Author: Jim Stringer
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #29 Sept-Oct 2000
Merle Travis – The Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation (1946-1953)
Merle Travis is a guitar god. In our age of hype, that term has been as liberally applied as hot sauce on a Texas taco. However, in the pantheon of pickers, Merle Travis is Zeus. Furthermore, if Merle Travis had been only a guitarist, he would a legend for that alone. Travis, though, was a [...]
Town and Country - Shorter Artist Feature from Issue #8 March-April 1997
Bruce Robison – Deep in the heart of outlaw country
In a just world, you’d never find the milk carton empty after you’ve filled a bowl with your breakfast cereal. Your hometown team would snatch the World Series from the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth in game seven — two years in a row. Your band would be offered a prime-time SXSW showcase, [...]
Miked - Live Reviews from Issue #7 Jan-Feb 1997
32nd Anniversary Celebration – Broken Spoke (Austin, TX)
Tradition runs deep as a wagon rut at the Broken Spoke. In fact, it’s hard to express a thought relative to “Th’ Spoke” without using the word “tradition.” Tires crunch on loose stones as cars dodge the potholes in the parking lot; Kitty Wells has heard that crunch. The handle of the front door is [...]
Farther Along - Obituary from Issue #7 Jan-Feb 1997
Faron Young: 1932 to 1996
In those days, there were giants: honky-tonk heroes, men whose very names — Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Carl Smith — conjure images of dance halls, beer spilled on a hardwood floor, ill-fated romance in cheap motel rooms. Their powerful voices over a relentless swing groove had a direct line to America’s soul. It [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #2 Winter 1995
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys – Learning what’s Rite from Lefty and Hank (Thompson, that is)
They travel in a 1949 Flexible bus. Their stage attire is pure Hank Thompson, circa 1955. But to think of Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys as 1990′s resurgence of Sha-Na-Na-ism would be a profound mistake. “We don’t really think about it,” says Robert Williams, aka Big Sandy, of the vintage trappings. “Our tastes have [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #2 Winter 1995
Wayne Hancock – Thunderstorms and Neon Signs
It’s inevitable that within the span of that same breath that first mentions Wayne Hancock, you’ll also hear “…sounds like Hank Williams.” It’s true. Looking like a character from a John Steinbeck novel, Wayne Hancock invites comparisons to country pioneers. The simple the fact that Wayne “sounds like Hank” might be enough to pique the [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #5 Sept-Oct 1996
Lloyd Maines – The reins run plainly in the veins
The map of West Texas is dotted with towns bearing names such as Plainview, Levelland and Grassland. In this case, each word is worth a thousand pictures. Marking the southern boundary of the Great Plains, West Texas is big, and it’s flat. If you’re a kid growing up in Lubbock, centerpiece of this big sky [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #4 Summer 1996
Bill Kirchen – Have Love, Will Travel
When rock ‘n’ roll crawled onto land in the 1950s, it emerged from the morass comprising jump blues, rhythm & blues, country, and hillbilly music. Around 1970, when rock ‘n’ roll was only as far removed from its humble beginnings as today’s music has advanced along the evolutionary chain from, say, A Flock of Seagulls, [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #3 Spring 1996
Ned Henry – The Simple and the Beautiful
Ned Henry defies those that would categorize music. This is not at all unusual in Austin, Henry’s adopted home. The legacy of Texas musical giants enfolds one on all sides: country from Bob Wills to Dale Watson; blues from T-Bone Walker to Ian Moore; the singer-songwriter tradition from Willie Nelson to Townes Van Zandt; the [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #1 Fall 1995
Pete Anderson – Working Class / Stephen Bruton – Right on Time
Both of these artists are outstanding pickers and prolific producers. Pete Anderson not only is Dwight Yoakam’s top twanger and tweaker but has also lent his multiple talents to Blue Rodeo, Michelle Shocked and others. Stephen Bruton has performed with Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and Bob Dylan; his production credits include Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Alejandro [...]
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