The Gobblers Knob

Man, I gotta tell ya, when the stars align, they really help produce a great night.  With an 11 month old son at home, it is rare that Mom and Dad have an adult night out, let alone catch a show that starts after 7pm (which means we don’t catch as many gigs as we used to).  For this July 4th, we decided to ship the little concert-blocker to Grandma’s and enjoy the evening of July 4th at Hank’s in McKinney to see one of my newer favorites, The Jackson Taylor Band.

Taylor is a great example of an artist that has been around for while, put out a few discs, and still, I wasn’t overly-familiar with his work.  After hearing “Lonely” played on KHYI, and then reading a positive review of that very song on my fave country music site, I knew it was time to delve deeper.  I emptied my E-music acct, by downloading Dark Days, and it has been my default soundtrack to the time I spend outside grilling and drinking (usually at the same time, kids don’t try that without an adult around).

Back to the parent’s night out.  The missus and I enjoyed some good grub on what must be the only patio in town to compete with Love & War in Texas-Plano.  Almost completely covered, while allowing the elements to enter in from the sides of the venue, I felt as though I was sitting in one of the finer examples of what a true Texas Music venue should be.  Great sight-lines, well-placed stage, and even more well-placed bar made me embarrased to be on my first trip to this venue.  JTB hit the stage around 9:45 and immediately busted out material from the Dark Days album.  The band all display an impressive array of tattoos, (most notably the “Honky Tonk Hero” tat that Taylor himself wore) and they even played an excellent version of Social Distortion’s “Highway 101″, but there isn’t any mistaking this outfit as anything but a Honkin’-Tonkin’ Country Band that uses each night as a chance to resurrect the vibe and spirit of the old Armadillo World Headquarters.

Big show coming to town that The Gobblers Knob is happy to help bring you.  The COUNTRY FOR A CURE Benefit will take place on June 29, 2008 at Luke’s Sports Grille in Irving, TX.   Mo Robson, Jay Johnson, The Lost Immigrants, Chance Anderson, Cliff Temple, Ross Shifflett, Amy Stacey & Julie Temple will help rock the place while we have a blast and raise a ton of cash for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Along with the standard general admission tickets available at the door, there will be VIP Packages available with not only preferred seating, but with tons of extra stuff like CD’s, T-Shirts, restaurant coupons and even raffle tickets for the amazing line-up of items we will be giving away.

I’ll be updating info as the days progress and we get closer to this awesome event.  I’ll also make sure that you are well informed on all the great talent that will be featured that day as well….starting below…

This morning I woke up and felt a tingling that only means one thing…one of my all-time favorite bands has a new disc coming out soon…very soon.  Of course, anyone with the same tendency to tingle for the same reasons is aware that Old 97’s have a new album dropping in a few days. 

Blame it on Gravity  (New West) ends the 4 year drought of new material, and by all accounts, ushers in a blast from the past that many fans have been praying for.  They are hosting a CD release party at a regular haunt of mine in Dallas this week and I can’t wait to be there and maybe get a picture with Ken’s soul patch (see above)….

Adding to the excitement is that Rhapsody is previewing the entire disc for free.  You have to download the player, but it’s worth it cuz they do this kind of thing regularly (oh, I remember when they did it for Kelly Clarkson’s last one….oh, the days….sorry, I…uh…what??).

 The Avett’s working together in Dallas

The great crowd also enjoyed opener Matt Butcher (above) 

It was an amazing show, and I could sit here and try to give you a scholarly, extremely verbose analysis of not only the show, but what the music of the Avett Brothers truly represent in today’s current musical landscape and how it complicates people’s desires to forcibly place every act into a nice, neat little marketable package with a simplistic and catchy label to satisfy soccer moms all over the Midwest, but I won’t….

What I will say about how I felt during the show is this:  I felt like the skin of my face was being pulled off by broken banjo strings and I LOVED IT!!!  I have never quite understood the punk-rock comparisons that many people apply to the Avett’s until I saw them perform live Wednesday night.  Their CD’s are great, but the Avett’s, accompanied by a cello also on stage, turned these songs into Bill Monroe’s Red Bull-laced night terrors (again, I loved it).  If NOFX had scraggly beards instead of shaved heads and the occasional Mohawk, unplugged their instruments, they might make for a good Avett Bros. tribute band…if they really worked hard at it.

They tore through many of my fave tracks from Emotionalism.  “Paranoia in BB Major,” “Weight of Lies” and “DIe, Die, Die” were abundantly better and more lively than even the stellar versions on the CD itself.  Scott Avett proved to be a dynamic front-man as he jerked his head in rhythm to the beats he was pounding out on his awesome bass drum that was placed at his right foot.

I was there with Cindy from the Fine Line and her hubby Scott, who were also both impressed with the show, as well as the fact that Dallas showed up well for this hard working band from the east (there were clearly several hundred folks there by the time the Avett’s hit the stage).

Here is some video from the show that Cindy took…please enjoy your face being ripped off (again, in a very good way)….

It’s here and I am pumped.  The Avett Brothers take the stage tonight (Wednesday) in Dallas at the Granada Theater.  You can still get tix here. 

Cindy from The Fine Line Live will be webcasting and I’ll be her little helper (even though I dont know the first thing bout that kind of techie stuff).  Show starts at 8.

To finish up my short series in providing you with Avett-related goodies, here is another kick-a video and some great news about a new CD…

SEE YOU THERE!!!!!!!