Hayes Carll holiday-flavored set makes for a great time

By Paul T. Mueller

Singer-songwriter and Texas native Hayes Carll launched his Grateful for Christmas Tour with a couple of sold-out shows at Houston’s Heights Theater. The second, on Dec. 2, was a great time for all concerned. Carll, in fine voice and fine humor, performed only a couple of actual holiday songs (his own “Grateful for Christmas” and Buck Owens’ “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy.” But he threw in nice covers of John Prine’s “Christmas in Prison” and Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December,” as well as some others that he described as sort of holiday songs in that they at least mentioned drinking. Scattered throughout were funny and sometimes touching anecdotes from his years growing up in the Houston area (his parents were in attendance) – and frequent declarations of his gratitude for his audience. 

Emily Gimble, Melissa Carper, Hayes Carll, Allison Moorer, Rebecca Patek Photo by Paul T. Mueller

Singer-songwriter and acoustic bassist Melissa Carper opened the show, accompanied by pianist Emily Gimble and fiddler Rebecca Patek. Highlights included a nice rendition of “Christmastime Is Here,” familiar from the holiday classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Carll opened his set solo with “Beaumont” (which is set in December) and then brought out the band (including guitarist Scott Davis, bassist Jared Reynolds and drummer Mike Meadows, plus Patek and Gimble) for the lovely “Love Is So Easy.” He followed with longtime favorite (and Ray Wylie Hubbard co-write) “Drunken Poet’s Dream.” Others old and new ensued, before Hayes turned over the stage to his wife, singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, and Gimble, for a theatrical and comically steamy duet on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Gimble followed with “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem,” accompanied by Carper and Patek.

Returning to the stage for more familiar tunes (“Jesus and Elvis,” “KMAG YOYO,” “Nice Things” and a few not so familiar, Carll closed the 22-song show with a fine rendition of the sad but sweet “Family Reserve,” a meditation on life and death by fellow Texan Lyle Lovett.

Thirty years on, Ellis Paul’s songs and stories delight audiences

By Ken Paulson –

Singer-songwriters are plentiful these days. Have a guitar, smartphone and social media account? Suddenly you’re giving concerts.

There was a time, though, when anyone stepping on stage at a coffeehouse had to truly engage an audience with songs, stories and a sense of humor. If you wanted to work, you had to entertain.

Ellis Paul is old school in all the best ways. His Oct. 21 performance for the Americana Community Music Association had him demonstrating how an acoustic guitar can sub for drums and bass, explaining why he’ll be buried with that guitar and hopping off stage and into the audience for a touching encore of “Over the Rainbow.”

Ellis Paul photo
Ellis Paul at Americana Community Music Association in Fort Myers

Paul is on his 30th anniversary tour and he reflected on the evolution of his songs. Early on, young songwriters tend to focus on romance and relationships, but over time, you need to expand your perspective, Paul explained.

That explained his raucous “Kick Out the Lights,” an account of the Man in Black losing his temper on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, with its refrain “Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash.”

Paul’s reflection on dysfunctional families led to a memory of his own family’s worst day, a reunion documented in “Five Alarm Fire on the 4th of July.”

Paul, whose most recent album 55 was inspired by his birthday of that number, also offered up “You’ll Never Be This Young Again,” a buoyant song about never giving up on your dreams.

And so the evening went: wildly diverse songs, entertaining stories, the occasional singalong and an absolute rapport with the audience. Talent and experience make all the difference.

Opening up the show was Gene Martin, an 84-year-old retired radiologist, living the lyrics to Paul’s song about dream-chasing. Miller’s brief set was warm and fun and featured the evening’s most memorable song “Prep Day.”

Gene Martin

“That was the best song about a colonoscopy I’ve ever heard,” Paul proclaimed, beaming at his opening act sitting in the front row.

Perfect pairing: James McMurtry and BettySoo in concert


By Paul T. Mueller –

It might sound like an unlikely pairing for a singer-songwriter show – a famously curmudgeonly Anglo man in his early 60s and a Korean-American woman in her mid-40s. But the recent five-week tour featuring James McMurtry and BettySoo has been, by all accounts, a big success. The two wrapped up their current tour at Houston’s Heights Theater on October 7, with McMurtry rewarding longtime fans with an excellent full-band show and BettySoo charming those already familiar with her work and likely winning new followers as well.

BettySoo (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

BettySoo opened with a well-received set that included five songs performed solo and four with the backing of McMurtry’s drummer, Daren Hess, and guitarist Cornbread, who plays bass for McMurtry. BettySoo, who owns a lovely voice and impressive guitar skills, put both to good use in service of some well-written but mostly downbeat songs about romantic difficulties, such as “One Thing,” “Down to Nothing,” “Don’t Say It’s Nothing” and an as-yet-unrecorded song that might be titled “Just a Matter of When.” The band-backed selections included the haunting “Blackout” and a nice cover of “What Do You Want From Me Now?,” which she credited to fellow singer-songwriter Ralston Bowles. She also won applause for her defense of oft-maligned Houston, noting that she had grown up in the Houston suburb of Spring.

For his part, McMurtry drew from a wide cross-section of his extensive catalog, opening with “Fuller Brush Man” from 1995. Three songs later came “Canola Fields” from the most recent collection, 2021’s The Horses and the Hounds. Other highlights of the 14-song main set included the raucous family-reunion tale “Choctaw Bingo,” wryly introduced as “a medley of our hit”; a solo, unplugged take on “Blackberry Winter,” from Horses; nice renditions of “You Got to Me,” “Levelland” and “No More Buffalo,” and a rousing “Too Long In the Wasteland,” the title track of McMurtry’s 1989 debut album, to close. McMurtry accompanied his distinctive vocals with impressive work on a variety of guitars, both acoustic and electric, while outsourcing some of the six-string duties to guitarist and accordionist Tim Holt.

James McMurtry (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

After a short break, McMurtry’s band returned to the stage and launched into a well-done rendition of “That’s How I Feel,” an instrumental by The Crusaders, a jazz band that started out in Houston in the 1960s. It was a nice tip of the hat to some local heroes. When McMurtry and BettySoo returned a few minutes later, both were in drag – BettySoo in a sharp-looking men’s suit, McMurtry in a stylish red dress accented by a black beret and scarf, two strands of pearls, fishnet hose and red lipstick. The crossdressing originated a few weeks ago in Tennessee, as a dig at politicians seemingly obsessed with the dangers of drag shows there, and seemed almost inevitable for a performance in a state where many elected officials seem equally unsettled by gender issues. The one-song encore was the longtime favorite “Lost in the Back Yard.”

BettySoo and James McMurtry (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

McMurtry, not known for a talkative nature or outward displays of happiness on stage, stayed true to form, with the exception of the occasional comment on a song. But he did seem comfortable and genuinely appreciative of his audience, and also had good things to say about BettySoo and about his son, Curtis McMurtry, also a singer-songwriter (and, as it happens, the driving force behind BettySoo’s 2022 release Insomnia Waking Dream).

A brilliant showcase from Lori McKenna and Brandy Clark


By Paul T. Mueller

There’s a belief in some quarters that everything coming out of Nashville these days is formulaic dross, but Lori McKenna and Brandy Clark put that idea to rest in their Sept. 28 co-headlining appearance at Houston’s Heights Theater. The 90-minute show, the first on an 11-date tour, amounted to a two-person guitar pull that drew heavily from the singer-songwriters’ recent releases. Taking turns performing their finely crafted songs, McKenna and Clark rewarded the capacity crowd with a brilliant showcase for their writing, singing and playing, with some bonus comedy thrown in.

Brandy Clark and Lori McKenna (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

McKenna, who lives near Boston but spends time writing in Nashville, is a master at capturing the nuances of human emotions and experience. She performed several songs from her new album 1988, including “Happy Children,” “The Old Woman in Me” and “Town in Your Heart.” There were older favorites as well – “People Get Old,” a wistful but clear-eyed look at aging; the rueful “All the Time I Wasted on You,” and the sad and haunting “Halfway Home” – the last performed, she said, at the request of one of her Texas fans.

Clark featured songs from her self-titled fourth album, produced by Brandi Carlile and released earlier this year. She paid heartfelt tribute to a beloved grandmother with “She Smoked in the House,” while “Northwest” was a love song to her home state of Washington. One of the biggest moments came near the show’s end, with “Dear Insecurity,” recently featured as a duet with Carlile during the Americana Music Association’s annual awards show. Clark’s fine older material included the regretful “Who You Thought I Was” and “Pawn Shop,” a ballad about broken dreams, both from 2020’s Your Life Is a Record.

The ”encore” consisted of one song each from McKenna and Clark, each of which became a hit for a more mainstream Nashville artist. The two alternated verses on “Girl Crush,” written by McKenna, Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose, and recorded by Little Big Town. Clark closed the show with a rousing rendition of “Mama’s Broken Heart,” a co-write with Shane McAnally and Kacey Musgraves that found success with Miranda Lambert.

McKenna and Clark got excellent support from guitarist Cy Winstanley and bassist Vanessa McGowan, transplanted New Zealanders who also perform as Tattletale Saints. Louisiana native turned Nashvillian Brandon Ratcliff opened the show with a six-song solo set that featured his strong songs, excellent guitar and vocal skills and engaging stage presence.

Kent Blazy Meets the Beatles

By Ken Paulson

It’s always a joy when an artist and songwriter is an unabashed music fan like the rest of us.

That’s certainly the case with Kent Blazy, whose new album From The Beatles to the Bluebird, is fueled by a love of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Blazy, a 2020 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, has had an extraordinary track record, including writing “If Tomorrow Never Comes” with Garth Brooks, the Brooks hit “Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up” and  Chris Young’s classic recording “Getting’ You Home The Black Dress Song)”

The new album isn’t about Blazy’s hits of the last 30 years. Instead, it’s a full-throated celebration of the Beatles, songwriting and living a vibrant life.

Album opener “February 9th, 1964,” chronicles the night the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and inspired an entire generation to ask for guitars on their next birthdays. The song was co-written with Steve Allen, who also contributes vocals.

On the title track, Blazy draws a direct line from that night to his later success as a highly successful songwriter playing at the Bluebird Café, Nashville’s songwriting haven. On “Die Young,” Blazy tips his hat to Paul McCartney in his ‘80s, and offers these words of wisdom: “I want to die young at a very old age.” This should be the personal anthem for anyone with a senior discount.

The rest of the album is less Beatles-centric, but always fun and thoughtful. “Just Writing Songs” is a particularly upbeat song about how writing songs for the pleasure of it can sometimes bring unanticipated rewards.

Many successful songwriters reach a point where they set aside their art and just make regular trips to the mailbox for royalty checks, but there’s no slowing Blazy down. He still writes, performs and releases albums on a near-annual basis, still drawing on that magical night in February of 1964, as this new collection attests.

2nd Nashville Fundraiser for Frank Sass set for August 20

Gretchen Peters performs at the Dave Sass benefit at the Eastside Bowl on August 13.

The Eastside Bowl in Nashville is hosting fundraisers for well-known sound engineer Frank Sass, best known for his work at the Exit/Inn. The first, held this afternoon and evening, featured Gretchen Peters, Bill Lloyd, Kim Richey, Dave Pomeroy, the Shazam and Homemade Sin.

The second, set for August 20 beginning at 2 p,m., will feature Tommy Womack, Tim Carroll, Walk the West, Dave Coleman, the Raelyn Nelson Band and the Sour Ops. It’s great music for a good cause.

Time Traveler: Jason Wilber’s engaging musical journey

By Ken Paulson —

Jason Wilber was among friends and family as he took the stage in Fort Myers, Florida on June 24. There was his wife Michelle in the second row. Sitting next to her was Jason’s father. On the left side of the room were friends from Bloomington, Indiana. And pretty much everywhere there were fans who loved his work as a member of John Prine’s band.

No matter, though. Even a room full of strangers would have been won over by Wilber’s engaging, low-key set.

Wilber opened with the upbeat and inviting “Time Traveler,” a song he says was partly inspired by the science-fiction classic novel “Time and Again.” It was a fitting start to a set that spanned decades of music.

The oldest song was also the most moving. “A Song For You” was written and recorded by Leon Russell in 1970, and was later covered by Ray Charles, Herbie Hancock, the Carpenters the Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson and many others. Despite all of those other interpretations, Wilber’s stripped down version was absolutely striking. From the beginning, it was a song written by a road musician for the woman he loved. Wilber’s take sounded true.

Wilber didn’t disappoint those who came to see him because of the Prine connection, playing “Far From Me” from John’s first album and “Souvenirs” from the Sweet Revenge follow-up in 1972.

John Prine also came to mind when Wilber performed his own song “Quakertown Optimists Club,” which explores why an Optimists Club would call it quits. The song and story behind it were very entertaining.

Jason Wilber is an extraordinary guitarist and he offered up sometimes intricate and always impeccable playing throughout his set. From his cover of “Annie You Save Me” by Graffiti6 to his stirring closer “Ghost Light,” he packed a lot of variety and surprises into the evening.

Bruce Gallant opened the evening with an exuberant performance. It’s always a great sign when the artist is clearly having as good a time as his audience. We hadn’t seen Gallant before, but quickly recognized that his “Living in Paradise” is a local anthem:

“Living in Paradise, I ain’t got much, but it sure is nice. A ten by fifty mobile home, that sets on land that I don’t own”

There’s some Roger Miller in there – and that’s a good thing.

The concert was presented by the Americana Community Music Association, a remarkable organization of volunteers who bring great live music to Southwest Florida. Their base is the All Faiths Unitarian Church in Fort Myers. Picture a good house concert with top talent, comfortable chairs, good lines of sight and first-rate sound. These folks have built a vibrant music community out of a sheer love of Americana music. Highly recommended.

Ken Paulson is the editor of Americana One and the host of The Songwriters, seen on PBS affiliate TV stations nationwide.)

Gretchen Peters’ graceful exit from touring

By Paul T. Mueller

Gretchen Peters, wrapping up a long touring career, gave her fans in Houston a fine show to remember her by. The prolific singer-songwriter and her husband and musical partner, Barry Walsh, performed for a nearly full house at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on June 22, the final show in the church’s Coffee House Live spring concert series.

Peters fittingly opened with “The Show,” a ballad about the life of a touring musician. The next few songs included some dark stories of violence and death, including “Wichita” and “Blackbirds” (she introduced the latter by noting, “There’s always a high body count at my shows”). The murder tales eventually gave way to gentler fare, including a lovely rendition of Tom Russell’s “Guadalupe” and “When You Love Someone,” one of the dozens of songs Peters has written with Canadian singer Bryan Adams.

Gretchen Peters and Barry Walsh (photo by Paul T, Mueller)

Walsh alternated between piano and accordion and provided vocals on most of Peters’ songs. He got a turn in the spotlight mid-show, performing the instrumental “Belgian Afternoon” from his album Silencio. Peters returned for a lovely rendition of “Say Grace,” a call for compassion and forgiveness from her 2018 album Dancing With the Beast. Other highlights included a fine performance of “Independence Day,” with Peters accompanying herself on piano, and a sweet version of “On a Bus to St. Cloud,” with a callout to the late Jimmy LaFave, who memorably covered the song.

Peters closed with another song appropriate to the occasion, “To Say Goodbye” (she has announced her retirement from touring, although she does plan to play some festivals and other gigs). After a standing ovation she sat on the edge of the stage and crooned an excellent rendition of the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer classic “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road),” accompanied by Walsh’s excellent piano. After the show she and Walsh stayed to sign autographs and share memories with their many fans and well-wishers.

Michelle Malone spans decades in Houston show


By Paul T. Mueller

Georgia-based singer-songwriter Michelle Malone brought decades’ worth of songs and showmanship to her May 13 show in Houston. The show at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, featuring Malone on acoustic guitars and Doug Kees on electric, included a career-spanning 14 songs. All were fueled by Malone’s powerful vocals, ranging from a delicate croon to an all-out roar.

She led off with the evocative “Dust Bowl Man” from her 2022 album titled 1977.  Other highlights included the anthemic “Just Getting Started,” from 2017’s Slings and Arrows, and “Not Who I Used to Be,” also from 1977. The latter wrapped in a bit of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” with a powerful solo by Kees.

Michelle Malone copyright Paul T. Mueller

Malone’s solicitation of requests from the audience yielded a sweet rendition of “32 Seconds,” harking back to her 1990 album Relentless with former band Drag the River, and “Butter Biscuit,” which she called a “silly song” but one that’s often requested. Near show’s end came a new song, “Like Mother, Like Daughter,” in honor of the hours-away Mother’s Day.

Mastersons’ folk with a rock ‘n’ roll heart

By Paul T. Mueller

The Mastersons – guitarist/singer Chris Masterson and multi-instrumentalist/singer Eleanor Whitmore – finished up their current tour March 12 with a matinee show at the Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston, Texas.

Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

The duo, longtime – and now former – members of Steve Earle’s band, The Dukes, got rhythmic support from Eleanor’s sister Bonnie on bass and drummer Falcon Valdez, playing 12 songs, including several from their most recent album, 2020’s No Time for Love Songs. The Mastersons’ sound might be described as folk with a rock ‘n’ roll heart – thoughtful lyrics and two- and three-part harmonies backed by Chris Masterson’s skillful guitar and Eleanor Whitmore’s excellent violin, guitar and synthesizer. Highlights included “Eyes Wide Open,” an anthem to taking life as it comes, and an encore cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “No Place to Fall,” in honor of Van Zandt’s March 7 birthday. Bonnie Whitmore, also an accomplished singer-songwriter, performed a couple of her own songs mid-set – “Fine” from her 2020 album Last Will and Testament and “Cardiac Disaster” from an upcoming EP. Opening the show was a set by the Whitmore Sisters – same players, different name – featuring six songs from their 2022 album Ghost Stories.

Cayamo 2023 soars with diverse sounds


By Paul T. Mueller

Neilson Hubbard, Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Like any established music festival, Cayamo – the festival-at-sea that just wrapped up its 15th edition – faces the challenge of attracting new attendees while keeping returning guests interested. Sixthman, the Norwegian Cruise Line subsidiary that produces Cayamo, was up to the task this year, putting together a lineup that combined well-known veterans of the festival and less-familiar newcomers. As a bonus, the 2023 group was much more diverse than most previous years, featuring a considerable number of performers of color, a relatively large number of female artists, and a good balance of younger and older musicians. The result was, by consensus, a highly successful event, with scores of shows spanning a range of genres including folk, country, blues, bluegrass, rock, soul and others. 

Absent from the lineup were some “big names” from previous years, such as Brandi Carlile, Lyle Lovett, Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Emmylou Harris, and of course John Prine. But the cast of performers also included some familiar names, including the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Neko Case, Andrew Bird, Paul Thorn, David Bromberg and Trampled by Turtles, among others. The full lineup can be seen here.

As always, the festival, held February 10-17 aboard the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship, featured a full schedule with many conflicts. Here are some highlights from notable shows.

The first-day sailaway show by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
In their debut appearance on Cayamo, the veteran bluegrass/country outfit performed a fine pool deck set that was short on originals (“Fishing in the Dark,” “Ripplin’ Waters”) but long on popular covers, including Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” John Prine’s “Grandpa Was a Carpenter,” Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” and Rodney Crowell’s “An American Dream” (with lyrics modified to reference Cayamo). The set closed with a lively sing-along on “Jambalaya.” Front and center for much of the show was guitarist and singer Jaime Hanna, son of NGDB co-founder Jeff Hanna.

History lessons and music from Jake Blount
Blount, who said he’s planning graduate studies in musicology and ethnomusicology, began with a haunting rendition of “Stolen Souls from Africa,” a mournful lament of slavery sung a capella over a recorded synthesizer track. The rest of his set consisted mostly of traditional tunes accompanied by fiddle and banjo, with explanations that were as educational as they were entertaining. For example, he pointed out that Black culture in the Americas originated on slave ships, where captives from various African countries and cultures intermingled and developed common ground in the form of music. Blount was aboard as part of the Black Opry Revue, a touring project of Nashville’s Black Opry, a collective of Black artists involved with American roots music. 

Caitlin Canty Photo by Paul T. Mueller

A fine set by Nashville-based singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty
Backed by bassist Miss Tess and pedal-steel and mandolin player Thomas Bryan Eaton, Canty performed several songs (“Heart of My Country,” “Come By the Highway Home,” “Wild Heart”) from her forthcoming album Quiet Flame. Canty charmed the audience with a bright and engaging stage presence to back up her thoughtful lyrics. Extra credit for overcoming distracting dinner-time noise from nearby bars and restaurants.

A raucous Rolling Stones tribute show
Wild and crazy folksinger Steve Poltz played emcee at this pool deck show, backed by a “house band” that included guitarists Larry Campbell and Anthony Da Costa and keyboardist John Fullbright.  Poltz kicked things off with an excellent take on “Far Away Eyes.”  A wide range of performers followed: Jazz-flavored bluegrass quartet Twisted Pine with “Dead Flowers,” Fullbright with a powerful take on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Honky Tonk Women,” teenage vocal trio The Burney Sisters with lovely renditions of “Ruby Tuesday” and “Wild Horses,” Da Costa with a wildly energetic “No Expectations,” and so on.  The show’s emotional peak came mid-set with “Gimme Shelter,” featuring all-star drummer Brady Blade on lead vocals, strutting and gyrating with, yes, moves like Jagger. Meanwhile, Campbell and Da Costa traded Stones-worthy riffs, and Teresa Williams, Campbell’s wife and musical partner, gave an all-out effort on the song’s ominous choruses that would have made original singer Merry Clayton proud. Another highlight, near show’s end, was an all-hands-on-deck singalong of “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

A soul music tribute, billed as “Motown vs. Stax”
The show, on the pool deck stage following the Stones tribute, was performed by mostly younger artists for a mostly older crowd, harking back to the days when popular music was a bigger tent. Nashville-based singer-songwriter Devon Gilfillian, emcee for the event, led off with an excellent take on Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin’,” followed by Adia Victoria with “Heard It Through the Grapevine.” The rest of the show was pretty much a hit parade of ’60 and ‘70s soul and R&B: Black Opry Revue performer Julie Williams with “Where Did Our Love Go?,” the Rainbow Girls quartet with “Please Mr. Postman,” Raye Zaragoza with “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” and “Captain” Shawn Mullins with “That’s How Strong My Love Is,” among others. Singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt, in the last performance before a sudden downpour ended the show, did a fine version of “I’ll Take You There,” featuring a crowd-roaming performance by trombonist Ray Mason.

“Dirt Does Dylan,” a set of Bob Dylan songs performed by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and guests
The band started this Stardust Theater show with a sweet rendition of “Forever Young” before moving on to such classics as “Girl From the North Country,” “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” (with Jeff Tweedy and his children), “Meet Me in the Morning” (with Amy Helm and longtime Dylan sideman Larry Campbell), “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” (with David Bromberg) and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (with emerging superstar Allison Russell). The show concluded with an emotional “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” that had much of the audience singing along, some through nostalgic tears.

The Sunday Soul Session, led by The Fairfield Four
Held on a warm and sunny pool deck stage, the show started with several a capella songs by the Nashville gospel quartet, the third iteration of the group since its founding in 1921. Other performances included “I Saw the Light,” featuring guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, singer-songwriter Amy Helm and Jeff Hanna; “Love You Anyway,” by Devon Gilfillian and his band, and “Gloryland,” performed a capella by Helm, who noted that she had also sung it with her father, the late Levon Helm of The Band.

Mary Gauthier & Friends
This Stardust Theater show was something of a career retrospective, ranging from Gauthier’s early “Drag Queens in Limousines” to “The War After the War,” from her Songwriting with Soldiers project, to the title track of her newest album, Dark Enough to See the Stars. Gauthier fully commanded the stage with stories – sometimes funny, sometimes painfully honest – about her musical journey, interspersed with her powerful songs. She got musical backing from singer-songwriter Jaimee Harris and drummer Neilson Hubbard, who also produced Dark Enough.

And so many more: Jeff Tweedy, Patty Griffin, Shovels & Rope, Paul Thorn, Wilder Woods, the Jerry Douglas Band, Joshua Radin and on and on.

Other fun moments:

Yasmin Williams Photo by Paul T. Mueller
  • Matraca Berg’s surprise vocal appearance on “Strawberry Wine” during the “Party On, Garth” tribute to ‘90s music hosted by Kelsey Waldon. Berg, who wrote the Deana Carter hit with Gary Harrison, wasn’t given her own set in the festival, but made occasional guest appearances at other artists’ shows.
  • The Burney Sisters’ sweetly harmonic take on Brandi Carlile’s “Right on Time” in the Soundcheck Showcase, which featured the three winners of the Soundcheck competition for new artists.
  • Fellow Soundcheck winners Twisted Pine with their jazzy rendition of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (Raye Zaragoza was the third Soundcheck artist.)
  • Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams’ excellent Spinnaker Lounge set, closing with a fine version of “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” with guests Tommy Emmanuel and David Bromberg.
  • Acoustic guitar virtuoso Yasmin Williams, making a big impression on her first Cayamo with shimmering New Age-ish tunes featuring a mix of strumming, picking and what she called flat-tapping, augmented by shoe-tap percussion and the occasional use of a small keyboard instrument called a kalimba. Williams’ mastery of her instrument was matched by her enthusiastic stage presence.
  • Amy Helm’s refusal to let a broken wrist slow her down. She suffered the injury early in the cruise during a run-in with a wind-blown deck chair, but carried on, cast and all, earning big ovations later in the week.

Review: RB Morris in rare concert in Nacogdoches

By Paul T. Mueller

RB Morris, a singer-songwriter, poet and playwright based in Knoxville, doesn’t tend to venture too far west from his Tennessee base. So it was something of a rare treat for his Texas fans when Morris played a Jan. 21 show at Live Oak Listening Room, a former church turned intimate concert venue in the East Texas city of Nacogdoches.

RB Morris (photo copyright Paul T. Mueller)

Morris writes with the sensibility of a poet and performs with the soul of a rock ‘n’ roller. He opened with several songs played solo, including the wistful “Old Copper Penny,” and “Thin Air,” which he dedicated to the late Leonard Cohen. Next came readings of a couple of his poems, one about the mockingbird – which, he noted, is the state bird of both Texas and Tennessee.

Other highlights included a lovely rendition of “A Winter’s Tale,” which has become something of a latter-day holiday classic; “That’s How Every Empire Falls,” a cautionary tale once covered by John Prine, one of Morris’ early fans; “Distillery,” which draws parallels between the commercialized and organic forms of liquor and religion, and the powerful “Take Time to Love.”

Morris was backed for most of the show by electric guitarist Tim Lee and drummer Susan Lee, a husband-and-wife duo from Mississippi who perform their own shows under the moniker BARK. Tim Lee’s guitar, by turns subtle and powerful, and Susan Lee’s strong and precise drumming provided effective texture behind Morris’ acoustic playing and vocals.

BARK opened the show with a rocking set consisting mostly of jangly power-pop originals, plus a cover of David Olney’s “James Robertson Must Turn Right.”   

Remembering Townes: 26th annual “wake”

By Paul T. Mueller

A wake can be a mournful affair, but the mood at the Old Quarter Acoustic Café on the first day of 2023 was anything but. As they have every January 1 since 1998, talented musicians and appreciative fans gathered at the small listening room in downtown Galveston, Texas, for the annual wake to celebrate the songs of Townes Van Zandt. This year’s event featured an impressive cast of performers, both professional and amateur, each giving his or her interpretation of one or more songs, most of them either written by or written about the legendary artist.

Numerous such events are held in various locations every year, but no other has quite the same direct connection to Townes, given that this one is held in a venue once owned by Rex (Wrecks) Bell, his former bassist and running buddy. Bell, who for years played bass in Van Zandt’s band (as well as those of Lucinda Williams and Lightnin’ Hopkins, among others), and accompanied him on adventures both legal and otherwise, served as emcee of the event. He played his role with characteristic delight, telling frank stories about tour life and dredging up the kind of bad jokes his old friend was famous for.  

Wrecks Bell

The five-plus-hour event featured 65 songs by 24 performers of varying degrees of musical ability, and every performance was received with grace and enthusiasm befitting a community of music lovers. Some of Van Zandt’s better-known songs – “White Freightliner Blues,” “To Live Is to Fly,” “Pancho and Lefty” and others – were covered more than once, proving interesting contrasts between the various renditions.

Van Zandt had his demons and many of his songs reflected his struggles with them, but the love and respect with which the performers interpreted his music infused the evening with joy, in the full sense of that word. More than a few made a point of thanking Joel and Angela Mora, who bought the Old Quarter from Bell in 2017, and Bell and his wife, Janet, who live part time on Galveston Island and maintain a connection to the venue.

Tex Renner

A few highlights:

  • Galveston singer-songwriter Tex Renner’s gruff take on “Blaze’s Blues,” Van Zandt’s tribute to another partner in mischief, Blaze Foley
  • A quiet, beautifully harmonized rendition of “White Freightliner Blues” by the Houston-area duo Grifters & Shills (John and Rebecca Stoll)
  • “The Ghost of Townes,” written as a tribute to Van Zandt by Chad Elliott and performed by Tommy Lewis
  • A beautifully dark trifecta of “Waitin’ Around to Die,” “Marie” and Steve Earle’s TVZ tribute “Fort Worth Blues” by Waxahachie, Texas-based Bobby Huskins
  • “Rex’s Blues” by its subject, Bell, and his wife, accompanied by ace guitarist Gary Reagan. Bell, who seems to be aging in reverse, was in fine voice all night; he played using Van Zandt’s fingerpicks.
  • Austin-based singer-songwriter and guitar wizard Marina Rocks’ take on the lovely “Snowin’ on Raton,” which started out quietly and built to an emotional, high-volume conclusion
  • Ocala, Florida-based Chris Ryals, who took on some less-familiar Van Zandt songs – “Our Mother the Mountain,” “Tower Song” and “Colorado Bound”
  • The evening’s big finale of “White Freightliner Blues” and “Two Hands,” performed by Joel and the Honey Badgers (singer/guitarist Dwight Wolf, bassist Christopher Smith Gonzalez and drummer/venue owner Joel Mora), accompanied by Wrecks and Janet, Gary Reagan and Chris Ryals.
Rebecca Stoll

Concert review: The Arc Angels in Houston

By Paul T. Mueller –

For a band that made only one studio album – 30 years ago – Arc Angels has quite a devoted fan base. That loyalty was clear at Houston’s Heights Theater on November 16, when the band drew an enthusiastic near-capacity crowd for its third Houston show of 2022.

Arc Angels – named for the Austin Rehearsal Center, or ARC, where the band came together – originally included drummer Chris “Whipper” Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon (aka Double Trouble, the rhythm section that backed Stevie Ray Vaughan) plus singer-songwriter/guitarists Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton. For the current tour at least, Eric Holden is handling the bass duties.

Doyle Bramhall II, Chris Layton, Eric Holden, Charlie Sexton (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

In a high-volume set of bluesy rock that lasted an hour and 45 minutes, the band ripped through most of its self-titled album’s 12 tracks, starting with the bad-behavior tale “Paradise Café.”  Most of the songs found Bramhall (son of Vaughan’s late running buddy Doyle Bramhall) and Sexton (who spent years in Bob Dylan’s band, among others) trading licks and solos, while Layton and Holden supported them with a steady and seemingly effortless groove.

About midway through the show, Sexton led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to Layton (67, for those keeping score). A bit later, the band launched into Charley Patton’s “Oh Death,” prefaced by Sexton’s joking apology to Layton for playing such a song so soon after the birthday wishes.

The main set wrapped up with three of the stronger songs from the Arc Angels album – “Spanish Moon,” “Shape I’m In” and “Living in a Dream.” After a short break, the band returned for a one-song encore, the powerful “Too Many Ways to Fall.”

Austin-based quartet Madam Radar opened the show with an energetic 40-minute set. The band’s sound, and appearance, featured something of an early ‘70s hippie vibe, fueled by the rock-star posturing of guitarist/singer Kelly Green and the cool elegance of bassist Violet Lea. They closed, fittingly, with a faithful rendition of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love.”   

Outlaw Country West cruise: A wide net of rocking, raucous music

By Paul T. Mueller

Despite its name, the inaugural Outlaw Country West music cruise wasn’t just about country music. Producers Sixthman and Renegade Circus cast a wider net, including a couple of Southern California punk bands as well as several purveyors of West Coast country and rock. The floating festival departed Los Angeles on November 3 aboard the Norwegian Jewel, making stops at the Mexican ports of Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada before returning to Los Angeles on November 8.

X and Social Distortion, longtime mainstays of the Southern California punk scene, brought rock ‘n’ roll energy and attitude to the festival, an offshoot of the well-established and mostly Miami-based Outlaw Country Cruise. Artists offering a purer country sound included Jim Lauderdale, Wade Sapp, James Intveld, Deke Dickerson and Elizabeth Cook. Also featured were East LA roots music icons Los Lobos, cowpunk pioneer Dave Alvin, bluesy folksinger Lucinda Williams, rockabilly guitar-slinger Rosie Flores and Texas iconoclast Terry Allen, among many others.

Lucinda Williams (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Some highlights from the packed schedule of nearly 60 shows and numerous other activities:

Los Lobos got things off to a rocking start with a first-day sailaway show on the pool deck that featured hits such as “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Will the Wolf Survive?” and “Kiko and the Lavender Moon.” The band also threw in some excellent covers, including a joyous rendition of “Not Fade Away” and the Grateful Dead’s “Bertha” to close the show.

Terry Allen brought his offbeat West Texas style to the Jewel’s Stardust Theater the first evening. Allen has long been a favorite in his home state, and his sets, supported by the brilliant Panhandle Mystery Band, won him a slew of new fans. High points included some Allen originals possibly better known from being covered by others – “Amarillo Highway” (Robert Earl Keen), “New Delhi Freight Train” (Little Feat) and “Gimme a Ride to Heaven” (The Flatlanders).

Also impressive were less-familiar songs such as “Death of the Last Stripper,” “All These Blues Go Walking By” (featuring powerful vocals by Shannon McNally), and “City of the Vampires,” which Allen said was based on suggestions from his 9-year-old grandson. Later in the cruise, veteran singer-songwriter and activist Steve Earle interviewed Allen for his SiriusXM radio show, giving Allen a venue for fascinating and often funny stories about growing up in Lubbock and working with artists such as Guy Clark and David Byrne.

Terry Allen (photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Lucinda Williams, continuing her strong comeback from the stroke she suffered about two years ago, played a powerful first-night set in the Stardust with her excellent band, Buick 6. She drew from her extensive catalog with older songs such as “Right in Time,” “Lake Charles” and “Those Three Days,” and newer tracks such as “Big Black Train” and Memphis Minnie’s “You Can’t Rule Me,” which she dedicated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Williams hasn’t yet regained her ability to play guitar onstage, but her voice sounded better than it has in a while, despite some occasional glitches (“Dammit! Son of a biscuit baker!” she said at one point while reaching for her throat spray). One couldn’t help but be moved by the care and support shown by her band members – guitarist Stuart Mathis, bassist David Sutton and drummer Butch Norton.

Exene Cervenka and John Doe of X (Photo by Paul T. Mueller)

Dave Alvin and his band, The Guilty Ones, packed the Stardust for a Friday show featuring Alvin’s sometimes dark songs about the California experience. Alvin, in remarkable form after some recent health issues, led his excellent outfit through “The King of California,” “Ashgrove” and “Dry River,” among others. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who’s been touring and recording with Alvin in recent years, was scheduled for the cruise, but he came down with Covid-19 and was unable to participate. His son Colin Gilmore, a fine singer-songwriter in his own right, filled in for him, joining Alvin for “Billy the Kid and Geronimo” and his father’s “Dallas.” Also making guest appearances were two members of Los Lobos, guitarist/singer David Hidalgo and saxophonist/keyboardist Steve Berlin.

A wide range of artists converged on the Stardust for a Sunday evening tribute to California native Merle Haggard. The setlist included Jim Lauderdale with “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive,” Shannon McNally with “Mama Tried,” John Doe of X with “Silver Wings,” Terry Allen with “Okie from Muscogee,” Rosie Flores with “My Own Kind of Hat,” Dave Alvin with “Kern River,” and Norm Hamlet, longtime steel guitarist with Haggard’s band, The Strangers, with “Today I Started Loving You Again.” Everyone returned to the stage for the big finale, “Sing Me Back Home.”

Southern California punk rockers Social Distortion brought their high-energy, high-volume songs of anger and pain to a Monday pool deck show as the Jewel departed Ensenada, Mexico. Founder and lead singer Mike Ness rather sheepishly owned up to enjoying the clearly non-punk experience of cruise ship life before launching into powerful renditions of “I Wasn’t Born to Follow,” “Sick Boys” and “Ball and Chain,” among others. Longtime Social D guitarist Jonny Two Bags was absent, reportedly because of an injury, but Josh Jove (Eagles of Death Metal) filled in capably.

A Monday evening guitar pull in the Stardust drew a large crowd for a song swap featuring Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams (with Stuart Mathis handling the guitar work), Charlie Sexton (filling in for Jimmie Dale Gilmore), and Dave Alvin. The show featured some excellent performances — Sexton honoring Gilmore with a rendition of the latter’s “Treat Me Like a Saturday Night,” Alvin’s moving take on Tom Russell’s “Blue Wing,” Williams’ wistful “Passionate Kisses.” Other high points included Alvin’s funny story about once having had to follow the legendary Barrett Strong in a songwriter round, and Sexton’s amazement at being chided for talking too much by none other than the notoriously loquacious Steve Earle.

All of this hardly scratches the surface, of course. The festival’s big lineup and short duration made it pretty much impossible to see every artist, let alone every show. But by all accounts, there were fine performances by Steve Earle, Elizabeth Cook, Chuck Prophet & the Mission Express, Big Sandy & His Flyrite Boys, Deke Dickerson & the Whippersnappers, Rosie Flores, Lillie Mae, Jim Lauderdale, the Slim Jim Phantom Trio, the Beat Farmers, the Long Ryders, Charlie Overbey, Jo Harvey Allen, Mojo Nixon & the Toad Liquors, Andrew Leahey & the Homestead, Jade Jackson, James Intveld, Norm Hamlet & Mario Carboni, Wade Sapp and Roger Alan Wade & Honky Tonk CIA. There was also a previously unannounced appearance by guitarist Wayne Kramer of the Detroit-based band MC5, who sat in with Lucinda Williams, Rosie Flores and the Long Ryders, among others.

Despite illness, Rodney Crowell shines in hometown show at Heights Theater


By Paul T. Mueller –

Sometimes seeing what a performer is overcoming to deliver a performance is as impressive as the performance itself. Early in his Oct. 18 show at Houston’s Heights Theater, singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell announced that he was battling “the mother of all colds.” But despite a voice that often sounded hoarse and strained, and taking an occasional break to cough (“It’s not COVID!”) or swig from a water bottle, he pushed on for nearly two hours, delighting the capacity crowd with signature songs from his long career and readings from his recent book, Word for Word.

Crowell is the closest thing to royalty in country and Americana music, and he looks the part – still slim at 72, with white hair and a vintage black Gibson acoustic. Without a band to back him up, he played and sang with a confidence born of decades onstage, clearly basking in the love of the hometown crowd.

Rodney Crowell in concert at the Heights Theater

He led off with “Highway 17,” the tale of a career criminal who buries his ill-gotten gains and spends years in prison dreaming of what he’ll do when he gets out and recovers it – only to find that it’s been forever lost under a newly built interstate highway. Afterward he explained that the song is based on a true story involving a family he knew as a child. “Grandma Loved That Old Man,” about his beloved grandfather and the wife who put up with his faults and flaws, got a similar treatment. And so it went, with fine renditions of instantly recognizable songs interspersed with funny stories about how they came to be, and about how their author became a top-tier songwriter and performer.

The show, something of a career retrospective, included songs from Crowell’s days as a hotshot mainstream Nashville artist (“I Ain’t Living Long Like This,” “She’s Crazy for Leaving,” “ ‘Til I Gain Control Again”) as well as several from his more recent phase as an independent, more introspective artist (“East Houston Blues,” “Anything But Tame,” “Telephone Road,” “I Don’t Care Anymore”).

Crowell won enthusiastic responses for some songs he wrote with or about the late Guy Clark, a good friend of his for decades – “Stuff That Works,” co-written in the wake of his divorce from Rosanne Cash, and “It Ain’t Over Yet,” an imagined conversation between Crowell, Clark and Clark’s wife, Susanna.

After wrapping up the main set with “Please Remember Me,” Crowell acknowledged the standing ovation, put in one final plug for his book (“Christmas is coming, just saying,” he had noted earlier) and finished with “The Flyboy & the Kid” from his Tarpaper Sky album, a song he’d dedicated to Clark.

Health issues notwithstanding, Crowell headed quickly for the venue’s lobby, where he spent quite a while posing for pictures with fans and writing personalized inscriptions in the books they’d bought – and apparently loving every minute of it.

Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley and Joe Galante enter the Country Music Hall of Fame

By Ken Paulson

It would be difficult to imagine a more unlikely group of inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame than the class of 2022, honored Sunday night in the hall’s annual Medallion ceremony.

One had his career disappear after marrying a 13-year-old girl, who also happened to be a relative. Another’s life was cut short by alcoholism, just two albums into his career. The third was a New York label executive who reluctantly moved to Nashville to work with country artists.

Yet Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Whitley and Joe Galante all made the kind of impact that leads to country music’s greatest honor.

Jerry Lee Lewis

Lewis, already a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, was unable to attend the Country Music Hall of Fame induction due to frail health, but both the vibrancy and diversity of his music came through loud and clear.

 Chris Isaak, accompanied by Jen Gunderman on piano, rocked the room with his take on “Great Balls of Fire.” The McCrary Sisters gamely (and movingly) performed a Lewis arrangement of “My God is Real” that reportedly got him kicked out of a Bible school. Lee Ann Womack drew on Lewis’ post-scandal country career with an outstanding version of “Middle-Age Crazy.”

Chris Isaak performs
Chris Isaak , with Jen Gunderman on piano (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Before his performance, Isaak recalled a Lewis show he saw during the punk era. A group of young men with plenty of attitude pushed their way to the front of the stage just before Lewis’ performance. When Lewis came out, he headed right to the group, staring at them for 90 seconds, before they stepped back.

“The punks just wilted,” Isaak laughed. 

The induction was done by Hank Williams Jr., who reminisced about Jerry Lee teaching the young Bocephus a few things about playing rock ‘n’ roll piano,

“Imagine how you’d feel if Jerry Lee asked you to share his piano bench while he played,” Williams recalled.  Jerry Lee told me that my father was one of his heroes and if he couldn’t meet his hero, he would meet his hero’s son and teach him how to boogie woogie.”

In his remarks, Williams described the free-spirited Lewis’ most admirable traits, a number of which he found “familiar.”

“Jerry Lee doesn’t walk on stage and politely thank an audience for being there,” Williams said. “Jerry Lee doesn’t ask for your attention. He demands it.”

Williams was joined by the now-retired Kris Kristofferson in unveiling Lewis’ plaque. Politically, the two men are on different planets, but have long shared an admiration for Lewis.

Induction of Jerry Lee Lewis
Kris Kristofferson, Hank Williams Jr. and CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Kyle Young (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Keith Whitley

Keith Whitley had a brief, but influential career, with just an EP and two albums released during his lifetime. He began as a teen bluegrass player in tandem with a young Ricky Skaggs. Both joined the legendary Ralph Stanley’s band before moving on to solo careers.  

It’s a measure of Whitley’s talent that he’s been named to the Hall of Fame despite a recording career that spanned just 4 years before his death in 1989. A number of his biggest hits were posthumous.

Whitley had fans in high places, including Garth Brooks, who called him “one of the greatest voices ever to grace country music.”

Brooks recalled that an early knock on Whitley from country radio programmers was that he was ‘too country.’

“That’s like saying that something’s too good,” Brooks said shortly before performing Whitley’s “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”

Also on hand to celebrate Whitley were Mickey Guyton, who performed “When You Say Nothing At All,” and a trio consisting of Ricky  Skaggs, Molly Tuttle and Justin Moses doing a rendition of “Tennessee Blues.”

Mickey Guyton (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Joe Galante

Joe Galante was recognized for his work helping build the careers of Whitley, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Clint Black, Brooks and Dunn, Alabama, Miranda Lambert and Kenny Chesney, with the latter three honoring him Sunday night with performances.

Joe Galante (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Alabama sang “My Home’s In Alabama,” Lambert performed her breakthrough hit “White Liar,” and Chesney performed “The Good Stuff.”

Kix Brooks presented the award and recalled that he and Ronnie Dunn had concluded that their run as Brooks and Dunn was probably over after an album had lackluster sales. Then Galante told them he wanted to work with them, opening the door for another decade of hits. He was “Joe Frickin’ Galante,” he said of the duo’s decision to continue recording.

Cimarron 615: A new band with Poco roots

By Ken Paulson –

A tribute to the late Rusty Young of Poco has paid a welcome dividend: the birth of a new band.

Five artists, all with significant ties to Young and Poco, teamed up late last year for My Friend: A Tribute to Rusty Young on Blue Elan Records. The quintet, dubbed Cimarron 615 for the recording, contributed five songs to the collection and apparently had enough fun to continue as an ongoing band.

Tonight Cimarron 615 took the stage at the 5 Spot in Nashville for what was described as their “first real live gig.”

Photo of Cimmaron 615 on stage
Cimarron 615 at the 5 Spot in Nashville

These are true veterans of country rock and that showed throughout their lively set.

The line-up:

  • Jack Sundrud, who first joined Poco in the ’80s and was also a member of Great Plains.
  • Tom Hampton, who joined Poco shortly before Young’s passing, and a member of Idlewheel along with Sundrud.
  • Bill Lloyd of Foster and Llloyd, who formed the Sky Kings with Young, and who has sat in with Poco many times while maintaining his own solo career.
  • Michael Webb, a member of Poco since 2010, and a touring musician in both John Fogerty and Hank Williams Jr.’s shows.
  • Rick Lonow, a member of Poco since 2016, also wrote the group’s hit “Call It Love.

There’s a lot of Poco DNA in that band and harmonies abound. The songwriting appears to be evenly divided among all 5 members, but it all holds together, unified by a very familiar sound.

The set was just 10 songs long, cut short either because of Webb’s looming laryngitis or because that’s all this new band has mastered. Either way, the show was an eye-opening introduction to Cimarron 615, a group that taps into decades of collective experience to create a compelling sound today.

Review: John Egan’s musical twists and turns


By Paul T. Mueller

You never know quite what you’re going to get at a show by Texas singer-songwriter and bluesman John Egan. A song title might be familiar, but most likely Egan will throw in some twists that make it sound different from what you’ve heard before – sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. This dynamic was on display at Egan’s Sept. 11 performance at Cowboy Surfer in west Houston. The 17-song set comprised both originals, including the mystical “St. Teresa” and the melancholy “Looking for a Place to Fall,” and covers, including Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” and Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Once a Gambler.”

Photo by Paul T. Mueller

All featured Egan’s gruff vocals and his masterful playing on an impressive collection of resonator guitars. Egan plays with a combination of picking, strumming and percussion, often using a slide, and the result is an almost orchestral range of sounds that bring fresh perspective to even the most familiar tunes. One big hit with the 40 or so in attendance was “Down in Houston,” a raucous account of Egan’s teenage years (he attended high school a few miles from the venue). He added a little snippet from a song by hometown heroes ZZ Top for good measure. Another high point was an as-yet-unrecorded “pandemic song” that might end up being titled “Count My Blessings,” with a sweet theme of gratitude in the face of adversity. “I’ve got an old guitar that I love to play,” Egan sang, “and I count my blessings every day.” That’s a nice message after a couple of tough years.

Steve Earle in concert, with a nod to Jerry Jeff

By Paul T. Mueller

Steve Earle’s August 31 show at Houston’s Heights Theater began with a seven-song tribute to one of Earle’s musical heroes, Jerry Jeff Walker. Fittingly, Earle opened with “Gettin’ By,” which happens to be the opening track of his latest album, Jerry Jeff, featuring 10 Walker songs, and also the first track on Walker’s iconic 1973 album ¡Viva Terlingua!.

Photo by Paul T. Mueller

Backed by his excellent band, Earle then did full justice to several more selections from Walker’s distinguished catalog, including “Gypsy Songman,” “Hill Country Rain” and, of course, “Mr. Bojangles,” which Earle said he had been singing since age 14. The band then moved into an 18-song retrospective of Earle’s own greatest hits, including “Someday,” “Guitar Town,” “Galway Girl,” “Transcendental Blues” and the classic “Copperhead Road.” All featured stellar instrumental and vocal support from The Dukes, most notably guitarist Chris Masterson and his wife, Eleanor Whitmore, on fiddle, mandolin, guitar and keyboards. After a hardly-worth-it break, the band returned for a 20-minute encore. Earle prefaced “Harlem River Blues,” written by his oldest son, Justin Townes Earle, with an alarming account of Justin’s death in 2020 by accidental overdose. That was followed by the exuberant “City of Immigrants” and an energetic take on the Grateful Dead’s “Casey Jones.” The two-hour show concluded with a lively version of The Band’s “Rag Mama Rag.” The night’s opener was The Whitmore Sisters, consisting of Eleanor and Bonnie Whitmore, plus Masterson, who’s married to Eleanor. The 30-minute set, drawn from the band’s recent album Ghost Stories, featured five original tracks and one by singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan.