This is an unofficial and incomplete guide to the 3rd Annual Spring Fling Music Festival @ Giddy Ups in South Austin. The five different blogs may - after a crazy week full of music - help you remember and reminisce. It may also enable you to keep up with some of the musicians you have enjoyed. John Lilly - 4pm
I don't use the term "Jaw-Dropper" that often, but two years ago, John Lilly played at the first SFMF and blew me away. Only thing I knew at that point was that he won an award for writing a song ("Blue Highway") in the style of Hank Williams. But his solo-performance that night was mesmerizing, with an ease hardly ever seen, he switched from his own compositions to hillbilly, old-timey and folk tunes and let them shine as they were contemporaries, written for the 21st century and for him. I'm glad that this West Virgina native found his way back to Austin.
While I was tryin' to find a video by John, I stumbled upon this little treasure; John actually joined on "Wrong Wrong Wrong" by steel guitar ace Kayton Roberts, who played over two decades with Hank Snow.
John Lilly & Kayton Roberts
Mark Henricks - 5pm,
He's a singer/songwriter, entertaining in Austin since 2010. Besides his own compositions which you can hear in the embedded widget, he also covers Robert Earl Keen, James Taylor and Willis Alan Ramsey.
Mark Henricks on ReverbNation
Jim Ray Wyly & The Lunar Rollers - 6pm
Jim Ray Wyly can't be boxed in, he's country, he's folk, he has a blues-edge, there's some rock and a lot of Texas. After playing for several years with "Movin' Target", he decided to try to walk down some new avenues and concentrate on some of his songwriting. He's hoping to soon release a new record, actually that may be two, or three; there are always several projects going on. Tonight he will be premiere his new band the Lunar Rollers.
Jim Ray Wyly on ReverbNation
Around the Clock - Honky Tonk
In the late 80s and early 90s Austin had quite a big Honky Tonk country music scene, Don Walser, Junior Brown, Wayne "The Train" Hancock, Justin Trevino, Rod Moag, High Noon and many others would regularly visit the place to be: "Henry's Bar & Grill" on Burnet Road. Unfortunately that mother church of local music closed on Halloween '92 and was replaced by a car-parts store. I toured with some of the cats playing tonight in Europe, where they still dig "country" and don't really care for what's released by Nashville these days.
Well a lot has changed in Austin since then, but there is still a lot of talent around that keep the traditional aspect of country music alive. Some of these bands play tonight at Spring Fling Music Festival as a loosely gathering called "Around The Clock Honky Tonk". Keep the tradition alive means songs about Whiskey, Women, Cheating, Lost Love and other Hangovers - well you get the picture, bring your dancin' boots!
Ted Roddy & The Hit Kickers - 7pm
Ted Roddy & the Talltops were actually one of the sought after bands in the 80's and 90s. Famous for his burlesque lounge shows with the Naughty Ones, or his legendary "Ted Roddy Elvis Show" (which can celebrate 1/4 century this year) or as a thought after sideman, lifted him into the "Chronicle" Austin Music Hall of Fame. Ted is the ultimate Roots musician and he will be a guest a Giddy Ups with his country outfit "The Hit Kickers"
Jim Stringer & The A.M. Band - 8pm
Jim Stringer aka Gentleman Jim is one of the most demanded sideman here in Austin. Being in the music business for several decades, he realized when he came to Austin, that there is only a certain number of people ("x") who are able of playing "your kind of music". These musicians would play with several bands, so your side(wo)men would change to the availability. So Jim came up with following fictional formula x times your kind of music divided by availbilty = A.M. Band which simply stands for Austin Music(ians).
Li'l Mo & The Monicats - 9pm
Being a country/roots artist in New York is a tough one, but that's exactly what Li'l Mo does. Originally a member of the Twanglers, she co-founded the Harmonicats, which become Li'l Mo & The Monicats. Perks of being in New York, means that you may actually play Christie's Auction House, as the Monicats did when Roy Rogers and Dale Evans estate was on the block. Li'l Mo is also an excellent designer and kudos to her for designing the flyer for "Around The Clock - Honky Tonk".
She's rebuilding her website right now, but that's the link.
Arty Hill & The Pearl Dusters - 10pm
Arty is another adopted Austinite, even though not living in the Texas capital, he makes sure to at least come two, three times to central Texas and show the locals that country music actually can be done outside of the Lonestar state. For his three albums "Back On The Rail", "Bar of Gold" and "Montgomery On My Mind" he earned rave reviews all over the country, as being the one male country vocalist, where the bar is set.
Where ever I went in 91/92 to go see good country music, this gal was always there, sometimes just sketching portraits of the artists playing.Well some years later I saw her performing as well and then some songs started surfacing, which were the real deal and were written by Teri Joyce. It sure took her a while to release her debut album, but she immediately hit the Freeform American Roots (FAR) chart and was able to actually place that album on top of the charts. British journalist, Duncan Warwick put it this way into Country Music People: "I've waited a long time for this record, and my unrealistically high expectations have actually been exceeded." He awarded the album a maximum five stars.
Roger Wallace - 12am (midnight)
The first time I saw Roger was at a small club in North Austin, called Buddy's, after a friend told me to check this new guy in town out. Well, four albums later, several tours overseas, two of which I was part of, Roger still writes and belts 'em out with a voice that makes him a "stylist" who is immediately recognizable. Billy Block from Western Beat Radio put this way "Roger Wallace stands hat and shoulders above the throng of would-be Texas country stars emerging from the Lone Star State." There's not more to say, just sit back, relax and listen.
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See you tomorrow!
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