You know those times where you catch a blip on the last minute of the evening news or the 2 line paragraph at the bottom of the page in the paper detailing the passing of a music great from the past? Well, those stars get much more than the back-page treatment here. The Music’s Over not only provides tributes, but provides the reader with thoughts and music from all genre’s.
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling…they are probably listening to The Dropkick Murphys
While I have a passion for Texas-bred Country and Americana, I have also long held a soft spot for various bands that carry the banner for the other prominent region of my heritage, Ireland. Although in Texas, we are flooded with bands that claim to be covered in red dirt and Shiner Bock, we lack in bands that claim to be covered in shamrocks and Guinness. The acts that often come to mind when my Irish eyes need to smile are veterans such as The Pogues, Flogging Molly and of course, The Dropkick Murphys.
The Dropkick Murphys have become even more synonomous with the whole “Boston-Irish vibe” since the release of the 2006 flick The Departed (even though they have had several albums and have been rocking full-houses for years before the movie came out), where the track “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” was applied to sheer perfection, sending tons of folks to I-tunes to find out more about this band from Boston.
With St. Patrick’s day around the corner, DKM’s are releasing a deluxe version of their most recent release, The Meanest of Times. Tons of new stuff, just in time for cranking it up as you toast the contributions of Ol’ St. Pat. The musical blend of Irish Folk, Punk and straight-up Rock is the ideal backdrop for Al Barr’s roaring, gruff vocal screams.
Click here for a sample of some recent offerings from The Dropkick Murphy’s.
I haven’t yet made my final decision, but I am getting more and more weary of the ever expanding and diversifying stable of useless labels being attached to my favorite music. We can’t call a ton of Rockin’ Country bands from Texas simply by the title of “Country” since it doesn’t sound like what’s on the radio, even though I have a hard time hearing an Aaron Watson, Jason Boland or Jackson Taylor Band song and thinking it’s anything more or less than “Country“. Of course these days, the term “Red Dirt” gets thrown around or abused by anyone that decides they’re not good enough for their music to ever travel north of Eskimo Joe’s. I love Cross Canadian, Stoney LaRue, Boland, Reckless Kelly, Wade Bowen, Randy Rogers and all of the other torch-bearers for “Red Dirt,” but can we just stop, please? It isn’t worth the effort and it really defeats the purpose, in my mind, of truly bucking the system that it claims to be the alternative of. Back in the 70’s, Willie, Waylon and the Boys took over Austin and helped usher in a new era of Country Music that simply wasn’t available to the masses at that point in time. That isn’t the case in the new millennium. We haters of Country Top 40 radio have dozens of options that were merely notions in Science-Fiction novels when Willie first started braiding his fiery mane. Myspace (the internet in general really), Itunes and Satellite Radio have filled the void that I claim wasn’t near as large as it was when The Outlaws album became a history maker, as the first Country album to go platinum. I do believe that using the term “Texas Music” is sometimes necessary, as such bands are often harder to categorize and would take a bunch of slashes (country/rock/folk/blues/tejano/screamo) to define their sound, and let’s face it, you can label Doug Sahm a million different things, to simply call his work ”Country” would totally miss the point, and I get that too. Ultimately, I am going to stop using pointless labels and when I refer to a band as a “Texas Band,” it just means they are from Texas.
Casey Donahew Band:
The Mother Truckers:
Willie Nelson’s latest CD is coming out soon and was produced by Kenny Cheesy (no, that’s not a misspelling, or an original joke, sorry). I haven’t been looking forward to this offering like I would normally, especially after two strong CD’s recently, including one produced by Ryan Adams (gee, which one would you choose??). Ben from The 9513 writes a review on what will be the lead single from this new disc, “Gravedigger“. I love the original from Dave Matthews’ solo record, and I love this very different interpretation also. When Willie decides to own it, he OWNS it. Okay, enough I know, on to the video.
If there is anyone out there who isn’t aware, Texas legend Rusty Weir has been battling cancer for many months now. There have been a few benefit concerts already and more are planned. The great thing about these benefits is that many of the top notch bands and musicians that have been influenced by Mr.Weir are rushing to fill their calendars with bookings for the various benefits to help the man that has helped them so much. This weekend provides a very cool chance to have a blast and to help assist the cause. Cindy from the Fine Line hipped me to the benefit going on Sunday at Poor David’s Pub in Dallas (scroll down a bit to the picture of Rusty). Tons of great bands (including Gobbler Knob faves The Bois D’Arcs), plus a Chili Cook-off!!! I love being able to show off my ever-evolving spicy mixture of velvety red nectar and now I may be able to do it for a great cause. Man, I love philanthropy!!!
