the americana gazette december/january 2009 issue

MERICANA GAZETTEAHoliday Issue 2009 / December • January

Feature Story:LARRY GATLIN and the

GATLIN BROTHERS

Amber SkiesBand of Heathens

Chris SmitherFlatrock CafeRosanne Cash

Pam Tillis

Greetings:It has been one hell of a year! All in all, a very good

one though. This magazine has given me the opportu-nity to get out and hear some great music and to meetmany wonderfully talented people, both locally and na-tionally. I have made many new friendships which Icherish dearly. Our on line readers have increased byleaps and bounds and it truly has been fun writing thearticles.

Also while we are on the work topic, I have just com-pleted my 28th year as Executive Secretary at the NewGlarus Nursing Home. The campus is in the process ofbuilding a new 26 unit RCAC, with a completion dateof late summer, early fall of 2010. It looks like 2010 willbe another busy year!

On a personal note, my mother experienced somehealth concerns this year. A fall in April landed herwith a broken hip and surgery, then a short stint in anursing home. She is home now recovering. Also mymother-in-law had a knee replaced which put her in anursing home for a couple of weeks for rehab. She isdoing quite well though. Andy and I celebrated our30th Wedding Anniversary in October. (We had a funfilled evening of him teaching at UW Whitewater andthen a lovely supper out at Culver’s afterwards.) Seri-ously, the 30 years have gone by fast and I would nothave changed anything about it. (This will make Andyhappy.)

This summer we added an addition to our family,with our friends, Pat and Kim Cockroft giving us thegift that keeps on giving, an English Springer Spanielwe called Wylie. He has been, shall I say, a challengeat times. On a sadder note, upon our return fromNashville in September, our Golden Retriever, Bailey wasdiagnosed with cancer and lost his battle with thisdreadful disease by the end of the month.

One thing I did miss this year was our annual Hal-loween get together with old friends. Let’s make sure wereconnect next year.

I hope all of you have had a wonderful year and allof our staff at the Americana Gazette wants to wish allof our readers and supporters a very Merry Christmasand a Happy New Year!

Keep on listening to music, creating art, and ofcourse reading our magazine…………………. theseare some good resolutions for 2010!!!!!

Till next year,

Joyce ZiehliPublisher

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PUBLISHERJoyce [email protected]

SENIOR EDITORAndy [email protected]

STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOSRob Kosmeder

Litt Dubay

Robert Hoffman

Jim Smith

Aaron Williams

Rosemary Ziehli

FEATURE WRITERS

Susie Nehls

Rand Atkinson

CREATIVE DIRECTORRic [email protected]

AMERICANA GAZETTE% ANDY & JOYCE ZIEHLIP.O. BOX 208BELLEVILLE, WI. 53508

OFFICE: 608-424-6300Andy Cell: 608-558-8131Joyce Cell: 608-558-8132

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MERICANA GAZETTEA

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Welcome to

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1/2Notes

AMERICANA GAZETTE SUBSCRIPTIONTheAmericana Gazette is a free bimonthly publication and may be picked up at area locations.However if you would like a copy mailed to you,please fill out the following information andsubmit a check for $15.00 to:Americana Gazette, P.O.Box 208,Belleville,Wi. 53508

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Congratulations to Rick Tvedt for being named one ofthe top 10 people who most influenced Madison Musicin the 2000’s by Isthmus Magazine. A well deservedhonor for one of the nicest most hardworking folks Iknow. Rick started the MAMA’s, is a top flight songwriterand musician, published Local Sounds on the web, andwas the publisher and owner of Rick’s Café where I gotmy start as a music writer. Hats off to you my friend avery very well deserved honor!

Beth Kille is hosting a songwriter’s night at the Fat CatCoffeeWorks on Rail Road Street in New Glarus on thesecondTuesday of each month from 7:00 p.m.until 9:00p.m. This month’s featured songwriter is Sean MichaelDargen. Songwriters of all levels are welcome as well asfolks that just like to hear original music. The first houris spent sharing songs and getting help with your tunesby Kille and her guests. The final hour is an intimate con-cert by the guest songwriter. The event is free. A fivedollar donation is appreciated. These events will takeplace through February 2010. Make plans to come outand attend. Check the Americanagazette.net web sitefor upcoming shows.

The Raindogs will be wood shedding in December towrite some new songs for the upcoming year and hope-fully a CD. Amber Skies will also be writing this winterfor an upcoming CD in the spring of 2010.

Beth Kille has just released an EP of very wonderfulsongs (see review in this issue). You can purchase the EPby contacting Beth at [email protected] or at any ofher shows.

Doug Sies is off to England to perform with BrianaHardyman on her winter tour from Thanksgiving untilDecember 23rd. Doug along with Mark Gruenenfelderand Dewey Sies will return to England with Briana inJuly to play the Cambridge Folk Festival.

Eric Brace and MaryAnnWarner have released the third

compilation of East Nashville songwriters on their RedBeet records label entitled East Nashville Vol. 3 MoreMusic From The Other Side (see review this edition).You can purchase the CD from the Red Beet Recordsweb site. This is a fantastic CD to own and get you ac-quainted with the wonderful talent that resides in EastNashville.

Tony DiPofi will be working on a CD in early 2010 atSugar River Studios. This CD will be original materialand a few covers. It will feature the AG’s own ErinBlumer on vocals and it will be produced byAndrew Pul-ver and myself. This project will surely bring a smile tothe faces and ears ofTony’s many fans.

Sugar River Studios is undergoing a major remodelingproject. There will be more recoding space added,a newcontrol room, and a lounge area. This remodeling proj-ect will allow us to be more competitive and offer moreservices in 2010 and beyond. An upgrade of recordingsoftware and vintage equipment is also taking place. Thenew studio will be operational by mid January 2010.Please contact us at [email protected] or at 608-558-8131 to set up a tour of the new facility or a quoteon a recording project.

By: Andy Ziehli

TABLE OF CONTENTSFEATURE STORY16 Larry Gatlin and the

Gatlin Brothers

WHERE TO LOOK:

3 1/2 Notes

4 Litt DuBay’s Slant

5 Women InThe Round - PamTillis

6 Band of Heathens

8 Americana Music Conference

9 CD Review

10 Flatrock Cafe

11 Soul Shaker

12 A Pet Note

13 Aaron’s Anecdotes

14 Amber Skies

15 Jami Lampkins

16 Larry Gatlinand the Gatlin Brothers

18 3 for 1

19 GeneAutry

20 Chris Smither

21 Rosanne Cash

22 Santa Came Early...

23 Country School

24 December Frost

25 Robert’s Ramblings

26 Need Music?

27 What Do I Do?

28 Andy’sTop 10

SONGWRITER’SNIGHT ATFAT CAT

COFFEE WORKSFat Cat Coffee Works, 606 Railroad Street in New Glarus, WIwill be hosting a monthly songwriting workshop. A differentprofessional songwriter will be present each month to giveaspiring writers feedback on their tunes. The featured writerwill also give a performance and talk about their experienceswith writing. Writers of all skill levels are encouraged toattend, non-writers are welcome as well. Please bring10-12 lyrics sheets if you wish to present a song.

Schedule: All shows start at 7pm. The first hour will be spenton song critiques, then the featured writer will give a perform-ance. There is a suggested donation of $5 at the door.

Tuesday December 8th: Sean Michael Dargan(http://www.seanmichaeldargan.com/

www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t4

LittDuBay’sRant!

by Litt DuBay

stores and Guitar Center. So this Christmas and beyondshop locally when it comes to music gear.

Well I end this little column with a recap of what Ilearned this past year and my NewYears resolutions forall of you to see. Good luck in 2010. Hopefully it will bea better year economically, spiritually, and musically forall of us.

What I learned in 2009 by Litt Dubay.

1. Canadians have feelings too, and they carry a grudgefor a long time.

2. Rascal Flatt’s is not a town inArkansas.

3. It is possible to fit 10 lbs of junk in a 5 pound pair ofshorts.

4. Not everyone likes me.

5. Carrie Underwood is not the anti Christ

6. If your magazine goes out of business you become abitter negative Nancy.

7. Free beer is real. Free love does cost you something.

8. When someone says pinch me I must be dreamingthey don’t really mean pinch them.

9. Bladder control ads onTV become more interestingas you get older.

10.MostWomen like old fat guys.

11.Goats are evil.

12. Two scoops means two scoops even if a waffle coneis bigger than a cake cone.

Litt Dubay’s 2010 NewYears Resolutions

1. I will not diss, rag, or abuse any Poppy Country Musiccoming out of Nashville in theAmericana Gazette.

2. I will not pick on Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Nettles,Taylor Swift, or Rascal Flatts in my column in theAmericana Gazette.

3. I will not follow resolutions 1 and 2.

4. I will not get angry at people who do not agree withme on my take of the music business.

5. I will not ask bike riders to cover up their junk inpublic even if it looks like they have stuffed theirshorts.

6. I will only eat Glazer donuts on Fridays.

7. I will not make my fellow writers at the AmericanaGazette cry or swear alliance to me in 2010.

8. I will be kind to the Ziehli’s even though they don’tpay me enough to do this job.

9. I will release a CD of original and cover songs thatwill light the way for Country Music in 2010.

10.I will not accept the Grammy for this release eventhough I am probably worthy of it.

11.I will attend a Beth Kille concert. Really I will Beth!

12.I resolve to quit dispensing knowledge on acontinual basis at the Fat Cat in New Glarus.(When Monkey’s fly out my butt!)

Happy NewYear!!!!!!!!!!!!Litt Dubay

Happy Holidays to all of you. As I write my lastcolumn of the year I have a few things that have comeup that really are bugging the hell out of me. I mean RE-ALLY bugging the hell out of me. First,what the hell isup with raising the beer tax? Is there nothing sacred leftinWisconsin? Come on raise the tax on imported bot-tled water or put up a toll gate at Beloit and start charg-ing the folks coming in from Illinois for land use here.Leave the beer tax alone!

Secondly what is going on with that Scoopy dude at Cul-vers? Man I have been keeping track of all the times thisyear I have been short changed in ice cream scoops inmy waffle cones, not gotten my coleslaw in my takeoutorders, received cold food, had to listen to college kidstalk about their drinking escapades at the counter whenthey should be taking my order, not gotten as manysprinkles as the guy in front of me with the two cutekids, and opened my takeout order to find that my fishwas not fully cooked. Come on Scoopy lets get somequality control going again. You were on the top of thefast food heap. Remember Dogs n Suds? Let’s get thereagain! If I don’t start getting my two manly scoops it’syou and me in a Texas Dog Collar Cage Match double(scoops) or nothing Scoopy!

Thirdly the thing that has been bugging me is the factthat people are not supporting local music like theyshould. I know I know we’ve all heard ole Litt bitchabout this before. So let’s make a resolution in 2010 togo out a couple of times a month instead of sitting onour collective asses and see live music. Do it for Hank!

Q 106 changed their format to some weird combinationof everything poppy country crap. Hey you guys switchto an allAmericana format. Talk to Jonathon Little or con-tact the Americana Music Association in Nashville theywould be glad to help you get started in this format.Dump the junk you are playing now. We don’t needmore Taylor Swift or Lynryd Skynrd. We do need moreRodney Crowell, Old Crow Medicine Show, EmmylouHarris,Buddy Miller,and that whole East Nashville crew.

Hat’s off to Beth Kille on releasing her first solo CD thispast month. Beth is probably the best songwriter inSouthernWisconsin. This is a self produced CD by Beth.She’s talented, smart, sexy, and just plain nice. Hat’s offto you girl!

When you do your Christmas buying for the musiciansin your family don’t buy on-line or at Guitar Center. Goto Good n Loud Music and get your gifts there. They arethe last mom & pop music store left in Madison. The Li-ethen’s are great folks and their staff is very knowledge-able. They also have fantastic prices, just like the on-line

BlackWaterGinTexas Rock with Bite

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PT: Well, I grew up in Nashville,Tennessee, somewhat of a normal upbringing. I’m theoldest of six, there’s five girls and a boy.

AG: That poor boy.

PT: They say he’s very creative, andthat’s a response to early trauma. (Welaughed.)

Actually my childhoodwas pretty normal.Daddy would go on theroad. We didn’t travelvery much. To tell youthe truth, hardly ever.Mom held the fortdown. At that timetoo, even kids inschool weren’t thatimpressed, I wasn’tthe only kid with acountry music par-ent. Countrymusic wasn’t asbig then as it isnow. Peoplekind of took itfor granted. Ithink it was avery normalupbringing.

AG: Whattypes ofmusic didyou listen togrowing up?

PT: Well,country. Some of it I liked.I liked the great stuff, liked musicthat was going to last. I rememberseeingTammyWynette when I was

a little girl and thinking “WOW”. I

5www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t

Recording artist PamTillis has been an ongoing pres-ence in country music since her first single hit the chartsin 1990. Some of Pam’s achievements include: threeCMA awards, two Grammy awards, and an IBMA award.Tillis has had 14Top Five hits,with 6 of them hitting #1and has sold over 6 million records. She was one of thefirst women in Nashville to produce her own album.Hats off to you Pam!!!

In 1994 the CMA awarded her the female country en-tertainer of the year. In 2000 Pam joined the Grand OleOpry as well as signed with Sony Records. Sony re-leased “It’s All Relative”which allowed Pam to pay trib-ute to her father, Mel Tillis. In 2006, Pam launched herown record label, Stellar Cat Records. Stellar Cat re-leased“Rhinestoned”,Pam’s first studio album in 5 years.The Christmas Season of 2007 also brought a PamTillisrelease of her first holiday album.

Pam’s album “Rhinestoned” kind of says it all, Tillissays,“No other word, real or invented for the occasion,sums up as well where PamTillis stands now.” Pam trulyis a superstar, having written songsfor some of thetop singers inand beyondNashville. Shehas lived the lifeof being in thetop single chartstime and timeagain, a memberof the Grand OleOpry, played inti-mately at theBluebird Café,been in the lightsof Broadway,beenfeatured on thecover of glamourmagazines andeven done somecameos in movies.What a superwoman indeed!!!!!!

My conversationwith Pam Tilliswent a little likethis.

AG: Pam, tell me a lit-tle bit about yourchildhood,where yougrew up, siblings, etc.

loved Dolly Parton, we would watch country music ontelevision,mostly on Saturday afternoons back then.This

was before videos and CMT. We watchedFlatt Scruggs, country variety shows andthey were great.

AG: What type of influence did your Dadhave on your musical career?

PT: It would be fair to say that Dad had an in-spiration on me. It’s funny, I’ve always had areal independent spirit. I never wanted tocopy Dad. Being a woman our voices don’tsound anything alike at all. I knew that I lovedmusic. I grew up seeing his creative process.When I was little is when he was the most ac-tive with his songwriting. That made an im-pression on me.

AG: When did you write your very first song?

PT: I was little. I had a Kindergarten teacher thatsaid I showed up at class one day and said,“Would you like to hear my new song?”I don’t re-member that 4 year old song, but I remember asong I wrote when I was 8 years old. No, I don’tremember that 4 year old song, but I’ll have totake her word for it.

AG: What instruments do you play and who taughtyou how to play them?

PT: Good question. I actually learned (Dad was re-ally busy and not really the most patient teacher inthe world) from a lady who was on television, PBSwho taught acoustic guitar. I learned to play it offthe television. Dad did buy me my first guitar and hewas encouraging. I also started taking classical pianowhen I was about 10 years old.

My husband is a great guitar player,but I can’t get him toshow me anything. He will do it for a minute then hewill loose interest.

AG: Doy o uwrite byyourselfor preferto co-write?

PT: I pre-fer to co-write. Myideas comefrom allover, books,m o v i e s ,conve r s a -tions – it’smore beingin a recep-tive frame ofmind be-cause ideasare every-where.

AG: Tell meabout launch-ing your ownrecord label,Stellar CatRecords. Howdid you get the

courage up to do this?

PT: My husband’s the brave one. It is not uncommonthese days to have your own imprint. There’s a lot of

A CHATWITH SINGER/SONGWRITER –PAM TILLIS

An incrediblewomanndeed!

continued on page 29

The Band of Heathens new record One Foot in the Ether went to #1 thisweek October 31st, 2009 on the Americana Radio Chart.This is the first time in charthistory for an independent band to hit number one twice on this chart! LA CountyBlues is my vote for song of the year on the Americana Charts. It was written andrecorded by the Band of Heathens out of Austin,Texas. They have been compared toLittle Feat and The Band in their song styling and performances. I see them as notcopying those great bands but taking the foundation of that style of music and bridg-ing it to fit today’s taste and style. A very, very good hybrid that is truly a new formatin itself. This is one hard working band! They play 270 shows a year.

The band began to form in 2006,when the three principal songwriters,Colin Brooks,Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist, were sharing the bill every Wednesday night at Austin'sMomo's club.Originally, each performed his own set, but in a short time they startedsharing the stage equally and collaborating on each other's songs. Largely improvisedand unrehearsed, the shows quickly gained in popularity. They soon added drumsand bass and the band took shape.

I got to sit down withThe Band OF Heathens (Ed Jurdi Guitar,Keys,Harmonica,Vocals;Gordy Quist Guitar, Harmonica,Vocals; Colin Brooks Guitar, Dobro, Lap steel,Vocals;Seth Whitney Bass,Vocals; and John Chipman Drums, Percussion at the AmericanaMusic Conference in Nashville in September. It was an interesting hour I spent withthem overWisconsin Cheese Curds andWild Hare Sausage. Two of the members of theBOH Ed Jurdi and Drummer John Chipman haveWisconsin ties. Jurdi’s wife is from

6 www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t

PortWashington,and Chipman’s brother used to live in Madison. The Heathens werefunny and easy to talk with as you will see in the interview below.

AG: I’m not going to ask you the standard questions on how you got together andhow long you have been a band.

BOH: We like you already!

AG: You have such a great sound and groove to your music. Was that planned or didit develop from your songwriting and jamming together?

BOH: It was pretty spontaneous. We never try to write in any direction or style. It justhappens. When one of us brings a song in the other guy’s interpretation and playingstyle helps to bring the songs to life.

As we switched to a quieter end of the room the discussion goes to yoga and palates.I tell them how I had planned to be in the Iron Man Competition last weekend but Ihad to drop out just before the competition began. Chipman informed us that he hadtried to enter one but they wouldn’t let him smoke while he ran. As we gatheredaround the cheese curd, the BOH all commented on how this interview was off to agreat start.

AG: When you write your songs do you come in with a finished product or is it piece-meal with the whole band?

Band of Heathens,One Very Cool Band


BOH: A little bit of both. It depends on the song. Some-times it works better to come in with an idea or melodyand let the others have a crack at coming up with theirown parts. Everyone hears the song differently and thatcan change the way the writer hears it in their head.When the song comes out we just play it and see whathappens. The song dictates what has to happen.

AG: I have to admit that I don’t know a lot about youguys. I read an article in Maverick Magazine about youand checked you out on theWeb and I was blown away.Were all of you in bands before,or were you solo artists?

BOH: Don’t believe anything you read about us unlessit made us sound good!

AG: So what were your backgrounds?

BOH: A little bit of everything. We all come from fivedifferent backgrounds. There are a few common threadslike the music that we all listened to and all playing inrock bands at one time or another. It really is a variedbackground for the band.

AG: Are you all from theAustin Area?

BOH: None of us. We all gravitated there. That’s howweall met.

AG: My old roommate moved there 30 years ago and hasnever left. He said it’s like Madison but only better.

BOH: That’s right. That’s what happens. People movethere and never leave. They call it theVelvet Coffin! Formusic it’s great. When you are a musician inAustin that’sall you do is play in other bands. You can make musicand play every night.

AG: You guys got a European tour coming up. What partof Europe are you going to be playing?

BOH: We are playing all over.

AG: Have you ever toured there before?

BOH: This will be our fourth time in Europe. We like itthere. It’s totally different than playing in the states. Thefans are more dedicated to just one band like soccerteams. We are also working on mending diplomaticfences while we are there.

AG: Somebody needs to do that! You should get theState Department to pay for your tours.

BOH: That sounds good. Do you know anyone in theState Department who could help us out with that?

AG: No but I do know how to get you anARC loan fromthe SBA to help with your touring. I write grants andteach entrepreneurship so I could help you out.

BOH: We need an ADA grant for sure! An endowmentwould be great too!

AG: Austin City Limits how cool was that?

BOH: It was the coolest! That’s about as cool as it gets!

AG: Being on that stage has got to be as cool as being onthe Ryman stage.

BOH: The folks at Austin City Limits are amazing. Fromthe sound to the lights it is a first class operation. Thereis always someone there to help you or get what everyou need. It’s different than the Ryman in a way. Bothare very historical. Seeing the show on playback is whenit really hits you what you have just done. You know youhave always seen those shows on television and whenyou get there and are part of it was just so cool. At the

Ryman it is immediate to you what you are doing, andwhere you are standing. ACL it’s kind of a delayed reac-tion.

AG: When you play ACL because it’s aTV show do theylet you finish a song if you make a mistake or do theystop you and start you over?

BOH: They don’t want you to stop playing. They wantyou to finish the song. They tell you that you can do itover at the end. They are pretty easy going. They let youdo what you want to do. They just set the cameras upand let you play.

AG: I really enjoyed the guitar interplay last night at yourshow at the Mercy Lounge. How do you work out theparts with three guitar players? Do you work at that oris it something that just happened?

BOH: The work comes in trying not to overplay or playanything at all. Letting there be space is the hardestthing to do. The only thing we work really hard at be-sides writing songs are the vocals. The instrumentationjust seems to come naturally for each song. In the be-ginning it was the vocals that really sparked us to keepgoing. The guitar playing just came naturally.

AG: Your rhythm section is really locked in to each other.They play well in the pocket. That’s the secret in gettingthe“groove”going. That’s what makes songs stand out ina lot of cases. InWisconsin there are a ton of“lead”bassplayers.

BOH: Seth was a lead bass player but we took his ped-als away!

AG: There are also a lot of drummers who want to sit atthe front of the stage and have everyone else in the bandlook at their backs too.

BOH: It took a long time to get Seth and John to be sub-servient to us.This is the first time for all of us that wehave been in a band where you have three lead vocal-ists and three lead guitar players. It’s a challenge to playless, but to play bigger. There is a difference in playingbigger without playing more. Fewer notes but withmore character to the notes. That gives these guys thechance to play what needs to be played and not have tothink about what and where they have to fill. We alsoneutered them very early in the bands beginning!

AG: You have recorded two live albums and now thenew studio album One foot in the Ether. LA CountyBlues is a fantastic song. One of the five best writtensongs I have ever heard. I’m not bull shitten you! Icalled my buddies and said you have to hear this song.

BOH: It’s a fun song to play live!

AG: I told Roy Elkins from Broadjam about you guys andtook him to your show last night and he was blownaway by your show.

BOH: Thanks! He rally liked us?

AG: Yea he was blown away by your show.

AG: Anything you want to say that you have never beenasked in an interview?

BOH: Boxers or briefs? When are we getting to Madi-son?

AG: I’ll get on somebody’s ass when I get back and getyou booked into town.

BOH: We just played Milwaukee this past summer atSummerfest.

AG: Milwaukee does not consider the rest ofWisconsinpart of the state. They are kind of like their own coun-

try down there!

AG: Thanks so much for your time and a great interview.Let us know what we can do to help you out.

BOH: Thank you and let us know what we can do foryou.

We end the interview talking about Chicago peopleowning all the lake front property inWisconsin,RobertEarl Keen, cheese, and the wonderful people who liveinWisconsin. The BOH let us snap a couple of picturesand then they proceeded to share their cheese curdswith everyone in the bar! So major club owners andfestival planners book the Band of Heathens! They wantto play in Madison and Wisconsin. Check them out atwww.bandofheathens.com, my space.com/theband-ofhethens, and on you tube.com.

Story and photos by: Andy Ziehli

Blending Southern influence,Country and Rock ‘n Roll,

BlackWaterGin creates a sounduniquely their own.

Based out of Wisconsin and founded in 2008,BlackWaterGin has wasted little time establishing itself as aserious up and coming band in Country Music. With an everincreasing fan base, averaging close to 100 shows per year,BlackWaterGin has played everything from small venues,festivals, major clubs, to opening for national acts in the two

years together.

Members hail from the South and the Midwest, all veteransof the festival and club scenes, bringing with them their uniquelife stories and experiences. The melding influences of Cash,Merle, Hank Williams Jr., Eric Church, Cross Canadian Ragweedand many more add to the excitement BlackWaterGin bringsto the stage, spanning generations together as one. With

BlackWaterGin, what you get is unique, loud Southern Countrylaced with Rock ‘n Roll.

BWG Entertainment608-574-2916

www.blackwatergin.com


Andy and I attended the Americana Music Confer-ence in Nashville,TN. This was an amazing 4 day con-ference with many intellectual individuals sharinginformation on panels, and great musical talent to beheard all over town.

On Tuesday night when we arrived, we stopped byour friend’s houses to deliver some Wisconsin cheeseand some local wines and New Glarus Brewery prod-ucts. While at Peter Cooper’s house, and while I wasplaying with Russell and Loretta, (Peter and Charlotte’sminiature dachshunds),Peter mentioned that they wereplaying later on for aTV taping down at 12th and Porter.So Andy and I ventured down to this bar and saw someof the most amazing talent ever. Besides Peter and Ericperforming,there were performances by Jim Lauderdale,J.D. Souther, Suzy Bogguss, and Betty Lavette. As Andyand I sat in awe listening to this music,Suzy Bogguss andher mother came by our table. I introduced us and Suzywas delighted to meet the person whom had put her onthe front cover of our last issue. Suzy and I visited a lit-tle, then she gaveAndy a hug – It was a dream come truefor him,as he has always loved Suzy’s music and thoughtshe is a very pretty woman. I didn’t know how I wasgoing to top this after that hug and kiss – thanks a lotSuzy!!!! While we were sitting at the table, a slenderwoman asked if she could sit with us. We introducedourselves, and she introduced herself as Betty Lavette.Immediately my husband recognized the name and theywere in conversation. Man,when she got up to sing thatlast song, does she have a set of lungs on her! I havenever heard anyone sing like that before.

Wednesday found us out to the Pancake Pantry forbreakfast with Randy Blevins, then off delivering moregoodies from Wisconsin to Tom T. Hall and Ms. Dixie,Cowboy Jack,Kieran Kane and others. The conventionstartedWednesday evening with some wonderful musicfrom some Australian artists at Third and Lindsey, thenwe were off to the Mercy Lounge to hear the Band ofHeathens, a great band out of Austin,Texas (check out

the interview on them in this issue), then a surprise ap-pearance from John Fogerty. (John was in town for theAMA awards Thursday night.) We still had to ventureover to the Station Inn where we listened to an hour ofacoustic music and stories from Marty Stuart. When weheaded back to our hotel, I realized I had only about 5hours sleep in the last two days, but my head was spin-ning so I still couldn’t sleep.

Andy and I attended many sessions at the conventionon Thursday, passing around our magazine, trying tomake connections and finally meeting a bunch of peopleI had only been in contact with via email till now, likeCary Baker from LosAngeles,who has been a great helpand inspiration to me. We sat in a session with my friendJason Ringenberg, AKA Farmer Jason and Jason fromJason and the Scorchers. I had the opportunity to visitwith him a little after the session. What a sweet and tal-ented man! Next we were off to the Listening Loungeto have an intimate sitting with Roseanne Cash, live onradio. Roseanne discussed her new CD“The List”whichcame out on October 6th and how it came about. Thiswas so interesting and she sang a couple of songs fromthe CD. I could have sat in this room and listened to herall day. I had the honor and privilege to meet with herafterwards. I gave her a bottle of PrimroseWine and shegraciously agreed to give me an interview in the near fu-ture. I can hardly wait.

Thursday night foundAndy and me sitting in the 8throwmid section from the stage at the RymanAuditoriumfor theAMAAwards. Jim Lauderdale was host, and whatan impressive job he did. Andy and I were able to wit-ness the artists receiving their awards, as well as per-formances fromAsleep at theWheel,Buddy Miller,NanciGriffith, Band of Heathens, and the list goes on. JohnFogerty received a Lifetime Achievement Award as wellas did a performance for the crowd. Andy and I sat acouple rows behind Emmylou Harris, and watched hergraciously leave her seat to get on stage to present anaward. I had to pinch myself a couple of times as I could-

n’t believe I was actually here.

During the convention we sat through some other lis-tening lounges,being able to hear and meet some of themost talented song writers in Nashville, including JimLauderdale,SaraWatkins,and of course our great friends,Peter Cooper and Eric Brace. Eric Brace and Mary AnnWerner put on a showcase sponsored by their company,Red Beet Music with some incredible music from EastNashville. Andy and I heard Tom Mason, Phil Lee, andgot to visit with our new found friends from BellevilleBastille Days performance,Paul Griffith,Tim Carroll andJim Gray.

AsAndy and I strolled through the Hotel (RenaissanceHotel) we kept bumping into ladies with red backpackson that said,“SLUMBER PARTIES”. Andy asked one ofthese ladies exactly what Slumber Parties were and whatwas going on here at the Hotel. Apparently Slumber Par-ties are for romance enhancing and how to put some siz-zle back in your love life. These ladies, around 1,000 ofthem were in Nashville for the annual training confer-ence. (Apparently Andy and I looked like we may haveneeded some help in this area,as they were always hand-ing us their business cards and even left some on ourhotel door.) What can I say after 30 years of marriage –I took a couple of the cards!!!

By Friday, we were so exhausted, but we attendedsome sessions, found a time for a nap and laid pretty lowthat night. Saturday we enjoyed some fine cuisine at theHotel, ran into Jim Lauderdale at the omelet stand, andhad a nice chat with him.Then we were in route to FatsKaplan and Kristy Rose’s house to make one last deliv-ery and then we headed North.

This was a wonderful trip, great convention, greatfriends,great food,and great music. We already have ourcalendars marked for next year.

Story and photos by: Joyce Ziehli

The Americana Music ConferenceNashville


Beth Kille ♪♪♪♪♪This Beautiful BeastStyle: Indie/Americana

Beth Kille is a fantastic song writer. One of the best to come outof Madison. Her songs are honest, soulful heartfelt mini movies foryour listening pleasure. I have known Kille since the beginning ofher songwriting career. During these past years I have seen her be-come a songwriter’s songwriter. The one person in the group thateveryone wishes they could write songs like. Her live perform-ances with Clear Blue Betty were awestricking both visually and au-dibly. The girl can write songs.

In 2008 Kille moved toTexas as her husband and percussionistTony Kille was awarded a medical fellowship for a year in Houston.Kille free to follow her musical heart spent the year learning howto be a solo performer and co-writing with folks from all over theUS. This time away from a band model helped to shape the “new”

Kille as a more passionate/soulful writer and her first release as a soloist shows.

This Beautiful Beast is a sample of the fine songwriting talent that is Beth Kille. Kille also engineered and pro-duced the EP with tremendous results. This is a fantastic EP!!! It shows the growth and maturity of an artist. Notmany people create such material in such a beautiful way as Kille does on This Beautiful Beast. It is extremely wellrecorded,has six strong songs that could be top 40 Country or Pop radio hits, and gives you the listener a chance tohear an artist that lets you in their world without all the glitz and special effects that dominate today’s radio fare.

Co-writing with Kille on the CD were Connie Mims from Houston/Nashville,and Dan Saunders from Lincoln Ne-braska who also played on this EP. Helping Kille capture these wonderful songs were her husbandTony on percus-sion, and Julia McConahay on Violin. Kille played all the guitar and keyboard parts except on track 5 in whichSuanders played the keyboards. My favorite song on this EP was track three; I can’t love you anymore which wasco-written with Mims. Hey Nashville you better take a listen here! This song has major hit written all over it. Thelast track is an interesting song sung a cappella by Kille which makes it appear and sound like poetry verses song-writing. It is a very special treat. The other four tracks are great songs too. Each different and more interesting bothsonically and lyrically than the preceding song. There is not a bad song on this EP!

This Beautiful Beast is an opportunity for you to hear a wonderful talented songwriter in a much stripped downfashion, playing songs from the heart. If you liked Rosanne Cash’s 10 song Demo CD you will love This BeautifulBeast. Hat’s off to Beth Kille for reaching for the stars and landing there. Making it can mean many different thingsin the entertainment business from headlining stadiums,to making millions of dollars,or it can mean creating a workof art that will stand the test of time. This Beautiful Beast is the latter. The first two will be along shortly.

Review by:Andy Ziehli

CD Review

Chris Smither ♪♪♪♪Time Stands StillSignature Sound RecordsStyle: Americana/Blues/Folk

Chris Smither has been making music for a while touring thecountry playing to the masses. This is my first exposure to him andI have to say it has been a very pleasurable experience to listen tohis songs. They are a mix of acoustic blues and folk. He is a veryvery good guitar player and his style changes with each song. Hisvoice is a cross between Neil young and Leon Redbone.

Time Stands Still is a very good CD. Well recorded and produced.The songs are bare bones recordings with percussion being foottapping and shuffling and very sparse drums. There is some won-derful slide guitar work provided by David Goodrich who also pro-duced the CD. My favorite cuts were the opening track Don’t callme stranger, I told you so,Miner’s Blues (written by Frank Hutchin-

son), and Mark Knopfler’s Madame Geneva’s.

This is a great opening to Smither’s work. It is a dark CD at some points. This is the kind of CD that you would putin when you want to listen to music that is earthy and real, not the kind you would listen to if you were in a party-ing mood. I guess I would say that it has a taste of Appalachian balladry in its content. Give Time Stands Still achance and I’m sure you’ll find that you will become a fan of Chris Smither like I did.

Reviewed by:Andy Ziehli continued on page 15

East Nashville Vol. 3 ♪♪♪♪♪More Music From The Other SideRed Beet RecordsStyle:Americana/Indie Rock

This is the third compilation of music from EastNashville’s Red Beet Records and it’s a good one! EricBrace and Maryann Werner have assembled a fine col-lection of their friends and neighbors who just happento be some of the top artists in Americana Music todayfor your listening pleasure. Some of these cuts are onthe artists own releases and others are just for this CD.Brace &Werner are a formable team. Red Beet Recordsis an up and coming Indie label that was created just torelease this kind of music.

The CD kicks of with one of my new favorite artistsalthough he has been kicking the streets of Nashville forawhile,Phil Lee. Lee is the only artist that appears twiceon this CD. He also has the last cut. Neon Tombstone isfrom Lee’s latest release So long it’s been good to knowyou. It is a wonderful tune by an incredible writer.You’ve got to go toAmazon.com and check out his otherreleases. Next Kieran Kane supplies a great song fromhis new CD Somewhere Beyond the Roses which wasmy number two pick for CD releases in 2009. EastNashville’s luminaries Elizabeth Cook, Duane Jarvis,Chuck Mead,Anne McCue,Tim Carroll,AudreyAuld,andthe great Kevin Gordon appear on this CD. This is awho’s who inAmericana Music East Nashville style.

My four favorite songs on this CD are Brace’s Tran-quilly Base about the first moon landing,Tom MasonChana Pozo’s Shoes an incredible song about DizzyGillespie’s Cuban percussionist,Reputation by Jon Byrd,and one of my all time favorite songs Peter Cooper’sGospel Song. The bridge in this song really hits homefor me“boy you had the where with all,you just ain’t gotthe follow through.” Lloyd Green lays down the back-ground steel which is a super treat.

This CD along with volume’s One andTwo are filledwith unbelievable talented artists who deserve to seethe light of day on radio. Brace andWerner deserve allthe kudos here in bringing this and the other collectionsto life. You can purchase them from the Red BeetRecords website redbeetrecords.com. You can also buythe other releases and should! These CD’s are a must foreveryone’s collection. After listening to this CD you’llknowwhy East Nashville has such an allure to musicianslike myself and the great folks that live there. ThanksEric and Maryann, you hit one out of the park here!

Reviewed by: Andy Ziehli


The weekend of November 14th Andrew Pulver, Rob Kosmeder, and myselfwere in Nashville to look at some recording equipment. We had spent Friday and Sat-urday checking out gear. Our friends Eric Brace and Peter Cooper told us that theywere playing at a new venue in town that Saturday night called the Flatrock Café. Sowe decided to check it out and take in some greatAmericana Music. My friend RandyBlevins from Nashville also joined us for an evening of great food and entertainment.Now an Eric Brace and Peter Cooper show is always an excellent treat, and thatevening’s show was no different. It was superb! The Flatrock is a great fantastic lis-tening room to enjoy music. Brace & Cooper’s song styling mixed with the filled tocapacity crowd made the evening a blast!

First let me tell you about the Flatrock Café. It is located at 2624 Nolensville Pike(southern for road) in Nashville. It is a little out of the way for the average touristcrowd, but well worth searching out. It is a “very cool” establishment that was builtas a business venture and combination community enhancement project dedicated tobettering the community ofWoodbine which is the neighborhood it is located in. Thiswas their second evening of music and first evening for serving beer, which alwaysmakes for a good show. Yazoo Beer is the only beer served. A fine Southern brew(brewed in Nashville) with a little bit of a kick I’m told. All their milk products comefrom Hatchers Family Dairy. The staff of the Flatrock was very friendly and accom-modating to all who attended. The coffee served (I had Ronnie’s Blend) was very fla-vorful. All manner of espresso drinks are available too. The Flatrock also serves foodwhich includes breakfast items, salads, sandwiches, soup, desserts, pianinis, buffalowings that were delicious, and pork sliders which were also delicious. The housesound system sounded great. This is a fine establishment with great potential to be-come one of Nashville’s premiere Americana singer songwriter venues. The Flatrockalso has a dog friendly deck, so all you dog walkers can take advantage of this new

amenity, and enjoy a cup of coffee along with your four legged buddy.You can checkout the Flatrock Café at flatrockcafe.net. Their full menu and show schedule is postedthere.

Now for the music. Brace and Cooper are fantastic showman. Tonight was an addedtreat because Lucas Kane was sitting in on Percussion. Kane who plays in Kane,Welch,and Kaplin (one of my favorite groups) added his distinctive touch to the Brace &Cooper songs. Early on these renowned performers had this crowd in the palm oftheir hands. The very first song that they played which by the way is one of my fa-vorites, Herb Pederson’s Wait a minute got the crowds attention and kept it for thewhole evening. No small talk from the tables because all eyes and ears were focusedon the fantastic songs and stories coming from the stage. Their voices meld togetherperfectly. Throughout the evening they played some of their songs from solo albums,songs from theirYou don’t have to like them both album,a new yet unreleased album,along with covers of some of their favorite writers. Brace’s Tranquility Base about thefirst moon landing had everyone’s attention. Cooper played the first song I ever heardhim sing Sheboygan, which had the crowd singing along to the chorus “Here I amdrunk in Sheboygan once again, once again” They ended their two set show withthe Cooper andTodd Snider song The Last Laugh with the whole café breaking intosong with them. It was a wonderful night, in a wonderful venue with wonderful peo-ple. It made the trip worth while.

So next time you are in Nashville check out the Flatrock Café. It’s worth the searchto find it many times over!

Story by: Andy ZiehliPhotos supplied

at theFlatrock CaféNashville

Live

www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t 11

Adam Zierten: Soul Shaker is a combining offorces from two former Madison bands,Trinity James andthe Big Bad,and Reason for Leaving.After a two year runas backing band “Big Bad” for Americana singer/song-writer, Trinity James, Jason Peterson, Brent King andScott Autmann stayed together and switched sounds toa more driven blues rock flavor.Working and writing to-gether for a year and half, they patiently waited for theright singer to complete the new group. Enter Reasonfor Leaving front man,Adam Zierten on Harmonica andvocals and the band quickly found a pocket of bluesyrock n’roll that continues to follow from our fingers andmouths exponentially.

AW:What makes you need to step on a stage and not justplay in your basement?

AZ:You can’t hold lighting in a bottle and you can’t keephyperbolic rock music like ours in the garage/basement.We all come from a place of confidence in our individ-ual talents and when those talents were put together,weknewwe had something that would get people as hypedas we are and it’s our responsibility to lay it on em’.We’rejust lighting the fuse at the practice space and waiting tofollow the spark to the next venue and watch it explode.

AW:What was the song that "did it" for you, that madeyou need to play music?

AZ: For me as a singer it was She Talks to Angels by theBlack Crowes.This was the first song I tried to sing liveat about 16 years old. Now, almost twenty years laterhere I am singing in a blues rock band very similar tothe Crowes.

AW:How do you go about writing newmaterial and howdo you come up with lyrics,melodies? Do you come upwith the music first then lyrics or vice versa?

AZ: Jason Peterson is the catalyst man, writing a guitarriff or two and throwing it out to the band. From therewe all layer in a rough framework of general parts forthat idea.After that I’m the arrangement guy. I feel outhow the vocals are flowing and tweak the individualparts to match what’s best for the melody and lyrics.One

of the first things I was taught about writing lyrics was“dust off a cliché,”so a lot my lyrics start chorus first andextrapolate on the theme from there.Hence the song ti-tles like High Horse, Sour Grapes and Giled Cage arepretty common.

AW:What does Soul Shaker travel in from gig to gig?

AZ:We’ve got a handful of cars that we match up differ-ent ways depending on whether we bring P.A. equip-ment.We’re still to new of a band to purchase a van ortrailer.

AW:What advice would you give a 16 year old or a 60year old if they wanted to start a band?

AZ:Whatever the age it’s never too early or late to findyour musical inspiration. I started singing in the showeror at work and with a decent chunk of gusto followed bya honing of my talents; I’ve successfully played in bandsfor over 15 years now. It’s more about gut feeling thantechnical prowess, if you can manage to not over scruti-nize yourself, you’ll continue to grow and flourish as aband.

AW:Which one of the band members would win the"band arm wrestling contest?"

AZ: Brent the drummer or Jason if he’s drunker thenBrent.

AW:What’s the most common song Soul Shaker gets re-quests for live?

AZ: It’s probably a tie between High Horse which hasbeen played as a single onTriple M (in Madison,WI) orThin Linewhich is a more sultry number that the ladiesseem to dig.

AW:What are the future plans for Soul Shaker?

AZ: Finishing up material for a full studio album whichwe’ll record shortly after the NewYear followed shortlyby world domination!

Written by: AaronWilliams

Musician toMusicianRegistration for the7th AnnualMadison AreaMusic Awardsis now openRegistration for the Madison Area Music Awards 2010 is now open atwww.themamas.org. The 7th Annual Madison Area Music Awards will beheld May 8th at the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center.

All musicians who make music in the greater Madison area are encouragedto enter. Last year, over 50 awards were given to artists in Album, Song,Live Performance and Instrumentalist categories. This year the MAMAs haveadded a Hard Rock/Punk genre to the award roll. The finalists and winnersare determined by peer and fan voting.

Broadjam.com, an international music website, will sponsor all Album en-tries submitted to the MAMAs. In addition, Good 'n Loud Music, a localmusic instrument retailer, will sponsor all Instrumentalist and Youth awardregistrations. Eligible artists will receive one free entry in these categories.All other registration fees are $10 per entrant per category. The annual $5membership in the MAMAs is required to submit and vote. Below are thekey dates:

October 5, 2009 – Open registrationJanuary 15, 2010 – Registration endsFebruary 1, 2010 – First voting round beginsMarch 18, 2010 – First voting round endsMarch 28, 2010 – Final round of voting startsApril 28, 2010 – Final voting endsMay 8, 2010 – 7th Annual Madison Area Music Awards – Overture Center,Capitol Theater

Past winners of MAMAs include a virtual who's who in the Madison musicscene. To qualify artists need to live in or play more than half of their gigsin Dane County.

For more information or for interviews, contact:Rick Tvedt Roy [email protected] [email protected] 608-271-3633

MAMAs MISSION STATEMENTMAMAs, Inc. is organized and operates exclusively for charitable or educational pur-poses, as defined in Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The mission of the MAMAs is to support the preservation and expansion of all forms ofmusic education in the Madison area, and to encourage and promote the artistic ad-vancement of our emerging musical youth.

MAMAs VISION STATEMENTIn furtherance of our charitable purpose, MAMA, Inc. has created and presents the an-nual Madison Area Music Awards ceremony, with the purpose of (1) raising public aware-ness of the need to preserve and support the existence of music education in our publicschools and other community institutions, (2) encourage and promote the advancementof musicians and others in the Madison area by recognizing their musical achievementsas well as the achievements of outstanding music students and music educators, and (3)provide promotional support for the Madison music economy as a whole. MAMA, Inc.seeks to establish three other annual events to further carry out its charitable missionand to keep the awareness of the need for music education in the public eye year-round.

MAMA, Inc. also seeks to carry out the following:• Provide opportunities for professional, semi-professional and student musicians whoare interested in pursuing careers in music to learn about the music industry• Provide forums for young musicians and others in the Madison area to participate inlive performances• Become advocates for music education by working cooperatively through the MadisonSchool Board and with others• Establish a school instrument repair program• Create, support and fund music education events presented in the schools in the formof assemblies• Create an endowment fund to provide music education scholarships


Greetings.My name is Bonnie. I am a coon hound-black lab mix, but morethan that, I am a nursing home volunteer.Every week for the last 5 years, I have visiteda very special place, the New Glarus Home in (you guessed it) New Glarus,WI. Mymom and dad walk me down 3 wings of the Home.We visit residents, family members,and staff,maybe talking to 50 people on each weekly visit.

How did this get started? It all began with lots of training when I was 7 months old.I was smart enough right from the start, but my parents didn’t get it and had to keeprepeating the dog obedience classes.Then they took classes on their own from theDelta Society,a national organization that provides training to owners and certifies thetemperament of dogs like me that do dog visits.

Now,more than 250 visits later, I am an old pro! Guess what residents do in orderto see me?They change their shower times to different nights, they stay in their roomsand don’t go to bingo, they make my folks promise to come into their dark rooms towake them up so they can see me, they hang up on relatives calling long distance(when I walk through the door), and they write me cards when they get dischargedand go home. Some even dream out loud about me (calling my name in their sleep). Iam a lucky dog to have a family so large and devoted as this.

My dog visits lead to many wonderful quotes and magic moments. Here are just afew of the great one-liners from residents:“I love you and will never forget you as longas I live.”“When I see you, I feel good all over.”“A visit from you is better than any med-icine.” “As soon as you leave, we start looking forward to when you will be comingback.”

The interesting thing about allof this is that I am just an ordinary dog. I mind -- sortof. I don’t have obnoxious habits like jumping up,barking at loud sounds, or pulling wildly. I also don’thave extraordinary sixth senses about when peopleare very sick. But I am friendly. I swish my tail backand forth through the entire 2 hours that I visit eachweek.

Most of all, I have been taught and I have learned tobe VERY patient. My folks discovered this years agowhen it was a holiday and they decided to dress meup with a headband decoration. It was a huge suc-cess. A lady who doesn’t like to touch dogs passedme in the hallway that day. Seeing me with Valentinehearts waving above my head, she said,“You know, Idon’t like dogs very much, but that one sure makesme smile.”

Since then, I wear something different every week.Flower leis are an easy colorful accessory, as are mul-ticolored Mardi gras beads.But the costumes that theresidents love best are the headbands. My folks buythem at human party stores.They are made for peo-ple, so my mom adds a tiny piece of elastic at the bot-tom to help hold them on my head (I am a 55-lb dog,by the way).Someone once asked my mom if we hadmore than one dog. She answered that she only hasone because she does not have closet space for anymore!

My nursing home costumes fill a closet. I have anurse’s cap,Annie Oakley braids and a bandanna,rab-

bit ears,a red-white-and-blue hat,shamrocks,bunny ears,a turkey with a Packer cheesehat on its head, a wedding veil, an Hawaiian shirt and straw skirt, princess hat, angelhalo, deer horns, and many more.These things sure do make folks smile.

I also know a small number of simple, crowd-pleasing tricks.The one used everyweek is“Leave it.”A biscuit is placed on a resident’s knee,and I am told to“leave it.”ThenI have to wait (and wait) until I hear the magic word.All the residents know that word,even those who can’t talk so good.It is“OK.”When they say the word,I reach over andtake the biscuit.Many residents keep their own package of dog treats for me in theirrooms. For a dog who loves yummy treats, it does not get any better than this.

The neat part of all of this is that it is so easy to do.The visits are fun for me becauseI get to visit so many people who call my name,pet me, and make me feel special. Formy folks, it is a highlight of their weeks.My mom is a writer, and my dad is an electri-cian; they have never had a chance to do “something from the heart” before. For theresidents at the nursing home,my visits give them something to look forward to,enjoywhen I am there, and savor after I have left. Everyone gets a lot of mileage out of myvisits,which are only minutes per person every week.Where else can a dog make thismuch of a difference in the lives of so many?

P.S. I forgot to tell you what music I like.The music I listen to most often is thehowls of packs of coyotes in the hills of Iowa where my folks have a cabin.When thecoyotes get to calling, I throw my head back, and I send out a big loud howl. It echoesin the hills.The coyotes usually keep calling, and I keep howling back. It is a musicalharmony of wild dogs and domestic dogs, each singing to the moon and each other.

Story and photo by: Susi Nehls

APE

TNO

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BONNIE- the working dog!


“What’s your draw”or

“We are adestination venue.”

Asbands we’ve all heard this before many times over when booking.As an indie band leader my-self I’ve had to deal with booking a lot in the past.We all start out booking our own bands before we canafford or trust an agency. I believe booking is an important tool in a bands growing maturity. It teaches usa lot about the industry and how cut throat it can be,even at the local level. First off, the sound your bandis putting out needs to be desirable to fans, secondly a band needs a killer demo and press kit.And lastly,someone in the band needs to have determination and thick skin because it’s going to get rough whenbooking. In regards to this article I’m considering a band has all these features.

I won’t pretend to know what a talent buyer or venue owner goes through when considering a bandfor a booking,but I’ve come to realize those two questions above always posed to bands should be askedof the venue as well.

On a recent tour to a very well established venue in the South we were asked those questions. I’m allabout being honest when speaking with a venue for the first time. It’s always better to be honest and tella club,“We can only draw 20 people.” It’s not going to benefit anyone if you lie and no one shows up.Youmay get the gig this time but you’ll never get into that club again and you wasted a night playing to nobody.Which is why I answered,“I’m not sure of our draw but I would guess 50 people to be safe.”That’s a de-cent draw and most clubs understand you’re first time to a city is always the hardest, after all no one hasheard of us.With that being said the club enjoyed our CD and press kit and we got the gig.As the monthswent by I continued to create press and badgered all our MySpace friends in the area reminding them ofour upcoming show.As a band with a full touring schedule I can only afford so much time to spend on eachdate, I did my time and promoted it heavily.The date came and we ended up drawing 56 people that weknew were our fans because of a discount mentioned with our promoting.The complete attendance forthe night was 58 people.Yes, 58 people.Our promoting brought in the whole crowd for the night. I wascurious because of this fact and in talking with the soundman I got a sense of what the club does to pro-mote and it’s nothing more then hanging fliers and putting up posters within the club and that’s a shame.

It’s time that venues start to take a serious look at how promoting is done.And if a club say’s up frontthat it’s a “destination venue,” that’s code for no one comes to our club and don’t book there. Bands havelong been deemed the lazy ones in this relationship and believe me, there are lazy bands out there but thesame can be said of venues. It’s a cop out if all a venue does is post fliers within the club and sends out afew fliers on the street.There is so much competition for your entertainment dollar these days that ven-ues and bands alike can’t afford to be lazy.From huge home theater systems to casinos,we are all after yourhard earned dollar.

Bands have adapted greatly in the past ten years to the changing playing field while many venues havestalled and expect bands to make up the complete draw for any given night. Simply sticking with the ad-vertising of yesterday isn’t going to cut it anymore; I challenge venues to take a look at how the success-ful bands and venues are succeeding and copy them.You must create a brand and “feeling” people getwhile experiencing your club and make people want to come to you just like any band has to.If live musicis going to succeed we all need to do our part in making that happen.

We all have a deep love for live music and we all want to see it grow, but it’s time we ask venues thesame questions that are posed to bands“what’s your draw”and expect venues to take part of the respon-sibility in making sure live music lives on.Get out and see some live music!

Written by: AaronWilliams

Aaron’s Amusing Anecdotes

CommunitiesUnited Music FestivalHelping those in need

through musicBenefit for Iowa County Programs:

Food Pantry, We-Care, Adopt a Family and Santa Copand all Iowa County Fire Depts.!

Dec 12, 2009 • 3 Bands • 3 Venues • Dodgeville, WI

Jeffrey’s – FreeFall 4:30 – 7:30Red Room – Six Nights Alone 7:30 – 10:30Time Out - BlackWaterGin 10:30 – 1:30

Raffle Drawing Dec 13 @ Dino’s 3PMEntertainment to follow

*** Need Not Be Present To Win ***Prize Winners Pick-up Southwest Cap

Raffle Prizes valued over 3000 dollars!

Grand Harbor Resort & Water Park (Dubuque)Don Q Inn (Dodgeville)

Golf Packages Deer Valley (Barneveld) &Dodge Point (Mineral Point)Many other various Items(see list posted at venues )

Thanksgiving Weekend Watch ForRaffle Tickets, Wrist Bands

Food Collection Barrels at various locationsJeffrey’s – DodgevilleTime Out – DodgevilleRed Room – Dodgeville

Milts – RidgewayTrader’s – Arena

Mineral Springs – Mineral PointTony’s – Mineral PointRicki’s – Mineral Point

For additional information or donations callMichelle Friederich@ SW-Cap 608-930-2326 ext 213

Or Beth @ 608-574-2916.


Amber Skies is a great band out of SouthernWisconsin. They play “IncrediblyGood Music”which includes Americana, Indie, Rock, Celtic, Cajun, and Country music.This is a“big”band of eight members, so small clubs just don’t work well logistically forthem to play at. The Incredibly Good Music refers to the type of music that they create.Presently they play all covers,but are working some originals in the mix for 2010. “Peo-ple always ask us what kind if music we play”comments Rob Kosmeder“so we tell themIncredibly Good Music”.

Amber Skies rose out of the ashes of the Jug Prairie Band. Sara Rupnow lead vocalsand mandolin;Rob Kosmeder,Vocals,Guitar,and Harmonica; John Fahey Bass guitar andvocals; Bob King Acoustic guitar, vocals, harmonica and keys; along with Andy ZiehliLead Guitar,Mandolin,and keys decided to go in a different direction and formed a newband. Steph Rupnow vocals and keys;Matt Sarbacker Drums and vocals;andAndrew Pul-ver guitar joined forces with the ex Jug Prairie band members to create a new excitingband calledAmber Skies. Keeping the best songs from Jug Prairie and adding new songsby old favorites like Fleetwood Mac, Steve Earl,The Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Emmy-lou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt,Amber Skies is getting quite a name for themselves inthe local clubs and bars they have played in.

The vocalization of Sara and Steph Rupnow (sisters) and the harmonies they create arehigh points of the Amber Skies Shows. Both are vocal music teachers.The triple guitarwork of Kosmeder, Pulver, and Ziehli create multiple layers and sonic textures turningold classics into reinvigorated top-notch foot tappers. Fahey a mainstay in the Countrymusic scene in SouthernWisconsin for over 30 years adds the bottom end and his su-perior vocal style to the mix. Bob King’s vocals both as lead and a harmony singer bringa warmth and exciting element to Amber Skies sound. His multi-instrumental capabili-ties are an added treat to any show. Drummer Matt Sarbacker is a fantastic drummer andvocalist in his own right. His ability to switch from straight Country to Blues, Cajun,Celtic, and Rock & Roll beats brings a new and added strength to the band. The abilityto play everything from Americana, Country, Blues, Celtic, Cajun, Reggae, and Rock &Roll in one evening’s show means that there is something for everyone at an AmberSkies show.

Amber Skies takes pride in their shows and works hard to put on the best show pos-sible for their fans. The variety of music that they play and their ability to “rework”old favorites into new updated sound textures makes each show a cornucopia of lis-tening pleasure. Their three and four part harmonies are reminiscent of great vocalbands like the Eagles, CSN&Y, Fleetwood Mac, and Heart. The full instrumentationthat eight members can provide does not go to waste here. A full thick wall of soundaccompanies their song list and performance capabilities. No duplication,over play-ing, or added fill inAmber Skies material, just a perfect blend of instrumentation,per-cussion, and vocals.

Plans for the future include working in some original songs by King,Kosmeder,andZiehli. Each writer brings a fresh approach to their songs. King & Ziehli have col-laborated in the past and bring a vast catalog work to the band. Kosmeder writes inthe Indie Rock and Folk styling which brings an exciting edge to the band. Localsong writer Beth Kille has been tapped to and is providing the band with three of hersongs that will be worked in for 2010. The original songs by the three writers are inthe Americana/Indie rock vein. An EP is also planned to be released early spring of2010. The band hopes to play some bigger stages in 2010, taking their brand of ‘In-credibly Good Music” on the road during the summer months. You can check outAmber Skies on their My Space Page myspace.com/amberskiesbandwi.

If you are looking to book an exciting and entertaining band for your club, bar, orparty get a hold of Amber Skies. You won’t be sorry.

Story and photos by: Joyce Ziehli

AmberSkies

“IncrediblyGood

Music”


MADISON – Jami Lampkins debuted with theMadison band The Dang-Its at two upcoming perform-ances: the Roxbury Tavern in Sauk City on November29, and the Brink Lounge in Madison on December 4.Abanjo player, guitarist, and vocalist, Lampkins moved toMadison in 2008 from Nashville, where she placedeleventh in USA Network’s“Nashville Star”talent searchseries, leaving her just shy of the top ten chosen to com-pete. The Dang-Its play a unique mix of Honky-Tonk,Western Swing, and Americana music and are multiplewinners of both The Isthmus and Madison Magazinereaders’ choice polls.

Lampkins is upbeat about the new partnership.“It’s aNashville-quality band with paying gigs.This is heaven!”says Lampkins, tongue only partly in-cheek.“The Dang-Its' energy is contagious and I'm so excited to be a partof that!” Guitarist and band leader Tom WaselchukformedThe Dang-Its in 1998 with pedal steel player RickNass.They were later joined by drummer Mark Luhringand bassist Pete Olig.The band has three independentCD releases: Daddy’s Cadillac (2009), Our Way (2006),and Don’t Mean Maybe (2000).

Lampkins grew up in Las Vegas. She started playingstand-up bass in her family’s group,The Lampkins Fam-ily Band, at age twelve. She later moved to Nashville,

lending her talents to several bands and finding a friendand mentor in the great country artist and producer GailDavies,known for such hits as Blue Heartache,and I’ll BeThere.Two years ago,Lampkins realized a life-long dreamof performing on the Grand Ole Opry stage, backingDavies on harmony vocals and banjo.

Sheila Voss fronted The Dang-Its withWaselchuk forthe last three years, but resigned at the end of the sum-mer for personal reasons. Voss was beloved by bandmates and fans, causing Waselchuk to worry about fill-ing her cowboy boots.But Lampkins,who had taken gui-tar lessons from Waselchuk and filled in for Voss on acouple of occasions,was available and eager to joinTheDang-Its. SaysWaselchuk,“I can hardly believe our goodluck and the fortunate timing.The call to Jami was theonly one we made. She’s a major talent. She’s motivatedand fearless. Right now she’s working hard to learn theband’s repertoire,but I suspect that in a few months theguys and I will be scrambling to keep up with her.”

If you’d like more information about The Dang-Its,please call Tom at (608) 271-7827, or email Tom [email protected]

Photo: Jami Lampkins andTomWaselchuk

The Band of Heathens ♪♪♪♪♪One Foot In The EtherBOH RecordsStyle: Rock/Americana

As far as fantastic CD’s released in 2009 this CD topsmy list! I don’t think any CD released this year canmatch the musicianship,songwriting,energy,or pure lis-tening pleasure One Foot in the Ether has brought me!These guys rock, roll, funk, and just plain get down intheir music making. As of October 31,2009 this was thenumber one CD on theAmericana Charts,and rightfullyso.

The Band of Heathens has been compared to LittleFeat,The Band,Black Crowes,and theAllman Brothers. Isay that’s some pretty heavy company to be comparedto, but The Band of Heathens is more than a clone ofthose great bands it is five very talented individuals whostudied the masters and created a sound that is fresh andtimely, not a rehash of the past.

The CD kicks off with my favorite song LA CountyBlues. It is everything a great song should be. It movesyou, keeps your attention, and has a great hook. Onceyou hear it you will never forget it. There are a coupleof gospel tinged tunes Shine a light, Golden Calf, andRight HereWith Me. The fifth songWhat’s ThisWorld isan incredible Americana tune. It too has a great hook.The mandolin is very cool. Not out front in your facejust a very nice accompaniment to the song. You’reGonna Miss Me is a funky foot stompin tune as is Some-body Tell The Truth. Both will make it hard for you tostay in your seat when you hear them. The final song onthe CD Hey Rider is an interesting song. It has a haunt-ing melody and very cool acoustic guitar work in it. Theorgan and piano fill very nicely. It kind of reminds me ofa cross between The Dead and Heartsfield in the songstructure and harmonies.

Writers, Ed Jurdi, Gordy Quist, and Colin Brookswrote all the songs. The only outside musician on theCD is Trevor Nealon who played Piano, HammondOrgan, and Wurlitzer Piano. Seth Whitney the BOHbassist did a fantastic job playing bass on all the cuts.BOH Drummer John Chipman did an excellent job pro-viding all the drums and percussion for this CD. Jurdi,Quist,and Brooks,played the guitars,dobro,lap steel,andadded some keyboards. It is released on the BOH label.

If you are looking for a great Christmas gift or a won-derful CD to add to your collection this is it! Again thisis one hell of a CD, and you won’t be sorry you boughtit. Hat’s off to BOH for putting out the best CD for 2009!

Review by:Andy Ziehli

New Vocalist andMusician -Jami Lampkins

The Dang-Itscd review... continued from page 9



Larry Gatlin, known by Johnny Cash as the “Pilgrim” and theGatlin Brothers just released a new CD on CURB Records, entitled, Pilgrim-age. This CD was made to celebrate their love and respect for the “Man InBlack”. This all came about one night when Larry was having dinner withhis son, Joshua Cash Gatlin (named after Johnny Cash). Larry and his sonwere discussing changes in the music business, the way songs are writtennow, how they are produced, etc. and Larry looked over at his son and said,

“The Music business will never be the same…after all, Johnny Cash is deadand his house burned down.” Upon hearing his own words, Larry flippedhis placemat over and started writing. The single, Johnny Cash is Deadand His House Burned Down is getting the attention of many people, butthere is an incredible story to be told about a lifelong friendship. I havethis CD in my car and I think I have it almost worn out!!!


Now most of you folks (around my age) proba-bly remember Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Broth-ers for their four #1 hits:

All the Gold In CaliforniaHouston (Means I’m One Day Closer to You)I Just Wish You Were Someone I LovedBroken Lady

Larry Gatlin has a total of 33 top 40 hits, wastop male vocalist of the year in 1979 by theAcademy of Country Music, won a Grammyaward for “Broken Lady’ in 1977 for Best Coun-try Song, and wrote a memoir called All the GoldIn California that was published in 1998, andtoured in 1999 and entertained troops of the 1stCAV division in Bosnia.

Gatlin and his Brothers opened a 2,000 seattheater in Myrtle Beach and in 1995 played him-self in the TV movie about Dottie West’s life, BigDreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story.Larry and his brothers are also a part of theGrand Ole Opry family.

After 17 years, Larry Gatlin is back in themusic news, and between a few rounds of golfand playing with his two granddaughters,Parker and Campbell, I was able to talk with himand get a little bit of info for all you Larry Gatlinand the Gatlin Brothers fans!!!

AG: You were born in Texas, where your Dadwas an oil driller. Tell me a little about yourchildhood, and how did you and your brothers,Rudy & Steve get involved in the music indus-try?

LG: Well, we just been singing all of our lives. Westarted singing in church when we were littleboys, sang on a little TV show in Abilene, Texas.We just always loved singing together. I was 6years old, Steve was 4 and Rudy was 2. So ourearliest memories or recollections are being onstage together. Some people ask if we get nerv-ous, and I say, “Good Lord no, I haven’t beennervous since the 4th grade”. We make musicfor the people, that’s what we know how to do.

AG: How did you get to Nashville?

LG: Well, I was a waiter at Steak and Ale Restau-rant and I was going to law school. A friend ofmine told me that “The imperials”, the greatgospel group who used to sing in Elvis’s backupgroup, needed a baritone singer. One of the guyshad decided to leave the group and I had knownall the other members of the group all my life.So I called them to see if I could try out for thegroup. They said we don’t really need anybodyright now, we’re just doing ooh’s and ah’s, YouAint’ Nothing But a Hound Dog. So I went off towork that night as a waiter and when I was atwork, they called me at the Steak and Ale andsaid they changed their mind. So I went outthere. I didn’t actually work the Elvis show, butI hung out for a week and met him. I learned theJimmy Dean Show and did that with them.After they closed with Elvis, they opened withJimmy Dean the next day in Vegas. I workedwith them for awhile. There was another guythey really wanted for the job, when he flunkedhis draft physical and didn’t have to go to Viet-nam, they hired him and sent me home. That’sthe bad news, but the good news is I had metDottie West while I was there. I had wrote a cou-ple of songs while I was there and she thoughtthey were good. She said send me some songsand I’ll see if I can help you. I went home toHouston, wrote 8 songs, sent them to her. She


sent me a plane ticket. That’s how I got toNashville.

AG: When and where did you first meet JohnnyCash?

LG: I was a janitor, once I got to Nashville. Youknow things just don’t happen immediately. Peo-ple think you drive in there and become a star,that’s not the way it works.

AG: So you went from a waiter to a janitor?

LG: Well I went from a waiter to a janitor, kind ofa parallel career move, not really, maybe goingdown. (We laughed.) I was at a TV station,WLAC in Nashville and John and his group weredoing the American Oil commercials back 35years ago. I was a janitor and at lunch I startedhanging out with his group. One of the guys atthe station told the group, hey our janitor is asongwriter. One of Johnny’s band members said,well sing us a song. I grabbed a guitar and sangthem some of my stuff. They loved it. So theytold John about me. A little bit later I wassinging a song at church and June came to thechurch and she wrote my name down on theback of a blank check so she wouldn’t forget andcould tell John about me. Later he came tochurch and heard me sing. John said, “Come onboy, let’s write some songs for this movie I’mmaking.” We became life long friends; he waslike the big brother that I never really had.

AG: Why did Johnny Cash call you the Pilgrim?

LG: Well, he wrote my first liner notes on ourfirst album. John had a nickname for just abouteverybody. He didn’t call me Larry 5 times inour whole relationship. It was always, “Pilgrimcome over here. Let’s sing and play a little gui-tar music.” That’s what he called me forever.

AG: Let’s talk about your new CD and the songsyou wrote.

LG: The title, Pilgrimage is a nod to my firstalbum, The Pilgrim which was released in 1974.Johnny Cash wrote the liner notes for The Pil-grim, while his son, John Carter Cash, did thesame for Pilgrimage. The younger Cash pro-duced updated versions of two songs from ThePilgrim that his father specifically praised in hisnotes, Penny Annie and Sweet Becky Walker.Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge sang har-mony on the original Sweet Becky Walker , andmy daughter Kristin (named in honor of Kristof-ferson) provides harmony for the new recordedversion.

Johnny Cash is Dead and His House BurnedDown is kind of a trip down memory lane. AfterI wrote this, one night I bolted straight up in bedand realized I had inadvertently stolen one ofJohn’s melodies. The melody was to I Taughtthe Weeping Willow How to Cry, Cry, Cry. Icalled John Carter and told him what happenedand I called Lou Robbin, John’s long time man-ager and publisher, and said I didn’t do it on pur-pose – it just happened. With your blessing andJohn Carter’s blessing, I’m going to give Johnhalf credit as writer of the song, and you halfpublishing and we will all do it together. Becauseas I wrote the song it was as if the old boy wassinging in my ear. Everybody signed off on that,blessed it. That’s what that deal was.

I took another idea that Roger Miller gave me.If I Ever See Utah Again, Roger sang 2 lines ofthe song to me thirty years ago and twenty

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Nestled right off the Main Street in Ft.AtkinsonWI isone of the coolest little folk music/café’s you could everfind. The club is owned by Bill Camplin and KittyWelch,who began it in 1985. Bill is a singer-songwriter, and asa performer has created a listening space in which heand others love to play. The Carpe has a great staff thathelps out and keeps the place running and in tip topshape. The club started to attract people on the singer-songwriter circuit, and has gained a national reputationamong songwriters as a decent venue with wonderfulattentive audiences. The Carpe does not have a policyrestricting any kind of music;most of the performancesare by singer-songwriters, though. Occasionally there isa bluegrass band, or a jazz combo, a play, and a poetryperformance at the Carpe.

Their food is excellent and a bit spicy in nature. Theatmosphere in the Carpe is pure mid-western folk/amer-icana. The decorations that adorned the bar area areunique and one of a kind folk art. They serve a varietyof tap beers and mixed drinks. Their website is very in-teresting as well as the descriptions they set forth aboutthemselves. The club seats approximately 60 people inthe performance area. It is very intimate which makesit a great place to listen too,see,and experience some ofthe best singer songwriters in the region.

It is worth the drive from Madison, Milwaukee, andanywhere else within 100 miles to see a show at theCafé Carpe. Past performances included Peter & LouBarryman,Greg Brown,Slaid Cleves,Mike Dowling,FredEaglesmith, John Gorka, Malcome Holcombe, Phil Leeone of my favorites), and Bill Miller. A full list of per-formers is on their website at www.cafecarpe.com.

Next time you are looking for something “different”to do or see get on the web and check out the CaféCarpe’s schedule and visit this unique diamond in therough. Come early to enjoy their wonderful menu. Kickback,have a couple of beers and hear the best folk/sing

Paradyme Productions is a full-service audio produc-tion facility and recording studio based in Madison,Wis-consin. The studio offers services from production tomixing and mastering for projects of all sizes.They haveprovided years of reliable and affordable service to hun-dreds of regional, national, and international clients.

The knowledgeable and experienced engineers andproducers at Paradyme can help you with any of youraudio needs.Their staff can guide you through everystep of production,from conception/pre-production andarrangements to mixing, mastering, editing and se-quencing. Paradyme can also help with duplication andreplication of your final product.

Jake Johnson is the owner of Paradyme and has eight-een years of experience in the audio recording industry,including thirteen years operating and managingParadyme Productions.His primary skills are song writ-ing, engineering,producing and mastering.Johnson alsohas experience in copyright filing and legal matters,label promotions and band management.As the com-pany has grown he has honed his project managementskills and the ability to work on a wide variety of proj-ects.

Johnson is a voting member of the NationalAcademyof Recording Arts and Sciences (the Grammy's), and at-tends the awards annually. He is a member of the advi-sory board for MMI (Madison Media Institute) and hasspoken at various schools and elsewhere throughout thecommunity on issues relating to the music industry. Inaddition to producing hundreds of CD's and demos forartists locally and internationally, Jake has done work forthe Jimi Hendrix Foundation,The Shoa Project (StevenSpielberg),MTV,Viacom,EMI,The Dave Matthews Band,Metallica,Crucial Conflict, SteveVai, and StevieWonder.

Locally Paradyme’s client list reads like a who’s whoin SouthernWisconsin Music. Past clients include ClearBlue Betty, Jessi Lynn,Gladstone,Cajun Strangers,GerryLehr, and many other prominent acts. Johnson andParadyme can provide all the technical and inspirationalhelp a new act or established act needs to create a fan-tastic recording. Johnson’s easy going demeanor and histechnical prowhis makes him the go to guy in Madisonand Southern Wisconsin if you want a cutting edgerecording.

You can contact Paradyme at Paradyme Productions,636 W.Washington Ave. Suite 1A, Madison,WI 53703.Phone: (608) 270-9559 or at Info & Booking:[email protected] by: Andy Ziehli

3 for 1 Local Sounds

Café Carpe

Local Sounds is an independent music organizationof industry professionals and musicians who are pas-sionate about the evolution of the local music scene inMadisonWisconsin. Their focus and determination de-fine the core values and drive the mission of LocalSounds,which is to support,encourage,develop and en-hance the local music community. In addition to all ofthe great new projects that Local Sounds has rolled outrecently at the 2009 Madison Area Music Awards, thereare several others that have been in existence for thepast year or two but haven’t really lived up to their truepotential yet which includes a Local Sounds Museumwhich would include but not be limited to music his-torical preservation and complete music database proj-ect of local music being produced and created inSouthernWisconsin.

Local Sounds is the brainchild of local music and lit-erary hero RickTvedt. In fact Rick was just named oneof the top ten people in Madison who influenced the di-rection of Madison Music in the 2000’s by way of Isth-mus Magazine,and rightfully so. Tvedt who founded theMAMA’s,was the owner/publisher of Rick’s Café (prob-ably the best music publication ever created in Madison),a member of the eighties pop–group the AND and onehell of a guitar player and songwriter with the Sled Dogsand as a solo artist,who is fast becoming a musical leg-end himself.

With the help of Matt Jacoby manning the Website,and writers like Kiki Schueler, Brett Newski, and SueMasino Local Sounds Magazine is becoming a very pop-ular web source to follow Madison Music. The on-linemagazine features CD reviews, blunt force trauma, fea-ture stories and live show reviews.The addition of LocalSoundsTV on theWebsite allows you to check out yourfavorite local bands and interviews.

It’s great to haveTvedt back and writing about localmusic again. Local Sounds is a wonderful on-line multi-media publication. It is cutting edge entertainment anda must see if you love the music created in Madison.

Story by: Andy Ziehli

songwriters touring today along with local favorites.Plenty of parking available, toe tapping music, and aroom full of good people to get to know.

Story by: Andy Ziehli

ParadymeProductions


Most anyonewho likes westernmovies from the 1930’sto the 1950’s will re-member the nameGene Autry. He dideverything.He was a real hero.Wearing his white hat and riding his horse Championhe flew across the screen saving a damsel in distress,fighting outlaws and cattle barons.He was always the hero.His theme song was Back In The Saddle Again. His sidekickwas a man named Smiley Burnette. He made 93 movies and starred in 91TV produc-tions. For years he was considered the most popular western film star.His career lastedover 70 years in the entertainment field.The day I met him has long lived in my mem-ory. It took place in a railway station during the 1940’s

My father worked for the Northwestern Railroad for most of his life. He startedworking for them in October of 1936.He was just 9 months short of retiring when hedied in 1973. Nothing as glamorous as an engineer or conductor. He worked in thefreight office as a freight handler.His job was to make sure the freight got on the righttrain.

There was a shortage of manpower then so after my dad finished with his day jobhe would fill in as a Red Cap, one who helped passengers with their luggage and seethat they got a cab to take them to their destination. He would change into cleantrousers, polished shoes, put on a necktie and don a red cap.

Sometimes my mother and I would meet my father after work.We may have beenshopping or to a movie.After this we would walk the six blocks from the downtownarea to the train station to meet my dad. During the years of the SecondWorldWar therailroad stations were busy places. If people watching was the thing do that was theplace to be. Every branch of the military service rode the trains.The railway stationwas always crowded with soldiers or sailors arriving or departing. It seemed peoplewere always crying.

I always went outon the platform wherethe trains were wait-ing to depart or hadjust arrived. The lug-gage, as it was received was placed in a big red cart on wheels and hauled towhomever it belonged to. If the cart was empty my dad would give me a ride in thecart. On this particular day as I went outside he motioned for me to come where hewas standing.He was talking to a man in uniform.When I approached the two of themI thought the man in uniform looked familiar. Then the soldier stuck out his hand andsaid to me.“Hello, I’m GeneAutry.”

He was not how I imagined Gene Autry would look. I always saw him as the cow-boy flying across the screen on his horse Champion,singing his songs.Now I was faceto face with a soldier in uniform.He had been traveling on the train and just got off tostretch his legs. He struck up a conversation with my dad about the area.When mymother reached us she wanted his autograph. She searched her purse for a slip ofpaper so he could write his name.The only thing she could find was a copy of a grad-uation program from her brother’s graduation from a week before. On the margin ofthis paper Gene Autry wrote his name. It was kind of exciting meeting a movie starand I have remembered how it happened these many years later. I have also learnedsome things about GeneAutry.DuringWorldWar II he served as a captain in theArmyAir Force.He piloted a C-47 and flew dangerous missions over the Himalayas betweenBurma and China.He is also the only entertainer to have five stars on the HollywoodWalk of Fame. Besides the song Back in the Saddle Again he is famous for recordingRudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Here Comes Santa Claus (which he wrote.)

GeneAutry died Oct. 2 1998.He was 91 years of age.

Not too long ago I was in the company of my granddaughter. I was trying to tell herof the day I met GeneAutry.Her only response to this wasWHO?

Written by: Rosemary Ziehli

The DayI MetGeneAutry


Four decades of music mastery and songwriting craft came together on ChrisSmither's latest collection, Time Stands Still - a gripping mix of originals and potentcovers.The new collection came out September 29th on Signature Sounds/Mighty Al-bert. Time Stands Still puts the exclamation point on a legendary career that showsno signs of slowing down.On the contrary, this blues and folk superstar continues tobuild creative momentum.

His latest effort features a slew of tunes stripped down to their essence, shiningthe spotlight on Smither's understated power as a songwriter-one who taps into emo-tions at their most elemental and powerful core. It's a reminder why artists as diverseas Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris and Diana Krall have mined Smither's catalog in thepast.

He's teamed with producer and guitarist David "Goody" Goodrich and drummerZakTrojano to create a simple,yet emotionally powerful musical landscape upon whichto paint his blues and folk-fueled narratives.As always, Smither's signature finger-pick-ing style mixes with his whiskey-meets-honey vocals to deliver intensely honest med-itations on life, love and loss.

Smither's latest studio album was recorded in just three days and captures the vi-brant urgency and immediacy of his live shows.It features eight original compositionsas well as covers from Bob Dylan, Mark Knopfler, and 1920s country-blues songsterFrank Hutchison.

Equal parts existential inquisitor and day-to-day chronicler, Smither has an innateability to imbibe songs dealing with contemporary issues with a timeless quality.Whether playfully dealing with parenthood on I Don't Know or acting the seducer onDon't Call Me Stranger, the brokenness of the blues is never far away. Every song isseeped in emotion, burnished with wisdom of hard-fought knowledge. Like the mas-ter craftsman he is, Smither always marries the right melody with thought-provoking,heart-and-soul rending lyrics. Nowhere is that more evident than on the soulful titletrack. Building on a toe-tapping beat, Smither's voice plaintively sings "I kissed hertwice at the speed of light and time stood still," perfectly capturing and immortalizingone of the small moments that gives so much meaning in life.

Like all great blues and folk masters,Smither doesn't wallow in the darkness.Ratherhe illuminates it, and the songs on Time Stands Still shine a light on the intricacies ofthe human condition.

His insights and creativity are also finding new outlets. He recently contributed ashort story for the new book, Amplified (Melville House),a collection of 16 stories by

TIME STANDSSTILL

BUT CHRIS SMITHERCERTAINLYDOES NOT…

some of today's most compelling performing songwriter.His story,Leroy Purcell kicksoff the collection.

Burgeoning literary powerhouse, distinctive guitarist, captivating storyteller andsong poet-there's no end to Chris Smither's creative talents.He's got so much going on,don't be surprised if his latest collection of music makesTime Stands Still.

The above information and photos have been supplied by:Dawn Delvo, Kissy Black & Elaine Erteschik • Lotos Nile MediaNashville, TN 37209

Kissy Black and Elaine Erteschik from Lotos Nile Media graciously set up a time forme to speak with Chris so that I could get a little more background on him to sharewith all you readers. So here is what I have to share with you on the life of ChrisSmither.

Joyce: Tell me a little bit about yourself and some background information. Where didyou grow up,who were your musical inspirations?

Chris: I grew up in New Orleans and I lived there until I was 22, almost 23 and basi-cally started playing guitar around age 9 and got serious into it when I was 11. Seemslike I got obsessive about it. Most of my major influences early on were blues guys. Ileft New Orleans in 1966 and moved to Massachusetts,NewYork, then Massachusettsbecause that’s where all the singer/songwriter stuff seemed to be happening. BobDylan, everybody else who was associated with Bob Dylan at the time. I’ve basicallybeen playing ever since.

Joyce:When did you write your first song?

Chris: I was 17 years old. It was a good song called Braden River.

Joyce:Did you record it?

Chris:Oh yea!

Joyce: Where do most of your song ideas come from?

Chris: All sorts of things, the ideas basically come out of my head. Whey they comeout of my head – I don’t know. It’s just observation, a term or a phrase. It’s like anyother writer,you keep your eyes open and your ears open and you take notes. I neverdecide to write about something and then sit down to write, I just sit down to writeand it turns out to be something.

Joyce:Do you write by yourself?


Chris: I never co-write; I shouldn’t say I never co-write.I’ve co-written one song in my entire life.

Joyce: Tell me about the instruments you play.

Chris: I play guitar. I taught myself. My parents weremusical to an extent. My Mom played a little piano. Myfather’s brother is a musician. He’s the guy that taughtme my first 3 chords. I just love to sing.

Joyce: Have you been a songwriter/performer all yourlife or did you have other fun jobs?

Chris: For awhile when things were tough, I did someconstruction work. That’s the only other kind of job I’vehad.

Joyce: It’s always good to have something to fall backon.

Chris: Falling – that’s the operative word. I’m lucky Inever fell off a roof a couple of times.

Joyce: Can you tell me anything about the songs on yournew CD? Any exciting background stories?

Chris: Not really. They are pretty self explanatory. I al-most always perform solo, but I almost always recordwith other people. This is one of the smallest produc-tions I have ever done. I did it with just a trio, just the 3of us on the record. That came about because I put to-gether the trio to play a festival in the Netherlands. Andit sounded so good,and I had so much fun doing it, I toldmy producer,you know this is the way we should do thenext record. He listened to the tape of the gigs we did,he was one of the trio,and said yea, let’s give it a shot. Itworked out really rather well. I wrote most of the songsand we recorded it in just 3 days.

Joyce: Do you have songs written already for the nextCD?

Chris: No, this one just came out. I don’t write for thenext one until it’s due.

Joyce: You have recorded 11 CD’s, and by looking atyour website you are really booked up. Almost throughthe end of 2010. Do you ever have any spare time?

Chris: I don’t have any spare time. No, I’m raising a 5year old girl and trying to put a new house together. Wejust moved. Trying to get that settled in. I take a lot ofpictures. I’m a photographer as well as I read a lot ofbooks. Oh yea, I sleep a lot!

Joyce: What does the future hold for Chris Smither?

Chris: I’d like to make another couple of records andwrite a book. Not sure,I’m thinking that I have a coupleof more records in me though.

Joyce: If you could perform with anyone, who wouldthat be?

Chris: Anyone? Anyone?

Joyce: Yes, anyone.

Chris: Mark Knopfler.

Joyce: Ok,Who would you like to meet? Anyone!

Chris: Rush Limbaugh. I’d love to meet him to tell himwhat I think of him.(Didn’t think I should print the rest of this answer.)

Joyce: Thanks Chris, and I will be watching for you inthe area.

I have really enjoyed listening to Chris’s CD, TimeStands Still. You can check out Chris on his website atwww.http://smither.com .

• Time Stands Still• Leave the Light On• Train Home• Live As I'll Ever Be• Drive You Home Again• Small Revelations• Up on the Lowdown• Happier Blue• Another Way to Find You• It Ain't Easy

12/4/09SYRACUSE, NY • May Memorial • 8pm,$15

ROSANNE CASH NEW ALBUM,

the listALBUM FEATURES CASH’S CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATIONS OFSONGS FROM A LIST OF ESSENTIAL COUNTRY SONGS PASSED ON TOHER BY HER LEGENDARY FATHER

SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE ELVIS COSTELLO,BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, JEFFTWEEDY,RUFUSWAINWRIGHT

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash released her 12th studio album, entitledThe List,on Manhattan Records on October 6th,2009. This stunning work features Cash’scontemporary interpretations of 12 classic songs culled from a list of essential countrytunes that her legendary father Johnny gave her in 1973, and filtered through her ownunique, sophisticated perspective.

Known primarily for her stellar songwriting,Cash showcases her incredible voice onThe List— her first-ever covers record.As a result, the album is Rosanne Cash like you’venever heard her before as she embraces her heritage and sings for the pure love andbeauty of these songs which have shaped who she is as an artist.

The idea for The List came about while Cash was on tour promoting her 2006 studioalbum, the critically heralded, Grammy-nominated Black Cadillac — a reflective songcycle about the loss of her father,motherVivian Liberto,and stepmother June Carter Cash.During the well-received multi-media event Black Cadillac: In Concert, Cash told audi-

12/5/09PORTSMOUTH, RI • Common Fence CommunityHall • 401.683.5085 • 8pm,$2512/10/09PIERMONT, NY • The Turning Point845.359.1089 • 8pm,$3012/11/09BORDENTOWN, NJ • The Record Collector609.324.0880 • 7:30pm,$20/2512/12/09CANTON, CT • Roaring Brook Nature Center860.693.0263 • 7:30pm,$25

20101/9/10SELLERSVILLE, PA • Sellersville Theatre215.257.5808 • 8pm,$27.50/ $37.501/16/10MIDDLEBURY, VT • After Dark Music Series802.388.0216 • 7pm,$15-201/23/10PORTLAND, ME • One Longfellow Square207.239.1855 • 8pm,$22/251/30/10ELMER, NJ • Appel Farm Arts & Music Center800.394.8478 • $252/3/10SOLDATNA, AK • Peninsula Grace BrethrenChurch • 7:30pm,$252/4/10HOMER, AK • The Down East Saloon • $21/232/5/10PALMER, AK • Vagabond Blues • $252/6/10ANCHORAGE, AK • Snow Goose Theatre7:30pm • $22.50 – $252/12/10SAN DIEGO, CA • Acoustic Music San Diego619.303.8176 • 7:30pm,$252/13/10HOUSTON, TX • The Mucky Duck713.528.5999 •Two Shows: 7pm & 9:30pm,$252/16/10FORT SMITH, AR • Second Street Live479.782.5483 • 7:30pm

Written by: Joyce Ziehli



Like all things in nature this articleis the completion of a circle. To best un-derstand the “AGAIN” part of the titleplease reference to the December ~ Janu-ary 2009 issue of this fine publication. Allback issues of the Gazette are available online at www.americanagazette.net. Youwill find an article by yours truly entitled“Santa Came Early This Year” in that issue.That article explains the gift of the Holidaylast year for me.

See you after the show! This was mydeparting statement to Bob as the door toroom 312 at the historic and beautiful Pfis-ter Hotel in Milwaukee slammed shut. Ihad trouble deciding which shirt to wearas I brought three with me. I also had 3LP’s and a CD along and needed to decidewhich to bring with me for the evening. Ipicked the green shirt with a silk-screenedimage of a 20 something year old Brian Wil-son. Simple and understated I thought, acool way show my affection for the manwho’s music has meant more to me thanany other artist. Under my arm was tucked the LP ThatLucky Old Sun Brian’s newest effort trying to captureand convey the mood of Southern California and LA inthe fifties and sixties.

As I spun out the revolving door turning left andheading down the street the sun was setting and mymind was reeling. I was to meet my buddy Jeff by theback stage door as he had obtained amazing second rowseats for the evening’s show. Jeff who is also a long timeBrian Wilson / Beach Boys fan also has become goodfriends with many members of Brian’s current touringband. Because of this connection Jeff was able to securetwo back stage passes for a party after the show. Jeff,being a seasoned pro at this sort of thing knew what toexpect. I had no idea. Never in my life had I been of-fered the chance to mingle with the band after a con-cert. My mind was numb thinking I may somehow getto meet my musical hero.

As Jeff and I chatted standing by the tour bus parkedcurbside outside the stage door, Jeff filled me in on someof his experiences with this sort of thing. He was gen-tly trying to tell me that more than likely Brian wouldnot be at the after show gathering as they usher him outto the bus right after the end of the show

As the sound check began I could hear bits and pieces of the music I grewup on seeping out through the back stage door. As you can imagine whenyour hero is only separated by a concrete wall from you, your mind tends tobegin to hope for something magical.

And by golly, there was magic in the airthat night!

Jeff had gotten a call from his buddy Al.Al also a long time fan had attendedBrian’s show the previous night and waspromised two back stage passes for thatevent. Somehow the message did not getthrough and the passes were not waitingfor him. Al e-mailed the band memberwho had made the arrangements and be-cause of the slip up the band member of-fered Al four Meet and Greet passes withBrian 45 minutes before the Milwaukeeshow.

Al had planned to bring his son and twofriends from his church with him to theshow and they were all going to have thechance to meet Brian with the all accesspasses that were promised. As the 7:00hour approached Al called again to sharethat the friends were not going to be ableto make the show in time for the meet andgreet so would Jeff and I like to switch ourback stage passes for the two all access

passes and attend the meet and greet with Brian alongwith Al and his son. Yes, non-believers I DID hear sleighbells in the air!

Soon Al showed up with his son and upon returningfrom the ticket window handed Jeff and me our greenall access passes with an M&G marked across the front.In my hand was perhaps the most amazing gift I hadever received.

Within 10 minutes of Al’s arrival we were usheredinto the side door of the Pabst Theater to be cleared toenter the meet and greet. We were allowed first crackat the merchandise table and a chance to visit with oneanother about the special event that was about to hap-pen.

I was standing near a door and a security guy said,“Okay, I’ll start with you” and taps me on the shoulder.He opened the door which revealed a staircase leadingdown into the basement. Now if you have ever seen anysort of rock and roll documentary where the band trav-els a long way from the dressing room to the stage, thiswas exactly like that. Down the concrete steps the fourof us went myself, Jeff,Al and his son as they took folksdown in small groups.

At the bottom of the stairs was a long narrow hallway with bare bulbshanging from the ceiling. The hall led to the boiler room and shouts of “Watchyour head” were heard from Mr. Security. Ducking under the pipes we were

Santa Came Early...Again ...This Year.

(I must have been a very good boy)



COUNTRY SCHOOLS,

part 2

The article Iwrote last year aboutthe Christmas programsin country schoolsbrought me more feed-back than any otherthing I wrote all yearlong. Keeping that inmind, I will talk moreabout being a studentand being a teacher in acountry school (ruralschool to some people).

School life began forme in a country schoolwest of Columbus, Wis-consin. I remember welived on a farm the far-thest end from theschool, so my walk therewas a long one. It wasrare that I got a ride, butI do know that on Valen-tine’s Day that first yearof school I got a ride toschool. I was assignedto bring a bowl of redJell-O to the Valentine’s Day Party. It was a very icy day, and my dad put chains on the car, drove on thegravel shoulder of the road, and gave me and my Jell-O a ride to school. We made it fine with the Jello-Ointact. I don’t remember much else about my time in that school. On March 1st we moved to a farm onhighway 92 outside of Brooklyn, Wisconsin. I was then enrolled in the McLaughlin School. Today it issomeone’s home. My teacher was Miss Ann Smith. Unfortunately she was often sick because of asthma.We had a string of substitutes that year and during my second grade year. I loved school. I loved theschool work. I loved the recess time, and whenever the weather was bad, I loved those special gameswe played inside the school. I remember most of them to this day: wink-em, clap in clap out, authors,crazy eights, hearts, and chalk board games like hangman and 7 up. In the spring of my second grade year,Mrs. Helen Ginner did her practice teaching in our school. She became my favorite teacher of all time.At the end of the year, Miss Ann Smith announced she was not coming back in the fall, for she was mov-ing to Arizona because of her asthma. Much to my delight Mrs. Ginner was hired to replace her. For thenext four years Mrs. Ginner was my teacher. She was creative and stern and worked us hard on the ba-sics. She also was would bring us special treats at various time during the year. She remained my fa-vorite teacher throughout those years. A few years ago I attended her funeral in Oregon. I was saddenedto find myself as the only former student in attendance. She was very happy when I became a teacher,and in the circle of things I was the teacher of many of her relatives including two of her grandchildren.I can still recite the names of the other classmates in those years in the McLaughlin School. There aremany bright memories of those years, and one of them is the weekly iodine tablets we took. I lovedthem! Some kids hated them and slipped theirs to me. They were a chocolate f lavor, and we had to takethem because Wisconsin soil has little iodine, and at that time our diets contained few foods rich in io-dine.

My years as a student in a country school con-tain nothing but wonderful happy memories forme. I can still smell the burning leaves and grassafter our annual spring raking. I can still tastethose hot dogs grilled over the bonfire of thoseleaves and grass. I can smell the fresh spring airwhen we took our annual hike four or five milesaway to a small creek—I was always one of thefirst students back to school because I was a fastwalker and runner, and to this day I can feel thecold wind on my face as I walked to school andduring our recess sledding times. Our teacher letus pour pails of water on our hill at the end of lastrecess, and, thus, we had a perfect sledding hill thenext day. Ah, yes, those country school days werevery special to many of us.

Fast forward and I was now a teacher in a coun-try school, the Attica School rural Albany. I taughtthere for five wonderful years. I was blessed with

fantastic peo-ple that at-tended theschool andparents andrelatives andother districtfolk that sup-ported my ef-forts in Attica.What did itmean to teacha rural school?You were

your own jani-tor besidesrunning theentire curricu-lum whichconsisted ofa r i t h m e t i c ,writing, read-ing, science,social studies,l a n g u a g e ,music, art,health, man-ners, penman-s h i p — y o uname it wetaught it.Every gradehad every oneof those sub-jects. Classeswere short intime, and weconsol idatedgrades for

some classes like science grades one and two, sci-ence grades three and four, etc. While the teacherran the class the other students worked at theirdesks, and older kids helped younger ones ifneeded. Students sat quietly at their desk, they didnot ask to leave the room or ask to move about,and when they finished their work, they read orcolored. Recess was our phy ed time. I joined thestudents in playing with them during recess. Weplayed regular tag, shadow tag, hide and go seek,prisoner’s base, red light green light, Red Rover,softball, tag football, and in winter we played inthe snow. At Attica a student brought an old hoodof a big car. We turned in on its top, pulled it up ahill, and we climbed in and rode down the hillusing a pole to guide us. We repeated this overand over again in the time allowed for recess. Isuppose today this would be too dangerous, andthe fear of a law suit would prevent us from thisfun. I bought a carom board, and we had carom



There is a time between the brown grayness of late fall and the white bleak-ness of snowy winter that creates a contrast of neither. It is a time when fog has pen-etrated the freezing night. It is a time in the civilized world where at night frost formson your windshield despite the full blasting of the defrost system and travel is indeedperilous with the encompassing fog and the dampening cold on the road before you.

In the natural world there is a reverse of the earlier frost that hugged the valleyswhile leaving the hillside as a brown tone photo. Now all hillside vegetation is whiteas an artic winter and the valleys a brown as the coat of a fall whitetail deer. The fogand frost have combined to give eeriness to distance and the perception of it.

That stand of trees that had a background of a grassy brown hillside now becomesa misty silhouette standing alone in broken white against pure white gray. Every hill-side shrub or blade of grass is covered with thick frost giving each a stark skeleton ofpure white.

On closer inspection each blade of grass on the hillside that before blended intothose stems in front and back now stand as individuals with there own personalityand description. Now each species differences are as plain as if you where lookingthrough as magnifying glass at the details that separate them. Those that had their ter-minal seed heads browsed by deer or eaten by birds could easily be identified from theneighboring stem of who had not lost its now flocculent bounty. The detail in the pastdeadly frost of fall now gave individual plant meaning to its place in time and space.

Crows are creatures that are never caught by surprise because of their keen eye-sight and guarded nature; but add a fog frost and you are surely going to catch them ina scavenging haunt. Sky and land come together, the white frost trees, shrubs, andgrasses blending their white coats into each. Black contrast of crows and their caw onthe misty silence disturbs the eerie calm.

Human structures seem out of place on such days. The frost glazing does notthicken as on those things of nature. There squared edges and mass again contrast thefoggy mood. Even the old wood bird house stands out like an abandoned house on avast prairie of nothingness.

Even those birds that move from one area to another dotting between cover andfood source are confused. The ruff grouse learned in the fist feeding of morning thatthis frost could be shake off on the first peck of investigation. It is not as critical as alate winter ice storm as the frost is gone by midday and the fat of fall harvest is still onthe bone.

Rand Atkinson 12-2-09

DECEMBER FROST


The proud parents of this fledgling newspaper, Andy and Joyce, asked me toconsider doing a column for each issue. They said I could cover whatever I wanted inthat column, so after a few seconds of thought, I agreed. So this is my maiden voyagein a column covering whatever comes up in my life. I have had previous experience incolumn writing a sports column in the old BELLEVILLE RECORDER.

Have you ever stayed at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee? All my life I haveheard about it including stories of it being haunted. Apparently some big league base-ball players won’t stay there because of the possibility of encountering a ghost whilestaying there. On a recent Saturday night it became apparent that I would be stayingovernight in Milwaukee, so I went on line (as everyone does now) and found the sitefor the Pfister Hotel. I copied down the toll free phone number and was immediatelyconnected to a very pleasant and helpful employee who got me a room and told me Iqualified for a reduced rate. I never was sure what made me qualified, but I was morethan willing to accept the reduced rate.

The hotel is just as I had heard. It looks like a movie set of a hotel from those old moviesfeaturing Betty Davis or Joan Crawford. The Pfister has a large lobby, art work all overthe place with the wall paintings huge in size with large gilded frames, the floor is mar-ble, the staff wears uniforms, there is a piano bar off the lobby and the sound of themusic can be heard up the large stairwells, and on display are items from the 1893 open-ing of the hotel. And there is a large mural on the lobby ceiling. The staff was friendlyand more than willing to help. That evening I sat in the lobby people watching. Do anyof you have this fun hobby? There was a wedding reception right off the main desk. Thebride and groom were much older than what you would expect, and I saw the brideholding her long white dress up over her high heels parade through the lobby at leastthree times. Young boys probably at their first wedding walked around with small cam-era snapping pictures of themselves and the hotel. They were all in dress pants, dressshirts, and wearing a tie. They were constantly touching the tie as if to see if it was stillthere or maybe they felt choked by it. In the grand ballroom upstairs on an unknownfloor to me a gala for the Milwaukee Opera was in full force. I saw many extremelywell dressed people travel past me to the nearby elevators. Men were in tuxedos andwomen were wearing formal dresses. Now I am no fashion expert but I was amazedon two things about the well dressed women: their hand clutched purse seemed toclash with their dresses and their shoes seemed to also clash with everything else theywere wearing. Were they simply expressing their individuality and tossing perfect ac-cessorizing out the window? After a time the people watching lost my interest and I re-turned to my room wondering if a ghost was sharing the room with me. I left the nextday without any sign of a ghost. Maybe next time?

I am a movie buff, but during the summer I only saw two movies in the theaters. Bothwill soon be out on DVDs. If you like a feel good movie and one of the most pleasantmovies in years, then check out JULIA/JULIE. This film features two great love storiesand one of the best acting jobs of the year: Meryl Streep as Julia Child. The other filmI saw was TAKING WOODSTOCK. I was disappointed by this movie, but it is a finemovie to check out from the library (it’s free, you know). It is not about the music of Woodstock, but it is a true story of the behind the scenes events leading to the concertand how the locals were affected by the concert. There are no special effects in eithermovie, so if your idea of a good movie is full of special effects, avoid these two movies.

If you had stood outside our walkout the other night, you would have heard the soundsof SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS. There is a recent new package of this pi-oneer full length Disney cartoon/movie. It contains a BLU RAY version. As a kid, I re-member my Swiss relatives going to this movie just for one scene where the Dwarfs sing,dance, and YODEL. The music for this scene was done by a Milwaukee family of Swissheritage. This family group often played in Monroe and New Glarus, and so those rela-tives flocked to the movie for just a brief few moments of“their music and yodeling”.What surprised me about the movie this time around was that the story is told in verse.I had not remembered that from before. It was a good return to one’s childhood on acool fall night to fall under the enchantment of the Disney Company once again.

And finally in these ramblings, I must comment on one of the best acting jobs I have hadthe pleasure to view in a live play. My final visit to the American Players Theatre this pastseason was to see LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT. Long time favorite actressesSarah Day gave an amazing performance as the suffering wife/mother in this powerfulplay. If Oscars or Tonys were to be given out to area theater works, Ms Day would takehome the best actresses award hands down.

Written by: Bob Hoffman

JEFF COOK BRINGS “CHRISTMAS JOY “TO THE MASSES THIS HOLIDAY SEASONWith the Holiday Season just around the corner, Jeff

Cook a two-time GRAMMY winner and multi-platinumselling founding member of Country Music powerhouseAlabama is pulling out all the stops with the upcomingrelease of his first ever solo Christmas album, ChristmasJoy. As of Tuesday, November 3, the album was availablefor digital download via i-Tunes, Amazon.com, andCook's website, www.jeffcook-agb.com.

The ten track album will feature several tried-and-trueclassic Holiday hits including Run, Run Rudolph andAway In A Manger as well as original Alabama materialrerecorded by Cook. Legendary Rock n’ Roll Hall ofFamers The Ventures join Cook, a Country Music Hall ofFamer himself, on the project’s title cut, Christmas Joy.Cook also brings in his better half, Mrs. Lisa Cook, forlead vocals on several songs.

“This is my first solo Christmas project and I havetried to select varied and not too overplayed Christmassongs" notes Cook. "Enjoy... Merry Christmas!”

Christmas Joy Track Listing:

1. Christmas Joy2. Rock & Roll Guitar3. Away In A Manger4. Run, Run, Rudolph5. Reggae Santa6. Homecoming Christmas7. Please Come Home For Christmas8. The Night Before Christmas9. If We Make It Through December10. My First Christmas In Heaven

This would make a great addition to your Holidaymusic or as a gift!!!

Information provided to the Americana Gazette by:

Absolute Publicity Inc.Don Murry Grubbs, Publicist / PresidentNashville, TN 37212

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HOLLIS BROWNHollis Brown, Queens, New York's hottest young band, released their self-titled debutalbum September 1st. A mix of gritty rock and bluesy pop, Hollis Brown is a clear re-flection of a band that has become essential to the New York City music scene be-cause of their infectious music and dynamic live shows.

With a sound that is at times retro and at times modern, Hollis Brown is a throwbackto artists like Tom Petty and The Rolling Stones, yet they maintain their current appealwith inspired songwriting and relevant lyrics. The band has attracted a devoted fol-lowing in New York City and in 2008 was selected by Universal/Motown Records as afeatured act in its "NYC Rocks" artist showcase. Combined with a recent featured trackon the MTV reality show "College Life," appearances at numerous festivals, and sold outshows at high profile venues like The Knitting Factory and Sullivan Hall, Hollis Brownis gaining momentum with quite a buzz. www.hollisbrown.com/

CAROLINE HERRINGReleased on October 27, 2009 through Signature Sounds, Caroline Herring’s fourthalbum Golden Apples of the Sun is her most intimate and mature to date. Combiningthe haunting originals that Caroline Herring is known for with some surprising newtakes on old standards, Herring has created an album that at once recalls the folk hey-day of the 1960s and 70s while also sounding entirely fresh and new.

Unusual for a songwriter as evocative as Herring, half of the material on Golden Applesof the Sun comes from other writers. Her artistry shines through, however, in her un-derstated and surprising reinterpretations of songs, as well as in the choices of thesongs she covers. With a confidence that reflects her musical maturity and originality,Herring performs a range of covers from pop (the Cyndi Lauper hit “True Colors”) totraditional blues (“See See Rider”) to the folk music that so strongly inspires her (JoniMitchell’s “Cactus Tree”). The choices seem like strange bedfellows on paper, but fil-tered through Herring’s sensibility – stark, elegant, bittersweet – they settle in exquis-itely alongside her original compositions, illuminating a new facet of her abilities asboth a composer and interpreter.http://www.carolineherring.com/home.php

Above info supplied by: Dawn DelvoLotos Nile Nashville, TN

SIX OF WAYLON JENNINGS' INFLUENTIAL RCA ALBUMSTO BE REISSUED ON THREE COLLECTORS' CHOICE CDs

WAYLON JENNINGS REISSUEWaylon Jennings is the recognized father of the Outlaw movement of country, a rebelagainst the Nashville establishment whose recordings blended honky-tonk, rock 'n'roll and folk in a way virtually nobody else was doing at the time. Collectors' Choicehas chosen six of Jennings' many RCA long-players from 1966-'70 and will release themas three twofer CDs: Folk Country/Waylon Sings Ol' Harlan, Love of the Common Peo-ple/Hangin' On and Waylon/Singer of Sad Songs. The CDs hit the streets on November24, 2009. Grammy Award-winning annotator/historian Colin Escott wrote the linernotes.

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL - The Singles Collection (Fantasy)Creedence Clearwater Revival's golden era of hit singles (fall of 1968 through springof 1972) rivals that of any band in rock 'n' roll history. The Southern-flavored quartetfrom El Cerrito, Calif., turned out 17 hits in a 44-month stretch, nine of them in the Top10, five of them in the Top 5. On November 3, Fantasy Records released The Singles Col-lection, a two-CD, one-DVD box with a slip case, containing all of the band's U.S. sin-gles -- 30 songs in all. Top 5 smashes like "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River," "Down onthe Corner," "Travelin' Band," "Who'll Stop the Rain," "Run Through the Jungle," "UpAround the Bend," "Long As I Can See the Light" and "Lookin' Out My Back Door" arejoined by seldom-heard singles that never charted ("Porterville" and "Call It Pretending"on Fantasy's Scorpio subsidiary, and later singles "Tearin' Up the Country" and "45 Rev-olutions Per Minute [Parts 1 & 2]"). The 30 songs, (which are presented in their origi-nal single mixes, many of them in mono --- are making their CD debut), housed on twoCDs, will be joined by a DVD containing four never-before-available, long-pre-MTVmusic videos

B. J. THOMASB.J. Thomas - four CD reissues (Collectors' Choice) - B.J. Thomas is best known for hishuge pop hits like “Hooked on a Feeling” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.” Butfew realize that his support network during his years on Scepter Records (1966-’73)included legendary writers and producers — people like Huey P. Meaux in Houston,Chips Moman and the American Studios session team in Memphis, Buddy Buie and thefuture Atlanta Rhythm Section in Alabama and Burt Bacharach and Hal David in LosAngeles/New York. The result of this journey — eight albums on Florence Greenberg’slegendary Scepter label —was reissued on November 10 as four individual re-masteredCDs with liner notes by music journalist Michael Ragogna. The eight albums come for-matted as four twofers: I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry/Tomorrow Never Comes, On MyWay/Young and in Love, Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head/Everybody’s Out of Townand Most of All/Billy Joe Thomas. Each twofer also crams on rare single b-sides andunissued masters to create four 26 song CDs. http://www.conqueroo.com/collec-torschoicepr.html

here are some NEW CD RELEASESto check out!

NEEDA Little Variety In Your

MUSIC?


November 24, 2009 – Ray Charles – The Spirit of Christ-mas (Concord) - Concord Records caps a year in whichit reissued many of Ray Charles’ classic albums (Genius:The Ultimate Ray Charles Collection, Modern Sounds inCountry and Western, A Message From the People andThe Genius Hits the Road) with the artist’s only Christ-mas album of his entire career, The Spirit of Christmas.Concord’s digitally remastered reissue marks the firsttime the album has been available in more than 12 years.Street date was October 6. Guests: Freddie Hubbard,Betty Carter. http://www.conqueroo.com/ray-charlespr.html

FREEDY JOHNSONFreedy Johnston - Rain On The City (Bar None) - Rain onthe City is Freedy Johnston’s first album of new originalsin eight years. Recorded in Nashville with producerRichard McLaurin, it’s one of the best song collections ofFreedy’s career, featuring a diverse array of rockers,heartbreaking twang, even hints of blue-eyed soul andbossa nova. The album was released on Bar None on Jan-uary 12, 2009. Producer McLaurin (Justin Townes Earle,Allison Moorer, Slaid Cleaves, Matthew Ryan) has framedFreedy’s voice with sympathetic arrangements, like thetitle track “Rain on the City,” whose slashing strings andkeyboard washes sound like so much precipitation in anEdward Hopper cityscape. There is radio-friendly fare,such as the epic “Don’t Fall in Love With a Lonely Girl.”and the Buddy Holly-style rave-up “It’s Gonna Come Backto You.” There are also fine vocal performances accom-panying the acoustic majesty of “Venus” and the coun-try-rocker “Rio Grande,” where a full-throated Freedyconfidently roars over some overdriven guitar pickin’.http://www.conqueroo.com/freedyjohnstonpr.html

February 2010 - Marley's Ghost with Cowboy JackClement - Ghost Town (Sage Arts)

March 2010 - Great American Taxi - Streets of Gold(Thirty Tigers)

Above info supplied by:Cary Bakerconqueroo Studio City, CA 91604

ANNA GARROTTGarrott’s Single Success Ushers In Full-Length Release—ONLY TIME WILL TELL

Nashville’s Blue Steel Records and its ingénue, Anna Gar-rott, are pleased to announce the October digital releaseof Garrott’s full-length album ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

Released regionally as an independent project in 2008(under the J&V imprint d/b/a Blue Steel Records), ONLYTIME WILL TELL translates Anna’s Southern charm,spunky disposition and strong voice. A twenty-some-thing with loads of attitude polished in class, Anna Gar-rott speaks volumes in song. A cool-summer cocktail thatgoes down slow and easy, and is intoxicating by design,Anna Garrott is sugarplum sweet with a jalapeno kick!

ONLY TIME WILL TELL is 100% proof. The 10-song col-lection (produced by Rick Holt) has a hint of southernrock shaken and stirred with a dose of traditional coun-try. Tracks like “Trouble Is a Woman” and “Get The HellOutta Dodge” ignite a flame and prove Anna is no dyingember. “Pink Roses” and “Silver Wings” offer the listenera glimpse of Anna’s softer side making transparent a vul-nerability that only a pure-hearted woman can possess.For more information on Anna Garrott visit www.Anna-Garrott.com /or/ www.myspace.com/AnnaGarrott.

TOM WURTHTOM WURTH RETURNS WITH NEWLY MASTEREDALBUM—IF THE ROAD RUNS OUTNear Death Accident Inspires “Wurth-y” New Single andLease On Life

Nashville based, Grammy-nominated, singer-songwriter

and producer Tom Wurth released the re-mixed and mas-tered project, IF THE ROAD RUNS OUT on September 8,2009. The album comes from Echelon Records, a newlyestablished independent label headed up President MikeDinwiddie, who is also the Mayor of Spring Hill, Ten-nessee. Featuring cuts from his self-titled CD as origi-nally released in 2006, the new musical compositionincludes two new tracks, “I Almost Died Today” and “YourHometown,” co-produced by Wurth and T.W. Cargile. A“song man,” Tom Wurth is a storyteller who realizes therelationship between his songs and the connection tohis listeners.

Since the self-titled release, Wurth was involved in a life-threatening automobile accident--the third major acci-dent of his life--and the wreck strengthened his resolveto create organic songs that resonate with his listeners.After the accident, Tom exorcised the tragic event withthe candid cut “I Almost Died Today,” which was co-writ-ten Bart Butler and Roy Holdren. The nearly true-to-lifemusical story is a reflective, heart-heavy narrative of aman given a second chance.

IF THE ROAD RUNS OUT, produced by Bart Butler andJohn Ford Coley, features 4 co-writes along with songspenned by Coley, Rivers Rutherford, Shane Minor,George Teren and more. The 10-song CD is a map of life’swinding roads and hits home with cuts like “GoodGround,” “Bread On The Table,” and “It Ain’t What You’reThinking,” songs that expound on the values he wastaught growing up in Iowa. Wurth takes his listeners ona walk through loves lost, heartache and regret with “IsThis Lonely” and “Every Time I Close My Eyes.” Throughall of the ups and downs, Tom never loses hope andstrives to live life to the fullest in “Make Time For LovingYou” and “Leaving Lonely Behind.”

Above info supplied by:Music City News Media & MarketingKat Atwood Nashville, TN

NEEDA Little Variety In Your

MUSIC?WhatDo IDo?Today I had three people within an hour ask me what

I do. One of these people even knows me, quite well infact. I returned the question with what do you meanwhat do I do? The two people who were not acquain-tances said you seem like a very interesting person andvery knowledgeable. We are just trying to figure outwhat you did for a living.

This took me by surprise. What kind of image was Iprojecting to the general public? How were people see-ing me? What did I look like through their lenses? Itmade me think. The perception someone has of you de-termines how they treat and interact with you. Was Iputting out bad pheromones? Was I looking like a buf-foon? Did I come across as Wylie Coyote Super Genius,or was I a combination of all three? My guess is thatthey just could not figure me out.

What I do 24 hours a day is live and breathe music.Like my buddies I dream of that big stage or recordingstudio that I will never play on. That does not stop mefrom trying though. Music is the one gift that you cangive to someone that will keep on giving that wholeperson’s life. It is the one gift that can be passed on tothe next generation and you know that they too willpass it on. Music is life, plain and simple. It is a gift, acurse, and a reward all in one. It is the one thing in lifeyou are never too young or too old to learn and enjoy.It is peace and passion at the same time. Music is me,and what I do is be me.

So when people ask me what I do I tell them I’m amusician, writer, teacher, song writer, bus driver, con-sultant, friend, husband, comedian, smart ass, boss, andphilosopher. In any order on any given day. I’m com-plicated and I’m a simple explanation. I’m eccentric,and I’m common, but mostly I’m just me. I’m Andy! Idon’t have to be anything else but that (and being Andyis a full-time gig). So what I do is be Andy. Nothingmore, nothing less. So in the words of the great CharliePride song “I was just born to be exactly what you see,today and every day, I'm just me.”

Written by: Andy Ziehli

CADILLAC JOE MEMORIAL

WINTERFESTLOOKING FOR

A FUN EVENINGFOR A GOOD

CAUSE?The lineup for the "Cadillac Joe Memorial Winterfest"has been set. It will be at the Nigh Noon Saloon onDec. 26th, 2009, music starts at 830PM. Beth Kille ofClear Blue Betty fame will get the music started fol-lowed by a Tribute to Cadillac Joe performed by AaronWilliams on Guitar, Z on Bass, Jimmy Voegeli on theHammond and Michael Brenneis on the Drums. We'llalso have many special guests that will join us through-out the set. To close the night out The Jimmy's will getyour toes tapping! This is a great band with a full hornsection and some of the coolest grooves you'll hear.All proceeds will go to cancer research in Cadillac Joe'sname. We hope all of you can make it out.


This past year has been a blast for all of ushere at the AG. We have gotten to know so manynew friends, readers, and writers. Anne Sullivanand Jenna Knapp have joined us as writers andphotographers. Aaron Williams has added a newcolumn to his already outstanding writing for theAG. Bob Hoffman is writing two wonderfulcolumns for us now, and Litt Dubay is still tryingnot to offend anyone. We had a wonderful timeand experience at the Americana Music Associa-tion conference in Nashville this fall. We wit-nessed the return to Wisconsin of Beth Kille, sawBrianna Hardyman make a superiorly strong come-back to the stage after a life threatening healthscare, and saw our friends Eric Brace and PeterCooper climb the charts with their release of Youdon’t have to like them both CD. Rick Tvedt washonored as one of the 10 People who most inf lu-enced the direction of music in Madison in the2000’s (and rightfully so), the Raindogs continuedto be the most awesome Green County Band,Patrick Bodell opened his recording studio in Mon-roe, Blackwater Gin continued to heat up the stagewith awe-inspiring shows, and Paul Griffith, TimCarroll and Jim Gray proved that they are thehottest and most durable rhythm section in Amer-icana Music today ( more on these great players inthe next edition of the AG). Finally we saw theBathtub Mothers, Amber Skies, and Kaia Fowler allplay incredible shows at the Fat Cat for the partyon the Patio this past summer.

The upcoming year hopefully will bring new be-ginnings and a renewed sense of hope to all ofyou. The economy is still the dominate force thatis bringing all of us to rethink how we will spendour leisure time. A very bright note in that cate-gory is the fact that on July 5, 2010 Wisconsin willbecome Smoke Free in all public places, whichmeans more of you will hopefully becoming out to

Happy Holidays to all

you Americana Gazette

Readers;see live music! I can’t wait! Supporting live musicand buying CD’s of local musicians is great way tohelp super charge the local economy. The increasein people coming out to see live music will in-crease the venues that feature it ,and hopefully wecan grow our local arts and music economy to thelikes of Austin Texas were musicians can make a“good” living applying their art.

The Americana Gazette will have a few changesin 2010. We will be covering the whole State ofWisconsin in arts and music, adding additionalpages to cover more national and internationalAmericana acts and artists, featuring more articleson artists ala painters, sculptors, writers, etc., dis-tributing the AG in larger quantities across Wis-consin, and launching Americana GazetteRadio on the web. To help us accomplish thiswe are looking for more writers and photog-raphers especially in the northern and centralparts of Wisconsin. If you are interested in be-coming a feature or freelance contributor tothe AG please get a hold of me. Also if youhave any artists that you would like to seecovered in the AG let us know about them.We are always looking for CD’s and live showsto review from Wisconsin artists. Any clubs,coffee houses, bars, bookstores, etc thatwould like to distribute the AG please toocontact us.

I hope that all of you end this year on a pos-itive note, and that 2010 is a better year for allof us. Think good thoughts, perform gooddeeds, and support your local artists and artcommunities. Have a fantastically wonderfulfudge and holiday season!

Andy ZiehliSenior Editor

1. The Band of Heathens, One Foot in the Ether. Thisrocks! You have to own it! Read the CD review thisissue. Did I say it Rocks! It rolls too! Number one allthe way.

2. Kieran Kane, Somewhere beyond the roses. This CDis excellent! If you like material that is just a little offcenter in timing, content, and instrumentation you willlove this CD. The man just keeps getting better with age.

3. Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, You don’t have to likeboth of them. This is a wonderful CD made by two ofAmericana’s finest songwriters and entertainers. Youcan’t go wrong here. Great songs, great stories, greatguys. Don’t let this one pass you by. Red Beat Recordsall the way!

4. The Bath Tub Mothers self titled CD. My personal fa-vorite for a Wisconsin release. These guys are a hoot towatch and listen too. More music out of a three piecethan most 5 -6 pieces bands. Teachers by day, musiciansby weekend, these guys are the best.

5. Briana Hardyman, People Like Me. Briana’s voice isone of my favorite to listen to. She sings like an angelwith the grittiness of a soul singer. The lady rocks! Aftera health scare earlier this summer Briana is back beltingout the tunes and we are glad she is. This CD is worthtracking down. It’s that good!

6. Various Artists Keep Your Soul, A Tribute to DougSahm. I loved the Sir Douglas Quintet. Augie Meyer’sorgan and Sir Doug’s vocals and songwriting alwaysmakes me smile. This CD will make you smile too.

7. John Doe and the Sadies, Country Club. This is a fan-tastic CD filled with great songs. Doe’s smoke tinged vo-cals and Sadies picking makes this one of my top picksfor 2009.

8. Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin, 7. Although not a fulllength CD this seven song EP is also worth searching for.Fantastic songs by one of the best singers this side of theMississippi Kirstie Rose. Her husband Fats Kaplin is myfavorite musician in the world. If it has strings he canplay it and play it well. Hat’s off to the nicest perform-ing couple in Americana Music.

9. Scott Miller, For Crying Out Loud. This CD does nothave a bad song on it. It is the blue print if you want tomake a great CD. It has everything! It’s one hell of a lis-ten.

10.Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T. Tom T. Hall andhis lovely wife Miss Dixie put out the best bluegrass CDI have ever heard. Fantastic Songs, truly great stories, andthe best pickers you’ll ever hear. One of the best I heardin 2009. If you love Bluegrass you have to own this CD.If you don’t love Bluegrass buy this CD and you will loveit. A homerun all the way.

Andy’s Top 10 CD Releases for 2009


cd review... continued from page 15

Amelia Curran ♪♪♪♪♪War BridesStyle: Americana

Somewhere in the cracks of the tectonic plates thatare folk music, bluegrass, old timey, etc, you will findAmelia Curran. You can’t put your finger on exactlywhat she is or where the next song is going to take you.I was given a copy of her 2006 release, War Brides andinstantly I fell in love with the music. The opening track,Scattered and Small is an awesome opener. I was takenaback by the harmonies, and how much depth it gavethe song. It is simply a beautiful song. Quickly I thoughtof her as a Regina Spektor with a guitar, but she’s nocopy or imitator.

The next song that caught my attention was the play-ful You Won’t Find Me. In this song lies one of my fa-vorite lines from the album, “Now that sun comes upeveryday just to show me how it’s done I think. I getthings in my own way, and when the sun goes away Idrink”. Every time I hear that line I laugh. Curran’s lyricsseem to make you nod in agreement, or just smile at thewit of her songs. The middle of the album is marked bythe haunting Devils, and the country Everything I’veGot to Give. I guess the slide guitar immediately makesme think country, but then the album switches track andoffers us a seducing/Latin/tango/gypsy number calledAll the Ladies. Then in comes the accordion and you feellike you are in Paris as the music is swirling out of theshadows, then the next song pulls you in another direc-tion.

This album shows us a wide array of human emo-tions, all intertwined and relatable. Every one of thesesongs has something that will grab your attention. It’s avery captivating record. Curran leaves us with the lazysounding The Sunday Song. War Brides is the kind ofalbum that is an experience. It offers you highs and lowsand in-betweens. This is a must have album, and Curranis an artist that you must keep your eye on. I also foundout that Curran has recently released another record,Hunter Hunter. So, make sure to watch out for my re-view on that album. If my gut feeling is right, Amelia Cur-ran won’t disappoint.

Review by: Rob Kosmeder


reasons why it is a good idea. You can’t really, and I quote,unquote, compete with the majors but you can get yourproduct out there. There’s the artistic freedom, creativecontrol, got your own website, sell it from the road, youdo your own thing.

AG: Do you and your husband ever record together ordo gigs together?

PT: He is more of the producer/co-producer, more onthe technical side. His Dad comes from a musical back-ground. His Dad is a legendary fiddle player. Matt’s intothe business side of things. It works better that way. Ourstrengths really compliment each other.

AG: Is being a music artist your dream job? What otherjobs have you had throughout your lifetime?

PT: The grass always looks greener on the other side.Every once in awhile I’ll think, oh, I’d love to be a su-perstar interior designer, clothes designer or maybe anorganic farmer. I love all that. Maybe I could write forthe New York Times book review and I could read all thetime. Really, I have a fabulous job! I have waitressed inthe past and sold Avon for about two weeks. I evencleaned houses and have a deep appreciation for themas I still always clean up my hotel rooms before I leavethem. I always think to myself, I’ve done this job.

AG: What would be a Pam Tillis dream come true mo-ment? Something you have always wanted to do?

PT: There are tons of things. I have a long bucket list.Some friends of mine were organizing a cross-countrytrain tour and concert series. That’s been done before along, long time ago in the 60’s, but I think that would bea blast.

I got to sing with one of the Beatles in the past. I sangwith Ringo but I haven’t got to sing with Paul yet. Thatwould be amazing. I’ve never been on Saturday NightLive either.

AG: Any new CD’s in the works?

PT: Yes and no. We are trying to do a new greatest hitspackage and some rerecorded versions. We have to fin-ish that project. In the back of my head, I’m working onthe project beyond that. I’m writing, I’m actually doingmore writing then I’ve done in years. It’s just gonna takea little bit of time.

After reading this interview, you can see what I mean.Pam Tillis is a very talented woman and has a great senseof humor as well.

Pam Tillis is indeed worth checking out in concert.She has a beautiful voice, is a super nice person to talkwith, and I’m honored to have had the chance to speakwith her. Check out her website at: www.pamtillis.com.Pick up her latest CD, “Rhinestoned” and/or her Christ-mas CD. Here are a few of her upcoming gigs:

December 11, Grand Ronde, OR December 19, Silver Springs, FLDecember 31, Box Elder, MTJanuary 9, Rama, OntarioJanuary 23, Orlando, FLFebruary 18, Tuolumne, CAFebruary 19, Brooks, CAFebruary 20, Acoma, NMApril 03, Kissimmee, FL April 24, Charlotte, NCApril 30, Suffolk, VAMay 8, Houston, TX

Background information and photos provided by: DonMurry Grubbs, “Absolute Publicity” , Nashville, TN

Story by: Joyce Ziehli

pam tillis... continued from page 5

Would you like to check out an exciting campaignrunning online? Bush launched Sam Bush Televisionwith his thoughts on the title track Circles Around Me,a song co-written by Bush and Nashville-based per-former and songwriter Jeff Black.

Each episode features a track from the October 20,2009 release Circles Around Me, and will follow a songby song format where Sam tells the story behind eachsong. The series will continue with eagerly awaitedepisodes of Bush discussing all Circles Around Metracks, which include collaborations with bluegrasslegends Del McCoury, Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas, and,thanks to the discovery of an old demo, New Grass Re-vival co-founder Courtney Johnson (posthumously) - aswell as the vast contributions of his group of world-renowned musicians, the Sam Bush Band.

Episode two on Sam Bush Television is an insider'slook into his CD release party that was held at TheSound Emporium and features interviews with Del Mc-Coury, Jerry Douglas Garth Fundis and many more!

You can find the widget here: http://www.lotosnile2.com/sambush/widget.asp

sambush.com/sbtvyoutube.com/sambushmusic

Above info supplied by: Dawn DelvoLotos Nile Nashville, TN

SAM BUSH TELEVISION HAS

LAUNCHED ONLINE


years down the road, I decided to include that.I told Mary, his widow what I had done, andgave them half publishing and Roger half creditfor writing.

Black Gold is a co-write with Leslie Satcherand is a tribute to my father, an oil field worker.I owe a lot to Leslie Satcher as I try to jumpstart this career back in Nashville. I also wrotea song with John Randall Stewart. That’s howthe album came about.

AG: The song Say Nashville (Wadda Ya Say) isyour fence mending peace offering to the townwhich you considered your home away fromhome. How has Nashville been upon your re-turn, receptive?

LG: The crowd has opened their arms to us. Alot of younger songwriters tell me they want towrite songs with me. Nothing but encourage-ment. Mike Curb is the owner of the best recordcompany in the world. He’s a great guy, he’s amusic guy, and their whole company hasopened their arms and are working really hardon my project. The Grand Ole Opry people wel-comed us back, the town has welcomed us back!So I’m very grateful for that and we are going togo back and try to correct some of the mistakeswe made last time. We should be 35 yearswiser.

AG: I listen to your CD all the time. I like to lis-ten to it in the car when I am by myself so that Ican really hear the words. I don’t like to listenwhen people are talking all around me. Yoursongs have such great stories.

LG: In a way I wish that they would put all ofmy songs in an elevator. I mean I kind of wishthey would, I’m not sure. On one hand it wouldmake me a lot of money, but on the other hand,I don’t think I want to be background music forelevator conversations. It’s kind of a catch 22.I want people to listen to the words. I writemusic from my heart and my gut, and fromwhatever God given ability I have so that peoplewill hear. That’s not to say that I won’t let themplay them at a beer joint while everyone isdancing and cutting up. You are kind ofdammed if you do, and damned if you don’t. I’mgoing to take it all together and just say it’s allgood.

AG: What venues will you be playing? Stayingin the States or venturing out of country?

LG: For ten years we did nothing on the road.The last 5 or 6 years we have kind of done itpart time, piece mealed a bit, no real organiza-tion, just going out and singing every once inawhile. This has kind of gotten old, and too diffi-cult. It’s too hard on men and equipment, to nothave buses and everybody flying from the 4corners of the Earth. Part of us live in NewYork, part in Nashville, some in Memphis, and Ilive in Austin, Rudy lives in Dallas, it’s just todifficult logistically to do it. When we decidedto start over, we said hey, let’s go back, let’s doit right. It’s a lot easier to do it if you have a 10day stretch and do 7 shows, than to do a 2 daystretch with 2 shows. It just really is. Maybewe will try to do about 100 dates a year. We willplay wherever people will stack up green deadpresidents.

AG: Any more new CD’s in the works?

LG: Not yet. I’m always writing songs. My in-tentions are that 2010 is it. We are going toplay the rest of 2009, see how 2010 pans out.

gatlin... continued from page 17 cash... continued from page 21See if people accept our music and we can go outand make a decent living that way. That wouldbe great, if not, we’ll have to fold a tent and dosomething different again.

AG: You could go back and be a waiter?

LG: I may have to. There has not been a countrymusic star bailout yet!!

AG: What do you do to relax, besides golf?

LG: I spend a lot of time with my grandchildren.This morning I took my 3rd grade granddaugh-ter to school, then my 4 year old granddaughteroff to the park to play. We did our exercises. Ipush her in the swing, and while she is swinging,I do my push ups and my wind sprints, stretchesand we do yoga together.

AG: Is this a typical Larry Gatlin day?

LG: I just do what has to be done. I believe ingetting up and getting the work done. When thework is done you can go play.

AG: Do you have any other siblings besides Rudyand Steve?

LG: We have a baby sister, LaDonna. She is awonderful singer. You can Google her, LaDonnaGatlin, she’s a motivational speaker, does solowork and is absolutely fabulous. Check her out.

AG: Well, I have kept you past our dedicatedtime. It was wonderful speaking with you and Iwish you the best of luck in your revitalized ca-reer. I’m also looking forward to your next CD.

LG: Thank you. It was a pleasure visiting withyou.

Now you have it. The latest scoop on theGatlin boys. Larry, Steve and Rudy are a team.Larry wouldn’t be where he is at today withouthis siblings. Please check them out at:www.gatlinbrothers.musiccitynetworks.com orlearn more about the latest CD at www.johnny-cashisdadandhishouseburneddown.com .

Duluth, GA • December 03, 2009TBA • Larry Gatlin with The Gaither Homecom-ing Christmas Tour The Arena At Gwinnett Cen-ter

Wilkesboro, NC • December 04, 2009Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers John A. Walker Community Center

Findlay, OH • December 05, 2009 • 8:00 PMLarry Gatlin & The Gatlin BrothersFindlay Central Auditorium • ticket info comingsoon

Wabash, IN • December 10, 2009 • TBALarry Gatlin and the Gatlin BrothersHoneywell Center • Call 1-800-626-6345

Fort Worth, TX • December 16, 2009 • 7:30 PMLarry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers • Bass Hall

Hartford, WI • December 19, 2009 • 3:00 & 7:30Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin BrothersSchauer Arts Center

Written by: Joyce Ziehli

CD info and photos supplied by: Don Murry Grubbs, PresidentAbsolute Publicity [email protected]

ences how, when she was 18, her father became alarmedthat his daughter appeared to lack a deep understand-ing of country music (having been obsessed with TheBeatles and steeped in Southern California rock and popmusic). Johnny gave her a list of the “100 Essential Coun-try Songs” and told her that it was her education and sheshould learn them all.

“The List was far-ranging and thorough,” Cash says.“It was assembled from my father’s intuitive under-standing of each critical juncture in the evolution ofcountry music. There were old Appalachian folk ballads,and the songs of Jimmie Rodgers and Woody Guthrie.The influence of gospel and Southern blues were cru-cial. Then he segued into rockabilly and the birth ofmodern country music by way of Hank Williams, and upto the present, which was then 1973. He also included acouple of his own songs. I endeavored to learn them alland it was an education,” she says. “I looked to that list asa standard of excellence, and to remind myself of the tra-dition from which I come. This album enables me to val-idate the connection to my heritage rather than runaway from it, and to tie all the threads together: past andfuture, legacy and youth, tradition the timelessness.”

Through her stylish interpretations, Cash manages totranscend genre on The List, proving that these songsdeserve a permanent place in the American Songbook.Produced and arranged by Grammy-Award winner JohnLeventhal (Cash’s husband, who also contributes strik-ing guitar work throughout), The List includes Cash’scovers of songs by The Carter Family (“Bury Me Underthe Weeping Willow”), Hank Williams (“Take TheseChains From My Heart”), Jimmie Rodgers (“Miss TheMississippi and You”), Hank Cochran/Patsy Cline(“She’s Got You”), Merle Haggard (“Silver Wings”), andBob Dylan (“Girl From the North Country,” famouslydone by Dylan and Johnny Cash in 1969). The album alsofeatures a host of special guests whom Cash admires, in-cluding Bruce Springsteen (on “Sea of Heartbreak”),Elvis Costello (on “Heartaches by the Number”), Wilco’sJeff Tweedy (on “Long Black Veil”), and Rufus Wain-wright (on “Silver Wings”).

The List is the first album Cash has made since sheunderwent surgery in 2007 for a benign brain condition,from which she has fully recovered. When it came timeto record a new album, Cash was happy to step backfrom the heavy themes of Black Cadillac and do a coversrecord that showcased her voice. It also has enabled herto finally share with the world The List of songs her fa-ther passed down to her alone. “If my father had been amartial arts master, he might have passed a martial arts‘secret’ on to me, his oldest child,” Cash says. “If he hadbeen a surgeon, he might have taken me into his oper-ating room and pointed out the arteries and organs. Ifhe were a robber baron, he might have surveyed his em-pire and said, ‘Honey, some day this will all be yours!’.But he was a musician and a songwriter, and he gave meThe List.”

For more about Rosanne Cash and The List, please visitwww.rosannecash.com.

The track-listing for The List is as follows:1. “Miss the Mississippi and You”2. “Motherless Children”3. “Sea of Heartbreak” (w/ Bruce Springsteen)4. “Take These Chains From My Heart”5. “I’m Movin' On”6. “Heartaches by the Number” (w/ Elvis Costello)7. “500 Miles”8. “Long Black Veil” (w/ Jeff Tweedy)9. “She’s Got You”10. “Girl From the North Country”11. “Silver Wings” (w/ Rufus Wainwright)12. “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow”

Information from: Rosanne Cash Website


wort... continued from page 22

Lyle Lovett ♪♪♪♪♪Natural ForcesStyle: Americana/Country

This is my first time ever hearing Lyle Lovett. I mean,sure, I’ve heard of him, but I had never heard his musicbefore, so I was excited to listen to an artist for the firsttime. Lovett has been in the business since 1986, haswon four Grammy Awards, including Best CountryAlbum in 1996, and has even been in the movies. Noneof that matters. This was my first Lovett experience andI would have to say I may have to buy a few more of hisalbums. Lovett is usually thrown in the country genre,but he draws from folk, jazz and blues, which gives himhis unique sound.

For some reason I felt like people have tried to tellme that his music was very different, almost to the weirdextreme, but I would have to disagree. The album startsout with the strong title track Natural Forces. “I’m sub-ject to the natural forces, home is where my horse is”sings Lovett, reminding us already that we aren’t invin-cible. He lightens the mood immediately with theswinging Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel. The chorus puta big grin on my face, but I won’t spoil it for you. EmptyBlue Shoes the next track that I really noticed and it isjust a great song. It’s as simple as that. A touching bal-lad that defiantly sticks out among the rest. The follow-ing song was something different. Whooping Craneshows us strange, but somehow peaceful images, in theend sad. The jazzy Bohemia just shows us how farLovett can stretch his musical arms.

Cover songs of different areas of music and makingthem his own. About half of the record is made up ofcover songs. They all fit perfectly with his own. A goodsong deserves to be played, and I’m glad he decided todo Townes Van Zandt’s Loretta. I enjoyed Steve Earle’srugged and stomping version on his most recent recordTownes, and Lovett’s version was right up there with it.Maybe a little sweeter than Earle’s version, but it’s just asstrong. That’s how I would describe this whole album,sweet, but strong, or would it be strong, but sweet? Well,either way, great album.

Review by: Rob Kosmeder

cd... continued from page 29

let to another door and a short hallway. As wecleared that hallway I was instructed to “Waithere”. Sure thing I said.

“Okay, c’mon in” was the next thing I heard andas I turned the corner there stood the great BrianWilson. He is much taller in person than I imag-ined. He was wearing a light blue button downshirt a pair of khaki dress pants and sneakers andlooked comfortable. His full head of hair is saltand pepper in color. I stood there in amazementfor a moment then told Al and his son to be thefirst to meet him as Al was responsible for mybeing there in the first place. I offered Jeff thenext round for the same reason. Selfishly this gaveme a few more moments to observe and be in thesame space as my hero.

Meeting ones hero can be a dicey thing. I hadso much I wanted to say to Brian. All the momentsin my life that had his music as its soundtrack. Thethings I wanted to share with Brian were trippingover themselves in my head. How was I ever goingto let this great man know what he means to me?As I observed Brian in those few moments I wit-nessed the outward signs of the inward strugglesthat have been a part of Brian’s adult life. Hishands shook at his sides. He said nothing to Al orJeff as he signed their items and his eyes werefilled with fear. His personal assistant was the go-between guy as we approached Brian.

My turn next. Approaching Brian I extendedmy hand asking if I may shake his. A very hesitanthand found mine, and I gently shook it. I asked ifhe would please sign my album and handed himmy sharpie pen. I have a tattoo on my left fore armthat I was hoping to have him sign as well. Myplan was to then have his signature tattooed thenext day. After signing my LP I asked his assistantif Brian would be able to sign my arm. “No,” hesaid. That was it. No time to look in his eyes andtell him all the times his music has literally savedmy life. No chance to ask the questions or get hisinsights into the important songs of his that werefavorites of mine. My meeting of Brian Wilson hadcome and gone just about as fast as a rainbow aftera summer storm.

As Jeff and I found our seats which were rightin front of Brian we talked about “the” moment.We spoke of Brian’s history of stunning song writ-ing, some of which will remain the most inspiredmusic of the 60’s. We spoke of the personal strug-gles Brian has faced and conquered. We both satquietly in deep appreciation being able to not onlysee this amazing artist perform but also to havebeen offered the chance to meet the man. Thiswas a Greatest Hits tour so we heard all the songswe loved. When the opening notes of my personalfavorites met my ears the hair on the back of myneck stood up and I just soaked it in. The LPtucked under my arm had on it’s cover the signa-ture of the man on the stage and in my memory isforever imprinted the experience of shaking hishand.

The final notes of the evening faded and wewere ushered backstage. I had the chance to meeta few of the band members and expressed my joyat being at the show.

As I walked back to the hotel, it all started tosink in. As I closed the room door behind me Bobwas waiting up for me knowing what the eveninghad held for me. (texting, it’s a beautiful thing!) Itried to share with him what I was feeling, but mywords were just mush. I could tell by the look in

his eye that he understood and knew that it wouldtake a while for me to process it all.

As I think back I am filled with gratitude. Whyme? I asked myself. Why was I the lucky one to bein the right place at just the right time? I do be-lieve in the power of attraction. Call it what youwill, when I really desire something in my lifemore often than not if I focus and then relax andpay attention, I will see a chance ahead to experi-ence my desire. Life is good. Life is filled withwonderful moments that when strung togethermake for a pretty amazing experience.

tournaments when the weather kept us inside.

We missed only two days due to bad weatherthose five years I was the teacher in Attica. I knowthat on a few days my car bucked snow drifts onmy short ride to Attica from my rural Daytonhome. I got stuck once, and one of the school fa-thers brought his tractor and pulled me out.

Besides the annual Christmas program, we tookpart every spring in Green County ConservationDays. For weeks before the big day, the entire stu-dent body had special conservation classes. Theend of the unit meant a trip to Monroe for a day offun activities and a parade. One year my schoolwas selected to put on a radio program on WEKZ.We did our version of TO TELL THE TRUTH, a pop-ular television game show. Of course, our versiondealt with conservation. I was lucky to be one ofthe teachers on the countywide committee. I re-call how well this group worked together and howefficient it was with time.

The teacher had to make quarterly reports tothe country superintendent of schools. This wasdone in person at the court house in Monroe. Thecountry supervising teacher made visits to evalu-ate the teacher. These were all surprise visitsmeaning the teacher did not know when this su-pervisor would appear. I have a memory of onelady supervisor sitting at my desk while I wasteaching first grade reading. Suddenly shescreamed out, “I just caught my stocking on some-thing under the desk.” Without batting an eye, Isimply said, “Funny it never happened to me.” Shelaughed and my report card from her was full ofgood comments. It was this same supervisor thattold me of a job in the Brooklyn Grade School, andshe thought I should apply. I had not thoughtabout anything but teaching in a country school.But the idea was f lattering, and so I applied andgot the job. While at Brooklyn, there was a con-solidation of Brooklyn and Oregon, and I movedfrom Brooklyn to the Oregon Junior High whichlater was called Oregon Middle School.

The best way to describe the relationship ofteacher to students in those country schools is tocall them family. That feeling remains to this day,so at Christmas cards come to me from those for-mer students, and it is not unusual to be in a storeor restaurant, and one of those former scholarsand I meet again and have a short “catching up”time.

And, yes, we did carry in pails of water for thewater cooler, and, yes, we did have outdoor toilets,but I was lucky to have a real fuel oil burning fur-nace that worked well and kept us warm all winterlong. And, yes, the teacher’s duties did includekeeping those toilets clean and carrying in thewater each morning. Those were the good olddays.

Written by: Bob Hoffman

country schools... continued from page 23

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the americana gazette december/january 2009 issue

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