Palo Duro Label Releasing Records Hand Over Fist
Posted by: cjthomas in Brian Burns, Dale Watson, Derailers, Ed Burleson, Eleven Hundred Springs, Jon Christopher Davis, Luckenbach Texas, Morrison-Williams, Press Releases, Texas Unplugged, Tommy Alverson, Trent Summar, Two Tons of Steel, Walt WilkinsAustin, TX - September 13, 2006 Palo Duro Records (“Country Music, Texas Spirit”) is in the midst of a rash of releasing and re-releasing records — debut efforts by new artists as well as albums by veterans on its roster of the past few years — as part of its distribution agreement with Fontana and to go the distance for music fans around the globe who can’t get enough of the sound of the Lone Star State.
For five years, Palo Duro has lived up to its original mission, to release the best of Texas-made music in a way that reflects the authenticity of its artists. Its releases are heard on radio stations from Austin to Boston to London and beyond. Its efforts are documented in the September issue of Southwest Airlines’ in-flight magazine, Spirit.
Americana Music Conference
At the upcoming Americana Music Conference September 20-22 in Nashville, Palo Duro Records artists Trent Summar, Dale Watson and The Derailers will showcase and the label will host a music party at its trade-show booth — a replica of one of the rustic buildings in the Texas Hill Country town of Luckenbach to highlight the pre-release launch of the first album in its Luckenbach Texas Music Series — from 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday, September 21, with performances by Lost Immigrants, the country-Southern rock-blues-pop band that won a contest held by Palo Duro and Shiner Beer. True Texas music releases and re-releases by Palo Duro artists in Americana, country and alt-country genres include:
Viva! Terlingua! Nuevo!
Crowds present at its two-night taping in the 120-year-old Luckenbach Dance Hall early this year are eagerly awaiting its October 24 release so they can hear themselves hollering for more – more tunes like “Up Against the Wall (Redneck Mother),” “London Homesick Blues,” “Sangria Wine,” “Gettin’ By” and “What I Like About Texas” by Jimmy LaFave, Cory Morrow, Gary P. Nunn, jon Arthur martinez, Two Tons of Steel, Ed Burleson, Brian Burns, The McKay Brothers, Morrison-Williams, Walt Wilkins, Tommy and Justin Alverson, The Derailers, and past and present members of The Lost Gonzo Band, and the Gonzos de Casa. The first release in Palo Duro’s Luckenbach Texas Music Series, and part of the label’s unique collaboration with the Township of Luckenbach, the special release pays tribute to the music that 33 years ago put the tiny hamlet west of Austin on the map.
Trent Summar & The New Row Mob
(Official Americana Conference showcase is set for 9 p.m. Wednesday, September 20, at 3rd & Lindsley) Fans have loved Trent Summar’s country-rock-rockabilly-honky-tonk music for years; songs he’s written or co-written for the likes of Pat Green and Jack Ingram have charted, too. Now, his Palo Duro Records debut, HORSESHOES & HAND GRENADES, slated for release October 10, captures the sound that’s also been called farm rock in 12 tracks, 11 of them co-written by the dynamic Summar.
Jon Christopher Davis
Country-rock singer-songwriter Jon Christopher Davis, known across Texas for his song “Lone Star Attitude,” is touring across the state in support of his August 1 release on Palo Duro Records, JON CHRISTOPHER DAVIS. The first single from the new CD, the upbeat “Love Had Something Else in Mind” was co-written with Stan Lynch (song producer and co-writer with Don Henley). On tour with Davis is Mark Metdker on lead guitar and pedal steel, Steve Metdker on lead guitar, Wiley Bolen on bass guitar, and Chad Gruver on drums. On September 23, Davis stops in his hometown of Bonham to share the stage with Radney Foster, Texas-born musician, Davis fan and co-writer on the new CD of “You Gotta Love Someone” and “Two Story Town.” Says Foster: “Jon Christopher Davis is a triple threat. He plays guitar great, sings like a bird and writes from the heart.”
The Derailers
(Official Americana Conference showcase is set for 11:00 p.m. Friday, September 22, at The Cannery Ballroom) The sixth album by the band born somewhere between Buck Owens and The Beatles and its debut on Palo Duro, SOLDIERS OF LOVE (released June 6, now at #14 on the R&R/Americana Chart), had behind it the legendary songwriter-producer-publisher Buzz Cason, who penned “Soldier of Love” and co-wrote the release’s first single, “Cold Beer, Hot Women and Cool Country Music,” with band front man and lead guitarist Brian Hofeldt (now at #18 on The Texas Music Chart). Also on the disc is “An American Man,” Hofeldt’s tribute to Johnny Cash. Together, the collection of rockers (“Hey Valerie,” “Get ’Er Done”), ballads (“The One Before Me,” “Every Time it Rains”) and an instrumental (“Poppycock,” with its Buckaroos-Ventures-Herb Albert mix) works the Derailers magic that fills dance-hall floors. Hofeldt gets solid backup from bassist-vocalist Ed Adkins, drummer-percussionist Scott Matthews, pedal steel player and vocalist Chris Schlotzhauer, and piano pounder and organist Sweet Basil McJagger.
Two Tons of Steel
TWO TON TUESDAY — LIVE AT GRUENE HALL!, released June 6, celebrates the Texas countrybilly combo’s 11-years-running summer music series at the Gruene Dance Hall. The DVD-plus-CD captures the show that draws 12,000 fans annually (and holds every attendance record the venue has); the DVD immediately won a Gold Remi award at the 39th WorldFest Independent Film Festival in Houston. The DVD/CD follows April’s VEGAS and the re-release of TRANSPARENT, also by the band that’s been described as equal parts Elvis Presley and Elvis Costello with liberal dollops of Buddy Holly and The Ramones.
Dale Watson
(Official Americana Conference showcase is set for 8 p.m. Thursday, September 21, at Mercy Lounge) The country music veteran lays it all on the line on March’s WHISKEY OR GOD, a collection of 13 classic, semi-autobiographical country-rock tunes with names like “No Help Wanted,” “Crazy Again,” “Tequila and Teardrops” and the title track that come alive through Watson’s rich, rough-as-diamonds, cry-in-your-beer baritone. Hollywood director Zalman King (“9½ Weeks,” “Red Shoe Diaries”) world-premiered his unflinching documentary on Watson, “Crazy Again,” at South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin. After frightening fans with a desire to retire, Watson didn’t and spent the summer touring from Nashville to Chicago and the Oneida Casino in Green Bay, Wis., back to Austin. This winter he’ll start shooting King’s “Austin Angel,” a feature film about a country singer who sells his soul to The Devil (David Carradine) to save his daughter, and is scheduled to start writing a memoir.
Morrison-Williams
Outlaw rockers Shayne Morrison and Clint Williams’ showcased with other Palo Duro Records artists during South by Southwest in Austin in March, generating a lot of good will and making a good bump for the May 2 release of MORRISON-WILLIAMS, the duo’s well-written debut that includes easy country rockers and soulful ballads and “My Girl Friday,” the album’s first single. Morrison and Williams knew they were a perfect musical match when they began collaborating six years ago after being introduced by a record shop owner in Tyler, Texas.
Texas Unplugged, Vol 2
The second release in the label’s acoustic music series created to showcase the diverse talents of Texas music-makers, which was released February 21, features a dozen tracks that reflect the simple, direct, passionate elements of the Lone Star State’s style of Americana: masterful musicianship (mandolin, fiddle, harmonica, Dobro) and lyrics that tell timeless stories of the land, love, frontier spirit, heartache and tears, cars and cowboys, booze, and the blues. One is a tribute to duct tape; each is true Texas. Some of the state’s finest musical artists contributed: The Derailers, Sidehill Gougers, Dale Watson, Johnny Bush, Davin James, Morrison-Williams, Rusty Wier, Two Tons of Steel, Cindy Cashdollar & Carolyn Wonderland, Walt Wilkins, Wild Horses and Max Stalling. The label also re-released its TEXAS UNPLUGGED, VOL. 1.
Eleven Hundred Springs
The members of Eleven Hundred Springs, who are working on a new album for release late this year and a national tour that starts early next year, label themselves “long-haired, tattooed hippie freaks,” but that doesn’t accurately convey the Dallas-based quintet’s appearance, much less its finely whittled sound: Buck Owens x Doug Sahm x The Rolling Stones x Willie Nelson. Which is what its Palo Duro release, BANDWAGON, really is: original Texas country music in the Americana vein played with respect for those who’ve gone before but without being dated itself. They just do what sounds good to them. The band was formed by lead vocalist-rhythm guitarist Matt Hillyer and bassist Steven Berg in 1998 and was named after the slogan for Pearl Beer (“from the land of 1,100 springs”).
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