Flanfire

Back during South by Southwest, bassist Jason Vopni of The Hudsons was assaulted and seriously injured, breaking his jaw, and like most Austin musicians needed a little extra help to make up for lost income. SOooooo -- naturally, his friends decided to help him out -- and to start a new tradition in the process, the first of what is planned as an annual Jawbreaker Fest! This year Jason was the primary beneficiary (in addition to everyone who attended the show and heard some great music!) -- but this and all future events also support the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. [As a former beneficiary of one of Austin's legendary benefit concerts, I can tell you the spiritual lift you get from seeing all the love being poured out is as long-lasting as the cash brought in is of immediate value.]

My own memory of the Hudsons dates back to another benefit concert -- the Empty Bowls event -- when Brian Hudson and Hudson Mueller were still in high school and playing every Thursday at Waterloo Ice House on Sixth and Lamar. The first time I saw Phoebe and Jason in the band (I believe) was on a Sunday afternoon at the dearly departed Alice's Restaurant in Niederwald. Back then, who knew that they would one day be voted as Best Folk Combo in Austin by readers of the Austin Chronicle -- or that the Hudsons would graduate to Momo's on Thursdays and play the Kerrville Folk Festival. OR that Phoebe Hunt would be on this night playing her last AUSTIN show with the Hudsons (at least for the foreseeable future), as she will depart after this Sunday's Kerrville show for the East Coast on tour with the Belleville Outfit (which includes Marshall Hood and other former members of the Deschamps Band).

So it was with great joy that Phoebe, along with Jason himself, was the star of the evening in her simple sundress, fiddle, "sanging" and of course her big smile and her Johnson ukulele. Ricky Stein and Idgy Vaughn opened the show with stellar solo sets, and then Phoebe took the stage by storm playing fiddle with the Jitterbug Vipers -- Slim Ritchie, Francie Meaux Jeaux, Emily Gimble, and James Gwynn. Emily and Phoebe (who have also performed together in the Phoebejeebies on Sundays at Momo's) sing like sisters -- and fit right in with the seasoned pros Slim and Francie, Austin's best jazz duo for both their skills and their colorful outfits and personalities. The bonus performance of this set was Hudson Mueller's uptempo [and very Sinatra-like] version of "All of Me," but anyone who came to the show got their money's worth just listening to Slim's solos (not to mention Emily's and Phoebe's and Francie's). And, yes, the band dragged Jason up for their encore song.

MICHAEL CORCORAN ALERT -- If anyone doubts that Austin is still the Live Music Capital of the World, a handy-dandy videotape of this night's show would be all the evidence one needed!

Seth Walker and Lindsay Greene; Leslie loves the camera!

Those who had eaten their fill of chicken fried steak and all the great veggies were next treated to yet another five-star musical entree -- Seth Walker, backed by bassist Lindsay Greene. Seth did some oldies (well, ALL of his songs sound like oldies!), some blues, "You Don't Know Me" (by his country cousin Cindy Walker), a brand-new song, "She's Makin' Me Dance," brand-new from his new CD, "Two Feet Left to the Ceiling," his ode to Katrina survivors, and my personal favorite, "Steady (Kind of Love)" (and more -- but one NEVER gets enough of the guy who makes "Slow Hand" Clapton sound staccato). I remain convinced that Seth lives in another time and just comes out to sing for us.

But golly gosh gee whiz -- the Hudsons themselves (Jason included -- and yes his recovery is nearly complete) were up next, and what a gorgeous show they put on .. including Phoebe singing "Oceans Away" as a prelude to her upcoming departure. She also did a song about being "High," and of course Brian and Hud Mayoral candidate Leslie was the emcee for the evening -- all decked out in a black dress with a big slit in the back and a tiara to indicate his status in this town. And, yes, those who did not have to take a four-year-old party goer back to his mom got to hear sets from Warren Hood and the Hoodlums and the South Austin Jug Band.

Now the circle goes back to its origin -- as the Hudsons will soon be returning to Waterloo Ice House for their old Thursday gig -- without Phoebe. Hud and Brian have grown up a LOT since I first saw them -- and odd as it seems, I have only rarely seen their shows even though I have always been a HUGE fan. Guess I just always believed they were A-OK and had lots of support. But I gotta get out to these new shows ... and really catch up on what the boys have been doing while I was on the other side of the world a couple of clubs down.

NOW -- I must confess I think I forgot to tell my friends about my recent visit to the Hyde Park Theatre -- to catch a really cool music show by Martin Crane (the minimalist par excellance!) and Seahorse. Seahorse this night included David Lee Hess (King Tears), Chris Downey, Billy Cassis (Soulhat), and John Thomasson -- this is powerful, quiet music that nevertheless is not so much soothing as challenging ... your senses and your perceptions. On some songs, it ws just Hess and Downey (and some electronic additions); Cassis brought out some curious instruments (quite a variety), and I would have had a longer story but I was called away mid-set.

Crane amazed me with the simplicity of his music that nonetheless was very communicative -- I clearly heard some Jim Morrison rhythms on a few songs (hard to describe but the Doors had some unusual beat structures on songs like Roadhouse, for example) ... and yet he was more like Donovan meets Bowie (that is, naive and yet worldly wise at the same time) .... It now appears his band has evolved into "Brazos" -- with Nathan Stein and Paul Price plus Estaban Cruz ... though I saw a trio with bass and stripped down drum kit and Martin's occasionally used guitar ... Indeed, Martin reminds me somewhat of the Zookeeper (Chris Simpson) in his singular approach to songs .... I would love to see this same show a couple or three more times (sorry, no photos because it was a dark, intimate room that I did not want to disturb). Almost forgot to mention that the show was put together by Charlie Roadman, a local attorney whose brother plays drums in Buttercup (and who manages his brother's band). I doubt that Charlie made a profit from the evening, but I HIGHLY recommend this venue for more intimate musical events.

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.

Marshall Jones:
King of the Wild "Frontier"

No, the nymph playing the violin on the CD jacket is NOT Sarah Stollak, who really DOES play the fiddle with Marshall Jones and the Frontier Phrenologists.

Okay -- we got THAT out of the way. Now back to music -- and things that go "brain bump" in the night.

Marshall Jones many years ago had a band called Dark Holler that put out a couple of cheaply done recordings of their own songs plus songs in the public domain. I really liked Dark Holler. I like the Phrenologists even more.

Now, the CD features Ryan Gould on the standup bass, but live at Woody's last Thursday (and they will be back every Thursday in May from 7 till 9) it was just Jones, Stollak, Aaron Hinojosa on banjo, and Gareth Broesche on mandolin and occasional ukulele.

The CD opens with "Phrenology Rag," an instrumental written by Broesche and Stollak, which is followed by Stollak's "Raise a Ruckus." Here and on various other songs, original lyrics are intertwined with lyrics and music in the public domain. Nine of the 16 songs on the CD are Jones originals, starting with the baleful ballad, "Every Girl I've Ever Loved" (is with another guy tonight). Sarah Stollak (a singer-songwriter in her own right who also plays fiddle with the Lonesome Heroes) is a real find for Jones -- her alto harmonies and mischievous eyes are a perfect foil for his understated wry humor.

"Long Gone Daddy" is the song from which Dark Holler got its name -- here, Hinojosa's banjo and Broesche's mandolin and Stollak's fiddle all take solos. Then there is the unforgettable "Jerry, Django and Billy Joe" (they got 24 fingers between them) -- a tale about lost love in Louisiana and overcoming one's own deficiencies. This song, I hear, is already a radio favorite.

Jones and company do justice to some old gospel ballads -- "Turtle Dove" and "Ezekiel Saw the Wheel" -- and to other old standards, "Georgetown Jail," "Salty Dog," and the Cajun "J'ai vu la Loup" -- plus a spruced up version of the old Dark Holler favorite, "Shame and Scandal," a tale of supposed incest and other familial skulduggery.

But again, it is the Marshall Jones originals -- some of which seem one or two centuries old -- that make this CD a MUST for any good collection: "Slow Down," another Jones-Stollak duet about, well, driving a car (but it could just as easily be a horse and buggy); "Out on the Avenue," a real old-timey ditty with a joyous mandolin solo (this song is great to dance to); and "Come September," about a lad (born in Vicksburg) who wants to know "how high the cotton will grow when it comes September" -- a total celebration of rural life in an America long forgotten by most city folks today.

"The Ballad of Bonnie Parker," though, has to be the crown of this creation -- Jones even includes some of Clyde Barrow's woman's own poetry (and gives her songwriter credit). This is Woody Guthrie style songwriting -- and oddly enough, Jones says most of his audience does not even realize who Bonnie Parker was. What has happened to our history?

Now if you want a real treat, keep the CD rolling after "Shame and Scandal" and after a long pause the band celebrates a "Waterloo Sunset" -- that wonderful Kinks song (from Ray Davies) that is just as appropriate for Austin as for the original inspiration (Waterloo Bridge in London). Gotta love that fiddle here! San Antonio's Buttercup also does this great song, and I hear they have a brand new extended play (five songs?) CD that ought to be worth a listen.

Dark Holler was always a lot of fun, but equally dysfunctional. The Frontier Phrenologists, by contrast, appear to be on their way to bigger and better things -- this band just oozes real life and real community-based old-fashioned fun -- more like the Austin Lounge Lizards than the South Austin Jug Band, but wholly themselves.

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.

Stefanie's Crooked Smile!