Flanfire

As Arlo Fest nears, we gathered at Maria's Taco X-Press on Friday night to catch an unusual (that is, electric, full band) evening with Leeann Atherton. Our favorite diva was joined by the usual suspects - Sunny Coleman on a sweet little Gibson electric guitar and Michael John Jackson on his well-worn acoustic guitar - plus Speedy Sparks on bass (and some vocals) and a guy named Rusty on drums. Highlights included Sunny's rendition of the John Lee Hooker song, "Boom Boom" (which included extended solos by both guitarists), and Leeann's version of the old (Grammy nominated in 1958) Peggy Lee hit, "Fever." [Did you know that Peggy Lee wrote all the music for Disney's Lady and the Tramp?] As usual, Leeann and the boys left the audience crying for more, but Maria's has a stiff policy of not going after nine o'clock, so the still well satisfied crowd will have to wait till next Friday to get more of Leeann's soul food.

And what a lineup it will be on June 9 down in Niederwald - starting at noon and hosted by Ky Hote and Owl Morrison and featuring the likes of Carolyn Wonderland, Dana Cooper and Shake Russell, Guy Forsyth, Leeann herself, the Slaves of Utopia, Jelly Jar, the Back Porch Vipers, Moe Hansum Blues Band, Wade Barfield, and of course Sarah Guthrie and Johnny Irion and the irrepressible Arlo Guthrie himself. There is also an acoustic stage with a number of performers for those wanting to sit under a canopy and gorge down some of Alice's great food. But tickets are scarce - get em at www.starticketsplus.com or call 469-SHOW.

Earlier in the week we were blessed with an opportunity to munch some morsels, taste some Texas vintage from Marble Falls, and catch a special presentation of "Hank Williams - Lost Highway" at the Zachary Scott Theatre. When we arrived, I learned that my pal (and flanfire reader) Chris Rhoades was one of the stars of the show, playing Hank's bass player Hoss. Chris' band mate Kenneth Brian (a Florida Panhandle native now based in Nashville) had won the role as Hank after being seen at the Continental Club a few months back by the show's musical director and producer. Neither of these guys had ever acted on stage before - but both did quite credible jobs. They were joined on stage by two members of the Western Swing Hall of Fame -Austin's Herb Steiner on steel guitar and fiddler Walt Roberts, who is based in Branson with the Baldknobber Hillbilly Jamboree. Sara Kendrick (who may be from Dallas) played Hank's wife Audrey (and an anonymous waitress), and longtime Austin theatre performers Rick Perkins and Janis Stinton had dual roles as well and also lent their voices to the show.

Most folks know a little of Hank's story - that he died on New Year's Day in 1953 - the very month my fiddle-playing grandfather died at the age of 90. Hank was just 29, but he had lived a hard and fast life and never took care of his own health. Sorta like Jim Morrison and even Gram Parsons - two others who never saw their thirtieth birthday but made huge impressions in the music world. One major difference, of course, is that Hank left behind children (and now grandchildren) who followed him into the music business. Hank's second wife Billie Jean (to whom he was wed for only a few months) later married Johnny Horton, who made her a widow for the second time when he died on a Texas highway in 1960. That said, Lost Highway is a sad sad story that shows a little of the torment of a soul unable to hear the call of God even though he wrote such great gospel tunes as "I Saw the Light."

Later that evening, Kenneth, Chris, and Herb - plus a drummer named Steve - took the stage at the Hole in the Wall after Wednesday night favorites the WT Special, a band which proudly calls its music "drunkabilly" and proves the name over and over while selling a lot of beer for the club. In the house were members of the wildly popular Austin based drinking band The Weary Boys, two of whom got up on stage with the Kenneth Brian band to make quite a night of honky tonk glory. Kenneth is a fine lead guitarist who did not get to show that talent off while playing Hank, and Chris Roades is one of the better slap bass players anywhere. Parlay that with the legendary Herb Steiner and you have a really fine shew! Brian oddly does not cover Hank but does do some great renditions of Ernest Tubb and Hank Snow songs. Strangely, his new songs that he showed off (not on his current CD - check out www.kennethbrian.com) are all ballads, and did not work as well with the band or the audience which wanted the pure red meat and high energy stuff. Two of his best were "Something's Wrong with the Jukebox" and "Wide Open Spaces" (no, not THAT WOS). Catch the Hank show if you have the cash, but catch the Kenneth Brian band at the Continental, Ego's or wherever they are playing while he is still in town. The funny story here is that Chris (who had gigged with Wayne the Train Hancock and played on the latest Weary Boys CD) had left Austin and headed to Nashville to work with Kenneth and then got dragged back to A-town for this theatre gig, making more money than he probably ever had in any Austin club AND getting to hang out and play with old pals. A great reward for a fine player and real gentle soul.