Category Archives: – CD Reviews

For a CD review, send your CD to Scene In Town, PO Box 1422, Van Alstyne TX 75495

Michael O’Neal latest CD Release

Leave a reply

First appeared in print in Paris News, Sept. 21, 2018 edition. Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer

Michael O’Neal, taken at Love & War in Texas when he won the Rusty Wier singer/songwriter contest.Story and photos by Mary Jane Farmer. First printed in Paris News, Sept. 21, 2018

Listening to Michael O’Neal’s latest recording project, Live at Heritage Hall, is like listening about the history of Paris all rolled up in the characters that built this Paris singer/songwriter.

There’s “Ms. Elsie,” and everyone has a Ms. Elsie in his past, the ‘other grandmother’ who helped mold him; there’s his granddaddy who lived “50 Miles” from the family; there’s his new song, “Hill 438,” a song that emerged from O’Neal’s love of history and respect for America’s warriors; and family — oh my goodness, so many songs about family, such as “Ode to Love” about his 4-year-old daughter’s softball game.

O’Neal and Heritage Hall owner JoKyle Varner made plans for a year before recording, and O’Neal said he especially wanted to record it there because the venue, originally a railroad station, because, simply put, “The room has great sound.” That’s a truism. And he brought up Rambling Creek Studio from Austin to record it, but then wasn’t finished with the plans… he hired Mental Media from Ada to film the entire night’s show.

Oh, and just to name-drop here… the only other musician on this recording is steel guitar picker Geoff Queen. Queen, as other jacket junkies like me know, plays regularly with such Texas stars as Hayes Carll and Bruce Robison. He adds more melody and interest with that one guitar than many complete bands can add. He also plays mandolin and probably a few more instruments — that’s what multi-instrumentalists do. But for this, it was steel guitar and more steel guitar. Couldn’t get any better than that!

Now, the CD has 14 songs on it, along with intro, or the story that led into the song. But wait, there’s more, as the infomercials always declare. There were about 40 tracks, including the stories, recorded that night. The CD package has a DVD that includes every single song. “But a CD only holds 74 minutes, so I couldn’t put them all there,” O’Neal said. All 40 tracks are also streamed on Apple Music, iTunes, and the other streaming sites. So, it’s a win-win, whether you buy the collection from O’Neal’s Website, listed below, since you get the DVD along with it, or whether you listen to it Online.

O’Neal isn’t a traditional singer in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, he qualifies more as a talking blues singer, at least on this project, in the style of many of Woody Guthrie’s songs, or Bob Dylan who was such an influence on O’Neal that Michael has written “A Bob Dylan Song.” Talking blues probably began in the 1920, and Guthrie used that form in the early 1940s with “Talking Dust Bowl Blues” and his son Arlo recorded “Alice’s Restaurant” in the style. O’Neal is keeping it alive, well, and viable in the 21st Century.

And speaking of influences, one who is familiar with the late Guy Clark can hear Guy’s influence on Michael, too. Like Clark, O’Neal can say ‘I love you’ in other words, for instance in his tribute his late friend “Ode to JW” and the scars he carries from their friendship — “I got scars, all over me. Just reminders of when we were wild and free. He give me this one on my shoulder. He give me this one on my chin. He give me one across my heart, almost done me in.”

Many of the songs in this collection, O’Neal said, were written over his nearly-two decades of songwriting and recording. “Hill 438” is his newest, and “Soul Shine” may be one of his first ones, cut on his 2006 CD of the same name. And so many in between.

Michael O’Neal said he’ll have the new CD available at all his gigs — at least “til I run out of them.”

For more information or to order Live at Heritage Hall, go Online to: www.MichaelONealMusic.com

 

 

 

Two shows announced Monday

Leave a reply

Stoney LaRue photo by Mary Jane Farmer

Love & War in Texas announced Monday morning that it would be Stoney LaRue who closes out this year’s Shiner Sunday series, held at 4 pm Sundays on their Plano venue’s outdoor plaza. It’s unclear why they held off announcing that until Monday, but Brett Dillon, KHYI on-air personality, told Sunday’s crowd there for Two Tons of Steel to be sure and catch the L&W Facebook page this morning. These last two shows feature: Sunday, Sept. 23 — Billy Joe Shaver; and Sunday, Sept. 30 — Stoney LaRue. Calls to LaRue and to Love & War were not returned Monday.

Then, also on Monday, Billy Bob’s Texas announced that Blake Shelton will be playing at Billy Bob’s in the Fort Worth stockyards this Thursday night, Sept. 20, at 8:30 p.m., and this is a free concert, with the first 5,000 people being let in. Blake calls it a “pop-up” show. Those wanting to attend can be there as early as 10 a.m. to pick up a wrist band, and must be at least 21 years of age to do that. More info available Online at BillyBobsTexas.com, which also shows the full big-stage line-up now including Willie Nelson there with family on two nights, Nov. 16 and 17. Plus lots more.

 

 

CD Review “Live at the World’s Largest Rodeo”

Leave a reply

First appeared in Buddy Magazine, September 2018 issue. Photos and story by Mary Jane Farmer

Aaron Watson, “Live at the World’s Largest Rodeo”, Big Label Records

Aaron Watson is introduced on this recently-released CD as “The man putting ‘cowboy’ back in country music, Texas’ own Aaron Watson.”

Watson and his band recorded this latest project live at the Houston Rodeo, and it’s appropriately called Live at the World’s Largest Rodeo. It’s his 14th album recording, and a collection of Watson’s most well-known songs, aka his greatest hits. I bought this CD off of the Internet, and so it didn’t come with liner notes, a major downhill trip for this jacket junkie. But, still, it was worth the price.

And speaking of price, a portion of the sales from this CD will be dedicated to the still-ailing and still-rebuilding Gulf Coast area, hit so hard in 2017 by Hurricane Harvey.

There are 13 songs on Watson’s 14th recording project.

There’s one new, uplifting prayer of a song, “Higher Ground,” sounds as if it could have been written for one of Watson’s own children. “I pray you always be strong, you always be brave, take heart and hold on for dear life, wave after wave, after those tears fall down, down, down, come hell or high water, only love will find you higher ground,” and “There’s no color or race, just a beautiful face. Make the world a better place, change their life with your smile.” Sustenance for the soul.

His live versions of the other 12 songs he had previously put down in a studio prove, beyond any doubt, that Aaron Watson and his band can deliver passion and professionalism at the same time, every time, all the time. The instrumentation in “Wildfire” is stand-out. There’s the now-classic “Bluebonnets,” “the energetic “Freight Train” and “Getaway Truck,” and the slower “These Old Boots Have Roots.” On “July in Cheyenne,” which he calls his song for Lane Frost’s momma, the fiddle moans, yet purrs with promise that the late Mr. Frost’s legacy will always matter. And his “Raise Your Bottle,” which he says on the recording he wrote for his own father who is completely disabled from serving the country during the Viet Nam war. Before Aaron sings, he has all those who are current active duty military, veterans, law enforcement, firefighters, and EMS, stand up and be recognized. “We give credit where credit is due,” and the outpouring from what must have been a massive audience at that rodeo is genuine.

This CD can be purchased from the Website AaronWatson.com,or from iTunes, or, of course, at a live concert. The band will be on the Chevrolet Main Stage, State Fair of Texas in Dallas on October 6.

 

 

 

Turnpike Troubadours come Full Circle with newest CD

Leave a reply

Turnpike Troubadours at
WoodyFest 2017

Story by Axton Deary, Photos by Mary Jane Farmer. First appeared in the November issue of Buddy Magazine.

Turnpike Troubadours released their 5th album, A Long Way From Your Heart, on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017. Lead singer of Turnpike Troubadours, Evan Felker, is easily one of our generation’s greatest songwriters and makes it seem like a Sunday breeze with relative ease. The songs, like many Turnpike albums, is based in or around Southeastern Oklahoma. The album intertwines previous albums and characters together — creating this sensation that listeners are living in Felker’s own world he created, which spans from the Ouachitia Mountains across McCurtain County, Oklahoma to Bryan County, Oklahoma. A Long Way From Your Heart features many influences ranging from The Old 97’s (“Pipe Bomb Dream”), Alabama (“Something To Hold On To”), and paying homage to Woody Guthrie with a striped down love or lust song (“Oklahoma Stars”). Felker hones his ability to pen instances in life that we can all relate to.

The easy-on-the-ears album begins with “The House Fire.” “The House Fire” sets the tone of the general state of mind where Felker is currently at — maturity. The opening track opens to a familiar character of the past —Lorrie. Lorrie appears initially in “Good Lord Lorrie” and then “The Mercury.” In the song, Lorrie has matured as she has birthed a child and simultaneously escaped tragedy. There are a few other references in the songs which tiee the narrator of “The House Fire” to other Turnpike songs, coming full circle.

Jump ahead to track number 7. “The Hard Way” reverts to introspect of an old way for Felker. He visits his hometown, and “Well, [he] just hit town. You know the old routine; try to tear it down…” but he realizes whenever he visits town,

Evan Felkner, Turnpike Troubadours at
Grand Theater, Durant 2017

he drinks an alarmingly rife amount of alcohol and wears his welcome out and then secludes himself in a cabin outside of town and concludes that maybe it was best he never stayed to become the hometown hero, as it could have ended badly.

Track number 8 — “Old Time Feeling (Like Before)” is the best song on the album, lyrically and production-wise. The song encompasses life on the road, a long-distant past lover, and a babe, give me one more chance knowing that it may never work out, but I’ll be damned if I don’t give it my best. The song goes in depth of the narrator knowing that it’s not going to work out as Felker writes, “play me like a violin, knock all the wind out of my chest. I don’t mind you playing me, just keep it in a major key.” The lengths the character would go to show his love are immeasurable, but in the end, he keeps getting let on.

Jaime Linn Wilson of The Trishas, John Fullbright, Jonny Burke, Kevin Russell of Shinyribs, and Turnpike Troubadour Bassist, R.C. Edwards contributed lyrics to Turnpike’s barn-burner of an album.

Turnpike Troubadours have come a long way since playing the Red Barn Saloon in Durant, Oklahoma. Evan Felker continuously impresses listeners with each album he pens. All the tracks on the album deserve much dissection to truly understand the lyrical genius that is Evan Felker –a poet considered by many. Make no light, Felker could not be as successful without the rest of the group that makes up Turnpike. Kyle Nix, R.C. Edwards, Ryan Engleman and others. In less than 24 hours, Turnpike’s A Long Way From Your Heart reached number 3 on iTunes. Do yourself a favor and download the album and dive in to great production, great riffs, and even greater songwriting. You will be impressed with these Southeastern sons of Oklahoma.

The Turnpike Troubadours, currently on national tour, will be at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth on Dec. 16 and at the Event Center, Choctaw Casino, Grant, Okla., on Dec. 28. They are also scheduled to appear on Austin City Limits in early 2018, and will record the session for that on December 5 at ACL Live at the Moody in Austin. 

“Black Bottom Bandits” — a book review

Courtesy photo — front cover of “Black Bottom Bandits”

“Black Bottom Bandits” by Vicki Welch Ayo and Gean Kearns, Independent Label

A review by Billy Keith Bucher

From the first paragraph, the cadence of “Black Bottom Bandits” by Vicki Welch Ayo and Gean Kearns just explodes. It changes the pace of the first book, “The Davis Gang,” and it swallows the readers up totally and moves them along with the intensity of a gang of female bank robbers ready for action and heading into a bank building in the thirties. One change in this series that is now covered under the general title, “Texas Sisters-on-the-Run,” is that it is filled with so much magic and excitement that it sizzles with intensity.

The realization is stark that “The Davis Gang” just had to happen to set up the action and the nature of the nine books which are set to follow. Even the mystery of the chapters are exciting and dreamlike. Chapters like “Moonshine in Catahoula Parish” and “If You’ve Got the Money Honey” led to “Bandit Queens” and “Dressed To Kill” and leads the readers through a romp in “Black Bottom Bandits.”

“The Davis Gang” made for good reading because of the history which it provided of East Texas and connections to Bonnie and Clyde, which are so important to the action of the gang. It has now become more of an investigation of the canvas of the thirties, when the robberies happened and where landmarks of a thoughtful way of what was to come.

Courtesy photo – back cover of “Black Bottom Bandits”

One new twist is a new awareness to the slang words of the times which Ayo and Kearns studied, finding hipper words for money, guns and women, used often here and are in full display. This has given Vicki a new relaxation in her writing style, as well.

The prose is spiked with some fantastic photos which Ayo’s and Kearns’ research turned up. The first photo of Estelle and Dorothy sweeps the reader ever more into the prose and gives it a warmer vision. Most of the photos are black and white, which fit the time of the story just perfectly; but then on the rear cover you might enjoy having the colorized front page of a crime magazine to boot. And in the next book in the series, there will be the first appearance of Bonnie and Clyde who actually knew the Davis Gang and often were credited for robberies which they didn’t even commit because both gangs had women involved.

Things just keep getting better. “Black Bottom Bandits” is a must read, for sure.

“Black Bottom Bandits” is available in paperback on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and through the authors’s Website:  https://thedavisgangbooks.com/