Hello everybody. Hope this finds you well. Aside from a few blasts of severe weather it’s been a lovely spring here in Austin, one of the nicer ones I can recall since moving down here in 2004. Alas, Summer is upon us now as the temps and humidity are gradually rising. I get a brief reprieve though—as I write this I’m headed out on a 10-day tour through the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. Looking forward to catching up with friends and family along the way.
I’ve been staying very busy as usual. Here are a few highlights from the past few months:
SXSW—Along with a couple of my compadres in BOH I was fortunate to work with Tim Showalter aka Strand of Oaks on a batch of shows for the festival this year. He has a new record out that features most of My Morning Jacket as his backing band as well as Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires. Needless to say it sounds amazing and it was a lot of fun digging into that material for a week. Tim has such a great spirit and jovial personality so we hit it off immediately (by the end of day 1 we had already compared notes on our favorite Dead shows and shared stories of seeing Phish in the late 90’s/early 2000’s). After a decade of doing SXSW I’d say that “official showcases” are usually pretty lousy. Bad sound, overcrowded green rooms/backstage areas, crazy load-in scenarios, etc. Unfortunately, the first show of the SXSW week for Strand of Oaks was no different; but after that the shows really kicked ass. The highlight was definitely Willie Nelson’s Luck Family Reunion. It’s arguably the best party of SXSW every year (probably because it’s the furthest away from downtown Austin?!) and is impeccably curated in terms of lineup and amenities. It was an absolutely glorious day and we played as the sun went down in the pristine Texas Hill Country. Side note: Tim had left the festival the day before to play the Colbert show in NY (with MMJ, Isbell and Shires as his backing band) which likely added to the buzz factor at Luck. People were really packed in there and ready for a show. And after all the BS we had to overcome at the official showcase two nights earlier the band was comfortable, dialed in and ready to rip it. It turned out to be a truly fantastic evening. Since that show I have run into a handful of people around town who were there and they enthusiastically proclaimed it their favorite show of SXSW. Strand Of Oaks is hitting it hard the rest of the year touring in support of the new record. If you get the chance, don’t miss it. Here’s a video of his performance on Colbert.

Willie Nelson 86th birthday tribute—Speaking of Willie, I was part of the house band put together by the great Bruce Robison for a show honoring Willie on his 86th birthday. The show was performed at a ritzy private club in east Austin called the Pershing and was recorded live to two inch tape and filmed for a live stream on Facebook. The house band consisted of Cody and Willie Braun from Reckless Kelly, the indefatigable Scott Davis on bass, Marty Muse on pedal steel, and Geoff Queen on guitar. There were many fantastic guests who really poured their hearts into it: Cody Canada, Paula Nelson, Dallas Wayne, Gary P. Nunn, Kelley Mickwee, Jamie Lin Wilson, Tony Kamel, Bonnie Bishop, Kelly Willis, Caitlin Butts, Miles Zuniga, Dan Dyer, Mike Barfield and more. You can watch the entire show here

Studio work—A few notable sessions from the last two months that I’m excited about: Carrie Rodriguez & Evan Felker (their voices sound amazing together), Shakey Graves (incredible vocal performance on a Roger Miller tune), Aaron Beavers (full length LP is going to be fantastic), Suzanna Choffel (who 35 weeks pregnant at the time, sang and played beautifully on an original tune, “Song For The Lost Mamas” which was released on Mother’s Day, click here to check it out). Most recent was a session with Rodney Crowell for the Next Waltz. What an honor to be able to work with a man I consider to be one of the greatest living songwriters. With Bruce Robison producing and interviewing Rodney on the fly (the session was filmed for a Next Waltz release) we cut five songs in a little over three hours, straight to tape. Old school! Rodney’s energy was awesome throughout. I’ve been able to work with him a handful of times over the last few years and one thing that strikes me about him is how he treats everybody the same. Whether it’s a sound man, a production assistant, security personnel, or a random keyboardist in the house band, he always makes eye contact and is very present. Very cool dude.

New album from Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis comes out on June 21st. Check out the superbly animated video for Bruce’s original “Astrodome”

Also worth checking out: Deadeye plunging headlong into the 1973 gem, Here Comes Sunshine

“Those people who recognize that imagination is reality’s master, we call “sages”, and those who act upon it, we call “artists”.
~Tom Robbins

Take care y’all,
TN