Monday, December 29, 2014

Johnny Bush - But I Didn't, Every Chance I Had






Singer/songwriter/drummer Johnny Bush, born John Bush Shin III in Houston, began his country career as a vocalist and guitar player in 1952 at the Texas Star Inn in San Antonio. Eventually he switched to drums and in the early '60s began working in Willie Nelson's band, the Record Men. A year later, he joined Ray Price's Cherokee Cowboys. During his three years with the band, Bush tried to cut a record deal, but the labels felt he sounded too much like Price to be marketable. Nelson stepped in and paid for Bush to cut his first album, Sound of a Heartache. After strong local response, he first hit the charts in 1967 with the minor hit "You Oughta Hear Me Cry." The next year he had three hits, including the Top Ten "Undo the Right."

In 1972, Bush had a Top 20 hit with "I'll Be There," which led to a deal with RCA and a Top Ten hit with his song "Whiskey River," which later became WillieNelson's signature song. Just as Bush reached the brink of stardom, he started to lose his vocal range. Doctors were not able to diagnose the reason until 1978, when they found he had a rare neurological disorder, spastic dysphonia. This did not prevent his recording, but his career soon took a downturn. Working with "voice builder" Gary Catona in 1985, Bush was able to bring back about 70% of his original voice. The following year he and Darrell McCall teamed up to record the successful honky-tonk album Hot Texas Country. He then assembled a large country band and began performing around San Antonio. In 1994, he and the band released Time Changes Everything and launched a major tour; RCA also released a greatest hits album.

Johnny Bush Homepage
Johnny Bush on Amazon

Delbert McClinton: Can't Nobody Say I Didn't Try



Can't Nobody Say I Didn't Try:
Delbert McClinton was born Nov. 4, 1940, in Lubbock, Texas. He honed his craft working in a bar band, the Straitjackets, backing visiting blues giants such as Sonny Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins and Jimmy Reed. He made his first recordings as a member of the Ron-Dels and was noted for his distinctive harmonica work on Bruce Channel's 1962 hit "Hey Baby." On a tour of the UK with Channel, McClinton met a young John Lennon and advised him on his harmonica technique, resulting in the sound heard on the Beatles hit "Love Me Do."

Relocating to Los Angeles in the early '70s, McClinton emerged in a partnership with fellow Texan Glen Clark, performing a combination of country and soul music. They achieved a degree of artistic success, releasing two albums before splitting, with McClinton embarking on a solo career. Emmylou Harris had a No. 1 hit in 1978 with his composition "Two More Bottles of Wine" in 1978, and McClinton's "B Movie Boxcar Blues" was used in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers. His 1980 album, The Jealous Kind, contained his hit single, "Givin' It Up for Your Love."

After a rest period during much of the '80s, McClinton made a welcome return in 1989 with the fiery album Live From Austin, taped during an Austin City Limits appearance. He won a 1991 Grammy for his duet with Bonnie Raitt, "Good Man, Good Woman," and reached the Top 5 of the country charts with the Tanya Tucker duet, "Tell Me About It." The fledgling label Rising Tide offered One of the Fortunate Few in 1997, but the label quickly folded. In addition to releasing two new studio albums in the early 2000s, New West Records issued Delbert McClinton Live in 2003, collecting songs from throughout his career.





Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Band of Heathens - Somebody Tell The Truth







Band of Heathens

Band of Heathens on Lone StarMusic





The Band of Heathens are an Americana band from Austin, Texas.

The three principal songwriters - Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist - shared the bill at Momo's, an Austin club. Originally, each singer/songwriter performed his own set. However, they eventually started sharing the stage, and collaborating together with bassist Seth Whitney.



The Wednesday night series was billed as "The Good Time Supper Club". A misprint in a local paper billed the act as "The Heathens." In 2007, drummer John Chipman joined the band.

Also notable is a version of "Ain't No More Cane", a traditional prison work song of the American south. The Austin based Band of Heathens included their distinctive arrangement of the old song on their "Live at Momo's" album.

In November 2008 the Americana Music Association announced the Top 100 Albums of the Americana Charts for 2008 and The Band of Heathens came in at No. 8, thus referencing the Band Of Heathens Album as the 8th most played record on the Americana Airplay Charts for 2008.




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Friday, January 21, 2011

Deryl Dodd - Things are Fixing to Get Real Good

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Deryl Dodd - Home



Deryl Dodd was raised in Dallas, Texas, where he played football from an early age. After a career-ending injury, Dodd was persuaded to perform music in clubs throughout the state of Texas. In 1991, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, forming a band along with Brett Beavers, now an established Nashville songwriter. Dodd later found work singing harmony vocals for Martina McBride, Radney Foster, and George Ducas, in addition to playing in Tracy Lawrence's road band, and co-writing a song on Tim McGraw's All I Want album.

Dodd signed to Columbia Records in 1996 as a solo act. His first album, One Ride in Vegas, was released that year, producing a Top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard country music charts in the Tom T. Hall-penned "That's How I Got to Memphis". One Ride in Vegas was followed by an eponymous album in 1998; that same year, Dodd was nominated as Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. His second album also produced his biggest chart hit to date in "A Bitter End", which peaked at #26 on the country charts.

In 1999, Dodd was diagnosed with viral encephalitis, forcing him to end his career. He remained bedridden for six months, and then went through eighteen months of rehabilitation (which included re-learning how to play guitar). Once he had fully recovered, he attended several writers' nights in Nashville, and was later signed as an opening act on Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul tour.

Dodd's third and final album for Columbia, Pearl Snaps, was released in 2002. Later, he recorded Live at Billy Bob's Texas, before switching to Dualtone Records in 2004 to release Stronger Proof (2004) and Full Circle (2006). In 2009, Dodd released a cover of "Together Again", originally a hit for Buck Owens.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Nicolette Good - Ramona

Nicolette Good is the most recent winner of the San Antonio Current's reader award for best singer-songwriter. (See story).

The San Antonio music scene is a venerable one, stretching in a long and unbroken line back to Doug Sahm, The Royal Jesters of doo-wop fame, and Lydia Mendoza during the Depression and WWII years.

Good has the voice, the songwriting talent, and the musical ambition to carry on that tradition - as well as adding her own unique and hard-won vision to the S.A. music scene.




ReverbNation

Nicolette Good's Blog


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Townes Van Zandt

Townes Van Zandt