Flanfire

Austin just HAS to welcome Tahni Handal. Just ask anyone who attended her CD release party on Sunday night at Ruta Maya. Tahni - a California emigre - is a guitar player-singer-songwriter and mother whom we got to know quite a while back while we were following Jessica Shepherd around to Ross' Old Austin (on far north Lamar). She just had this drive, this sense of searching for herself and her music, her place in the sun.

Two years and a lot of hard work later, Back Again is now out - in style. The CD cover is a photo (by Bowie sports photographer John Silvey) of a painting by Kim Lawrence of a photo by John Silvey .... it's a Japanimation style photo of Tahni herself. Way cool. The jacket has more photos of Tahni and her Emme Lou - plus one of coproducer Woody Russell, who contributes vocals to several of Tahni's songs - including the powerful Soldier on This Road. [Woody will have his own CD out in early 2005 - just in time for the Newport Folk Festival.]

All the songs are Tahni originals -- from poignant ballads like These Hands and My Little Dream to the funky Big Talker to the Western rock of Lonesome Cowboy to the bluesy Walk the Line to the psychedelic Give Me a Sign. Tahni plays most of the guitar leads, and Russell is all over the CD - with help from folks like drummer Paul Roraback of Gideon's Press and Kim Deschamps of the Charlie Robison Band.

At the CD release, Tahni was backed by the Glenn Rexach Trio, featuring Steve Zirkel on bass and two different drummers (one had to leave early for another gig), plus lap steel player Danny Bennett (who often plays with Russell) and two very fine very good harmony vocalists -- Tina Allen and Colleen Schoonmaker -- who sounded as though they had been singing together for years. The band really started SMOKIN' when Tahni picked up her electric guitar and sang her ode to her blown amplifier (a new song not on the CD). Tahni promises a return to Ruta Maya in early 2005 - to record a live CD with her band mates. Hopefully, she will be booking other gigs to promote Back Again - so that more people can hear this wonderful music.

I had just been at Ruta Maya three nights earlier for the Austin Daze First Thursday bash featuring two of Austin's very favorite women - Leeann Atherton and Toni Price. Not that the two dames are not worth the price of admission all by themselves, it only gets better when Leeann has Jackson and Sunny Coleman (plus a hot percussionist named Buffalo) and Toni has Country Matt Giles, Willie Pipkin of the South Austin Jug Band, and Warren Hood (whose new band will be playing Sunday nights at Momo's starting this week). It was a great night to dance one's socks off.

Nearly as much fun was spending Friday evening with the Brennen Leigh Band (with Lonnie Key on guitar and banjo), with Leo Rondeau and the Indian Cowboys opening. The food at Ross' Old Austin is always yummy and comforting ... and Ross and his sons are great good old boys. Brother Seth Hulbert is off to Florida for a month, with Brennen not far behind, so others may be showing up at their Evangeline Cafe residency for a few weeks.

Grandson duties kept us from getting out to a Hill Country winery to see Bonnie and Blythe on Saturday, but the news is that Jamie is back from her California vacation and the girls are better than ever. I also slept through Shelley King at Jovita's on Saturday night - but plan to catch her, Carolyn Wonderland, and Floramay Holliday on Wednesday at Artz' - before (hopefully) going to see Slaid Cleaves and Andrew Walker on Thursday at the Cactus.