Cody Hughes Davidson Band is Hanging It UP

The band I have been blessed to play with for the last 2 years has decided to take a break from the stage. Cody and his wife have recently had their first child and he wants to make sure not to miss a moment with his new son. I do not and can not blame him for putting his priorities and heart at home with his new family and wish him the best. It was a wonderful 2 years and I had a great time meeting so many new people and playing all around this great state. There's talk to possibly still record our second album since we have more than enough songs written to share, but that's yet to be confirmed. I'll still be posting my random stories here as I go along enjoying the music and surrounding scene. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy a few free weekends off and start getting my ear to the ground for any other local bands looking for a harmonica mandolin guy.

RELISTENING

I was clicking around on our myspace checking future road dates and came across a song I forgot I recorded with Cody. We wrote it, slapped it together in the living room, and finished recording after a couple of takes. At the time I thought it was fun and didn't really pay much attention to it since it was so thrown together. Looking back I'm happy we did it and need to get back in the rhythm of jamming with Cody acoustic to hear the core of things. Not too shabby after forgetting about it for a year. Click on the thing below and it should take you to our myspace where you can click on "Paperweight" for a listen.

Paperweight (iPhone Sessions) by Cody Hughes Davidson

Speaking of acoustic duo fun, Cody and I are playing acoustic at the Casa Del Sol in Midland this weekend. Some bigger shows coming up the next few weekends so it should be fun to get some non full band perspective. Hope to see ya'll along the way.

Dottie Hill Music Fest Sat. August, 7'th Midland,TX

Sorry for the late heads up but it has been a busy week for me. Apologies all around nonetheless. Tomorrow is a great concert event celebrating the life of Dottie Hill and raising money for the American Cancer Society. This is the 5'th annual festival and will not disappoint. There is a chili cook off all day, a silent auction in the early evening, and of course great live music all night long. Starting things off is an acoustic song swap of some up and coming local talent, Next will be Jackson Lee Brooks Band kicking things off full band. Cody Hughes Davidson Band, that's us, takes the stage at 9(?), followed by the talented Emory Quinn. Capping off the rest of the evening is the always crazy life show from Mike McClure's Band. Come early and stay happy. I hope to see everyone out there.

($15 at the door 21 and up at The Hog Pit Midland, TX. Specific info on the Dottie Hill Music Fest Facebook page. All proceeds to the American Cancer Society)

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.

The Ranch Rumors

Well I'm an idiot, because I could have just visited their Facebook page to get a few things cleared up about The Ranch closing down. Poor journalistic due diligence on my behalf, but hey, I'm not a journalist. Any ways The Ranch posted this on their Facebook site and I apologize for leading people into the gossip mill,

The Ranch To our customers and friends .... The Ranch
is temporarily closed for remodeling and will reopen very soon! Stand
by -- we'll be better than ever! In the meantime, we would like to
address some (expected and unexpected) rumors. Hopefully this will
answer all your questions. SPECIAL ATTENTION to all of our local NEW...S
stations: I'll pause a second so you can all start taking notes ....
ready? GO ....

38 people like this.

The Ranch

‎1. The Ranch was NOT shut down by the TABC.
2. The Ranch did NOT cause the Nashville flood.
3. The Ranch is NOT owned by a bank.
4. The Ranch is NOT reopening as a gay bar.
5. The Ranch did NOT kick Lady Gaga out of the Yankee clubhouse while wearing no pants.... See More
6. The Ranch was NOT shut down by the Comptroller.
7. The Ranch did NOT cause the BP oil spill.
8. The Ranch has NOT surrendered it's liquor license.
9. The Ranch is NOT responsible for global warming.
10. The Ranch was NOT shut down by the IRS.

June 22 at 11:13pm ·

The Ranch

To all of you who have been supportive and kind, we thank you -- you mean a great deal to us and your kindness will not be forgotten. To all of you who were so anxious to start rumors and feed nasty gossip ..... karma. It's amazing how unkind some people can be to each other. Times like these are when people really show you who they are. 

 

Well at least they have a sense of humor about things. So they didn't lose their liquor license, and weren't shut down by TABC, or a comptroller, or the bank. They didn't address the Graham's buy out whisper, but from the looks of things I think all the rumors were just that, Rumors. Hopefully their doors will be swinging back open soon enough. 

Here Comes The Dottie Hill Musicfest & The Ranch Is Gone For Good?

First off, I just wanted to get everyone's radar going for the upcoming concert August 7'th at The Hog Pit in Midland, Tx. It is The Dottie Hill Music Festival and this year will be featuring The Jackson Lee Brooks Band, Emory Quinn, Mike McClure, and ourselves. (not necessarily in that order) It should be a wild show with possible surprise guest appearances and plenty of beer to get you out on the dance floor.

I know I'm late to the party on this bit of Midland gossip, but I thought I would address the rumor mill surrounding The Ranch closing their doors for "remodeling". There are various stories milling about and I thought I would just share what I have heard. You can choose for yourself what to believe or just mash them all together to make a brand new bit of gossip. Backtracking a bit for those of you from outside our goldfish bowl, The Ranch in Midland, TX is/was a bar that catered to the Texas Country scene and had a healthy traffic of the leading bands across its stage. One thing that made them such an appealing venue for the area was that they were one of the only places in Midland/Odessa big enough for the larger bands to come through while also being 18 and up instead of the staunch 21 and up at most other places. This let the fanatical fans who couldn't drink yet, stampede into the place with their black X'ed hands and fill the front of stage while buying every bit of merch the band had to offer. Anywho, one day The Ranch had a sign on its marquee "closed for remodeling" it was not planned as far as anyone knew and it seemed rather strange. 

One story is that the owners hadn't been filing the correct taxes for the place, got audited, fined, and then TABC jumped in and revoked their licensure to serve alcohol. (this one sounds the most plausible) Once that gossip was established there was a buzz that the Graham brothers were buying the place from the previous owners since the cost to reopen after paying the fines and regaining the licenses was too much of a financial burden. Seems to make sense considering Graham's is the only other competition in the area for their type of establishment. Someone had even said it will be renamed "Diamonds and Denim" and I have no idea how to feel about that. I'm not a big fan of Graham's (for those outside the know, these are large bars with different themed rooms attempting to cater to the whole demographic of the town instead of one type of club country, ghetto, dance, karaoke, etc) only because of the mash up of so many different groups of people in those places always, from my experience, end badly. If they keep The Ranch or whatever it is they'll rename it to under the same format as before I'm sure it won't be too rough of a transition. But then again this is all hearsay. 

A smaller whisper for their reason for closing was the place just went broke, and that I can't quite believe. We played there a few weeks ago for the Ranch Jam and they seemed to be doing just fine with headcount and door charges. Of course, you never know how the money is being handled and if in fact it's being funneled back to the right parts of the business. Still I doubt it....

Finally yet another reason I heard floating around was that it was because of a sting TABC ran on the bar for serving minors. There is no way that place intentionally serves to minors. They were always pretty serious about carding when I went, but teenagers are smart and they know how to wash a marker X off a hand. 

I really don't know what the real story is, but I just wanted to share the whispers and see if someone could set us all straight. It could be part of one of these stories is true or none of them. I had noticed that a few people were filtering into the blog looking for info on The Ranch closing so I thought I would address it. If you have anything to add please feel free to leave a comment.

Gained Guitarist (?), Lost Our Booking, and My Sweet Samson 77 Airline Wireless...

A quick blurb about the state of things. We are practicing with a lead guitarist this afternoon at our practice session and seeing if he's a good fit for the band. He comes highly recommended so hopefully things work out and we're back in business just like that. If he isn't the right fit we got another referral for a guy that is a great guitar player as well but he lives in New Mexico. His work schedule is flexible and he would be available for any gig and willing to drive in for a weekly practice. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how things turn out. I'm happy we were sans guitarist for only a few days instead of being one of those bands eternally looking for a lead player and cursed to never gig again. Crisis averted and moving on.

 Every post needs a picture, so why not make it a random funny one?

Second wave of bad news, AUE our booking agency, has dropped us and quite a few other bands from their representation. They have decided to put the majority of their time and efforts into a few bands they have that are full timing gigging and have already established a name for themselves. Life goes on. We're really not too worried about this one though. In recent months it had begun to be more difficult to rationalize our agreement with them. They would call us for a gig across the state and one of us couldn't swing it. We would call them asking to be booked for a connecting gig and they couldn't book us. Cody had a baby so we took a month sabbatical and then Cole left to work in Oklahoma. I think the timing is fine for us to be moving back into booking ourselves. Also we no longer have to pay their booking fee which means more money for us! We don't hold any grudges to AUE and wish them the best on their new ventures.

 Wow.............

In the good news side of things, I got a wireless set up for my harp mic! How over the top is it for a harmonica player to have a wireless rig? Screw you, you don't know me! You can't judge me! All I know is I'll be having a whole lot more fun on stage running around doing sweet David Lee Roth kicks, well maybe not, but I can if I wanted to now. (picture below) I'm trying it out tonight and I'll let you know how it works out.

Samson 77 Airline Wireless Guitar System, awww yeah!!

Other than that we're playing a wedding at a private venue (duh) this Saturday. If anyone asks me to play the Macarena or the Chicken dance, I'm out. If we like the guitarist trying out tonight, tomorrow's show will be the best low pressure dry run for everyone to feel things out. Next weekend on July 16'th we play Kroc's Bar's 2 year anniversary party in Midland. After that, its back on the road and God willing, with a new lead guitarist.

WANTED: LEAD GUITARIST

Attention West Texas guitar players. We are in need of a new lead player. Cole Evans our current lead guitarist has accepted a fantastic job at Oklahoma State University and we wish him the best of luck in his career path. Needless to say, we are in need of a replacement. You must be a quick learner, at a high level of skill, and able to travel across Texas and some of Oklahoma for weekend gigs. We have cross state shows we are looking to confirm and we need a guitarist A.S.A.P. Send all inquiries to Cody at chdgwt@yahoo.com or Drew at texharp@gmail.com.

LOST OUR LEAD GUITARIST AND GAINED A BABY!

Sorry for being MIA the last 2 weeks. It has been a whirlwind of gigs and busy work recently and when I come home it is hard to crack the laptop open and start blogging it up. I'll make a consorted effort to get back on the schedule though. It's funny typing those apology sentences because those are always the last posts you see on those blogs you come across that haven't been updated in 3 years. Those kind of creep me out. Dusty old blogs sitting in the internet's attic.

Anywho, two things of great importance have happened in the last 24 hours that have to be shared. Firstly, the bad news. Our lead guitarist Cole Evans has just been offered a great job in Oklahoma and he's taking it. Just when things were getting so good for us, Murphy's Law has to sneak out of the shadows and bash us in the head with a pipe. Meanwhile, our drummer and sound engineer are both working out of town heavy equipment operating jobs during the week, so even if we do get a replacement guitarist we won't have a drummer here on the weekdays to full band dial him in. Oh the frustrations. In the meantime we have a full summer of gigs. Every weekend starting in July has at least one show booked. Our answer? Until we can figure out how to get a lead guitarist in this town of mostly sub par metal enthusiasts we're going to rely on the Americana formula. Strange is unique, and unique is good. I'm going to take over lead guitar licks with my harmonicas and pedal board, and the band's tone in general will alter slightly to cover the gaps. It'll be a growing pains process, but I feel confident that the end result will be a good set. I'll fill you guys in on the details as the practice sessions hammer out the details. Hey, it worked for Texas Renegade.

Second but most important new news. Cody's wife is having her baby today! Her water broke this morning and they are safely up in the hospital getting ready to introduce Paden Davidson to the world. The band is not the most important thing on Cody's mind, and that's alright. He'll be busy being a new father and discovering the joys of bringing someone into this world. Maybe it'll give him a new direction for songwriting or something fun to transfer over into his creative music process. Who knows, but I'm excited to see how the rest of this summer goes.

We'll be bouncing all over Texas in late July and August. Make sure to check our Myspace page for show dates. If you want to see us on a stage near you and don't see us heading that way, yell at me. I can't say we'll get every request booked right away, but he important thing is that we'll at least know where our fans are and we'll try in the near future to head your way.

The Ranch Jam Midland,TX Saturday June,12'th

Should be a grand time out at The Ranch on Saturday. Bands include Noel Olivas, Treetop Flyers, Charla Corn, Harber & Miller Band, The Cody Hughes Davidson Band (us), Zach Edwards, and then finally headlining will be Kevin Fowler. Like every year expect madness and drinking, along with the sea of under 21 guys and gals falling over from pre-partying too hard. I get to meet Charla Corn for the first time, which will be cool. Also, I get to play some good tunes once the sun has gone down instead of getting a sunburn like the last Ranch Jam we played two years back. Come out for some fun!

Weird poster, but a good time

Weekend Recap

I have still not really recovered from this last weekend of shows! The energy was up, beer was flowing, and each show was better than the last. What more could you ask for?

Friday we started things out at Woody's opening for William Clark Green. I got to catch up with an old high school and Texas Tech friend of mine Ausitn Davis, who plays electric banjo for them. You might remember him from playing with Josh Abbot in the not so long ago times. Our set was short but good. We had a decent crowd show up for the show. We took to the stage and started our first song and the next thing you know it, we're off the stage. That's what opening a show feels like for me at least. William Clark Green really surprised me. I had passively heard some songs here and there from them, but I was blown away by their stage presence. Austin Davis is a phenomenal lead guitarist / banjoist, William Clark Green had great vocal tonality with strong grit and blues sitting in the back of his throat. The bass player, forgot his name sorry, was high energy all night bouncing around doing his bass player magic. Also, the drummer was covered in sweat which is the indicator that they rocked. Good show, good times.

 Us at Woody's

Saturday we played in Stephenville,TX at City Limits. Last time we played there we opened up for the ultra talented Whiskey Myers and got to see firsthand the sea of college kids pouring onto that dance floor. This time we were headlining and school was out. Different kind of experience. The crowd may not have been as strong as our last go around, but we still played hard and impressed the ones who stayed in town for Summer.

 City Limits Stage

That leaves us with The Locks of Love Benefit in New Braunfels,TX. Out of control. I don't have enough pages to explain the depth of musical talent we got to surround ourselves with at that place. I brief recap which will not give much justice to the madness.

We got sweaty and gave it our all and the crowd liked what they heard. That was satisfying in its own right, considering just about everyone there was listening to our songs for the first time.

The acoustic sets were waves of immensely talented lyricists. Please refer to the show poster below for accurate names. Like I said, I haven't really got all my wits back from this long weekend.

I watched 11 Bones for the first time and liked them a lot. Their new single is playing on Galleywinter's "The Drop", so make sure to check them out.

Midnight River Choir were great as well. I really liked their sound and watched the crowd swell up to the stage agreeing with me.

Then came Matt King & The Cutters. I could write a whole separate post about that set and how blown away I was by their live act. I had listened to them before but had never seen them on stage. All I can say is you are immensely missing out if you choose to not see them when they're in your neck of the woods. Highest energy stage show I've seen in years and the music doesn't get better.

Finishing up the night was The Dead Rock Stars. This is a group of musicians from various other bands who decided to perfect the art of being in a cover band. Cross Canadian Ragweed's bassist Jeremy Plato was, well, on bass. Matt Briggs drummer for Matt King and creator of Locks of Love was on drums. Austin Gilliam was swinging his hair on lead guitar and Allan Goodman was on rhythm. Some of the songs sounded better than the original bands playing them live.

Dead Rock Stars with Dub Miller helping out on vocals

Us at Billy's Icehouse

Free and V playing an acoustic set. 12 year old guitar prodigy.

Jason Marbach

Matt King setting the place on fire

I could go on and on just about that wild Sunday at The Lock of Love Benefit, but if you really want to know about it, just come out next year! 

Crazy weekend.

Woody's Ft. Worth, City Limits Stephenville, and Billy's Icehouse New Braunfels

I was so excited about this weekend I already gave the good details out last week. So in honor of a lazy Friday, go to the last two posts and you'll see what I'm up to. Have a great weekend ya'll! The trailer is loaded and I'm out the door for Fort Worth we're opening for William Clark Green tonight at Woody's Tavern. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and maybe a video or two. This time I'll remember to have a recap post of the shows, venues, people, and madness.

Also, make sure to follow my twitter @texharp and our band's @CHDband. If you need to know what people in the know..know, then that's your best bet on keeping up with our latest shenanigans.


Have a great weekend!

Locks of Love May 23'rd New Braunfels,TX

As I posted yesterday our band is playing in the Locks of Love Benefit Concert at Billy's Icehouse in New Braunfels, TX on May 23'rd. Well, this morning Matthew Briggs who is responsible for putting together the event has released the lineup and new poster. So, without further adieu here it is!

It's going to be a great show!

Woody's, City Limits, And Locks of Love New Braunfels!

Well last weekend was a long and fun one. Our first show at the first annual Crude Fest was a short but good one. We jumped on stage at 2:00 and before we knew it we were back off stage headed to Brownwood for our show that night at Uncle Dave's Roadhouse. Crude Fest in general was a great success and I was happy to see the growing crowd filling up the fields to see some Texas Music in our neck of the woods. Our set was an opening slot to the T. Monitors were non-existent, the bass amp provided wasn't working, and we were cut earlier than our promised stage time. That's what ya get though when you're early on the first day. It was trial by error and we were the Guinea Pigs. I wasn't too worried about it. We got play our music to a new crowd and in the end that was satisfying enough.

 Stolen Facebook pics from Crude Fest

 Worst resolution picture of the crowd during Roger Craeger.

Uncle Dave's Roadhouse was fun just like last time we played there, but Brownwood listeners are a strange bunch. There were roughly 20 to 30 people there which wasn't too bad considering it was our 2'nd time in town and there was a wet T-shirt contest going on down the road. The people who filed in found there seat, drank their beers, and quietly watched the show. We tried all kinds of crowd interaction but aside from some local pals, there wasn't much response. What was really odd though was they were intensely watching the show, not talking much, but didn't make a noise. Again it was nice to spread the music in  new place to some new faces and life went on.

We woke up and drove back to Midland and opened for Deanna Carter at The Horseshoe Arena for the American Cancer Society's Cattle Baron Ball. It was a fun show. We got a separate stage from Deanna's but that was expected and we played a rocking set for Midland's finest. Deanna seemed nice and she had a semi enthusiastic, "ya'll might remember this one" kind of show. The drummer liked us a whole lot since he flew in to find that the sound company had provided him with the cheapest drum set in West Texas. He borrowed Darren's Snare, Cymbals, and kick drum pedal and was very grateful for it. We played a second set after Deanna was done to the leaving crowd and finished it up melting the faces of empty chairs and the crew cleaning up. Went home, had a beer, and slept the rest of the weekend away.

Coming up is another long crazy weekend. Friday May 21'st we will kick it off opening for William Clark Green at Woody's Tavern in Fort Worth. We pack up and wake up in Stephenville and are headlining City Limits on the 22'nd.

Sunday the 23'rd we make our way down to New Braunfels for a really special gig. It's the Locks of Love Benefit held at Billy's Icehouse. Last year we were supposed to head that way but Cody got a throat infection and we had to cancel. I went down anyways with my girlfriend and it was a blast. Amanda and I walked into the bar in the early afternoon and there was Cody Canada and Stephanie Briggs sitting up on stage having an acoustic song swap. The rest of the day followed suit with surprise guests and amazing performances. The most important thing to note about the whole event is that if you have some long hair, head over to the barber chairs in the corner. Fans and musicians alike (notably Cody Canada did last year) can cut their locks off and donate it to Alopecia and cancer patients. This will be a very important show for me because my father has alopecia and my girlfriend's mother recently passed from Ovarian Cancer. It is a great cause and I am very excited we decided to donate our time and music for the event.

Here's the poster from last year's event. Artwork courtesy of Stephanie Briggs. 

Twitter Profile For The Band

We finally got around to making a Twitter profile for the band. If you're a tweeting kind of guy/gal make sure to follow @CHDband. We'll be updating the followers on all things us. Upcoming gigs, strange blurry pictures, inner thoughts, favorite ice cream flavor, and everything else that pops into our mind while out and about. Should be fun.

In other news, we are still in the pre-production phase of the new album. We wrote a new song last week during our practice sessions. It's technically the best song we've written and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the entire band was there to compose it. Cody slapped some words on top and it was done. Next Song!

 Random shadowy picture of us taken at The Hog Pit in Midland,TX. Every post needs a picture.

Old News Is The New News. Crude Fest, Deana Carter, and Our New Album

I'm really just posting out of habit today, and have little to share that hasn't already been said. So...let's recap.

Our band, The Cody Hughes Davidson Band, is going into the studio for our second album. We begin song prepping, writing, tweaking, and arguing next week. We start recording in June. I am really excited about this.

The second half of this month is going to be really hectic with shows. For example, one weekend we're playing the first annual Crude Fest in Greenwood,TX in a harsh early afternoon opener slot. Once we're done getting a nice sunburn we pack up and run to Brownwood,TX to headline at Uncle Dave's Roadhouse later that night. We finish that show, go to sleep, wake up, drive to Midland, and open for Deana Carter (Strawberry Wine) at The American Cancer Society Round Up. I'm really thankful that we're amping up our gig schedule with some very cool shows. We get to meet some bigger names and we're spreading our music outside of the same four bars we used to hit on heavy rotation. I could use more sleep though, just saying.

I go my new microphone in the mail and had a jam session with Cody yesterday. There was a huge improvement in tone and I'm no longer chained to a mic stand for our shows. The bells and whistles on this thing are outrageous and I really can't wait to play with it on stage.

Other than that, I'm enjoying my three day weekend off of work and gigs. I've molded a fine butt groove in the couch and caught up with my reading, napping, t.v. watching, and writing. Now I think it's time for a beer. See you soon.

WAITING ON THE MAIL.

Last weekend's shows were really fun for completely opposite reasons.

Rowena at the Turnrow was a blast because the place just felt like a party. We got there and hardly had enough room for our gear. Our stage was in the corner by the pool tables, but it felt right and we were all in a great mood. We played two sets of our songs in full band acoustic which was a cool thing. I've played plenty of acoustic sets with Cody but this was the first time everyone was involved and it sounded great. All the songs were broken down and sounded completely different. The crowd was having as much fun as we were which made the night perfect.

 Our tiny corner at The Turn Row in Rowena. Doesn't look like it here, but a really fun show.

Uncle Dave's Roadhouse in Brownwood was great for the exact opposite reason. The place is huge! Uncle Daves is a 150 year old building with three stories. Our stage was on the 2'nd floor looking over the dance floor. They have been open for only a few weeks, but I'm positive this place will be one of the better known venues once it starts catching on. Our problem was that a local band was having a first album CD release party. They had a 3 band line up of all local talent and the local radio station broadcasting for a few hours. Needles to say, if you were a Brownwoodian (?) my money would go to the bar that had all my friends playing and partying at. We rocked out a crowd of twenty. On the plus side, every person who was there bought a CD or shirt and we got booked for hopefully a better date. I can't wait to go back to Uncle Dave's Roadhouse. Check it out if you happen to pass through Brownwood.

A view of us setting up on stage from the 3'rd story balcony at Uncle Dave's Roadhouse. Cool Place.

The waiting on the mail title thing? I bought a new harmonica mic! I've been playing with my bulletproof 60's Shure 545s and have nothing bad to say about my tone. My objection that finally got to me? It weighs a million pounds. It's a pistol grip old school metal microphone. I play with it on a mic stand because my little wrists can not handle that weight through a whole set. The solution? Spend some money! I bought a Blows Me Away custom Sm57. It's the guts of a Shure sm57 stuffed in a smaller, lighter, aluminum body with a volume control and a Quarter inch butt instead of the regular low impedance XLR end. I'll let you know how it sounds when the UPS guy hurries up and gets it to me.

 Hell Yeah!

We are taking a 2 week hiatus from shows to focus on new music and tightening up our current tunes. Can't wait to get to the studio! 1 month and 1 week until we start recording album number 2!

Rowena Friday Brownwood Saturday

Well I'm back from New Orleans more tired than when I left. I need a vacation from my vacation.

Tomorrow we are hitting the road and heading down to Rowena, Texas. We will be playing at the Turnrow. Saturday night we'll be at Uncle Dave's Roadhouse in Brownwood, Texas. Never been to either places so I have little to go off of. I tried to do some google research on either place and didn't get much. They're both bars and they both don't have websites.... Should be a fun time for everyone who stumbles in.

For everyone hitting this site in their search for Rita Ballou, welcome. No this is not rawhide and velvet. You are welcome to stay and have a read. Hell, become a follower. Then you can go to her blog and do the same. Rita's Blog

Cody shared some great news with me and the rest of the band, but I'm going to hold off until I'm sure I can share the good word. Until then, have fun and go out and support live music.

LAST WEEKEND, CRUDE FEST, AND THE NEW DESIGN

Well if you've ever been to this blog you might have noticed I redesigned the site. I'm really not a huge fan of this design either but it's way better than what I had going on before.  Leave a comment let me know what ya think or do all the work for me and find a template you think would look better.

Crude Fest! Finally Midland has a worthwhile red dirt music festival.

Last weekend's shows were successful. We played our music. Friday at Woody's was fun but the crowd forgot to come. Had some old friends drop by which was great but for the most part it was a pretty slow night for our slot. It made me feel a little better when Ryan McBride, the headliner, got up on stage and it didn't get much busier. We can't blame the music then which made it a success.

Saturday night at City Limits in Stephenville was bananas. The crowd was rolling through the door in a thick stream and we made a few new fans and friends. The crowd of course, were getting there for Whiskey Myers and after watching them go through sound check earlier I understood. Go see Whiskey Myers the next time they are in your neck of the woods. Go drive to one of their shows even if they aren't in your neck of the woods. Their sound is heavy guitar southern rock and very fun to watch on stage. They reminded me strongly of The Black Crows and were really nice guys. After they got off stage and let their guitars cool off we all headed off to a fun after show party. They offered to cart us around in their van in an unfamiliar town, to an unfamiliar party, and then drove us all the way back past their hotel to drop us off at the RV in the wee hours of the morning. It was a fun night. Luckily we all get to tr and repeat the madness at this year's Crude Fest. Haven't heard of it? Look it up because it's going to be a really really great festival.

We are playing in Midland Saturday March 13'th for The Hog Pit's annual St. Patty's Day Bash. Our friends The Jackson Lee Brooks Band are opening up for us and I'm sure it will be a grand time. The green beer will flow like yellow beer and the clover will probably be of the four leafed kind. Me on the other hand, will be in New Orleans for five days celebrating my girlfriend's birthday. I win.

Fort Worth Friday Stephenville Saturday

We'll be rolling into Fort Worth Friday evening to play at Woody's Tavern. We will be opening up for Ryan McBride who I have to admit I have no idea is. I'll have to click on some google and get back to you.

Saturday evening we had the choice between playing with Mark Mckinney at Wormy Dog in Oklahoma or with Whiskey Myers at City Limits in Stephenville, Tx. We went with the economical choice and are heading to Stephenville. Again, the name Whiskey Myers sounds familiar but I can't quite think of a song they play. I'm sure I'll have a slap on the forehead moment in a bit and it will all start to come together.

Fun weekend ahead. These low pressure opening gigs are a fantastic way of getting new stuff worked up. Also, having two fairly new additions to our band these shows provide us with a great litmus test on how everyone connects on stage and on the road. When we played Blaine's last weekend we had a great show and a great all around trip. I think we're getting tighter every time we run a song.

Hope to see some faces out early for our set. Come say hi and have a beer or two while supporting live music.

Rita Ballou's Rawhide and Velvet is a must follow!

Ran across a blog today that is something you have to be reading. Leave this blog immediately and go check out Rawhide and Velvet. The anonymous writer Rita Ballou is dishing every grimy speck of red dirt and sarcastic satirical opinion that everyone else has wanted to say about the Texas/red dirt music scene all in one place. You'll be laughing and cussing the blasphemy all in the same paragraph.

It really is a refreshing take on a music scene that has incubated some of it's musicians to diva proportioned egos. Rita is the kid with the slingshot at the Macy's Day Parade. The posts are some great glimpses in the back cogs of the industry's gossip mill. The posts vary (sometimes within themselves) from scathing sarcasm, satire, doppleganger pictures jokes, breaking news, all the way up to the light hearted tongue and cheek sentiment of a fan giving that lead singer with the sparkly shirt on, a hard time. Things that, unless you're hanging out at every music studio and tour bus, would be very hard to be plugged into. Of course with that being said, it brings the good question of who exactly is Rita Ballou?

Personally, I don't really care to find out. The second that lid is blown the fun will stop and the ego air pumps will be back in full force. I appreciate the checks and balances that have sprung forth with the advent of this blog. Maybe some musicians out there will realize that they might be acting a little too queeny for their own flat ironed hair and five minutes before their show starts get off the bus selves.

I hope our band would never be the subject of one of her jokes but I know it will be a long long time before we get on her radar screen anyways. Me I'll just stick to what I know, writing poorly punctuated sentences about last weekend's show and what good people I got to run into.

I'll definitely be reading Rawhide and Velvet. Here's to you Ballou.

Click here to check out Rawhide and Velvet yourself.

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!

An Opening Kind of Weekend

Busy weekend ahead and I'm glad to say it. We picked up a fantastic bass player who is more than talented for our band. His name is Jeremy and before jumping in with us, was playing with three to four different bands. He plugged in on his first practice and never got lost in our songs. We are back to a five piece.


Friday we are playing with Zach Walther and The Cronkites at Kroc's bar in Midland, Tx. I found out about this today (Thursday) which was a pleasant surprise. Instead of running through our Saturday show's set at practice Friday, we get to open for a really great band. Not bad. This is my first time seeing Zach Walther and The Cronkites and I'm very excited to check them out. I'm already a fan of their album and am sure their live show will be just as great. Luke Leverett, their lead guitar player, is a tremendous presence. Seeing him playing live again alone will be a blast.





Saturday we are opening up for The Band of Heathens at The Hog Pit in Midland. There isn't much more to say about them. They are exploding in the scene and they just keep getting better. It's like pouring gas on a fire. Every time you think it's hot enough you walk up and pour some more on it. Really excited about seeing them again. Watching them with my jaw on the floor. Cursing at my unworthiness. You know the usual reaction in seeing them live.




This is a really fortunate weekend line up to introduce two new members to our band. The shows are low pressure, being opening gigs, and will be a great way of feeling each other out on a stage. It's going to be a great great weekend.

New Day Job, A New Guitar Player, and The Jam To Help Haiti

It was a busy holiday season and an even busier new years for me, and it looks as if after all the fretting we've found a new lead guitar player. His name is Cole he's in his early twenties and has been playing lead for roughly ten years. His sound is a great deal different than that of our old lead guitarist. It has begun to transform much of our songs that had a strong rock sub-theme into americana and bluegrass. It's exciting to see music you've played countless times morph and change into something fresh and new. Also, our search for the bass player perhaps has ended as well. We have a promising audition driving in to jam with us next week. Keep you fingers crossed!

Well, I just wanted to check in and make sure everyone knew I hadn't closed up shop in the blog world. I have just been extremely busy and none of it as of late had anything to do with music. We should be picking back up on our gigs in February so expect the posts to start picking up as well.

Also, our lead singer Cody Davidson is offering his time to do an acoustic show in San Angelo for a large concert benefiting The Haiti Relief Fund at Graham's Central Station on January 31'st. If you're in the area I suggest you get your tickets now. They have almost completely sold out and it's going to be a great great great line up.

Ho Hum and Boo Hiss

It has been an exceptionally busy holiday season and I apologize for getting lazy with the blog during this last month. The new year has come and wow what a wheelbarrow of changes it has brought. First, in the beginning of December our lead guitarist Chad let us know that he would no longer be able to play with us. He is leaving the band on good terms and is leaving because of familial issues that he has to put first in his life. No troubles, we will persevere and along the way change our sound, bring a new creative drive to the music, and rekindle a fire under the collective asses of the band. Then our bass player Ronnie has thrown in the towel. He has been complaining of back pain and recently found out that he has a cracked vertebrae and has been advised by his doctor to not even lift a bass. Shoot.

Still, I can still see some silver lining in these thunderheads. Both Chad and Ronnie were a bit older than the the rest of the band. They had been musicians in this niche of music for a long time and had played with a ton of great names. One thing I had always made note of was their slight lack of enthusiasm when it came to some of our more notable shows with larger names or on cool stages. I think they had already seen it all.

We will weather this storm. We will find a new guitarist and bass player. Along the way we will learn a great deal about our talents and flexibility and maybe have a new product once we get to the other side.

Finally, I will only spend a few sentences pouting about this one. Every year up in Steamboat, Colorado there is this amazing thing called the Musicfest. Everyone you could ever want to see on a stage in the world of Texas Country is up there having a grand time skiing, drinking, and playing amazing sold out shows at tiny ski town bars. I'm not there. Yuck.

But if you do want to follow all the fun in Steamboat some jerk named Jeff is up there taking stunning pictures and blogging 'til his fingers bleed.
http://americanmusicphotography.blogspot.com