I have to admit folks right I’m VERY excited about things to come today, as I relax in the hotel before heading out to Kansas City Missouri. Right now I am about 60 miles out of town in a really reasonably priced Travelodge hotel, the coffee pot sucked. We are going to leave our belongings here and journey on to the festival and sight see because I have to report to my stage manager at 1:30.

The Westport Roots Festival has been especially hospitable to me and my help today and for the FIRST TIME EVER I’ll be hosting my very own stage. Ernie Biggs Westport and Langunitas Brewing Company bring YOU the Gary Hayes Country Stage for the second annual event.

At the beginning of the morning upon our arrival Mr. Travis the Owner of the Westport Saloon gave us the grand tour of the whole district and everyone was so welcoming and good to us we were humbled. One of the finest welcomes my website has had along with Muddy Roots. The staff at Little Class Records and the Westport and all of the other venues involved were truly remarkable in every way and made you feel so at home there. The Ernie Biggs Staff was equally kind to my crew and myself, and people like Mr. Matt Dennis were always checking on us.

The Bastard Children Of Booker Noe is sort of a side project by some local guys from the Kansas City area that just got together this week and will be backing other bands too. Mr. Tyler plays steel guitar for people as well as guitar for this new band.

I got the opportunity to introduce these bands tonight and throughout these articles I shall be mentioning and tagging so many people on these. Ok Folks The Bastard Children Of Booker Noe are Mr. Tyler Giles on vocals with Kaylee Reeder on vocals and guitar. There is also Noah Richmond and Stas Heaney on fiddles.

They opened with “The Last Bottle” and also Miss Kaylee opened with a cover of Holly Williams “Why You Drinkin”…REALLY good vocals on her wow. They have a really good mountain sound and they are working on an album in the near future, now they played a song called “Sympathy”.

I wanted to take a moment out to point out how gorgeous this whole area is and how much FREE parking and places to eat there is, my helper and I couldn’t decide where to eat first to be honest. As the band played “Someone Like You” we talked with many fans that were enjoying the Four Roses Bourbon in the green room. The crowd was very receptive of the song “The Water Liars’ and one of my favorites was “Whiskey Whiskey”.

They closed their set with a song called “Please Cut Me Off” and as my stage was being set up for the next band me and my help snuck over to the The Riot Room to see St.Christopher and his band play. I did not get to see his entire set however I DO have the setlist for you today…because try my best to get to as much as I can.

Christopher opened up with “Right To Die” as he tore apart the outside stage with his band and they played “Sinners And Saints”. I always try my best to get over and cover his set when I can because we don’t always run into each other as often as we want but like he said we are road family.

“A New Kind Of Patriot” was another one that he played I truly enjoyed today as well as my favorite and his most rowdiest song ever “Revolution MotherFer” And the ever popular “We Ride”. He also played “29” as the crowd went wild he played “And The Crowd Goes Wild”.

His last few songs were “Repent And Guilt” “Sledgehammer” and he closed with “Eat/Fuck/Kill”. I tell you what even though I only caught a small portion of his set I still enjoyed what I could of it. And I’m having a GREAT TIME here at Westport Roots Festival.

I also got to slip out and see the Urban Pioneers play Liz’s Reel while Liz Sloan played on the chair like she’s known to do before going back to my stage to introduce my next band Scott Hrabcko And The Rabbits who did a terrific job here tonight on their set. They opened with “Baby You Know Me” and “A Thrill Of My Own” I’m truly amazed at all the talent that was displayed on my stage tonight I’m humbled and honored to have been involved with this festival on this grand of a scale.

They continued their set with “Ogre’s Waltz”and also continued on with a song called “Ordinary Guy”. His new release called ‘Buscuits And Gravity” was one of the albums I picked up tonight from all the shopping I did this weekend. Why not with songs like “Eyes Of Bonnie Blue” and my favorite “Died And Gone To Heaven”.

Every band here on this stage tonight has brought very powerful steel guitars and lead guitar solos tonight and everybody has been fantastic tonight. I’m truly having a wonderful time tonight here in the Westport district of Kansas City, Missouri. And it’s still early people honestly there’s SO MUCH more to be reported on here tonight.

“Lorraine” was one off Biscuits And Gravity that was very nice and “Lost As You” is off the album Gone Places. Another great song he played was “Donnez Moi”. I’ll tell you I’m VERY grateful to have had the opportunity to cover his set here in Kansas City as he closed his set with “Blue, Period”.

Carson Mchone is a native Texan and one fine talented young lady and she has an incredible stage presence, the only regret I have is every time she’s in Nashville I miss her and it kind of stinks but I finally got a chance to catch up with her and introduce her. She has two darn fine albums for sale and I highly suggest you go out and buy them right now.

She opened her set with ‘The Poet Song” and another called “Sweet Magnolia”. You know folks I found out about her last year on Ray Wylie Hubbard’s album “Ruffian’s Misfortune” as she sang backups on “Chick Singer Bad Ass Rocking”. She also did some work for Mike And The Moonpies as “Mockingbird” was one of my top 50 albums of 2015, and she continued with “I Need Drugs” and another called “Sad”.

My favorite song she does is called “Dram Shop Gal” which showcases her unique voice really well. And she went right into a song called “Really Good Friends” and closed her set with.

Dusty Rust was an unexpected surprise because we had a cancellation tonight, so he filled in with a set for us. He opened his set with “Doing Time” and another song called ‘Samantha”.

I’ll tell you what folks there was a truly fine display of steel guitar talent tonight from ALL of the bands that played on our stage so far. This man absolutely commands the stage and was one of my favorite acts of the night. He often does an ongoing program at the Westport Saloon called Spaghetti Western Thursdays with other bands.

“Happy Father’s Day” was another good song and he played one called “City Cowboy’s Throne”. Even though this was a short fast notice set it still was really awesome, and the brisket and smoked ribs…man..I don’t know where they came from but it’s better than anything I have EVER put in my mouth. He closed his set with Merle Haggard’s “Working Man’s Blues”.

I haven’t had the chance to cover J.B Beverley for quite some time now, in fact it’s been a few years ago since we laid eyes on one another! That’s longer than I want to go without seeing an artist but life sometimes is what it is.

He has recently released his old album “Highball” however in my collection his album “Dark Bar And a Jukebox” is one of my favorite older albums I discovered when I began discovering these bands.  In fact later on in his set he did indeed play that song, however the first song was “Interstate Blues”.

I had to run off really quick and as I returned I heard him play “Bottle Is Empty, Ash Tray Is Full” and to be honest I’m not entirely sure that’s the name of it, but I did get the rest of the set for sure. He played “Maggie’s Farm” an old Bob Dylan song which I enjoyed.

His originals after that went back to the Wayward Drifters albums indeed as he played “Drinking Bourbon” and followed that with the Hank Williams Sr. classic “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It”.  One of my personal favorites he does is “Gonna Ride A Train”, it’s just a fast paced jamming song.

Dusty Rust got up there with him and played “Swinging Doors” before he went into “Dark Bar And A Jukebox” and two more classics “Watch America Roll By” and another good one “Wayward Drifter”. After all this we was hunting for some more food and my help brought back some ribs and some kind of fried taters that were like Heaven in a sack. I got LOTS MORE coming folks, from what I could remember of it all. I was going at it pretty hard at this point to be quite honest and a lot was happening at once, and I have one more part coming with six bands in it.

Americana Fest
Muddy Roots
Crooked Smile Fall Fest
So Cal Hoedown

ROMP Fest
Moonrunners

Hey Folks I am VERY hard at work out here at the Gary Hayes Command Center in Kentucky right after returning from a LONG weekend in Kansas City Missouri, and I wanted to stop and tell you about an exciting event happening in October. Folks you know that every October I always have a little anniversary shindig to celebrate the official launch of my website.

If you remember I launched my first official article in Altamont Tennessee and honestly one of the performers on this current bill was a part of my first officially launched article and that was Whey Jennings, and I am excited to hear he will be a part of my third year.

Folks this website I have has been recognized and supported by over 100 festivals nationwide and I am being supported by more venues every day. I cover and support over 6,000 local bands and national acts and I am adding more each week. I’m growing rapidly in amazing leaps and bounds, and traveling more now than I ever have, and I am always finding new and exciting ways to bring forth local music to YOU the reader.

I’m not doing any of the booking or organizing of this festival but on behalf of Mr. Donnie Wymer Promotions I’ll be sponsoring this event and celebrating my party at The Crooked Smile Music Festival in Winchester Indiana on October 14th and 15th at The Circle X Ranch. This campground is gorgeous and it’s located in a very scenic area of Indiana right on the Ohio-Indiana border and about two hours from Indianapolis.

If you remember I attended the fall festival last year and I had a truly wonderful time there and was welcomed with open arms by the staff and bands. This year once again I plan to stay at the same hotel that has the budget building for under sixty per night. It is NOT dirty or small in ANY form in fact it is overall one of the least expensive festivals in the nation…period and you can buy tickets in advance HERE. You are going to find out that for UNDER 150 you can buy a ticket AND a room for two nights! And after you read the lineup for this year’s event I’m sure you will want to take advantage of an offer like that.

Hellbound Glory
Joseph Huber
Whey Jennings And The Unwanted
Husky Burnette
Sean K Preston
Jimmy Swope
Buffalo Wabs And The Price Hill Hustle
Smokestack Relics
The Drunken Cuddle
Lara Hope And The Ark Tones
Duane Mark
Wonky Tonk
Lonesome Red And The Blue Strings

Achillies Tenderloin
Kepone Cowboys
Old Wolves
40RTY
Eric Bestul And The Rockin Gypsies
Jessie Blankenship And The Plank Walkin Boys
Toeknee Tea
Mallory Wymer
The GLATAS band
Jason Dawdy
Apathy Wizards

The Randolph Inn and Suites was the hotel I used last year and I will tell you this, it is truly a wonderful place to stay and I look forward to being there again in 2016.
Overpass Motel is another good choice for this area. Last year I did some researching on the area as I attended the festival and I found this one to be a thumbs up.
Winchestr Guest House Inn is a place I found online and I have never been there but I do know it’s a nice suggestion by the locals I have consulted.

There is camping included in your ticket price and this is a one stage operation and despite the fact this is a campground it is an indoor festival. Now, there are no food vendors but one that is run by the campground. HOWEVER let me tell you the food is REALLY GOOD. It’s cooked and ran by the local owners of the campground and supports their community, so eating there supports this local economy.

You are supporting down home country folks out there and you’ll find hospitality like you won’t find in every area of the Country. ..SEE YOU THERE!

Folks just this morning I talked via text with my road dogging buddy from the Ohio area Dallas Moore concerning his brand new project tentatively called “Six Strings And Steel Bars: Dallas Moore Live From The Bullitt County jail. This album will be an acoustic performance recorded by Brian Debruler of SOL Records and co-produce with Mr. Dallas, also on board as executive producer is Bill Halverson who filled the same role on Cash’s iconic live album recorded at Folsom prison.

This album will be released in August 2016 and I WILL include a pre-order link on here as soon as Mr. Dallas releases it. I’m going to re print EXACTLY what Mr. Dallas texted me:

Yesterday we entered the Bullitt County Jail in Shepherdsville Kentucky and recorded a live acoustic album of my original songs. The recording is going to be very raw and stripped down with just my vocal and guitar and my guitarist Chuck Morpurgo AKA Lucky Chucky also on guitar.

We played a set that was a little under an hour long of my new and more obscure songs with some never before recorded. Brian DeBruler did the recording and will co produce with me. Onboard also is Executive Producer Bill Halverson who was the assistant engineer on Johnny Cash’s Live At Folsom Prison.

He went on to produce albums by Eric Clapton, Crosby Still And Nash, Bad Company and more. The album will be called “Dallas Moore Live At The Bullitt County Jail” and will be released on SOL Records in August 2016.

As most of you know he is also recording a new studio album right now and lately has been playing a few new songs off of it in his live shows, like my review of his show last December you can read HERE. His latest album called “Dark Horse Rider” earned a pretty high spot on my TOP 50 of 2015 last year, and his live shows are unrivaled because of his furious guitar solos and eclectic stage presence.

The Bullitt County Detention Center is located about 20 miles south of Louisville Kentucky, and he said this morning that Head Jailer Martha Knox and all the staff was very welcoming in helping this album become possible. This is the first album recorded within the confines of a prison since 1967-68 releases by Johnny Cash of iconic stature.

Folks I know it has been quite some time since I put out some new album features but rest assured I have been watching for some GREAT Americana and …well…just DAMN GOOD music here lately. And I have so many irons in the fire it’s hard to maintain everything, but when I do catch up with everything you’ll be glad you spent a few moments reading about what I have for you.

Vince Gill: Down To My Last Bad Habit.

This album was promoted so fiercely that the Ernest Tubb’s Record Shop changed the outside sign for the album released in February. People in town were going absolutely bonkers because if you don’t know Mr. David has closed the second record shop on McGavock Pike and has only one store in Nashville now. Well the rumors FLEW that Vince Gill had purchased the downtown famed Broadway store!

In my humble opinion the last song “Sad One Comin’ On” was the best song on the whole album and the most Country song on the entire album. It’s a great old slow song for George Jones and for sure it is quite a darn fine song it’s well written and just plain out Country!

MCA Nashville and Vince Gill have released a pretty good album here this being the first new album of his in quite some time now. “Like My Daddy Did” was a super good song written by Vince himself about gaining the trust of a woman who’s father left her at an early age, it’s truly a well written touching song.

“My Favorite Movie” was a song I have been waiting for that Vince co-wrote with someone who’s name you WILL hear on this website be mentioned VERY soon Ashley Monroe.It’s pretty much just your basic love song but it’s pretty vague at the same time, if that makes any sense at all. Just trust me on this one it’s a good song.

It sort of ended up being like the Clint Black album in that a lot of the songs sounded more modern than I care for myself but it has those iconic Vince Gill vocals that we have come to admire from Vince through the years, but the album in no way beats his early work like Pocket Full Of Gold.

Josh Williams: Modern Day Man.

I’m going to be honest folks this album made my TOP 50 already, it is amazing AMAZING. This man who plays for Rhonda Vincent And The Rage has released several good solo albums but this is one is BY FAR his best.

What’s a GOOD Country album without a slow divorce song filled with steel guitar solos and three chord simplicity well the song “The Great Divide” is truly the best written song I have heard since Kacey Musgraves. The best line in the song is “No there’s no turning back we crossed the great divide”. Just an absolutely heartfelt breakup song, that makes this album shine!

“Queen Of The County Fair” and “Girl From The Canyon” are two great bluegrass songs that are on this album I pretty much was expecting some Bluegrass songs infused with steel guitar. Some darn fine banjo picking fills this song as well as well as fine band harmonies.

“Let It Go” is another good slow moving easy religious song that was well written that tells us all to let it go and God take control. He can mend your broken heart but you got to let it go. It’s truly a great inspirational song that we can all relate to in many ways and this album is going to remain in my rotation for quite some time.

All the rest of the songs are truly awesome toe tapping Bluegrass tunes like “Prodigal Son” and “Lonesome Lesson Learned” which are also chocked full of banjo picking and mandolin solos at faced pace timing. “Mordecai” was a wandering drifter in the mountain trails who had a song wrote for him.

Cooder Graw:Love To Live By

This new album they released is actually an EP according to what I have uncovered, it’s short with only 6 songs on it. However what IS on the album is rocking good and what you would expect from this band. The title track is a slower song but full of steel guitar and rowdy lyrics by a rowdy band.

They have previously released some iconic albums and steel guitarist Danny Crelin is one of the finest in the business and has some truly good pieces on this new album. “Mexican Blues” is a good song about drugs and folks it’s a toe tapper infused with lament of an addict. Strike 3 is wearing a wire and get locked up…figures.

“Heart Of Breaking Up” is another good song on this album about being in the process of her leaving. The empty house and the aftermath of a breakup, looking rough and not trying to connect with anyone but memories. The lack of length kind of disappointed me as a consumer at least ways.

The Westport Roots Festival
Moonrunners Music Festival
Picki’n In The Pasture
John Hartford Music Festival
The Blue Ox Music Festival
The Duck Creek Log Jam
ROMP Fest

I told you folks I have a whole list of festivals for you all over the nation. This one is located in Virginia at the Virginia Motorsports Park and it is called The Dinwiddie Music Festival and it is primarily a Bluegrass festival. This event takes place on June 9-11th and once you see the lineup you’ll agree it’s quite nice and is about 20 miles south of Richmond Virginia.

There is dry camping available on grass and asphalt and this festival has shower facilities as well. RV lots are also available and NO alcohol in the concert area however I’m not sure about camping areas. They also didn’t say about extra fee for camping. Little different style with this edition folks it all in print right here for you and HERE is the ticket link and below is the entire schedule.

Dark Hollow Bluegrass Band
Bluegrass Brothers
Flatt Lonesome
Larry Stephenson Band
Darrell Webb Band
Larry Cordle And Lonesome Standard Time
Commonwealth Bluegrass Band
Mill Run
Donna Ulisse
Joe Mullins And The Radio Ramblers
Dailey And Vincent
Code Blue
Malpass Brothers
Junior Sisk
Sideline
Mountain Faith
Steeldrivers

As always I have researched hotels in the area HERE and let me tell you…it’s WAY cheaper than a lot of other festivals I frequent. Combined with the ticket price this festival is relatively affordable in many ways. Who knows I might be able to get there one day!