Flanfire

So much music - so little time to write. Nancy Coplin reminded me (while we were at the Whitmore Sisters show with Chris Masterson on Monday) that I had not told my friends about the amazing Wendy Colonna show at Antone's last week -- and I realized I had been having too much fun and not sharing the joy. Please forgive.

Antone's -- Clifford would be proud that his beloved venue is still the place for people to truly showcase their talent in Austin. And thanks to ME TV for filming Wendy's show (and many others too, see below). We are talking lots of tables with white tablecloths plus tapestries and such on the stage and Wendy first all dressed up and later in a funkier (but very stylish) outfit. Harmoni Kelley on bass, Chad Pope on guitar, the amazing El Goins on drums, and Dave Madden (who had opened with a solo set) on keyboards -- including the fabulous Antone's Hammond B3-plus organ.

The Lake Charles Mafia was out in full force, along with lots of special musical guests -- Will Taylor and Shawn Sanders of Strings Attached, Nakia, Ed Jurdi, Shelley King, Kat Edmondson, and Simon Wallace (on harmonica!). Wendy did old old songs, new songs, brand new songs (including maybe the best song she has ever written, "Your Parade," which she wrote while reading "Peter Pan" -- well, what else would you expect WENDY to be reading?).

From the opening number, "Oh My Love," through the very new "Bound to Fall" to "Easy" and "October" and "Vacancy" and ending with "Coffee Today," Wendy reminded the big crowd that she is the queen of the poignant ballad (and just why any guy would break her heart is mystifying to me). But then on "Girls of Stone" and "Sodom" and and the smokin' duet with the Chadster on Ike and Tina's "Someday", Wendy shows she can rock the house, too. A special treat was Wendy's timeless rendition of the Neal Kassanoff jewel, "Noah." Yet another highlight was "Does It Satisfy?" which featured some NASTY guitar by Chad Pope and harmonica by Simon Wallace.

The only thing apparently keeping Wendy from being recognized worldwide as the superstar she is might be Norah Jones' agent (if you get the drift). This woman left the huge room at Antone's spellbound -- and I can hardly wait to hear "Your Parade" ten more times. The great news -- ME TV recorded the whole show, and presumably will edit and broadcast much of what we were so privileged to meld into on this magical evening. Hopefully, there will be a DVD.

Mind you, earlier that afternoon I had stopped by Waterloo Records to catch a live preview of the Greencards' new CD (though I missed their Saturday night show at Threadgill's while waiting to pick up friends whose flight had been delayed) and by Irie Bean Coffeehouse on South Lamar to hang out while the lovely Rachel Lynn serenaded folks with passing cars nearby. What can be said -- Kym, Carol, Eamon and the ever-present guest guitarist Robbie Gjersoe knocked out TEN SONGS for free beer at John's K's joint, doing "Mucky the Duck" TWICE (Carol claimed she had missed some notes, and they too were recording the set). Keep an ear out especially for "River of Sand."

Friday night was equally special, as the lovely Nancy and I took the handsome grandson Caleb to the Green Mesquite for an evening with Abi Tapia and the All Curl Band (Lauren Gurgiolo and Bonnie Whitmore -- no straight hair allowed). How can I have waited to long to hear Abi, who is also one of the coolest women in Austin? I was having too much fun to take notes, and I will thus save my review for another visit to her stage.

Then on Saturday when I DID get my Canadian friends from ABIA, I took them to the Carousel where we mourned the loss of our beloved (and Canada-born) Stella Boes but cheered Eve Monsee and the Exiles and especially Brent Malkus with his Texas Sapphires (who were also recording a song for ME TV for its special on the Carousel). What can one say -- Rebecca Lucille never looked lovelier or sang better, and the band was smokin' hot.

Then on Monday it was back to Antone's (as mentioned earlier) to see Bonnie and Eleanor Whitmore PLUS Chris Masterson (who just moved from Jack Ingram and his two No. 1 country music hits in 2006 to Son Volt, just in time to promote their new CD now that his pal Brad Rice is touring with Keith Urban). Bonnie is an old pal from our Shelley King cruise days, and Eleanor I know best from her environmental work but also for her haunting fiddle and mandolin work with Slaid Cleaves (who was in the house) and many others (now including Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis).

The great news is that both of these beautiful women have taken giant steps in their songwriting careers, both individually and in collaboration. Eleanor is now letting us all know that her voice is just as refined an instrument as the fiddle she plays so well while sharing with us the innermost secrets of her heart. I guess we will have to wait a while (till Chris either ends or has a break from the Son Volt tour) to get more of this good stuff, but it will be worth waiting for (and by that time we may have a whole bunch of even newer songs). I have long held that one way to judge the quality of an artist is by what other musicians show up to hear them sing and play -- and by that standard, this too was a special night at Antone's. BUT MORE TO COME -- Reckless Kelly's Cody Braun and his lovely bride Kathleen O'Keefe share the stage NEXT MONDAY (and who knows what "friends" may drop by).

And just to catch you all up, Ego's on Tuesday featured (in order) Sunny Sweeny (just back from The Grand Ole Opry), Leeann Atherton (I FINALLY got my review copy of "Mama's House" and Leeann promised that her NEXT CD will be done all at one time in the same studio AND that she is planning to go on tour worldwide later this year), and the best set I have yet to hear (with more surely to come) from the recently reconstructed Slowtrain. There's hardly time to tell much about these sets, except that Sunny DID sing "Delta Dawn" taking advantage of having Tanya Tucker's guitarist on stage with her and that Leeann debuted her brand new ELECTRIC guitar -- and that you all would be wise to check out Slowtrain, fronted by keyboardist Adoniram Lipton and drummer Brett Staggs (with Andy Keating on guitar and Matt Roth on bass). Named for a Dylan song, these guys blew away Ms. Atherton who did not even get to stick around for their covers of The Band. These guys have a Wednesday residency at the Triple Crown in San Marcos but will hold forth at Bull McCabe's on Friday afternoon ... and MAY have a BIG SURPRISE residency in Austin soon .... details to follow.

Flanfire -- Bringing LIFE to Austin music.