Well here we are in the living room studio at La Casa de Ski Lodge, our hacienda up the mountains in the snow. This is so cool, it is my third MusicFest with a visit from the Band Of Heathens. A promise: Guys, next time we get together, I will have the food ready in time for you! Unless you want to come back now...stew is done! They were circling the slow cooker!
We're down the hill to partake of the nighttime music schedule going on at MusicFest at Steamboat Springs. Bear River, Steamboat Grand, and MusicFest Tent, are all getting hit! Here is some inspirational music to get you going wherever..."Somebody Tell The Truth."
Man, where did this decade go? I am taking stock, thinking about the kaleidoscope of music I got turned onto these past ten years. And sometimes it just happens so randomly!
I had been hearing about the band Shurman since their Vanguard Records days. The amount of CDs that would wind up on my desk every week was overwhelming. And so I wasn't even able to LISTEN to it all in a timely fashion. And off I went to the Americana Music Festival and Conference a few years ago. Hanging out at Third and Lindsley, watching the amazing Stacie Collins blow harp, and someone said Jesse Dayton was about to go on at The Mercy. So I went outside with them, and tried to get into a taxi, which thankfully was a van, to make the short hop. When the door slid opened, it was sardine packed. Not even a sliver of seat for me, so I "stage dove" in across the laps, and rode "in style" to the next club. One of those laps belonged to Aaron Beavers, and I am happy to now count him as a dear friend.
Aaron moved to Austin from LA a few years ago. Shurman's music totally resonates here. The album Still Waiting For The Sunset is about to be re-released on January 26, but if you can't wait, the downloads have already been made available, with vinyl coming on January 12th. Looking forward, we bring you a stripped down version of one of my favs from the CD, "Country Just Ain't Country."
The stories seem to just flow out of Chip like melting snow cascading down the range. His latest project, Yonkers NY, reveals some true family grit, and lends a vision of what it must have been like to grow up in Yonkers when he did. He performed the title track for us just after soundcheck when he and the band, including Kendel Carson, rolled into Alexandria, Virginia to play The Birchmere---a wonderful listening room.
Chip Taylor will be contributing to Americana in more ways than one now, too, as he's been elected to the Board of Directors at the Americana Music Association. Not bad for a good ol' boy from Yonkers, huh?
Well here we are in the living room studio at La Casa de Ski Lodge, our hacienda up the mountains in the snow. This is so cool, it is my third MusicFest with a visit from the Band Of Heathens. A promise: Guys, next time we get together, I will have the food ready in time for you! Unless you want to come back now...stew is done! They were circling the slow cooker!
