By Mary Jane Farmer
Scene In Town
Scene In Town
It all started with a holler and a swaller, (or for the less-Texas-twang-oriented, a yell and a swallow) the Shiner Rising Star competition for 2010. The crowd at Love & War in Texas/ Plano, hollered for the first band that took the stage, The Clay Wilson Band, and kept up the energy and support as The Triptones and Four Left Turns took their turns on the outdoor stage., longnecks raised in Shiner Salute.
Shiner Rising Star is a songwriting and performance competition co-sponsored by Americana radio station KHYI and Shiner Beer, which also owns Shiner Records. Twenty-four bands, culled from several hundreds who sent in demo CDs, are going through the first round, three competing each Thursday night for eight weeks and one of those selected each night to go into Round 2. The ninth week is a “Wildcard Week,” in which sponsors will select three of the original 24 who didn’t make the first cut, but who they feel deserve another audience and chance to make it into Round 2.
Round 2 will end with five bands striving to win a recording contract through Shiner Records, the opening spot for 2011 Texas Music Revolution, and professional support in their careers, the ultimate Round 3 prize.
Four Left Turns’ lead singer Trevor Pulver and bass Justin Whitehead
Four Left Turns, which walked off with Round 1, Week 1 title, consists of Trevor Pulver on lead vocals, guitars and mandolin; Justin Whitehead on bass and vocals; Scott Thompson on drums; and Newell Hardy on pedal steel and a few other boss instruments. Judges John David Kent (of John David Kent & the Dumb Angels), Merrol Ray (of Merrol Ray & The Regulators), and KHYI personality Brett Dillon threw compliments to the group after their 30-minute performance. Words like “unique songwriting,” “great harmonies,” rolled out, indicating the panel’s pleasure with the band.
Four Left Turns at critique time
The Triptones, a band based out of Paris, Texas, also delivered, according to the judges. A quality unique to this band among the three was bass player Jason Jones’ continual interaction with the fans while lead singer and guitarist Chad Allen Baumer changed guitars, leaving no dead moments on stage. Baumer’s lead and the band’s arrangements on the only cover song they did, Roger Miller’s King of the Road, left no one doubting they made it their own song. Drummer Chris Lancaster added harmony vocals and the trio, together, filled the stage with sounds usually associated with a more populated band.
Kent said he especially appreciated the slight rock-a-billy tones and Baumer’s slide guitar, a talent not that often seen.
Chad Altenbaumer of The Triptones
The Clay Wilson Band, mostly based in the Metroplex except for Clay, who hails from San Marcos, Texas, overcame their temporary Jonah cloud, that being the first band of the first night which was crowded time-wise with sound set-up problems, by nailing the three songs they had time to perform during the 30-minute set. It was their confidence and energy that the judges commented on, that is after they each noted the band’s uniqueness of the night by having the only fiddler player on stage.
The Clay Wilson Band
Thursday night’s Week 2 contest will be at 8 p.m., Love & War in Texas, Grapevine. Competing will be Chasing Grayson from Whitesboro, Texas, Keller Hicks from the Fort Worth area, and The Big Benders, another Metroplex-based band.