Holidaze

Asleep At The Wheel And Other Shows That Bid
Farewell To 2007 With The Biggest Of Bangs

Mark Williams
The Bulletin Music Editor

In my tenure with The Bulletin, I have written three articles a week every single week for something like six or seven years. I can’t really remember how long it’s been, because it’s all pretty much been a blur. Let’s see: 3 articles a week every week for six years adds up to -- what? 936 articles?! No wonder it’s pretty much been a blur! Anyway, I say all this to tell you that’s we’re finally taking a break -- call it a Christmas vacation. In the meantime, here’s a look at some cool shows going on this holiday season:

With grit and a grin, Texas singer/songscribe OWEN TEMPLE comes barreling out of the gate with his new album “Two Thousand Miles.” The record, due out on January 22 and produced by busy Texas music man Lloyd Maines, is a dusty back roads blend of heartache and hope. Since his 1997 debut, “General Store,” he's been building fans, wowing critics and winning accolades at a heady pace. Just this year he won the prestigious B.W. Stevenson Songwriting Contest in Dallas; he's also been a finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

The gritty realism of Temple’s music harkens back to his songwriting heroes like Steve Earle and Joe Ely. Rough and ragged characters on the edge sit comfortably alongside heartfelt ruminations on love -- and the stirring title track is a radio-ready, roll-down-the-windows anthem that showcases a singer ready for prime time. "With my songwriting I'm just trying to constantly explore what's interesting to me, and I try and frame it in three minutes, three verses and a couple of choruses that are hopefully interesting to other people too," says Temple. "I spend a lot time pondering these little emotional puzzles, and maybe I could sell them in a little bit simpler way to make them more mainstream, but odds are somebody's going to have to dial in their attention a little bit more to appreciate them. But I have found that there are a lot of people who are intrigued by the same little moments in life that I find interesting."

Over the last years, Temple has committed himself to finding such fans one at a time, show by show, city by city and town by town. It's been the first time in his career that he's been able to devote a great deal of his attention to his music, thanks to his decision a few years ago to walk away from his 9 to 5 job as a financial analyst. It was a pretty big gamble -- especially for a married man -- but no daring is fatal, and right here and now, Owen Temple is a happy man.
Owen Temple whoops it up at the Cypress Saloon (12710 Telge, Houston, TX on Friday (12/21) at 9PM; admission is $10. 281-304-7766.

JASON ISBELL may still be young, but he’s packed an enormous amount of musical experience into his 28 years. Growing up in a family of musicians, he absorbed everything he heard and began channeling it into guitar at age six and piano at 12. For the past six years, Isbell was one of three front men for the critically acclaimed Drive-By Truckers -- and although fans may have been shocked by his leaving the band in April, his solo debut “Sirens Of The Ditch” only confirms that Isbell has his own unique voice.

Recorded over the past four years at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals -- the studio were Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aretha Franklin, the Allman Brothers and Otis Redding recorded their greatest hits over a generation ago -- “Sirens Of The Ditch” is a diverse collection of songs that incorporates elements of rock, blues and soul music into a heartfelt mix of songs that favor piano and pedal steel over buzzing guitars. “A lot of old soul musicians came through here in the late ’60s and ’70s and helped define the Muscle Shoals sound,” Isbell explains, “so that influence was always in my environment, but on this record I really tried to capture that.”

“I think in a lot of ways these songs are different than the stuff I wrote for the Truckers,” Isbell says. “Usually when I write, it’s pretty obvious if I’m writing a Truckers song or I’m writing a song for some other purpose. ‘Sirens Of The Ditch’ is more of a power-pop record than what the Truckers would normally write. The songs are more hook oriented and they’re not necessarily as story driven. I guess I tried in some ways to write a record that sounded more pop-oriented, but still talked about darker issues. I can’t help it, that’s just want I’m drawn to.”

Jason Isbell plays Walter’s On Washington (4215 Washington, The Heights) on Friday (12/21); call 713-675-2319 for more information.

It’s a family story as old as time: siblings go their separate ways after childhood, only to find their way back to each other as adults. In the great country rock tradition of melodic family acts like the Everly Brothers and Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Texas has its own in SISTERS MORALES. Although born in Arizona, Lisa & Roberta Morales have made Texas their adopted home, with many of the band’s formative years spent in the Houston area. The duo now live up around San Antonio and the Hill Country. The sisters grew up around a musical and very Mexican family, which contributed to their diverse tastes in music. They sang in Spanish before they sang in English. Their first performances included singing with mariachis in Mexican restaurants.

“When we were little, our dad would take us to these Mexican restaurants in Tucson and encourage us to sing with the mariachis,” Lisa says. “We were shy, so it took a while to get us going. Our dad sang very well and loved music, but was raised in a way that discouraged him from doing what he loved. Providing for his family was very important, so he became an attorney instead of a singer. He was a big influence on us.”

After coming together in 1989 to form a family band, Roberta and Lisa quickly combined their individual gifts to create their own unique sound. They took their act to Nashville -- but none of the button-down record companies really knew what to do with them after they were signed. Finally, the sisters formed their own label, Luna Records, and did their own thing. Their first two Luna releases, “Ain’t No Perfect Diamond” and “Someplace Far Away From Here” showcase the Sisters' strong songwriting and vocal harmonies -- roots rock and alt-country, with a solid pop sensibility that includes a passion for Mexican classics.

That passion for Mexican classics led to Sisters Morales’ third release, “Para Gloria”; the album is named after their mother -- another major influence in their lives. “Mom’s a genius,” Lisa says. “She’s a teacher, a professor. She’s constantly teaching herself new languages. She used to own bookstores in Tucson, so we always had writers and playwrights from Spain and Latin America visiting our house. When we were little, Mom would read [Mexican playwright] Federico Garcia Lorca’s poetry to us, which was a big influence.” 

With a lot of hard work and determination the Sisters have built quite a following. Their performances are always described as energetic, emotional and rocking; see them for yourselves on Friday (12/28) as Sisters Morales play McGonigel’s Mucky Duck (2425 Norfolk, Houston).

Over the course of the last 36 years, Ray Benson and ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL have boldly defied the fickle lures of the mainstream -- and thrived -- by sticking to their noble cause of keeping that distinctly American of art forms, western swing, alive and kicking. Along the way, they've entertained thousands and won praise and admiration from everyone from Willie Nelson to Bob Dylan, George Strait to Van Morrison. Asleep at the Wheel is not just your typical dance band, they're an institution: an ever-shifting lineup -- over 80 members to date -- of like-minded musicians united under Benson's crusade to carry the torch of big band Western Swing music into the 21st Century. If you want to hear what Texas sounds like, all you need to do is pop in an Asleep at the Wheel CD.

Asleep at the Wheel started rolling in 1970, and never stopped. Benson quit college to start the band. Within a couple years, they had a hit record. Later came gigs on the TV show, "Austin City Limits." "I loved jazz. I loved swing. I love blues. I love fiddle music and it was jazz with a fiddle —- Count Basie with a cowboy hat. I think Bob Wills is one of the iconic figures of popular music -— one of the people who set the standard in the way we do music today," Benson says. 

In 1973, Benson finally shook hands with his musical hero; but the night before they were supposed to have a real talk, Wills had a massive stroke -- and he never recovered. More than 30 years later, Benson had that conversation he had always imagined. He wrote it in his play about Wills, a traveling musical called "A Ride with Bob." "So I wrote this play to explain what might’ve, could’ve happened," Benson says. "But it's been a very strange thing as to why did I either get chosen or choose to carry this mantle of Bob Wills on." 

While their musical approach hasn't changed, the band has. Asleep at the Wheel started with vocalist Chris O'Connell. Now singer Elizabeth McQueen and fiddler Jason Roberts join Benson on stage. He likes to say they are "Reinventing the Wheel," which just so happens to be the title of their new CD. "I never wanted my name on the marquee," Benson says. "I wanted the band name. I like bands. It's tough. It's the hardest kind of collaboration to have a band. But it's the most satisfying." 

"I've been told that I'm relentless, so I guess I am," he says. "Every time that I figured I was going to quit, we'd have a wonderful, incredible show where the people were so appreciative that we were doing this music that it's like, 'Well, hell -- this beats working, so why not keep doing it?' Honestly, I would like to see this go on forever. If I'm not here, I think there are some capable hands being developed right now. Western swing ain't going away."

The band's biggest success was in 1999 when their critically acclaimed album “Ride with Bob” struck gold on the charts and at the Grammy Awards. But Ray felt that there was something missing with his music, “After the ‘Ride With Bob’ album was done and it was doing real well, I was sitting in my office reading the sales reports on Asleep at the Wheel that the record company had sent me," says Benson. "And I looked at all the 'Best Of' Asleep at the Wheel albums, of which there are many, and none of them contained all of the songs that are our top requested songs night after night on the road. Every night the fans ask for certain songs, and there's not a package out there representing what our fans want. So that's what we set out to do."

The result is ‘The Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel,” the very first album to round up every single one of the legendary Western swing band's most requested songs after thirty-six years of rolling on the road. "It's not ballad heavy," states the 6'7" bandleader and guitar slinger with a deep laugh. "We're a dance band. That's what we're about. And that's plenty."

"This is improvisational music, which I think is the whole ball of wax, because that's where the rubber really meets the road -- and it's why we play it," says Benson. "I think it's interesting to listen to updated versions of what people do, hearing how they have evolved. People change, and I love to have the luxury of having a career this long to do it. Part of the impetus was touring with Bob Dylan a couple of years ago. Every night, Dylan would do those songs a little differently, and it made it very exciting to see where they were going to go each night."

The Crighton Theatre Foundation proudly presents a special evening with Asleep At The Wheel On Sunday, December, 30 at 7PM. For tickets and more information, call 936-441-SHOW.

We've seen them come and go in droves: the collection of maudlin folk guitarists and singer-songwriters who refuse to soothe their self-induced, whiskey rasps with a simple bottle of water; if every man infatuated with Bob Dylan felt compelled to draw his guitar from a gunnysack and purposefully tinge his vocal chords with rye, all the roadhouses in Texas wouldn't accommodate this sullen whirlwind of smoke-riddled hearts and maimed acoustic guitars fruitlessly imitating the folk archetype. Although JIMMY LAFAVE may, on the surface, fall into this underappreciated sub-category of faceless posers, a deeper look will reveal a wealth of authenticity and that unremitting passion to praise America's first folk idol. Unlike the indiscriminant masses, few Americana artists have the gusto to do what Texas native Jimmy LaFave has done for the past two decades. 

In 1995, he proved his songwriting prowess, leaving the Kerrville Music Awards with the Songwriter of the Year Award. The following year, LaFave's earthy lyricism aided a clean sweep at Austin Music Awards, claiming Songwriter of the Year once again; his name also slipped onto the mainstream ballot following his appearance at Austin City Limits in 1996. LaFave's 8th studio release, "Cimarron Manifesto," is an album that takes very little brooding to unravel. The Americana images of town and country are compelling -- and the instrumentation approaches perfection with heavenly ease.

Although LaFave's accolades go virtually unnoticed beyond the Austin-to-Stillwater stretch of land that is Texas and the Panhandle, his music is undoubtedly praiseworthy. "Cimarron Manifesto," Jimmy LaFave's drifter-like homage to Oklahoma's Cimarron River -- where LaFave first honed his talents -- is quaint and pleasing, pushing no envelopes or testing any unexplored boundaries of his person. 

LaFave's propensity for deeply evocative songwriting is what keeps "Cimarron Manifesto" afloat with the upper tier of great folk musicians like Woody Guthrie and Lucinda Williams. "Hideaway Girl" is a country ballad outfitted with violins, banjos and subtle drum patterns from timid tap sweeps. Relying on imagery from the vast outreaches of land that span Texas and Oklahoma, LaFave creates a sense of simplicity in an outwardly complex land. Jimmy LaFave plays McGonigel's Mucky Duck in Houston on Monday, December 31.

HANK WILLIAMS III’s "Straight to Hell" breaks all the rules of country music while somehow managing to honor its traditions at the same time. This two-CD celebration of drinking too much, staying up too late and getting into all kinds of nefarious mischief will no doubt bring an exultant yee-haw from those intrepid souls who have followed the exploits of this third generation hellraiser. The surprise is that Williams concocted his two-CD opus on a digital recorder — a $400 piece of hardware that liberated the artist from temporal and budget constraints; he was liberated from the constraints of decorum long ago. 

Of the album’s two discs, Williams says that "One’s done right, the other’s done wrong." The first record, cut in a high-ceilinged wooden room at a friend’s house in East Nashville, "is a bunch of songs two to six minutes long, with solos by super pickers, the ones I can’t afford to take on the road." One of the most intriguing aspects of the dozen songs this CD contains is Hank III’s use of traditional country music elements in the service of his own twisted world view. 

His record label agreed to make "Straight to Hell" a double album, despite the greater expense the move incurred, and they didn’t demand that Hank drop any of its controversial content. "At least I got the parental advisory, a censored version," he acknowledges. "I bleeped every cuss word and all that, and then Wal-Mart turned around and rejected it anyway. But they’ll sell ‘South Park’ within five feet of the CD section. Just because I say ‘LSD’ or ‘marijuana’ or talk about havin’ a good time, well, they can’t have that." 

In certain ways, III is the redneck equivalent of a gangsta rapper, challenging the system, putting out his own bootlegs and trading on attitude. "In the end I’m a nice guy, even though I talk a lot of shit," he reflects. "It’s just what I’ve had to do around here, man. I think that’s what missing nowadays -- everybody calls themselves outlaws and all that stuff, but that’s what’s missing in country music. Everything’s so clean and pretty and perfect, and you need a couple of people in there that aren’t perfect and that don’t sound the best. That’s the way some of the best guys were, man." 

More than ever, Hank III appears to be the quintessential anti Nashville Cat. "I’m totally anti Music Row," he says, "but as far as the livin’, man, you can’t beat it. I pay a thousand bucks a month in rent for a five bedroom house on 60 acres 10 minutes from downtown. You can’t find that in no big city. Just to keep the damn band goin’, man, all the things I need are around here —- musicians, cheap buses and cheap livin’. I definitely like everything about Nashville besides the business part of it, man." 

Despite his battles, Hank III is pretty happy with where he’s at now, all in all. "Just to be on a major label and act independent is pretty cool for us," he says. "I had complete control of ‘Straight to Hell,’ so if anybody’s gonna get [blamed], it’s gonna be me. I’m just now startin’ the process all over again for the next record, doin’ it the same way. To me, every record is a learning process, and the biggest thing on this one is, we’re just very proud that we did it ourselves. No other record like this one is comin’ out of Nashville" -- or anywhere else, for that matter.

Hank Williams III plays Houston on Thursday, January 3 at The Meridian at 1503 Chartres.

That’s it for now. Word is that we’ll be back with a new issue on January 10. Until then, have the happiest of holidays -- and a great 2008,

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mark@thebulletin.com