Way to go Stephanie Briggs and The Oso.

One great band that I have to bring people's attention to is Stephanie Briggs and The Oso. I first heard them on a random stop at a bar called Tavern in the Gruene in New Braunfels, Texas about three or four years ago. Her music is awesome and for me really hard to define. She has extensive talent at playing the guitar, it being acoustic or electric, and her voice is just brilliant. On top of that, Stephanie and her husband Matt (The Oso) are some of the nicest people you can come by. When my friends and I first heard them we were the very sore thumbs in the corner of the bar. At the end of the show Stephanie jumped off stage made her rounds with friends and then tracked right over to us and introduced herself.

Over time, through the insistence of my friend Chase, they even set up a few gigs in west Texas that we came running to. Later when I first met Cody Davidson it was through Stephanie and Matt. She had actually sung back up in our CD on the track "Don"t Lie". They were opening here in Midland for the Cody Hughes Davidson Band and we came up for the show. Matt wanted me to play on a few songs and asked me to run home and grab my harps. By the time I got back though, I had missed the rest of their show and Cody was already up on stage. So Matt just snuck a mic to me and told me to play. After a few odd looks around stage trying to find out where the harmonica was coming from Cody saw me hiding behind the sound board and invited me up on stage. Pretty much the only reason I get to play with such a talented band is because of them. Pretty cool.

Well now I get to say congratulations to Stephanie Briggs and The Oso. On March second they will be hooking up with Cross Canadian Ragweed up in Chicago and playing along with them all the way to California on their tour. My only wish is that I had a big sack of money so I could catch a show somewhere along the way. Also in other great news for them is that in July Stephanie Briggs and The Oso will be a part of the Big Music Cruise featuring such bands as Reckless Kelly, Stoney LaRue, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Wade Bowen, Brandon Jenkins, Jason Boland, and a few more of the Texas music scene's best acts. Tickets are available for the cruise now. If you happen to have your own sack of money to go cruising through the Caribbean with some great bands I say jump on the deal.

Well I just wanted to share the good word about a great band and all my happiness for their very busy schedule coming up. There isn't another band I know that deserves these great things more than they do. Give them a listen. They really have a wonderful infectious sound that is hard to press stop to.

Radio Free Texas Top 100 Requests of 2008

Here's a short one to offset my previous post that went a little long. I was browsing around the Radio Free Texas forums, and the website administrator had posted a list of the top one hundred song requests of 2008. Risky Game, our first single from the same titled album, was number thirty seven of the most requested songs. Not too shabby. Here is the list in its entirety from the forum post. Give the bands a listen and I'm sure you'll find some satisfying surprises.

We have tallied all of your requests and here are the most requested songs of 2008. Thanks to artists and fans for making RFT the number one site for Texas music on the web!

1. Hunter McKithan Band (1056)
Fallin From High
2. Jamie Richards (1026)
Drive
3. KCee Edwards (854)
Lonely Too Long
4. Granger Smith (803)
Colorblind
5. Zach Edwards Band (781)
Texas Women
6. Hunter McKithan Band (762)
Shape of it All
7. Whiskey Myers (664)
Lonely East Texas Nights
8. Ben Morris and the Great American Boxcar Chorus (627)
The Ties
9. Josh Ward Band (590)
Jebediah Beane
10. Bois D'Arcs (562)
Better Off Tonight
11. Whiskey Myers (551)
Road Of Life
12. Donny Waits (523)
Feet Up On The Dashboard
13. Johnny Cooper (508)
Devil Woman
14. Mo Robson Band (490)
Even Angels Fall
15. Ricky Fugitt (477)
Red Dirt Music
16. County Road 5 (473)
Drink I Couldn't Handle
17. Slow Rollin Lows (468)
You're All I Need
18. Randy Rogers Band (453)
In My Arms Instead
19. Casey Berry and the Live Texas Mosquitos (452)
I Know a Liar
20. Josh Abbott Band (448)
Taste
21. Stoney LaRue (432)
Oklahoma Breakdown
22. Jamie Richards (431)
Any Way You Want Me To
23. Bois D'Arcs (428)
Wasted
24. Mike Ethan Messick (425)
Kings Of Juarez
25. Bart Crow Band (413)
Wear My Ring
26. Keith Davis (409)
Leave Tonight
27. Blue Broussard Band (408)
England
28. Hunter McKithan Band (386)
Here in Texas
29. Randy Rogers Band (382)
Better Off Wrong
30. KCee Edwards (367)
Believe (Amanda's Song)
31. Cody Johnson (360)
What's Left Of Texas
32. Spur 503 (359)
It's All My Fault
33. Jamie Richards (343)
I Just Can't Love You Anymore
34. County Road 5 (340)
Drink About It
35. Mo Robson Band (327)
1892
36. Mo Robson Band (321)
Rollin' Down This Highway
37. Cody Hughes Davidson (318)
Risky Game
38. Red Dvorak (316)
That's the Way It Is
39. Marshall/Peery (309)
Baghdad Blues
40. Keith McCoy (309)
I Became Her She Became Me
41. Jason Boland & The Stragglers (302)
Comal County Blue
42. Ryan Bingham (302)
Bread And Water
43. KCee Edwards (300)
Angel
44. Luke Robinson (299)
Tequila Sheila
45. Mike Ethan Messick (297)
American Steel
46. Ben Morris and the Great American Boxcar Chorus (292)
No Saving Grace
47. Tres Womack (290)
Batman
48. Getocowboys (286)
Crazy
49. Keith McCoy (285)
How Far Has She Gone
50. Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward (283)
Tell Me What It Is
51. JW Lane (283)
I Want You To Come With Me To Texas
52. Terry Allen Band (269)
Eight In The Mornin'
53. Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward (269)
Atlantic City
54. Luke Robinson (269)
That's What I Tell Myself
55. Randy Brown (268)
All Likkered Up
56. Bleu Edmondson (268)
Last Last Time
57. Whiskey Myers (264)
Goodbye Girl
58. KCee Edwards (264)
The Last Songwriter
59. Casey Donahew Band (259)
White Trash Story
60. Reckless Kelly (258)
Ragged As The Road
61. Amie Stacy Band (255)
A Song For You
62. Highspeed Hayride (254)
Boots
63. Old Crow Medicine Show (254)
Wagon Wheel
64. Ricky Fugitt (249)
Dusty's Song (Ride Alone)
65. Brison Bursey Band (248)
Pourin' Rain
66. Ryan Culwell (247)
She Knows About Me
67. Josh Grider (247)
Crazy Like You
68. Marshall/Peery (238)
Run Out-A Tulsa
69. Zach Edwards Band (236)
Cowboy Up (And Cowboy Down)
70. Red Dvorak (230)
A Long Way From Home
71. Hazzard (229)
At It Again
72. Curtis Grimes (228)
Whirlwind
73. Mark McKinney (223)
Bonfire
74. Mo Robson Band (222)
Amarillo Sand
75. Chris Knight (222)
Here Comes The Rain
76. Randy Rogers Band (221)
Kiss Me In The Dark
77. Robert Earl Keen (221)
The Front Porch Song
78. Modern Day Drifters (218)
Tired of This Town
79. Wade Bowen (217)
Walkin' Along the Fenceline
80. Brison Bursey Band (217)
Don't Go
81. Wade Bowen (216)
You Had Me At My Best
82. Bois D'Arcs (214)
Backroads of Texas
83. Marshall/Peery (214)
When The Dust Settles
84. Whiskey Myers (213)
Thief Of Hearts
85. Jamie Richards (212)
Back To Bein Me
86. John Riley And The Lighthorsemen (211)
Mona Lisa
87. Shooter Jennings (210)
4th of July
88. Brent Allen (206)
Day Job
89. Renegade Rail (206)
Fat Girls And Weed
90. Twisted Pistols (203)
Cold
91. Rotge (199)
Lonely Land
92. Walt Wilkins and The Mystiqueros (198)
Big Shiny Cars
93. James McMurtry (197)
We Can't Make It Here
94. Ben Morris and the Great American Boxcar Chorus (195)
Lupe's Daughter
95. Fred Eaglesmith (192)
Harold Wilson
96. Cory Morrow (190)
He Carries Me
97. Rotge (190)
Eyes Wide Open
98. Mike Ethan Messick (183)
First Of October
99. Casey Berry and the Live Texas Mosquitos (180)
Sister So Long
100. Ben Morris and the Great American Boxcar Chorus (179)
Hit Man

I have to admit I have no idea who some of the bands are on the top of the list, but they obviously have a good following or a lot of time on their hands requesting their own song.
Here's an old Youtube video of our song Risky Game at our favorite venue The Hog Pit back before I joined the band. If you're wondering when I'll be on some recording with the band, Cody is currently sifting through producers for our next album that we will hopefully be recording this summer.

Long Long Saturday

Saturday was a good one but a weird one. I started the day off getting to Cody's house with not enough sleep. The RV we usually take on road trips had destroyed its starter so we jumped in a few trucks and headed to the San Angelo Rodeo. We got to the rodeo and unpacked our gear and watched the band lined up before us play. I should have known this was the precursor to my entire day. The band was a "Chicago style" big band. The lead singer was playing the keys. There was a bassist and a drummer, but there was also a full horn section. One man was playing the sax, another playing the trombone, and another playing clarinet as well as the trumpet. If I were in let's say, an elevator or a wedding, I would have understood why these guys were playing ahead of us. Don't Get me wrong I really do love the full sound that a band with that depth has, but it was more so the song choice as well as the way they put the show on that really threw me off. They played such hits as "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond and "I Ain't Got Nobody" by originally the Mills Brothers but more memorably rerecorded by David Lee Roth. It was just weird. It didn't fit my premonition of what this show was going to be like. I stood outside of the big front opening of our venue as people walked by the sound going to and from the carnival midway. I watched as old people hopped along to their favorite oldies and a few even trickled into the show to see the band. I just knew the second we started playing they would be turning right back around out the door. In a nutshell that's exactly what happened. There were some great people there as well, who knew who we were and were really excited to see us play. While playing I focused on those tables that were actually watching us, and had a great time running though our set list to those people who were interested in what we sounded like this time around. I was just really entertained by the way everything looked before we got on stage. We had a good show for two in the afternoon at a rodeo stage following an old timey big band with broken on stage monitors, and I was proud of that. (the mix on the monitors was the main's mix which was really weird to play to, but kind of cool to see where I sat in the sound of our band)

If you're looking down at the post before this one, regarding the lineup of the rodeo to see who opened up before us, it wasn't the band on the list. I know the band's name who played before us, but I'd rather not write it down because they were nice guys but just not what I was in the mood to hear or play after that afternoon. Apparently a few bands had to cancel for one reason or another so a lot of the lineup was shuffled around. I found out that we were actually originally slated to close the line up for the Saturday after, but couldn't do it because of scheduling conflicts.

We packed back up and headed back to Midland finally awake and full of fair food. We got to The Hog Pit and unpacked again for our second show of the day. After some time Micky and The Motorcars as well as Jeremiah Houston had sound checked. It was running late so we decided to let Jeremiah Houston go ahead and open, strike their gear, and then we would do a quick on stage monitor check and play. Jeremiah Houston put on a great show and then it was our turn. We jumped on stage, checked in our monitors, and went right into a great set. Apparently having a show before hand really gets you well practiced for your following same day gig. We had good energy, the crowd response was great, and people were having a great time dancing and cheering. I felt really on compared to the show we had earlier. My harp's reeds were much warmer inside than in our open breeze barn from earlier and the notes were coming smoothly instead of an awkward fight.

Just about half way through our second to last song my D harp started feeling and sounding a bit off. That was bad news since the last song, our newest and my most expressive song for me at least, was also played with my D harp. I kept noticing right when i played over my sweet spot note in the center draw of my harp it had a funny click to it that you could feel and the note warped a bit. Of course all this thinking is in a nano-second while I'm playing, watching the crowd, listening to the music, and having a good time on stage. I dismissed it and finished that song with a change up form my usual solo that i felt went well enough. Our last song started called "yesterday" I really can't wait until it's on an album because it's a blast to play. It's an up tempo blues song that give me a ton of room for solos as well as room to play in the high end of my harp kind of like Blue's traveler style which I have been working on a lot lately. So the song plays and we are all grooving along, and it gets to the introduction of the band. Cody gets to my name and I hear a few people cheer and I get amped up for a good little harp ditty to say hi. I draw in I jump up and down the scale and then all of a sudden the center of my harp goes mute. I tried jumping around the two notes that have gone completely sour, but realize how much I used them for trills and fast hole work. So I end my introduction of the band solo with a hobbling low end trill and wave to the crowd. Cody goes through all the intros and we get back into the song. My solo part comes back up and I jump back into it trying to get around the man hole of a mute spot in my harp. I give up and try to force, what I thought was just a blockage in the reed, out in the middle of my solo by finding the note that wasn't playing and trying to suck really really hard for an instant of time in the song. I pulled it in and all of a sudden something is stabbing me in the throat. I had inhaled the reed from my harp. I spit and sputtered in the middle of my solo and hacked out into my hand a shiny tiny brass rectangle that had tried to wiggle down my throat. I heard in the back some girl say, "ewwww" and I went back into playing. the song ended we got off stage and we were done for the day finally. Micky and The Motorcars went up and rocked the house and the rest of my night was awesome. My girlfriend showed up and loved our set and we had a great time watching Micky's show and dancing.

I guess the best piece of advice I can give from this story is, don't play after full voodoo giving horn section bands in a cold shaded open air place that only attract elderly people who sneer at your rock music style when it's your turn and walk back to the carney rides while your harp reeds get hypothermia, if you intend on going to a rocking gig later with central air unless you want your harp reed to go into seizures and snap off in the middle of a song and try to kill you by stabbing your throat and trying to wiggle down into your belly.

Just wanted to share my weird day with you guys. I am really tired so off to bed and sorry for the typos.

San Angelo Rodeo Show Lineup

This is the live show lineup for the San Angelo rodeo. We are playing there tomorrow the 21'st, but the whole weekend and the next looks like great times. I stole the dates from RadiofreeTexas.org so tell them thanks. Hope to see you there. I was pleasantly surprised with the bands playing. It's a shame we pretty much have to play and run back home for our next show, because I would have loved to hear a bunch of these bands live for the first time.


Friday, Feb 20th
4-5pm Joe Rodriguez
530-645pm Fryza Lyza
715-830pm Ida Road Band
9-1015pm The Captain Legendary Band
1045-12am Jeremiah Houston Band

Sat, Feb 21st
11a-1215pm The Buster Bledsoe Band
1245-2pm Sean Kendrick
230-345pm cody Hughes Davidson
415-530pm Brushfire
6-715pm Jamie Talbert
745-9pm Slow Rollin’ Lows
930-1045pm Chad Johnson & Down 1450
1115-1230am Donny Waits Band

Fri, Feb 27th
4-515pm Steve Ferguson Band
545-7pm Cody Gill Band
730-845 Hogg Maulies
915-1030 Mo Robson Band
1045-12am Spur 503

Sat, Feb 28th
1115-1230pm The Flinchers
115-230pm Monty Branham
3-415pm Hank Billings & The Travelers
445-6pm Bill Rice Band
815-930pm Tommy Gallagher Band
10-1115pm Whiskeyfish
1145-1am Kyle Bennett Band

Gloves off, nemesis you're going down.

You wanna play head games? Play them on your own time like on a stage somewhere with your band. Wait scratch that last one.

Ho Hum You Play Harmonica

This is not how I play harp, but I like the humor in it. Lord knows I've heard the, "Ohhhh you play harmonica for the band........" more than enough times.

Good times on valentines

Last night we played down at The Hog Pit in Midland for Valentines day. Brett Crenshaw and his band opened up for us and I have to say it was a blast. Crenshaw has a very talented group of musicians in his band and it was great to hear them have a go at it live. Two things of note are his fiddle player who has only been playing for two years, but sounds a decade further along, and his lead guitar player who was really fun to watch slide on his frets. The entire band was great and they were really cool guys to meet and talk to after the show.

After Crenshaw had warmed the crowd we took to the stage and had a really good show. We had a ton of energy off the bat, and it was great to see the crowd follow suit. Cody during our break went up and played a short acoustic set with Brett Crenshaw's fiddle player. There is something to be said about the accompaniment that a fiddle brings to an acoustic song. It was nice to hear something different come from some songs I've heard quite a few times and feel as if they were brand new. We finished the show with a long jam of Knocking On Heaven's Door. Brett Crenshaw and his guys came back up on stage and played it out with us. All around it was a really fun night. If you're ever in the hill country area of Texas they would be a great band to catch live. Their tour dates are on their website.

We have a pretty busy schedule ahead for the next month or so. This coming Saturday we are playing at the San Angelo Rodeo then driving back to open for Micky & The Motorcars in Midland on the same day. It's going to be a long day, but tons of fun. Full weekends like this make me hate my day job so much. Working odd shift hours it's always such a pain to make sure I get the days off I need to go do what I love. Also I get so psyched for that coming up show that my regular day at work goes stale rather quickly. I suppose that comes with any job though. Unless you went out and found a great passion that paid the bills. Maybe someday.

You always need a nemesis.

I don't think any good can be done without the aspiration to crush someone else. This is Kasey Klepfer and he plays harmonica for Texas Renegade. This video is from 2006 at I think Waterloo Records in Austin. I really like the part of the solo where he brings in the harp riff from the song Lowrider by the band War. We both play Lee Oskar harps that are made by the harmonica player of that band, Lee Oskar. Also there's a spot where he works a dominant trill all the way up the comb that i still hate watching for my lip's sake. All around it is an awesome solo with great virtuosity and depth. Texas Renegade have a great sound I like their music a bunch. Kasey himself is a really nice guy and i got to talk with him for a little bit back stage at the Lone Star Music Fest in San Angelo where both of our bands played. We talked about harps, playing styles, and our gear. It was a good conversation. He complimented me for my sound. He asked me about my weird microphone I was using at the time. I asked if he was still playing with his same set up and I even told him good job on this very solo that I saw on Youtube. Really great great guy.

Why does he have to be destroyed? Because you always need your nemesis and there's only so many harmonica players in Texas Music worth taking down. There are the countless lead singers who pull a Marine Band out from their pocket and do the suck and blow number for a couple of songs. I've even seen a few neck holder rigs on stages for the longer numbers.(not pointing any fingers Cody Canada) Really when you boil down to it the bona fide harp players are few and far between.

It's a much harder instrument to play than it looks. People look at you funny when you answer, "harmonica player" when they ask you what it is you do in that band. Also there aren't too many bands who are willing to take on a pay split with a guy who can bring his instrument to the show in his pocket not to mention, set up his rig in two minutes flat. By my count and this may be a bit off to some people's measure, but there are three harp players in all of the Texas Music scene. Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson's harp player), Kasey Klepfer, and me. So the way I see it is there's really only two people I need to take down before I'm touring with Willie. I'm just kidding about there only being three great harp players out there in Texas Music, but there really isn't much to sift through so I might be pretty close. Go me. Also, Mickey doesn't count since Willie has gone Nashville and Hollywood on us......... So then there were two.

Rocky had his Russian. Danny Glover had Predator. Rambo had the entire Vietcong army. Now I have Kasey and he's going down.
Laws of nature.

Good One

I can never define Texas Music.

I draw a blank every time i try to define Texas Country to someone who has no idea what I'm talking about. I usually rifle through a list of the larger stars of the music and hope something pings in their head. A song, a show advertisement, a friend of a friend's roommate who went to this great concert, nothing? At the same time I hope that person doesn't find shared ground with me because he recognizes said artist for his newest "sell out" song on CMT while the band blinds the camera lens with bedazzled denim jackets and coaxed choreography. (That of course is a bit too far but it was a fun mental image.) No usually i see this absolute sense of understanding in their head that I'm talking about some kind of country western hee-haw show I went to and had a grand old time listening to some guy blow into a whiskey jug for accompaniment. Of course by that point I have completely lost in defining what the music is to the guy or gal.

To those uninitiated to Texas country or Texas music it really covers a wide array of genres. Generally Texas Country is not just bass plucking and yodeling garbage.(There are of course a couple bands that have taken that route and became quite successful in their minimal efforts. Always an exception.) The band I play in The Cody Hughes Davidson Band for example, has a lot of blues and southern rock in it. I play a dark toned harp on most of the songs and that is not something most people would attach to a "country" style music. There are people like Roger Creager who has a Tex-Mex sound to a lot of his songs. Many of his songs feature the accordion which makes its own arguments by itself as an anti-country sound. Cory Morrow made his name by making his music an amalgamation of bluegrass, blues, swing, and outlaw on stage. The concerts I have seen him in are high powered, fast guitar, and soulful singing. Then of course there are the bands who just fall into their own thick stew of genres and time lines, but still stay under the umbrella of Texas Music. Band of Heathens, Josh Abbott Band, and Stephanie Briggs and the Oso all have very little in common with one another other than the fact that they have extraordinary talent and have all been associated with the Texas Music scene. No it isn't that regular vision people get when you associate the word "country" to a style of music. Of course there is country down in those roots somewhere worming about. Some bands bring that style closer to the surface and others shove it real deep. It's there, but it is not what defines this music. What does though?

It's a hard thing to make a finite definition of what all can be considered Texas Music, but to make a vague attempt it could be defined as such. Any music made in Texas that in one way or another is an eclectic sound including, at some base point, acoustic guitar, with some sprinkle of country style, with the addition of any other musical style, genre, tone, or magical potions.
Cop out I know, but the whole subject of this post is about how impossible it is to define. Where else is there such an enormous mix of style, tone, lyrical choice, and sound living under one roof? It's a very cool thing but miserable when you set out to make a post about defining it. Find a band support their efforts to make their music the way they like to and enjoy the show.

First thing's first

The best first post, I would think, would be about me and what it is you'll find here.

I live in West Texas, I'm 24, and I play harmonica for The Cody Hughes Davidson Band. We are an up and coming Texas Music band that has tones of rock, country, and blues. The lead singer Cody Davidson is an excellent songwriter and of course i would say our CD is worth a listen. You can buy it on itunes, cdbaby.com, and other online music stores. I'm not featured in the CD because i came along just after its production, but it is a fine album just the same. I started playing with the band a year ago and have really enjoyed the journey so far. I have met a myriad of great musicians, some famous, some still waiting, and have experienced enough to one day decide maybe i should share some of this on a blog. We travel fairly often to shows, but play the majority of our shows in the Midland/Odessa area opening up for larger names or headlining at bars and events.

I've been playing blues harp for roughly ten years. I play with mostly Lee Oskars harmonicas along with a few other types that I've found here and there when i needed a key and they didn't have my favorite brand in stock. I just switched microphones from a Shaker Madcat (a small almost lavaliere type mic with a volume pot) to a vintage Shure 545s series 2 unidyne III with the pistol grip. (Sorry to everyone who just read that and completely lost me. This paragraph is for the handful of harp players who may be reading along. So if you have no interest in the harmonica stuff just skip to the next paragraph.) I play through a Hohner amp that has held up nicely. I have two effect pedals. I use a Boss harmonist pedal to make my harp sound like an organ on some songs where i just want to sit in the background. I used to use a Boss blues driver but have phased it out with the introduction of my new mic since it breaks up quite nicely when heavily cupped. I am trying to figure a way to still keep it in rotation as maybe a solo volume pedal. My problem right now is it's packed on the band trailer while my mic and harps are at my home. Hard to experiment when you don't have the test subjects.

Other than playing harp for the band I live with my wonderful girlfriend in an apartment in Odessa, and work full time as an assistant manager for a national pharmacy chain. It's a strange dichotomy being up on stage during the weekends entertaining and then on a sales floor getting screamed at by an old woman who wants her Loritab filled a week too soon. I have a great deal of time to think when I'm at my day job. I feel this blog will have a good amount of waxing philosophies from me observing and thinking too much at work. The other half of course will be what my weekends bring.

I graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy. I have published a few short stories and self published a novel which i will not steer you to from here. Long story short I got too excited put it to print and then realized where the text needed some help. The story was good, but it could have used some polishing. I am not going to claim to be some great writer. I think it is clear on this blog that my technical skills could use some refreshing.


The blog sometimes seems like it was an invention for people to shout on their soapbox about their opinions. Hopefully I won't get too preachy with my posts, but let me know if I head that way. This blog should be more of a fun window into my life and interests, that being either rants about people and situations from work, or some interesting experiences from my life as a musician and beyond. It will be fun to follow either way. I have done and seen a lot of things. I've lived in foreign countries, had many odd hobbies, and had the luck to experience some unique stuff. In the simplest explanation this blog will pull from everything I have done and currently take part in. I hope that it is worth reading about to someone else.