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)

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.

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.

Things Going On

Our band has been off for the last week and we won't be playing again until April 18'th because of scheduling conflicts. We will be opening up for The Band of Heathens at The Hog Pit. They are a band based in the Austin area with a ton of talent. If you haven't had the chance to listen to them I urge you to. This weekend they are playing at The Grit N Groovefest hosted by Ray Wylie Hubbard down in Luckenback. This is the first year of the event and surely not the last considering Hubbard's great music and his devoted fan base. Along with the Heathens other acts will include Patty Griffin, Charlie Sexton, Omar Dykes, Sam Baker, Ray Wylie Hubbard and many others. If you live in the hilly parts of Texas I would try to put it on the top of my to do list this weekend.

Stephanie Briggs and The Oso released their new album yesterday titled "The Birds Barely Know Us". This was a long time coming for people waiting on it, but it has turned out to be well worth it. The album has been in my truck's CD player since I pulled it out of the mail. This is a good album and it has an array of songs that could just as easily appeal to you or that person over there you think is your bizzaro nemesis. Invite him over, open a beer, never mind that growth on his neck you guys are listening to some good music. This album comes after Stephanie and Matt (The Oso) signed with 36D management who also represent Cross Canadian Ragweed, Randy Rogers, Seth James, and Micky and The Motorcars. She recently skipped around the western U.S. with Cross Canadian Ragweed opening up for them on their tour to California. when they finally reached the coast she polished the last bits of this album and set it to wax. Buy the CD and show greatly deserving musicians some love.

Stephanie Briggs and The Oso.
(photo by Stephanie Briggs)

After our break, the month of April appears to be a fairly fun one for the band. April 18'th we will be at The Hog Pit in Midland opening for The Band of Heathens. The 24'th we will be headlining for the Permian Basin BBQ cook-off also in Midland. These will be some fun shows leading up to our string of road shows in May. Come on out if you're around, and if you live someways away keep on reading and maybe we'll make it there eventually.

Band News

News with the Cody Hughes Davidson Band is always good to share. We have a new old drummer. Darren Harris was the drummer with the band when I first started, but had to quit because he got stuck in Washington state. Long story. Well he has returned and is now back to smashing the drums with us once again. We decided to part ways with our current drummer amicably and wish him the best. It feels good to play with Darren again he's a really nice guy and a very natural drum player. I learned the band's songs with his drumming and it feels much more natural with his fills and tempo back on stage with us.

I missed a great gig in Dallas yesterday because my job hates me. The band was booked to play in Dallas for a private party and got great pay while I got marginal pay for logging in way more hours of sweat. It's never fair.

We're playing this coming Friday at the Blue Light in Lubbock. It's a great venue and a place I'm really excited to play. Check out their website in the above link they seem to tape previous shows so maybe I'll have something to share later. I remember back when I was going to Texas Tech in Lubbock a lot of great bands traveled through and played that same stage. Actually Cody Canada from Cross Canadian Ragweed did an acoustic set there with Stephanie Briggs a year or so back. Also it's one of the bars that helped push The Josh Abbott Band into their current rise of popularity. It's a fairly small bar which gives the shows a good personal feeling to them. If the show goes right and the crowd is feeling good it should be an awesome night.

Saturday we are back in Midland playing at The Hog Pit. Opening up for us is Paul Aaron Hughes who is coming out with his first CD titled "I've Got To Have You". It should be a fun weekend and hopefully I won't almost swallow a reed like last time out. I just noticed that we have a new myspace thing to visit. This is the Cody Hughes Davidson Band fan page on myspace. Check it out. www.myspace.com/chdbfans I'm not sure if this is going to be the myspace site to visit instead of the other one from now on or this is just another link for the bookmarks tab. I'll let you know.

In other random band news Cody is looking into purchasing a more accomodating tour bus soon, hopefully, maybe. Right now we take our long road trips in an RV, which is a good size and was a great deal when bought. Cody recently has stumbled upon another deal. It's an old tour bus from a traveling choir that bunks ten, full kitchen, bathroom no shower, and a large living room setup. It sounds pretty fun and the price is right. Now we just have to sell the RV to someone for the right price, keep Cody and famiy interested in the idea, and have the bus still available once the timing hits. So here's to the RV cause I can probably put a proper tour bus in my wish pile along with my thousand dollar in ear monitors.