Flanfire

I am fast becoming EGO's-Centric. So on Tuesday - after stopping by to catch part of the set at Threadgill's Old No. 1 by Jenny Reynolds and Jud Newcomb (always a pleasure to hear him play acoustic guitar, and Jenny is pure sweetness) - I dropped into the South Congress establishment to visit with my pals from The Texas Sapphires and stuck around for most of Bill Kirchen's weekly gig. Jeff Hughes was in the house (DO get to the Spoke for Chapparal when you can!), and during the later part of the evening he could be found cutting a rug with Sapphires songbird Rebecca Lucille Cannon.

ANNOUNCEMENT -- Sarah Dashew will be in A-town in middlemarch (La Zona Rosa on March 14 for the Ray Benson wingding and other gigs besides, and back in town in June with her full band show -- and her new CD is already available!]

Jeff says his band will be headed to the south of France on Bastille Day (July 14), his own birthday the next day, and yet another day or so to play a HUGE festival - and that the band by invitation will be introducing Jesse Dayton and Brennen Leigh to the crowds there. Jeff also introduced me to Albuquerque singer Marty Herrera (named after Marty Robbins, to be sure), who will be joining Chapparal on stage for a few numbers Thursday night. Marty also sang a couple of tunes during Kirchen's set - backed by Andrew Nafziger on lefty guitar. But more about the Texas Sapphires (so named because an old R&B group still holds claim on Sapphires).

The new CD will be out in early April, but you can already hear three of the cuts at ...
http://www.myspace.com/thetexassapphires -- Dirty Tattered Houseshoes, The Emerald Outlaw, and Bring Out the Bible. The band - Brent Malkus on guitars and vocals, Rebecca on vocals, Jeff Joiner on bass and backing vocals, Paul Schoeder on mando and banjo, and Ram Zimmerman on drums - was joined for the evening by the irascible (just kidding) Kim Deschamps on pedal steel and dobro. This band just keeps getting better and better -- do get out to the SXSW Barn Dance at Freedom Oaks to catch their set! That's March 19!

I first saw Bill Kirchen the night he fell off the stage at Emergency in Washington, DC, during a show in 1970 that featured Asleep at the Wheel (out of Paw Paw, West Virginia at the time) and Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen (all the way from Berzerkeley, California). Who cared? This was an historic event - the Commander's first show in Washington, and the place was packed with people who may have been just as wasted - even though Emergency was a teen club (run by Emmy Lou Harris and her friend) that served no alcohol and supported by suburban parents who wanted their kids to have fun in a non-drinking environment.

Tuesday night was just like the doctor ordered - Bill on guitar along with Paul Skelton from the Cornel Hurd Band, the legendary Sarah Brown (didn't know she played country, didja?), and Tom Lewis on drums. For the few who do not know, Bill is the driving force behind the classic tune, Hot Rod Lincoln - and his version of the song has always included his take on half of the guitar players (and a few others) in the known world. [Sideline -- I was at a medical facility today and my NURSE, upon learning from me that I had been to see Bill last night, said she had lived in Washington and used to go to see Bill - her very favorite - and he would imitate all of the Washington area guitar players during his set. Well, it IS his trademark! Needless to say, BJ will probably be in the house at Ego's NEXT Tuesday.]

Other Kirchen favorites included A Tombstone Every Mile, Hillbilly Truck Driving Man, and my personal favorite, Tompball Glaser's classic, Streets of Baltimore (my own personal favorite version has long been the Emmy Lou duet with Gram Parsons from a live show done for a New Jersey radio station in 1973). Best of all, though, Bill coaxed his wife of - well, they were together in 1970 on that infamous tour of which I spoke earlier - a lot of years - the very beautiful inside and out Louise - to sing a couple of numbers.

Bill and I visited about our daze in Washingtundy Sea, and he allowed as how he will be playing a show at the Kennedy Center late this month with the Rosslyn Mountain Boys (which includes my old pal Bob Berberich). But WE are privileged to just go to Ego's - nice parking lot, great bartender (and super country dancer), and one of the prime examples of the breathability enabled by the smoking ban (which I still think goes too far, but does make some formerly smoke-filled clothes not so smelly any more).