Malcolm Holcombe "Down In the Woods"

There are some people who you just scratch your head about when you see them. You wonder how they live, and what shaped them, what material they are made of, because it sure isn’t the cookie cutter stuff that most of us are carved from. Not to say that we aren’t all unique entities, but some of us are just stone originals, and so it is with Malcolm Holcombe.

I first met him in 1997 or 1998 in Nashville. It was whispered that he was living in his car or something at the time. He showed up one happy hour on the platform of Nashville’s Union Station Hotel. When I was at Lightning 100 Radio, we had started a weekly series there at the hotel, outdoors overlooking the tracks on Friday evenings. It made for wonderful punctuation when a train rode through. Malcolm came to one of those shows. I have been in awe since. It is like he drinks from a different well, or sees another dimension besides the ones we do. No doubt he has had a tough life, and yes there have been demons. But again, he carries such an elfin spirit about him. I know you will see it in this video we filmed a couple of weeks ago at the Cherokee Creek Music Festival.

Malcolm’s eighth album To Drink The Rain was recorded at Cedar Creek Recording in Austin. Welcome the newest member of the Music Road Records family, Mr. Malcolm Holcombe with “Down In The Woods.”

- Jessie Scott

Jalan Crossland "Hard to Stop the Killin'"

Photo Credit: Tess AndersonGot to turn you onto someone new today. Jalan Crossland (pronounced juh-lon) comes from the country, namely the big open spaces of a small Wyoming town. He has been plying his craft solo and with a band for over ten years, having started with the proverbial banjo on his knee. He emerged in his twenties with a whammy bar, playing an Ibanez Firebird copy in "Iron Maiden wannabe" bands. And then he was delivered from that into the roots world. Four albums have ensued, the latest being Driftwood Souls, which just came out in April. He is playing dates in the Great Northwest if you want to catch up with him. I love the spaghetti western feel of this song from that new CD, recorded at the 2010 WHAT Fest. “Hard to Stop the Killing.”

- Jessie Scott

PS: Today, Chip Taylor’s new CD Rock and Roll Joe is being released, which features Kendel Carson and John Platania along with Chip. It is an homage to the unsung heroes of rock and roll, and there is an accompanying website to pound the drum. Check out the record, but also, make sure you check out the website, as the latest entries are about two of my heroes, Nicky Hopkins and Cornell Dupree. Robert Earl Keen recently contributed a piece on John Vandiver. A very cool thing indeed! We salute Chip Taylor for his mission over the last few years, and his insistence to do things that make a difference.

Ray Wylie Hubbard "Mother Blue's"

It is the Monday after the KNBT Americana Jam, and boy are my arms tired from clapping, and boy am I hoarse from hooting. But a blast was had by all, and what a great day of music it was to benefit the Comal Cops for Kids. One notable member of the KNBT air staff, Ray Wylie Hubbard, was missing from the line up yesterday, as he was in Memphis last night at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park. Ray hosts a Tuesday night show on KNBT called Roots & Branches of Americana. This Tuesday, Ray’s guests are The Trishas and Greezy Wheels.

We have a new Ray Wylie Hubbard song to bring you today. When Ray sang it for us at the Americana Music Festival last September, it didn’t even have a name yet. The thing that is really cool about it, is that it tells a true tale. It is the story of an evening way back when, in a Dallas club called Mother Blue's, and it references a then 16 year old door girl. When they met again in 1987, it led to Ray and Judy marrying in 1989 and having their son Lucas, who is becoming a wicked guitar ace of his own. Interesting about the coincidences that sometimes come our way. Now of course, Judy Hubbard is Ray’s manager, and being “Mother” Hubbard, she writes an advice column in MusicFest Magazine (a magazine I get to write for also!).

Here is another entry from our Music Fog Marathon several weeks ago at Threadgill’s WHQ in Austin, “Mother Blue's” from Ray Wylie Hubbard and Rick Richards.

- Jessie Scott