SHORT AND SWEET CAUSE I'M IN NO MOOD...

We'll be playing this Saturday in San Angelo at one of our favorite bars, Blaine's Pub. Every trip there is a story and a half, and I'm sure this one won't be any different.

To fill in for lead guitar we have a special guest tagging along, Zach Huckabee. If you haven't heard of him go Google him up and take a listen to his music. Recently Zach has turned down another path from his previous work and released a Christian album. I think Cody explained it best when he said Zach's new album is , "what Ryan Adams would write if he wanted to do Christian music." needless to say it is very good and not over the top. That's it, like I said I'm not in the mood today. Have a good week folks and I hope to see a face or two in San Angelo.

Blaine's Friday in San Angelo Saturday, who knows?

Last weekend was a great double gig weekend for us. I had a good time watching Zach Walther and The Cronkites on Friday. It was the first time for me to catch them live. They put on a good show for the Midland crowd and maintained a high energy level through their whole set. Saturday with The Band of Heathens was out of this world as usual. They are just so good live! I have to ask you out there is you can help me find a random song they covered though. The title is "Hurricane" and no it's not Dylan's hurricane. One resounding line was, "It'll take a whole lot more water to was away New Orleans" The premise of it was talking about New Orleans triumphing over Hurricane Katrina and it was the highlight of their set for me. I've gotten Leon Everett and a few other sounding alike names. iTunes of course, has little to offer and I have to get my hands on that song. If anyone knows it please feel free to make my day.

Friday we are playing at Blaine's Pub in San Angelo kicking off the weekend in a fine venue. It is going to be a packed house and a good rowdy time. Saturday I can't remember if we locked something down or not so I suppose that will have to be a surprise for us both.


Also, for everyone here in the Permian Basin. Go to google and type in Crude Fest Midland and see how many bands come up with it on their itinerary in May. That is a show to keep on your radar!

Blaine's Friday Coyanosa Saturday

Friday we are heading back to our favorite road trip bar Blaine's Pub, in San Angelo. It will be a guaranteed good time and I hope you show up if you happen to be in the area. Saturday, we are playing a brisket cook off and party in Coyanosa, Texas. I have never been to Coyanosa and and am not sure if it even exists yet. The band played this same party some time ago before I joined in, and said it was a blast. So my trust is with them. I'll let you know how they both go.

I bought a BBE Two Timer delay pedal for my pedal chain and have to say they are some great pedals! It is very harp friendly and has fattened up my tone a considerable amount. If you are looking for a delay pedal, I strongly advise you to take a look at this two channel delay pedal for your harp chain.

Speaking of harp pedals, here is a cool Youtube video of a man using his pedal board along with a loop pedal with some very cool results. Enjoy.

Pictures from Last Weekend

Well the weekend came and we were on the road playing at Blaine's in San Angelo, and then Ballinger the next day for a music festival. Blaine's was great. We had women dancing on tables and a good rowdy crowd. Ballinger was a short set since we were the only band to get rained on all day. The wind picked up and tried to blow our stuff off stage, which made some tough song transitions. Many thanks to Brian Milson and The Short Road Band as well as Darren Kozelsky's crew, for helping cover our gear while we were trying to finish our set in the shower. I looked over at one point and saw Chad, our lead guitarist, crawl under a blue tarp teepee to change guitars. We were all in good moods though, and we didn't let it ruin things as we enjoyed the rest of the show and festivities. Here are some pics that I remembered to snap along the way.

Somewhere on the highway.

Parked in front of Blaine's for sound check.

Blaine's from the stage.
Ballinger, Curing Cancer Street Dance. It was at the end of a runway between two big airplane hangars. This is right when we got there before sound check.
Darren Kozelsky brought his Prevost bus.
Brian Milson and The Short Road Band played before us. They play a traditional style of Texas Country, and are very very talented. Also they help out other bands when rain threatens electrocution and gear destruction. Great guys in my book.
Then came the rain we played in.

Just like that, we were off stage watching Darren Kozelsky play. The rain hung around for ten minutes after our set, and then was through messing with the good times. This picture is right after we got off stage, and you can still see the majority of the crowd watching from the dry hangar.

After a bit, we decided to head on back to Blaine's to say hi to our friend Brett Crenshaw and his band. They had a great show even though their bass player couldn't make it because he had taken ill. I snuck my way on stage somewhere in their set and played along with them for a couple songs. After such a long day at a music festival i really wasn't in good playing shape though, so I snuck back off stage just as quick. Good trip good times.

Blaine's Pub and The Curing Cancer Dance

The band is jumping on the road this weekend for two shows. The first will be Friday at Blaine's Pub in San Angelo. I don't think we're having a band open up for us, so that means we'll be playing three good hours of music. I have always enjoyed our trips to Blaine's. My only complaint about the venue is how tiny the stage is. Ronnie our bass player has to stand behind me to fit all five of us on the thing. Aside from that, San Angelo State University will be finishing up their finals and hopefully the students will stick around to get rowdy with us. After the show we'll sneak into our favorite motel and maybe this time, just this once, I won't have a crazy lady attack me from the shadows for a beer or meet the motel "security patrol" (dead serious) pacing the halls with his flashlight keeping an eye on us "band types". These are the things that make playing on the road so fun.


A view from the Blaine's stage. Little bit tight for a five piece but always a blast.


Once we wake up, it is off to Ballinger, Texas and the 1'st Annual Curing Cancer Dance. It will be at the Bruce Field Airport of course in Ballinger, and hopefully on one of those big roomy metal stages. The gates open at three and we will be playing on stage around sundown somewhere in the center of the line up. The show goes on until midnight with Zach Edwards headlining the whole event. I like playing the music fest style shows because it gives us a chance to meet with other musicians that may not regularly play in our area. Another great thing about such long line ups in shows like these, is that the crowd that's there when you're on stage is probably in the mood to listen to your music. Shorter line ups usually equate to a late coming crowd getting to the venue just in time to hear whomever is headlining. This show is set up as an all day party so more people will come early to set up camp and check out the bands in the meanwhile. We are playing the show for charity and the proceeds from the event will be going to the American Cancer Society. My girlfriend and I finally replaced our point and shoot digital camera that broke. Hopefully, the follow up post to this weekend will include some great pictures.

Saturday in San Angelo at Blaine's Pub

Tomorrow we're jumping in the bus and heading to San Angelo to play at Blaine's Pub. We have played at Blaine's maybe three times and it has been a blast every time. The bar layout reminds me of sixth street in Austin. It is a very long narrow bar with a tiny stage. The stage is raised about five feet off the bar floor and pretty cramped. Ronnie, our bass player has to stand right behind me for all of us to fit. It sounds like no fun, but actually it has always made a fun show. We stay much more in sync since we're on top of one another and have always ended up having a ton of fun.

There won't be an opener for us this time around which means we get to have a three hour set instead of two hours. Good and bad. The bad side, my mouth is going to get out of shape somewhere around our break. I play harp with both the lip blocking and tongue blocking techniques. After an hour or two of bends, trills, and plain old playing my mouth gets pretty weak. It feels kind of like when you've laughed too much and your cheeks get sore. When this happens it makes it harder to hone in on single clear notes in a fast paced solo or a good punch note. It gets easier the more you practice and the more you build up your facial muscles for that kind of weird strain. Thankfully we have a break in the set and I think I will survive. The good side of playing a three hour set is that we will probably play every song past and present that I have ever sat in on with the band as well as random covers and fun blues jams. It'll be a bit more off the cuff than the regular cut and dry set list and that gets me pretty excited for tomorrow night.

In other news Cody is heading down to New Braunfels next weekend to play at the first annual friends for friends benefit Saturday March, 28'th at the Mountain Breeze campgrounds. There is going to be a line up of great singer songwriters playing from five to midnight. Cody and Shad Blair are the last to go on in the evening. If you happen to be around the river on the 28'th make sure to drop by.