Palo Duro Records

It’s been a long four years since we last heard from Eleven Hundred Springs. With the anthemic (and multi-syllabic) “Long Haired Tattooed Hippie Freaks,” “Thunderbird Will Do Just Fine,” and “Hank Williams Wouldn’t Make It Now in Nashville Tennessee,” Bandwagon was a cage-rattling blast of defiance from one of Dallas’s most prolific bands.

But after a run of five albums in six years, the country quintet entered an unexpected studio dormancy. Now with Danny Crelin in for Aaron Wynne on pedal steel, Jordan Hendrix added on fiddle, and Chris Claridy off to Darren Kozelsky’s band, the newly reconstituted Eleven Hundred Springs is back at last with a tasty serving of Country Jam.

What happened to slow the guys down? Parenthood, if we judge by “Nobody Told You About the Love,” a gorgeous love song from an awestruck father to child:

Everyone said it would be work and it’d take up all your time
Everyone said that it might hurt and you’d spend up your last dime
Everyone told you you were gettin’ in way over your head
Everyone said you best be bettin’ it’ll haunt you ’til you’re dead…
But nobody said it wouldn’t be fun
Nobody said it would be so hard that it could not be done
Nobody told you it might be better than all that you’d dreamed of
Nobody told you about the love

A similar theme re-emerges in “I’ll Be Here for You,” a lullaby that perfectly matches Matt Hillyer’s soothing lead with backing vocals from guest Heather Myles.

So this is a kinder, gentler Eleven Hundred Springs — but that’s not to say this jam is bland by any means. The rockabilly “Every Time I Get Close to You” adds some spice, and things get even tangier with the retro classic “Rocket 88.”

Despite the long layoff and slight lineup shuffle, Eleven Hundred Springs still sounds tight as ever. These guys were born to play dancehall music, and Hillyer’s will always be a welcome voice.

At first I missed the provocativeness of the Bandwagon days, but the more I listen the more I appreciate the solid songwriting and impeccable musicianship of Country Jam.

The only downside? Each time I look at the sumptuous food photography that lines the CD package, I find myself craving a heaping plate of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. But instead of a feast, I’ll happily content myself with another serving of Jam.

Popularity: 1% [?]

By Darryl Smyers 

Years ago, when he was leading Lone Star Trio, Matt Hillyer was the cutest guy this side of Rhett Miller, a rocker in hick’s clothing who deftly integrated rockabilly cool into his potent mixture of hard-core honky-tonk and contemporary Americana. After the demise of Lone Star Trio, Hillyer formed Eleven Hundred Springs, and for nearly a decade, this quintet has quietly produced some of the best country music in Texas.

With Eleven Hundred Springs, Hillyer wisely chose to dispose of his youthful rock leanings and rely most heavily on such classic influences as Buck Owens, Willie Nelson and Billy Joe Shaver. In the past, especially in the studio, these influences have often overshadowed the band’s inherent talent, making songs that came across a bit too close to tributes instead of unique articulations of inspiration.

Country Jam solves that problem post-haste. Perhaps it was the choice of producer (Lloyd Maines) or a record label that knows a thing or two about legitimate country (local singer Darryl Lee Rush also records for Palo Duro), but these new songs perfectly balance originality and a reverence for rural music. Check out the echoes of the late, great Doug Sahm that are integrated flawlessly into “Texas Afternoon” and “I’ll Be Here for You.” This is two-stepping fare of rare intellect and subtlety, a great record of real music.

Popularity: 2% [?]

PDR-1103

Eleven Hundred Springs

“Country Jam”

Produced by, Lloyd Maines

Street: May 6, 2008

In Stores Today!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Formed in 1998, the Dallas based quintet has grown a massive fan base across Texas, California and the southern U.S. through constant touring, relentless grassroots promotion and playing country jams that are second to none in the vastly over-populated Texas music scene.

Matt Hillyer and Steve Berg have been best friends, songwriting collaborators and musical sidekicks since their teenage years fronting the legendary Dallas based rockabilly group Lone Star Trio. Eleven Hundred Springs’ stellar lineup also includes Aaron Wynne, platinum selling rock star incognito Mark Reznicek (formerly of The Toadies ), and the newest member of the group, 2nd generation fiddler Jordan Hendrix, whose father Phillip W. Hendrix played alongside the likes of Webb Pierce, Farron Young and Wynne Stewart in honkytonks across the world.

Critically acclaimed by fans, media and industry-ites alike, the members of Eleven Hundred Springs are collectively making the best music of their careers, which is a bold statement considering the national success of Lone Star Trio and the Toadies. The Dallas Observer and The Fort Worth Weekly have both praised the band with many accolades, resulting in numerous “Best of” nominations and fan-voted wins in “Best Country / Roots Band” categories - quite an accomplishment in the musically populated Dallas/Fort Worth area.

In 2004, the band signed with Tennessee based label Palo Duro Records, and their 14 song disc, Bandwagon, their third studio effort, enjoyed tremendous radio success, reaching #1 on XM Radio’s X-Country Album chart and even charting on the nationwide Americana chart, including a coveted spot in the Americana Music Association’s Top 100 albums of 2004 list.

Having played and collaborated with legends like Ronnie Dawson, Bo Diddley and Reverend Horton Heat, as well as shared bills with national fan favorites like the Old 97s, Jack Ingram and Hank Williams III, Eleven Hundred Springs could quite possibly be the next big thing to come out of Dallas’ highly acclaimed alt-country scene.

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you know that I am just a bit
partial to live albums. My belief is that you get more of who an artist
really is when you hear them live and a live album is the closest thing to a
live music experience that you can get without being there. “Darryl Lee Rush
Live from the River Road Icehouse” from Darryl Lee Rush is the perfect
example of this. Darryl Lee Rush is not only a great songwriter but is one
hell of a performer. As the first artist ever signed to Shiner Records, the
pressure to deliver great Texas music is intense. But he does it. And he
does it with such enthusiasm and energy that just listening to the album
makes you want to call into work the next day because you are “not feeling
well” from the night before.

True to the unconventional nature of DLR, the lead track on this live album
is not live at all. “Lot” is a studio cut, usually reserved for the tail-end
of albums, that highlights DLR’s ability to communicate a snap shot of a
desperate life in thoroughly convincing fashion. When the live cuts start on
the album, I would suggest that you return the tray tables to their upright
and locked positions and extinguish all smoking materials. DLR pays homage
to his hometown right off the bat, with the tune, “Town Too Tough To Die,”
giving the story behind the song without missing one raucous beat. He
follows it up with the Matthew Ryan penned song, “Irrelevant,” which will
cause even the most casual listener to lose their minds at DLR’s talent for
song delivery. There are only two other songs on this album that come from
the pen of others — Steve Earle’s “Johnny Come Lately” and Sam Baker’s
“Truale.” The rest are pure unadulterated DLR. “Uncle Freddie Drove a
Tractor,” “White Trash Paradise” and “Smuggler’s Prayer” run the gamut of
themes and emotions and further remind us why we love live Texas music.
Speaking of Texas music, DLR gives us his ode to the genre that we all love
with the song, appropriately titled “Texas Music” that hits on themes that
all lovers of this music will be able to identify with.

Bottom line: Darryl Lee Rush gives us a pure Texas music album that is at
times rowdy, at other times serious and reflective. It makes us want to
consume copious amounts of Shiner beer and should be added to the collection
of any true Texas music fan.

by El Presidente

http://www.lonestarmusicmag.com/

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Popularity: 29% [?]

A title like Hats Off to Hank naturally leads the prospective listener to anticipate the sort of honkytonk wail that Hank Williams practically patented. Though “Hats” is the title song, this is not, in fact, a particularly country record.

A songwriter, performer, producer and all-around music-business professional who’s been around since the latter 1950s and the rockabilly era, Buzz Cason is more likely to generate thoughts of Bob Dylan and J.J. Cale. Yes, country is an influence, but blues at its grittiest and chuggiest is a larger presence. So, from time to time, is gospel, as witness (so to speak) the powerful “Hooked Up With the Man.” And, of course, basic dance-hall rock ‘n’ roll. Coming in last and at less than two minutes, the Hank tribute feels like an afterthought. It’s a decent song, but — unlike just about anything that has preceded it — nothing terribly special.

From his long immersion in Southern vernacular music, Cason has absorbed an assortment of roots sounds and shaped them into a idiosyncratic approach that manages to dodge, rather miraculously, just about every cliche at hand. Relatively few songs feel genre-specific, but they all give the sense that they came from somewhere — somewhere South, that is, and probably where alcohol is served. Cason delivers them all in a lived-in, gravel-specked drawl, whether they’re about boozin’ and screwin’ (”Texas Wild Flower”), good eatin’ (”Barbeque”), faded love (”Somebody Told Me”), beloved place (”I Love the South”) or grave injustice (”Black Man in Mississippi”).

Though Cason, who lives in Tennessee, has strong connections with the Texas music scene, he doesn’t sound like a generic Red Dirt act, by which I mean a would-be Guy Clark or a vaguely countrified guitar-rock hack. Cason is somebody who’s been hearing music and playing it all his life, and as the sum of a whole lot of worthy influences, he is, finally, no more or less than himself. If this album doesn’t sound good to you, well, you and I probably wouldn’t have much else to talk about, either

by Jerome Clark

Popularity: 31% [?]