Texas Music News
Jordan Mackay contributed to this regular Ranch feature from October, 1997 to August, 1998.
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Texas does Tampa: A troupe of Texas musicians invaded Southwest Florida on Saturday, May 9 for the Lone Star Music Festival, a day of Texas tunes put on by Tampa radio station WMNF. The station had queried listeners as to which they wanted: a tribute to Louisiana music, or the natural sounds of Texas. Of course, the Lone Star State was the preference. So, a sizable contingent of Texas bands—consisting of fledgling Tejano band, Grupo Vida; jazzers, Hot Club of Cowtown; Dallas bluesman Robert Ealey; and Kelly Willis, Don Walser, Robert Earl Keen, Alejandro Escovedo, Reckless Kelly, Jon Dee Graham, singer-songwriters Butch Hancock and Ana Egge, and Anson Funderburgh—made the trek east and performed before a crowd of three to four thousand people. Says station program director Randy Wynne: “From all the reports, it was a fabulous festival. The music was great, everything ran smoothly. Most of the artists had never been here before and the two biggest buzz acts were Reckless Kelly and Alejandro Escovedo. Evidently Reckless Kelly sold 100 CDs in about 15 minutes.” Reckless’ tenacious publicist Jill McGuckin confirms this and praises WMNF for being big supporters of Texas music. “That station’s been a banner station for supporting Texas music,” she says, “and they have a very strong signal, reaching Tampa, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg.”
On the record: Don Walser Down at the Sky-Vue Drive-In (Sire/Watermelon). Walser’s new release, his first on a major label, may just be the one to introduce old “rosy-throated Don” to the rest of the country. Texans, particularly Austinites, have known about him for a long time. Regular gigs at Austin clubs, Jovita’s and Babe’s, have been ongoing for years and such experiments as opening for the Butthole Surfers at the punk club Emo’s have allowed him to reach a large cross section of music listeners. The album is a wonderful throwback to country swing—pure of heart as the purple sky at sunset Walser must have seen when playing at the Sky-Vue Drive-In, an outdoor theater in the West Texas town of Lamesa where Walser occasionally opened for a kid named Buddy Holly. The classic sound of this record almost feels like it should be coming from a wobbly 78 rather than a shiny digital disc. But Walser’s soaring tenor sounds good any which way, and his Pure Texas Band is as fine a group of musicians as you’ll find anywhere—Anywhere, that is, where the classically-trained Kronos String Quartet is not; the group accompanies Walser on a haunting, stunning version of “Rose Marie.” Other highlights include Hank Snow’s “A Fool Such as I” and the swing-laden “Cherokee Maiden.”
—Jordan Mackay (5/14/98)
Edgefest in Arlington creates a roar outside the ballpark; Junior Brown’s sizable tribute to Jimi Hendrix; and the lite read Texas Music hits bookstore shelves.
Unwelcome roar: May 17th’s Edgefest was a hit at The Ballpark in Arlington, but the ball may have been hit right out of the park. Concert promoters didn’t think Arlington residents lived close enough to the amphitheater next to the Rangers’ stadium to be bothered by noise from the festival, but some locals have asked the city council to disallow such events in the future. Aside from the complaints of loud music and cursing, the 11-hour-long festival went down without a hitch. The event attracted around 30,000 music fans to hear such groups as Everclear, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Denton’s freaky Bobgoblin. Less than a dozen arrests were made, only two people were treated for heat exhaustion, and evidently traffic was less severe than during a Rangers’ sellout. Even so, the first big music event at The Ballpark may be its last because a couple of residents couldn’t deal with an afternoon of din. What of the 30,000 people who had a blast?
Homage to Hendrix: We all know that Junior Brown likes to throw Jimi Hendrix riffs into the mix at his idiosyncratic jazz/rock/country shows. But now the Austin Chronicle reports that guitar wizard Brown has thrown a much bigger tribute to the Hendrix experience into his shows lately: none other than the portly drummer Buddy Miles, formerly of Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies. Miles also appeared on the Hendrix albums Electric Ladyland and The Cry of Love and has played with Carlos Santana. Miles, who is based in Fort Worth, will continue to play with Brown when he’s available says the Chronicle, but is not considered a permanent member of the band.
A light read: A new book about Texas music has come out by native Dallasite Rick Koster, who currently lives and writes in Connecticut. With the original and titillating title Texas Music, the book weighs in at only 340 pages, which Koster says was due to a contractual page limit with St. Martin’s Press. Koster says it easily could have been 1,000 pages long. Texas Music is divided into eight sections—country, rock, blues, folksingers and songwriters, “the flavors of ethnicity,” soul/R&B, easy listening, and jazz—and even though its current length keeps it from covering the state’s musical history and current scene with the depth it sings out for, it still makes a handy reference tool.
—Jordan Mackay —Jordan Mackay —Jordan Mackay (6/1/98)
Elias Haslanger’s Kicks are for Kids is a classic-sounding jazz with a serious groove that will grab you with its quiet confidence; Santiago Jimenez, Jr. has a new release with Corridos de la Frontera.
On the record: Elias Haslanger Kicks Are For Kids (Heart Music) . The Austin saxophonist’s fourth release bears his name on the cover, but what jumps out at you with the opening tones of the first track, is Edwin Livingston’s bass. This is what a cohesive band should sound like. On that first number, after the bass groove is down, the drums (played by J.J. Johnson, who anchors the whole thing beautifully) gracefully jump in, in cool-jazz style, and the piece begins to bounce with a mellow swing. Then enter the leads, trumpet (Tito Carillo), sax, and piano (Fred Sanders), in tight harmony. Haslanger’s is a classic-sounding jazz with a serious groove that will grab you with its quiet confidence. The whole album continues impressively from top to bottom. At 28, the saxaphonist’s compositions are marked by a studied melodic authority as well as an easy-going elegance. Besides the title track, I especially enjoyed the standard-ish “Eugene and Marie” and Haslanger’s controlled, emotive playing on “Free for Three” which bobs and weaves from its opening easy roll onto wilder, freer places. The venerable Ellis Marsalis contributes graceful piano on the album’s lone cover song, a gentle version of Duke Ellington’s “Just Squeeze Me.”
Santiago Jimenez, Jr. Corridos de la Frontera (Watermelon) . This latest batch of songs from the son of one of conjunto’s greatest legends has the polka bounce characteristic of the style, but not much of the energy that makes you want to jump along with it. Santiago is as capable as his father—if not as eminent—on the accordion as well as at handling the swaying, breezy Mexican melodies of the vocals—and the album is a pleasant listen. But something failed to grab me. Maybe it was that the tempos were generally unmodulated and plodding. Maybe it was the lack of dynamic variation. But after the first few songs I found myself tuning out, wishing for something more spicy and flavorful.
—Jordan Mackay (6/15/98)
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons has been making his way around Austin where he’s said to be songwriting, Mexico Regional is named a new Grammy category, and King Coffey’s Trance Syndicate label comes to an end.
Gibbons gazing: You’re driving down the street and you see a little guy with a long brown beard, dark sunglasses, black jeans, and a black leather jacket. The person you’re with says, “Hey, look! There’s that guy from ZZ Top.” You get the joke—that shmoe wearing all black in 105-degree heat does look like Billy Gibbons, ZZ Top’s gravelly-voiced frontman, except for the fact he’s wearing this weird, black rubber shower cap type number, notable for the nubby, round nipples protruding from it. It looks like this wacko has put a cow’s udder on his head. A few days later you are introduced to this guy; he’s wearing the exact same outfit, and he is indeed Billy Gibbons.
Gibbons has been as ubiquitous in Austin as rain has been scarce the last couple of weeks. He seems to be staying in the same hotel that houses Texas Monthly’s offices. He turns up at local downtown restaurants like the Iron Cactus and Mezzaluna. He makes an announcement at the Austin Bar and Nightclub Awards. Evidently he’s “sequestered” himself in the capital city to write songs and music for the next ZZ Top album, probably to be recorded later in the year in Houston.
A nuance of note: The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) has decided to add mexicano regional as a new category in the Grammy Awards. This move answers the complaints of groups like California’s Los Tigres Del Norte that they were shut out of winning Grammies because the only category for which they could be nominated was the Tejano category. A majority of NARAS’s tejano category voters live in Texas where tejano is popular and thus groups like this year’s winner, Houston’s La Mafia, were seen as having an unfair advantage. In inaugurating the new category, NARAS shows that it can be sensitive to other cultures, noting nuances in musical style that may be imperceptable to many, but which matter significantly to those who play and listen to the music.
No longer enTranced: I just heard that Butthole Surfer drummer King Coffey’s label, Trance Syndicate is shutting down. An excellent label known for putting out quality bands like Sixteen Deluxe, Bedhead, and Ed Hall, Trance’s loss will be much lamented. Craig Stewart, who has run the day-to-day operations of the label for quite some time said “it was all King’s decision. He just wasn’t so passionate about running a label anymore.” Stewart says that most of Trance’s bands are comfortable with the decision and that they shouldn’t have too much trouble getting picked up on other labels. Stewart himself will continue to shepherd his label, Emperor Jones, which worked under both Trance and their umbrella, Touch and Go. Emperor Jones’ top group, American Analogue Set, will stay with Stewart.
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