Visit Austin.com to celebrate Austin, Texas! Austin.com is the web portal for everything entertaining happening in Austin, Texas.

 

 

1- How many live shows do you average a year the past 3 yrs?
Hmmm... about 200 - 250 with my band & maybe 25-70 with other bands.

2- Outside of Austin, what 3 venues in what 3 cities in USA do you love playing at?
There are far more than 30 clubs I can think of that would be tied for first choice. Fresh in my mind is Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble in Woodstock, NY. Cole and I had the extreme honor of playing at the Ramble in a band with Guy Forsyth, Will Landin and Rob Hooper a few weeks ago. That was a night of music lessons. Dang... off the top of my head, and the answers may change tomorrow, I'll go with some festivals...
We co-headlined the Rochester International Jazz Festival with Jake Shimabukuro this last summer at the Eastman Theater. That place was beautiful and the sound was amazing. (They couldn't fail - Chris and Jules are quite the sound team.)  I always love playing the High Sierra Music Festival (Quincy, CA). They make improvements to the already excellent festival every year, always leaving the grounds better than when the festival began and decreasing their footprints all around (not to mention the eclectic line-up and truly kind staff). The Telluride Blues & Brews Festival was a hoot. We were again blessed with great sound, this time courtesy of our friend Jon O.
Of course, I love to play for my family in Houston every chance I get. One can usually find us at Dan Electro's or Last Concert Cafe or Mucky Duck. All completely different venues with individual vibes. In the virtual world, I love to play Michael Nesmith's Video Ranch. There is nothing quite like it!

3- you've tour Europe, too? what 3  venues in what 3 cities did you enjoy playing at the most?
We have been so lucky to have been where we've been. Norway has always been a great place to play, Bergen and Trondheim are so grooving, but it is the Blues in Hell (Hell, NO) that stands out for me. I really loved touring Italy with Ginger Leigh. The mind-blower on that tour for me was the gig in Koper, Slovenia in front of the castle. I love the Cultuurkapel De Schaduw and the Banana Peel in Belgium equally and for different reasons. (We love Belgium in general. It's not just the best beer in the world, but great people like Conrad and Stoneman who have booked us and cared for us, as well as Guy Forsyth and Wendy Colonna.) One of our best gigs this year was in Austria at the SummerTimeBlues in Gamlitz. (That whole tour was amazing thanks to our friend Joachim.)
The thing about Europe for us is this: our friends are our agents. We all go on this adventure together. I know it is unusual, but it has been one rich experience. Having already listed over quota on this question too, I'd like to say that my home away from home is Amsterdam. It is the back of my hand. I dig walking around the city for hours and I love playing at the Maloe Melo. Back in the late 90's, on my first trip over, I stumbled into the joint. I sat in on an open mic night and played some Doug Sahm songs. Everyone sang along! I have played in Amsterdam every year on my birthday (November 9 - you are invited) as a result of that evening.
Hmmm... I know it's not Europe, but I would like to mention Kyoto as a place that feels very much like home. Shelley King and I (as a duo) toured Japan last February by the hands of the gracious Umemotosans and we look forward to our return in mid-January (as well as full band shows later in 2010).

4- Who's in your current band?
I have been blessed with Cole El-Saleh on keys and key-bass for about 8 years and Michael "Lefty" Lefkowitz on drums for the past 5 years. We travel with hand puppets and sometimes we even grab our friend Shelley Cox to help us manage the Road. It is good to travel with people you love and respect.

 

 

 

 

5- What recording studio do you prefer recording at?
Austin's own Bismeaux Studios, of course!

6- Who's the engineer/ engineers  of your sessions?
We're back at Bismeaux in between tours with the illustrious Sam Lightnin' Seifert and Ray Benson at the helm. They both have incredible ears and different approaches to time spent in the studio. It's nice to hear different ideas on any given song and they are both great to work with!

7- Tell us about your recent release. Is there a theme, for example, or a common thread to the songs?
Miss Understood was released in 2008 on Bismeaux Records. Ray Benson and I went in and recorded around 20 songs and picked out the 12 that would be on the release. We wanted to play around with arrangements and have a lot of our friends sit in. It was so fun! I figure the theme for anything I record is simple: Do I believe it? If the answer is yes, it has potential. When selecting songs for an album, it's not too dissimilar from making a set-list for a show. One tries to tell a story without repeating oneself thematically, musically or stylistically.

8- Did you write, co-write all the songs?
A little from column 'A', a little from column 'B'. I am always writing. Some of those songs stick around, others don't. It is a worthwhile experience to walk around in other people's songs, too. I loved getting to record songs by people I admire like Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines, Bruce Robison, JJ Cale... We included a song I co-wrote with my friend, Eldridge Goins. I also had a ball writing with Ray. It speaks volumes that the songs we wrote together are among the top requests at shows. Or, at least it tells me I'm not the only one who digs those songs!

9-  Do you cover any other artists' material?
In addition to the artists mentioned in my previous answer, live we throw in some songs by Los Lobos, Bob Dylan, Bo Diddley, Willie Nelson, maybe Ellington on a given night... you never know...

10- At what age did this music bug first bite you?
Music has been the one constant in my life. I cannot remember a time without either listening to or playing music. My Mom sings and plays guitar, her Mom played fiddle and taught me piano, Mom's Dad played ragtime piano. I was always surrounded by  music. I am ever grateful to get away with this. If nobody came to see me play, I would still play for myself despite the opinons of my cats.

11- What was the first coherent song you wrote... do you still play it?
I wrote a lot of goofy stuff as a kid. Started writing music on piano and composing when I was eight while sneaking in time on mom's guitars on the side. Lyrics that stuck started flowing to various degrees of success by the time I was ten. While I do not play the songs I wrote when I was in elementary school, it wouldn't surprise me if they revealed themselves in an instrumental solo when I'm not paying attention.

12-  Will you share with us your 5 biggest influences in music?
Every song I have ever heard has an influence one way or another. Moments: 1) seeing my Mom's band as a youngster, 2) having my first original live music adventure be Little Screamin' Kenny (and subsequently playing in a band with him), 3) jamming some Jimmy Reed riffs with Bob Dylan during soundcheck kept a smile on my face for the better part of a year, 4) accidentally playing an after-hours song swap with Townes Van Zandt as a teenager, 5) having the great fortune of moving in across the street from Uncle John Turner and playing in bands with him, and 6) joining Jerry Lightfoot's Band of Wonder changed my life. Oh, and being a member of the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers did, too... really, getting to play with my friends and folks I admire is a perpetual influence.

13- God has a jukebox, but only room for 10 songs. Pick your favorite song you wrote to head the ten, and then 9 more of any genre.
Aaaaaaargh! I don't have a favorite song. Songs are like kids to me. I try not to favor one over another. I guess the song we play the most would be "Judgment Day Blues".
Ravel's "Bolero", Shelley King's "Welcome Home", Doug Sahm & Bob Dylan's "Wallflower", Roy Buchanan's version of Neil Young's "Down By the River", anything by Billy Joe Shaver with Eddy Shaver playing that guitar, Les Paul and Chet Atkins' version of Duke Ellington's "Caravan", Anuradha Paudwa's version of the Gayatri Mantra, anything from Willie Nelson, any Lightnin' Hopkins, Freddie King or Hound Dog Taylor. (I guess two of those are hidden tracks. Man, I stink at staying within parameters!) If I sneak in my own mp3 player, (I suspect the musician's entrance to Heaven might be behind a dumpster shaped cloud) it'll have Ella doing Porter, some Guy Forsyth, Gatemouth Brown, Etta James, Johnny Winter, ZZ Top and Los Lobos all over it, too.

14- You in a serious relationship, and how does that work out with music?
I am always in a serious relationship with music. So far, so good!

15- Name your favorite 3 Austin restaurants.
Ming's Cafe on Guadalupe. Fai used to keep me alive with his veggie eggrolls when I was a punk kid with his Houston store in the Montrose. I am soooooo glad he moved to Austin and I don't have to miss out on his cooking. There is music on Mondays and he has the best hot mustard around. For more one of a kind sauces and good music in a relaxed room, I dig ArtZ Rib House on South Lamar. Vegetarian? Dig the skewers. Hot stuff? ArtZ on Fire habanero sauce. I have friends in Europe who ask for it every time we visit. (While you're there, check across the street at Maria's Taco X-Press! Awesome people, indoors / outdoors, music and food! Got vegan on the brain? Cross back on Lamar to Mr Natural. That is likely my favorite intersection!) Also, you gotta dig Threadgill's North and South for music, food and memorabilia or you haven't really been in Austin.

15- Where were you born, do you still have family there?
I was born outside of Houston in Webster, TX. My Mom stays in Houston part time, my Dad, Brother and Aunt all live in and around Houston.

16- What music gear do you use?
[ guitar, amp, strings, mics, reasons why, if any, you use them.]
I recently was given a really bad ass custom amplifier from Valve Tech. It is great! You can change from 4, 8, to 16 ohms to accommodate different sized rooms, and you can change the preamp settings too. Valve Tech let me pick out some of the settings, speakers, tubes and the red sparkle tolex! "Tele" is my re-issue '69 Telecaster semi-hollow (with Joe Barden pick ups), and I usually tour with her. When I'm driving on tour I bring one of the Gibsons, too. The Blueshawk, "Patty," was a gift from Patrice Pike and the Les Paul Goddess ("Leslie Pauline") was a gift from a sweet gal I played guitar with in Strait Music one afternoon. The electric mandolin, "Mandy", was made by Houston's great luthier, Gary Clark. The trumpet was a gift from Anson Long, who put up the money for us to record "Bloodless Revolution" in 2003. I usually travel with the trumpet, sometimes I will instead bring one of the coronets. I have my Aunt's coronet and a director's coronet from my friend Bruce Ward. "Lil Lappy Kali," my lapsteel, was a gift from Eldridge Goins. I sometimes travel with her and her younger lapsteel sister, "Goldie", fills in when Lappy is being cranky. It's bizarre flying with all my gear. Typically I fly with what I can fit on my back. Lappy and Tele fit in one soft case and the trumpet is either carried on or packed with CDs in my suitcase leaving very little room for clothes. This explains why pictures from the same tour feature the same pants over and over and over and over again...

17- Feel like giving us the names of TWO lesser known songwriting musicians that we need to pay attention to?
Lesser known? In relation to...? hmmm. I dig Greg Wood from Houston. He fronted the bands Tab Jones and Horseshoe and has a release, "Ash Wednesday" under his own name as well.  I also dig Megan Tubb's rock sensibilities. Sarah Brown, Patrice Pike, Guy Forsyth, Ginger Leigh and Shelley King aren't lesser known, but certainly are ones to whom more attention should be paid.

18- You can only choose one. Neither choice is good. But you must choose one. ok, hold the nose, I know you are pretty much of a liberal approach.. Rick Perry or Kaye Bailey ? [ lol...]
I nominate both of them to live on minimum wage for a year to better understand what budget cuts mean to their actual constituency.

19-  How are Texas musicians received in Europe, and are you pulling in crowds in foreign lands, getting airplay...
I think musicians in general are well received, but maybe I've just been lucky in my companions. When we first would travel to Europe, the talk would be of Johnny Winter, Townes Van Zandt, you know, Texas music. After a few years of W's presidency, the conversation became far more politicized. I don't mind. I find it encouraging to hear thoughts on Peace while walking through Flanders Field, for example. Yes, people come out more often than not! Just like home, you gotta keep doing it. Some adventurous DJ's play us. I am touched and really glad they do.

20- Choose 2 songs from your recent release. Please explain how you wrote them, was it lyrics first, melody first, both at the same time, what inspired you to write them in the first place?
"Farmer Song" came fully done in a dream. It was sung by a gentleman wearing overalls playing banjo on a hillside. (Think Buddy Ebsen doing a turn in "The Sound of Music"...) Since I feel I fished that song out of the Ether in a dream and didn't really do much of the writing, and since it has to do with farmers, I donate some of the publishing to Farm Aid. "Misunderstood" came to life while I was practicing on Lappy after watching Cindy Cashdollar play. I cannot play near her league, but just reaching for it led me to the licks that met words live on stage one night. The lyrics got a little refined and once recorded they gelled. Songs mean whatever they mean to the listener at the time.

21- You, Shelley King, Leeann Atherton, Toni Price ever consider doing a project together?
We all spontaneously played together one Barndance many full moons ago... I am always happy to play music in new situations. Shelley and I play together every chance we get! (Seriously, we play as a duo, in Sis DeVille and the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers; we could market ourselves as musical bookends.) The magic trick is bending time to play all the music you can.

22-  and last...Who was your favorite Beatle?
To me it is the chemistry of everyone involved that makes the music so magical (or is it that they made the magic musical?)... Perhaps one could relate more to one persona than another on any given day, but really very few of us who are asked this question could tell you as we never knew a Beatle personally. I figure that much like some days I wake up and feel like I'm 12 years old and the next day I might feel 80, so it could be that some days one feels like it's going to be a either a George, John, Paul or Ringo kind of day. Short answer: In my life, I loved them all.

Peace! ~ c