Shiner Rising Star, KHYI, 2013 – Rd 2, Wk 4

Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer — For full sets of pictures, click on the links below.

Judges Mark Jabben, Rodney Parker, Chuck Taylor

It’s all over now but the Shiner Rising Star finals. And Thursday night’s final showdown of Round 2 was definitely a challenge between the Lauren Alexander Band and Buffalo Ruckus.

The night’s judges, KHYI’s Chuck Taylor, Kona Guitar’s Product Specialist Mark W. Jabben, and singer/songwriter/musician Rodney Parker chose Buffalo Ruckus as the band to go into Round 3, aka the finals.

The Lauren Alexander Band, however, made the Buffalo boys run for their money.

She and her band, made up of Richie Kindle on lead guitar, Chris Pitts on bass, and Jeff Odom on drums, presented a good blend of rock and country and dashed it up with a bit of the bluesy feel. Her on-stage charm adds to her performances as she kisses the mic with every word she sings, and smiles most of the time while doing it.

The judges critique each band after their sets. Jabben said simply, “You are good.” Parker complemented the rhythm section as he pointed to the bass player, “you are monsters.” That’s good, by the way. Taylor remembered Lauren from two seasons ago, when it was the ultimate winning band, Blackbird Sing, that knocked her out of her round then.  “You’ve grown since then. I like that you didn’t take a lot of time to go through the sound check. If anything, the show was a little bit too lethargic, but otherwise you did a good job.”

Buffalo Ruckus

Buffalo Ruckus,  a 4-piece band with Michael Burgess on bass, Brad Haefner on guitar and mandolin, Christian Dorn on drums, and Jason Lovell on vocals and acoustic guitar… well, as KHYI said it in a post:  “Self-proclaimed ‘dirty ol’ broken down roots’ band, Buffalo Ruckus, brought the herd out to Tolbert’s in Grapevine last night, and put on a great show for all of us! They plugged Shiner all night long, and covered Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers) and Whipping Post (the Allman Bros).’

The band had only been together a few weeks when they won their first round. Lovell has been at all but two rounds since then, making friends along the way. He also remembered to thank the sponsors, Shiner Records, Shiner Beer,  Kona Guitars, and support crews of Scene In Town and DB Sound, which has provided the backline and often the sound each week of the contest.

Critique began again with Jabben, commenting on the band’s “good and full sound.” Parker said the set was “cool and original. Your (Lovell) voice was honest and believable, and all the players did really well.” And Taylor summed it up saying, “For a band together only three months, you are really tight. It’s going to be one helluva finals on Nov. 7.”

Lauren Alexander

The contest takes the night off the Thursday (Halloween, Oct. 31), and the finals will be back at the original site, Love & War in Texas, Plano, on Thursday, Nov. 7.  No cover charge for this or for any of the past weeks’ contests.

The four bands competing for a recording contract through Shiner Records, new instruments from Kona Guitars, and a few other career-enhancing prizes are:  Buffalo Ruckus, Green Light Pistol, Matt Bradshaw, and The Bodarks.

Lauren Alexander Band photos, click here

Buffalo Ruckus photos, click here

Category: - Contests, 2013