Texas Music

My wife and kids are our of town for a few days, so I thought I'd get out and see some live music—something I don't get to do much anymore.

I heard an artist a few months ago at SxSW that I really liked, Walt Wilkins. I've been waiting for his new CD ever since, so when I saw that he was performing at Antone's on Tuesday celebrating its release, I went. I'm really glad I did—the band sounded great! They played all the tracks from Diamonds in the Sun, plus several extra numbers. I didn't see too many people purchasing CDs before the band started playing, but midway through the set the ones they had on hand sold out! I wasn't quick enough to get one so I went down the street to Waterloo Records afterwards and picked it up. There were two other people in the store doing the same thing I was—surely a good sign for the disc. There are several great tunes here, but my early favorites are Stand Up Seven (a bluesy number with good advice) and Honky-Tonk Road (a story of a band on the road). Great CD, pick it up if you get a chance.

On Wednesday night I drove down to Hill's Cafe to hear Two Tons of Steel at the KVET Free Texas Music Series. It has been raining nearly every day here in Austin, but luckily it quit just enough for the band to perform (Hill's has an outside stage). Tow Tons is a great band; they call their sound countrybilly—I always think of Brian Setzer playing country music. Before the show I was talking to Chris Dodds, the drummer, and we discovered that several years ago he used to work for the same company I do now! Small world, for sure.