ favorite sons, Bruce and Charlie Robison.
While her schoolmates were embracing the rituals of small-town Texas; Robyn was teaching herself guitar and sneaking off to Austin, immersing herself in the city’s wealth of live music. Eventually she’d settle there, where rent was paid working the door at the world famous Continental Club. Robyn shared many a lean meal with her brothers in those South Austin days. From their Goodwill couch, she plotted a stable future
for her and the family she hoped to one day have. She shelved dreams of a career in music and enrolled in The University of Texas School of Engineering and eventually took work in that field. Just after she and husband John “lunchmeat” Ludwick had their first child, and felt their road had been paved, Robyn was laid off. The intensity of such life changes woke Robyn’s sleeping songwriter. “It just pretty much poured out at that point. I guess it was time, you know.” Robyn cashed in her pension, and dove headlong into her craft. The critics agreed that it was time, as 2005’s For So Long, Produced by the
legendary Danny Barnes of Bad Livers, was named a top 10 album of the year by
both the Austin Chronicle, and renowned Austin public radio station KUT-FM. It
went to No. 1 on the Euro-Americana Music Chart and earned her a raved-about SXSW 2006 showcase (sponsored by No Depression, the Americana magazine), and a slot at the 2006 Austin City Limits Music Festival. After many acclaimed performances for American and European audiences, Robyn got to work on her second album. Too Much
Desire, another set of soulful originals. Released in 2008 to many a stunning review, contributions from Grammy nominee Eliza Gilkyson, Rich Brotherton, Mike Hardwick and more, coalesce with a timeless execution on Robyn’s part, the effect of which
is, as AllMusic puts it: “…elegant and graceful as a straight razor; it takes no prisoners, makes no apologies. In other words, it’s just drop-dead gorgeous.”
Look for Robyn’s latest, Out of these Blues.It features a dizzying cast, including
Producer/Multi-instrumentalist Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Blaze Foley), Ian “Mac” MacLagan (Small Faces,
Faces, Rolling Stones), John Ludwick, Eddie Cantu, Gene Elders (George Strait, Lyle Lovett), Trish Murphy, and
Slaid Cleaves.
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Saturday, August 31, 2013 8:00 PM
The Coal Men – cd release tour!!
“I’m wearing out this new Coal Men record. I think it’s masterful start-to-finish. Dave Coleman is one of Americana music’s great songwriters, and I hope this record gets the attention it deserves.” – Todd Snider (East Nashvillian)
The Coal Men have been hard at work on a new album for early Fall. With the production help of Joe Garcia and the engineering power of Paradox Production’s Brian Carter (Beauty is a Moment), Dave Coleman, Dave Ray, and Hitch are finished with a 13 song album that takes this roots rock trio into an aggressive and experimental musical horizon. The album features some spectacular guests including Audley Freed (The Black Crowes/Sheryl Crow), Jen Gunderman (The Jayhawks), Will Kimbrough (Rodney Crowell/Emmy Lou Harris), Jarod Manzo (Chris Scruggs) and a mighty horn section made up of Barry Green and Mark Douthit. Overdubs and mixing were done with Lij Shaw at The Toy Box Studio and mastering will be done with Yes Master’s Alex McCullough.
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