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.

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.

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!

Folks this article is part of my “Fan Fair Survival Guide” of articles for those of you that would like some REAL Country Music activities that time of the year that downtown Nashville is filled plum full of sparklebritches and plastic coated cowboy hats.

The media does NOT WANT you to know about the fact there is a WSM stage with really good Country Music acts on it and there are other social gatherings going on like this one. Folks this R.O.P.E. Now for those of you that don’t know what that organization is, let me tell you about it. This portion of their history is from the R.O.P.E. website:

R.O.P.E. (which stands for the Reunion of Professional Entertainers) began one evening in May of 1983 when forty-three folks in the music industry got together to discuss the idea of having an organization.  Prior to the organizing of R.O.P.E., generally the only times these folks were together was to either work and/or attend the funeral/visitation for a fellow comrade. Wanting to correct this situation was the beginning of this great organization that is known as R.O.P.E., International.

Like Webster’s rope that is made of several strands, our ‘R.O.P.E.’ is made of many different fields of the music and entertainment industry.  Our membership roster includes artists, musicians, songwriters, record producers, booking agents, record promoters, disc jockeys and music business executives.  Some are retired while many are still very active in their respective field. Our members represent many years of musical and entertainment history. 

Wednesday June 8th we will once again gather at the Al Menah Shrine Temple for the annual luncheon with the stars. Folks this place has a REALLY nice stage and facility for this function and I myself will be there eating and reuniting with old friends. This show goes from 12-4 PM and will be a cost of 35.00 and the deadline is JUNE 3RD!

To order tickets here what you do:
Send a check or money order to R.O.P.E. P.O.Box 2048 Madison Tn 37116
call 615-860-9257
e mail lacyann@bellsouth.net

SO FAR we have performing (more to be announced as time passes).
Dickey Lee
Teea Goans
Tommy Cash
Tn River Boys
Dianne Sherrill
Jan Howard
Bobby G Rice
Bobby Lewis

Alright folks I usually take several albums and feature them altogether in multiple article fashion for a lot of bands and artists but the Urban Pioneers hold a VERY special place in my heart both as friends and musically speaking. Liz Sloan speaks to the masses through her fiddle nightly and the three of them are true road warriors playing a whopping 300 plus shows yearly. I believe this is Mr. Martin Seargent’s frist album with them AKA Scooter, so please when YOU go see them welcome him into the fold.

I believe the next time I’ll get to catch up with them will be in Kansas City at the end of the month however I am hosting a different stage and won’t get to cover their set. I’m quite sure one of the many festivals I cover in the future will have them on the roster..I plan to catch Moonrunners in Chicago so we shall see how that pans out.

Feast Or Famine is their third album and has just been released digitally right now and will be available SOON and as soon as it is I will place the link up here so you can buy the album. One of the songs on the album that I have heard them play before was “He didnt Know My Name Back Then”. This album is packed full of their usual instrumental fury along with Russian fiddle influences and more, they have such a wide variety of features in their material. Here are some tour dates for you..

“Never Had A Waffle At The Waffle House” was absolutely hilarious especially coming from these two who obviously playing as many shows as they do are Waffle House ROYALTY. But since it’s called Feast Or Famine I guess this covers both since it mentions every other item off the menu there. Ha.

“Behind The Wheel Again” is the classic Urban Pioneers sound I was expecting from them and it’s just an all out toe tapping jam, with great vocals. It will fit in really well with their current list of possible songs at shows, and it features great strumming and Liz sawing out her signature sound but I tell you what during “Maybelle’s Farewell” she goes absolutely crazy on the fiddle with a Russian type influenced instrumental.

“Lazy Bones” is a truly good slow song about..well…a lazy man who goes fishing and is so lazy he don’t want fish to bite his line. I just really like the the lyrics to this song. If you are into traditional type string band music this band will quickly become one of your top notch bands for sure.

“Mary The Elephant” is a dancing elephant in 1916 and along with a hobo who was mean to her and she got angry and trampled the mean hobo. They tried to kill the elephant by shooting her and electrocuting her but she wouldn’t die so they hung her on a big chain at a construction site.

So this new album has thirteen tracks on it and if the email which includes the tracks is numbered as per the album here are the songs, and I understand it will soon available on vinyl as well.
1. Maybelle’s Farewell
2.Sunrise After Sunset
3.He Didn’t Know My Name Back Then
4.High On A Mountain
5.Fly Around Pretty Little Miss
6.Behind The Wheel Again
7.Golliath Coming Down
8.Lazy Bones
9.John Browns Dream
10.Never Had A Waffle At The Waffle House
11.Mary The Elephant
12.Do You Dream In Color
13.No Blood In The Stone.

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

Folks I’ll be heading out to Kansas City shortly after the Boogie in may of this year for the third annual Wesport Roots Festival which I missed last year but promised them I would help them grow. Also, I haven’t brought my website out to that area yet in person so this partnership will be a win-win situation. Now the website states that there will be some venue changes and I am CONSTANTLY adding and editing ALL my festival articles as I learn and discover things. I got HUGE NEWS concerning this festival, perhaps the most involved I have EVER been in ANY festival in this website’s history!

Little Class Records CEO contacted me not long ago and asked me if I wanted to do some cross promotions with them, since I was already planning to cover the event live. The Westport Saloon has a big hand in this festival and it appears that there is a whole area of venues involved within the Wesport district, which is Kansas City’s oldest portion of the city. There will be six stages involved and they all center the like music, I’ll be hosting the Honky Tonk stage and covering the event. All six stages go at once and four of them are indoor stages, two of them are outdoor tent stages. They are however pretty close together and within acceptable distance of one another.

HERE is MORE information Concerning stage sponsors and what genre of music is being featured where.

Languanitas Brewing Co., The Westport Saloon, and Little Class Records bring you the 2016 Westport Roots Festival Memorial Day weekend. Over 60 bands on 6 stages in your favorite neighborhood. From Psychobilly rowdiness on the Pabst Blue Ribbon at Buzzard Beach to Walnut Valley Festival Bluegrass Favorites on the American Born Moonshine stage hosted by Finetimecamp, we have all of your Roots Genres covered. Get your fill of twang and Honky-tonk on the Boombox.FM stage at Ernie Biggs Westport hosted by Gary Hayes Country.

Not to mention, we still have an entire stage of heavy hitters booked by Dylan Thomas Dorrell to announce in February! This guy knows how to throw a party as can be see at Dylan’s Big Birthday Bender Blowout Bash coming up next month. Don’t forget about the Busch Beer Presents: Westport Roots Reception! A preparty featuring Dale Watson! and the Four Roses Bourbon presents: Roots Fest Recovery with Special guests Mountain Sprout!. OK Speaking of this fellow and his stage he has added some heavy hitters among the Roots Music world in the Goddamn Gallows MORE!

If you’re planning a weekend of it, please consider AC Hotels by Marriott Kansas City Westport. Its right across the street and downhill from the festival, so you can easily stagger back to your room after you have enjoyed all the Four Roses Bourbon you care to drink. Be listening to KKFI 90.1 FM and watching Ink Magazine for more information and schedules as the date approaches and feel free to stop by any of the AWESOME SPONSORS’ pages and tell them thank you for supporting live music and arts!

This festival is located in downtown Kansas City in what they call the Westport District, and there are two hotels within walking distance of the Westport Saloon here are the links:
AC Marriott
816 Hotel
Embassy Suites
And as always I will be researching this festival immensely and adding any I find, and after going in person for the year I’ll find even more. I FULLY intend on helping them grow through a multiple area media campaign I will introduce to you here. I have talked with the owner of the Westport Saloon and he told me the AC Mariott sponsors this event and offers reduced rates to the attendees.

So for right now folks here is the full lineup for this festival:
Dale Watson
Kiel Grove
The Drunken Cuddle
The Calamity Cubes
Urban Pioneers
Monzie Leo And The Big Sky
Twenty Thousand Strongmen
Tyler Gregory And The Bootleg Band
S.S. Web
A.J. Gaither
Champagne Charlie
Carrie Nation And The Speakeasy
Shawn James And The Shapeshifters
Joe And Vicki Price
Booker Noe
Dusty Rust
Joshua Morningstar
Billy Don Burns
J B Beverley
Jack Grelle
Sarah Gayle Meech
Scott Hrabko And The Rabbits
kasey Raush
Nathan Kalish And The Lastcallers
Jon Hachett
Hobosexuals
Well Worn Souls
The Blindstiffs
Pendergast
The Boothill Band
Pete Berwick
The Hickoids
Freight Train Rabbit Killer And The Legion Of Ghosts
Hunter Grigg
Randall Conrad Olinger
Billy Beale
Coyote Bill
C j Walker
The Hector Anchando Band
Brutually Frank
Dead Bundy
7 Shot Screamers
Elvis Hitler
Dead Dick Hammer
Rain Dogs
The Matchsellers
Ashes To Immortality
Loaded Goat
Konza Swamp Band
Good Time Charley
Julian Davis
Kansas City Hustle
The Creek Rocks
The kansas City Bear Fighters

NOW we also have a HUGE product soon becoming available from the stage I will be sponsoring at this event.

Folks right now I have MORE schedule information on this event, OK there is a pre party friday night with Dale Watson at the Saloon only. There is a recovery show on sunday night at the Saloon only as well, the festival itself is Saturday only. The first 200 sales get access to all three days of events, I understand this will be three separate tickets after the first 220. You can pre order tickets RIGHT HERE.

Man what can I say about The Planet Rockers that I failed to mention last year? I mean honestly they were one of my top 3 acts of last year’s Nashville Boogie Vintage Weekend, having played at the Palace. This year they were in the Ryman exhibit hall and they sounded absolutely amazing, like rolling thunder and loud enough to bring Unknown Hinson back to life.

These guys are like the Motorhead of Rockabilly, loud and obnoxiously heavy in the most awesome way I could ever write about. Once again lead guitarist Eddie Angel just absolutely slayed it on that stage with blazing leads and with Sonny George up there bellowing out songs like their opener “Big Wheel”  and “Spin My Wheels”.

If you missed their set Friday you missed you missed a iconic set for sure, as they went into ‘Yes I Do”. These guys have been around for a long time as their LIVE album A Night At The Twist And Shout from 1998 in my opinion is one of the best LIVE albums I have in my collection. A bunch of these songs are on that album as well like “Gravy Train” and “Truck Drivers Rock”.

They played “King Fool” and my personal favorite song they do is called “One’s All The Law Will Allow”, I just like the lyrics and they way he hollers out about that Jersey Cow and One Eyed Horse. One of the last songs I remembered was “Hot Seat”, and also I was getting ready to head back over to the Nashville Palace to finish off my night with my next two acts that were monumental in every way but before I tell you about that I remember hearing “Trouble Up The Road”.

Rosie Flores is one of Rockabilly’s most beloved Legends and one that I have never had the opportunity to cover on my website, her OR the next Country Music Legend the one and only Dale Watson. Both Texans played at the Nashville Palace where I finished up my second day of music watching partly because I locked my keys in my truck and had to wait on AAA to get there.  Not sure if you noticed that but AAA is actually a sponsor of me and has provided me with a membership and dog gone it I’m glad to have them there for me.

She opened her set with “Get Rhythm” and another called “I Want You To Know” and she also is in the process of recording a new album this year. Her set tonight was filled with many instrumentals showcasing her true guitar gun slinging fashion from a time many were dreaming of playing music. Miss Rosie paved the way for many of the other acts this weekend as did Dale Watson and Billy Harlan.

“I Want You To Know” was another song she played and she also announced that she is recording a new album as well and it will be out in fall. “King Of The Blues” was a good song she played and then she went into some songs that Dwight Yoakam made popular like “If There Was A Way”. In fact that’s my personal favorite album Dwight ever released, and actually my favorite album of 1990. It was his fourth studio album and by far his most popular to date.

Later on in the set Miss Rosie played another Dwight song “Long White Cadillac”, but first she played a song called “Country Boy” and another called “Drug Store rock” which was off the Rockabilly Philly album which I picked up on CD tonight. She closed up her set with “Tear Me Up”, and the crowd was truly pouring into the Palace ri ght now to hear the next act tonight and my final one before I went home.

Dale Watson is a Country Music Legend in his own right and has been burning up the roads since 1970. In many ways he paved the way for those that came after him but yet had his way paved by my last act I just covered Rosie Flores, having began his recording career upon her urging. He is a former house band member of the famed California venue the iconic Palomino Club, which was featured in the Clint Eastwood classics “Every Which Way But Loose” and “Any Which Way You Can”.

Honestly going into this show I was expecting a wide range of songs and was hoping he would dip WAY back into his list of songs for us tonight, and of course he features the famed Lone Star Beer commercials during his set. He opened with “Things I Shouldn’t Do” and followed it up with “Jonesin For Jones” of course that was a song dedicated to George Jones.

“Honky Tonkers Don’t Cry” was third and I did indeed expect this song tonight and was glad to hear it. He played a Merle Haggard song “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down” and followed up with the ever popular “Whiskey Or God”. I wished he would come to Nashville more often but I’m going to be honest folks, he got off the bus and played and got back on the bus THAT FAST. He drove 11 hours to play for one and drove 11 back, THAT is road dogging it.

“I Lie When I Drink” was next another great song that initiates huge crowd interaction when they get to answer back “I Drink A Lot”. He played one called “Texas Boogie” before playing his anti-pop country anthem “Country My Ass” which pretty much got us all into party mode there, “Exit 109” was part of the set tonight as well.

He played “Suicide Sam” and several more of his truck driving songs that he is so well known for playing and recording like “Jack’s Truck Stop” and another called the “Birmingham Breakdown”. Honestly so far this was one of the top 3 sets of the entire festival in my opinion and I REALLY enjoyed it and couldn’t think of a better venue to see it than the Palace, in fact I’m on my way back down there for lunch and music ad records RIGHT NOW!

…oh wait he closed with “My Baby Makes Me Gravy”…and that Lone Star jingle again. You cannot forget the Lone Star sponsorship, I always wondered what kind of beer he liked?

Hello folks, greetings from the Nashville Palace as I shall be covering this whole weekend event from Muddy Roots called the Nashville Boogie Vintage Weekender. Now for those of you who are new to my music website THANK YOU for checking me out and PLEASE SHARE what I do on social media, I put a LOT of personal work into this website and spend most of my life researching and covering live music and it’s history. I cover and support thousands of independent and local bands, and I support many national acts as well.

Muddy Roots does many things for the music industry and performers alike and it hosts MANY events nationwide and NOW Europe and Brazil, and is rapidly growing every year. You know in late 2014 Mr. Jason shared with me his tiny vision of starting a rockabilly festival and asked for my input. To be honest I was sort of weak in the rockabilly department back then, but I do think I helped some. I have attended every main Muddy Roots festival in Cookeville to date and one Spring Weekender, and this is the second annual Nashville Boogie at Opryland.

Man I tell you what the Palace has me set up nice over here with pretty much all what I need to jam on this job here, and as long as I have this I can write and report as it happens with all the music and whatnot. There’s MORE than JUST music here…there’s a car show and dancing lessons, fashion shows and MUCH MORE than last year. I’m looking forward to the record convention Sunday because I NEED more records, right? Right. And to top it all off Sunday night they take over the Opry house with Chris Isaak and Woody Pines, more on that later. The Palace has always been good to me and has always supported what I do on here and of course it’s a top choice of venues for me of music and food.

So this project will be the usual fashion I cover festivals…in parts broken up by days of events. The first day of the event is always fully at the Palace while they prepare the Opryland Convention Center for the event, and this year there are TWO stages in the Opryland Center. Also there is transportation between the Palace and the Hotel this year. Last year some of the side stages were in other places so we shall see how this year has changed..I’m already excited for some music.

There was Rockabilly dancing from Ms. Wolff’s Jiving School where they were learning to do something I never have been able to do..dance. I can write a mean article about music and tell you that George Morgan died in 1975 but I cannot dance!

The very first music act tonight is A Man Called Stu who has just returned from some overseas dates and if you’ll remember I covered his set with Dallas Moore at Exit Inn not long ago. I been excited to see him again and get to see him play again. He opened his set with some classic Hank Williams “Ramblin Man” and followed up with “Baby Of Mine”. This was a very strong traditional Country laced set with good old fashioned steel guitar work and had the place jumping early.

He played a Charlie Louvin song called “See The Big Man Cry Mama” and also played one called “Jungle Fever” by Charlie Feathers. One can certainly see the influence of roots within Mr. Stu whether it’s the first time you have saw him or if you have saw him a million times one can easily tell as he played “One Woman Man” and the Faron Young classic “If You Aint Living”. Right now he is playing a song from his former band Zombie Ghost Train called “Gone”. He is truly doing a super fine job down here of kicking off this festival in a classic country fashion and I’m ready for more great music as he closed his set with “Unmitigated Gall”.

The next act I’ll be covering tonight is a fellow I been wanting to cover for some time now named Julian Davis and honestly I believe I have the young man on my stage in Kansas City at another festival so let’s see what he brings to the table here tonight. He recorded an album this year on Little Class Records and I just stopped by his area and purchased it.

This young man is deeply enriched in roots of Country and Western Swing and for his age at sixteen this young man POUNDS on the guitar..in fact he just broke a string like he said he would. Doesn’t matter man this guy is BURNING UP the stage. All the talk about him is true he is amazing, and I’m upset I haven’t ever got to cover him yet but better late than never.

He began the set with a song off his album called “Secret Garden” and his entire band is doing a truly terrific job up there just ripping solos and jumping around like nuts. Folks this is one of the youngest prodigies I have seen since Emi Sunshine and Colter Wall. His set included the ever popular “Freeborn Man” but I’m telling you with his lightning fast picking this was not a cover…it was amazing. Simply thunderous and fast.

The Bluegrass infused “Miss Molly” was another truly awesome song and he followed that with “Cocaine Blues” which he did pretty good on. He played an original song called ‘Last Scrap”, and now he played a fast paced song he wrote when he was only twelve called “Special Delivery” which is full of amazing guitar solos. This man plays better than some twice his age for absolute certain. You can’t beat entertainment like this folks it doesn’t come around that often in a package like this, his many different influences ring true during his set.

After a huge fast paced instrumental piece he played a Merle Haggard tune called “Honky Tonk Night Time Man” which showcased the fiddle player very well, this band played better than some four and five piece bands I have covered before. He is playing a popular song Pokey Lafarge plays”Whats The Matter With The Mill” and is playing “Rolling In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”. Honestly he closed his set with a bluegrass version of Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades”, in a killer fiddle induced version of a song the likes of Stump Tail Dolly which left this place screaming!

The Farmer And Adele is a Western Swing band here tonight that has folks dancing all over the place, VERY fun band. Really nice steel guitar solos and mandolin on songs like Patsy Cline’s “Back In Baby’s Arms” and the ever popular “Back In The Saddle Again”.

Very fun crowd interaction with their song “Saddle Up Song”, and “Cowtown Boogie” they did a wonderful job of keeping us entertained tonight here at the Palace. What an eventful night so far and heck the main events haven’t taken place yet, we still have a TON of big music to take place all over Opryland this weekend.

Right now they are playing “Gone Gone Gone” off one of their albums, and one thing I’d like to point out about their merch booth is they have sheet music for their songs available. Not many bands have that indeed and I’m enjoying the nostalgia here with this band for sure, what a nice fit here tonight. I think Mr. Jason has truly put together a nice lineup here so far and I haven’t been to the hotel area yet. They also played “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” and some instrumental pieces laced with that good old steel guitar, which to my delight has been the norm tonight and I expect nothing less from Muddy Roots events.

“Home on The Range” among other classic western songs fill this bands catalogue of material with their Riders In The Sky fashion of playing with Western comedy and swing twang, in fact the song they are playing right now was recorded and wrote with Ranger Doug Green and it’s called “Open Door”, and they closed their set with a song called “Sundown Song”.

Incredible turnout here tonight as the evening progresses I’m quite impressed in the amount of income this festival is bringing to my local economy and THAT folks is quite important to me. This event is helping Nashville thrive in fact it is surpassing corporate events and THAT is a major punch in their face.

Kristina Murray and Logan Ledger are next and together they have some terrific harmonies and are doing duet songs quite well. They opened their set with “If I Could Only Win Your Love” and another popular song “Just Someone I Used To Know”. Along with the last few acts I have never featured them before, but it’s not an act I would ever overlook. Another damn fine act with great fiddle and steel guitars once again playing some truly good Country Music.

“Brand New Heartache” is what they are playing now and it has a great dancing rhythm that is filling up the dance floor and tomorrow is going to usher in some sore people from all this dancing. “Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds” is what is going on right now up there with more wonderful harmonies from a well oiled machine like band. “I’m A Jukebox” was an original song they played and honestly as the Palace was filling up I couldn’t get around for as many pictures as I would’ve liked to but it’s all good…I was hired to write and write I shall!

Many good fiddle and steel guitar solos in this act as well with their song called “Sunrise” and I didn’t catch the one they are playing right now for sure. I think it was called “You Don’t Have Very Far To Go”.  FINALLY A Buck Owens cover song “Think Of Me” which I do not believe I have ever heard a band play a cover of to be honest…this was truly another fine set tonight as they closed their set with “Golden Ring”.

Kyle Eldridge And The Rhythm Rounders are next and are the final act of this evening, but folks the music continues tomorrow as soon as I wake up from this coma tonight. I caught up with laundry and scalped my lawn so I could concentrate on four days of writing about music. I should have this article up before the first night ends THANKS to the helpful staff of the Nashville Palace for that!  I’m not using a hotel this weekend folks I’ll be traveling to my own home like I said before, I have company in town attending this festival too.

“San Antonio Rose” is what we are being treated to right now here at the Palace, you know I couldn’t count all the many powerhouse shows I saw here in my years of living here. I saw some truly epic Legends within the ranks of Country Music here on this stage, and I can add more Nashville Boogie to my list.

He’s playing “Too Hot To Handle” by Eddie Noack, did you know he and Bobby Mackey were both on Lefty Frizzell’s record label? Yep. After playing some instrumentals he played other older cover songs like “I Ain’t Broke I’m Kind Of Bent” that I have heard several people play before. This young man just loves them old Western songs too like the rest of us.

Another song I really enjoyed was “Tattooed Lady” and altogether these acts tonight all truly complimented one another unlike the rest of the weekend where the acts are more different, NOT that it’s a complaint at all. We’ll have to see how the two stages pan out in the end, and how close they are apart. Oh man he doing “Right Or Wrong”, there have been some REALLY GOOD covers tonight old time swing tunes even I have forgotten about. He followed with another Bob Wills song called “I Hear You Talking”, he asked us first if we wanted to hear it…we weren’t arguing but he said we had no choice.

He played a Merle Travis song called “Sweet Temptation” which honestly I had only heard a few times so I’m learning new things with all this music too. Merle Travis is from my neck of the woods and I appreciate his contributions to music in general. He closed his set with an instrumental song and another DJ closed out the night with music, I am returning home to proofread and do more work. I’ll return to the keyboard tomorrow with my first full day of music to come folks!

Hey folks I’m here in Clarksville Tennessee right down the road from my house at VERY nice venue named Mike’s Bar And Grill. This is the first time in a while I have had the chance to catch up with Kara Clark. She’s been doing more shows as of late and this is the first time I have ever been to this venue which has a truly nice stage area for bands. It has pool tables and good sized televisions for people as well as a full bar and a full menu with reasonable prices,later on I’m fixing to try a pizza.

Let’s see if this time she can play a full show without knocking out the power. She began the show with a Don Henley cover “Boys Of Summer”,and I believe this set she is doing right now will be mostly a cover show which is cool with me on a Saturday night with a Coors Light. Gary is just enjoying himself tonight and I hope to hear some good ones out of her. Later on in the evening she was asked to do all originals so I truly enjoyed the night, and I plan to stop there for a full meal in the future.

Her next song was a Hank Williams Jr. song “Dinosaur” which they played really well.That song was off one of my favorite (what I call mid-career) albums “Habits Old And New”. 1980 was not my favorite period of Hank Jr, as was his REALLY early stuff like the Cobo Hall Live album. I tell you what I never heard her play “Fire Away” by Stapleton not a bad cover there and she went into Tom Petty’s “Free Falling”.

She’s doing a pretty good variety of different genres of songs for the crowd tonight I m enjoying myself tonight this is a pretty spacious venue for the area and new and clean. Very  nice bar to come to and I hope they book more bands I want to feature because I’ll bring the website back here for sure. The only negative thing I’d say so far are the cokes aren’t refills so that’s why I opted for a beer tonight. When I first arrived it took a little while to be served however once I was the service was beyond exceptional and as the show went on I had more than one gal checking on me. Very nice and friendly staff I highly recommend coming out here for drinks.

As she’s playing “What’s Going On” she is going into some original songs tonight like Whiskey And Cigarettes. And speaking of smoking I want to stress to folks smoking IS allowed here however it didn’t really bother me much. She is doing her on rocking version of “Ring Of Fire”.

Shes doing the Drive By Truckers really well right now I’d say for someone that usually does more originals the band is doing a decent job of keeping the crowd into things here. Right now she’s playing a Candlebox song, The target audience here is in to the rock songs but responsive to them all in good fashion and are very polite here and when the band took a break there was an array of music being played. This is pretty much an every type venue that Clarksville needs more of. I wouldn’t go absolutely nuts over it however I wouldn’t tell you to not come here either.

Her second set started with “Simple Man” that included some real good lead guitars and the band did that one really well. She followed that by “Magic Man” by Heart and believe you me they really gave this song hell and I’m pretty impressed the solos and timing For such a different song. Her longtime keyboardist David Walker sang some songs for us it was nice to see him again, I remembered him from Altamont. Speaking of which the very first public launch of my website on this new server was in fact Kara Clark at Altamont. They did some really good John Mellencamp songs another good crowd song here.

“Relapse” is my favorite song Kara does and she is doing that song right now and with a full band it always sounds really good followed by some more Tom Petty “Last Dance With Mary Jane” that David is singing. Shes doing another Drive By Truckers song called “Where The Devil Don’t Stay” and followed that with a Hank 3 song called “Low Down” . She did some Jason Isbell and some Rolling Stones “Honky Tonk Women” which I really enjoyed very much, nailed that song and the crowd liked it.

Well, anybody that knows me and knows me well can tell you I enjoy original music and I know my bands. She’s no exception and I’ll pay a cover to hear her play original songs. You can certainly tell the difference in comfort between them with just about any local band around. From my request she played “The Band The Bartender And Me” another of my favorites she does, and she played “Preacher’s Hands” and “Lonely”.

“Bulletproof” was one off her new album “The Key” which she had a big party for at Douglass Corner Lounge one of my favorite places for songwriter nights with Travis Harris And The West Coast Turnarounds. She also played “Devil Don’t Cry” and “Hey God”. I’m glad she’s doing more shows and getting back out there and I’m glad I finally got to come out to this venue. And as she played “Southern Hospitality” and closed her show with “Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains I truly had a good time.

That’s about all right now folks I’m VERY BUSY getting prepared for the Muddy Roots Nashville Boogie festival Thursday, this will be a ten article series beginning tomorrow night. I’ll be up working all night Weds and into Thurs in getting ready to see Chris Isaak and Woody Pines at the OPRY as well as Reverend Horton Heat and Big Sandy and MORE!   THEN I’m off to Kansas City for my OWN STAGE at Westport Roots Festival where I have BILLY DON BURNS and MORE!

It’s a VERY BUSY year for yours truly.

Confederate Railroad is back folks with their first album of all original material in nine years with “Lucky To Be Alive”. This album will be released to the public July 15th and will feature a newly recorded version of “Trashy Women” which is the twentieth anniversary of the song. This new version of the song will feature Country Legends Willie Nelson, John Anderson and pop country rap artist Colt Ford.

This album on vinyl will include a LIVE version of “Psycho Bitch From Hell”, and the track “Don’t Feel As Young As I Used To” includes some guest guitar work from Dan Tyminski from Union Station. The song “If I Ever Cross The Line” is extremely traditional and goes back to their roots from when they began in Georgia in the late 80’s.

Basically in the late 80’s this band was Atlantic’s answer to a famous four piece band on RCA that used confederate flag monikers in their album covers and that of course was Alabama. Of course CRR never reached the commercial accolades that Alabama did, I see this band as one of the most overlooked bands of the 1990’s era radio Country Music. They have always been a good festival band and often included in “package deals” for outdoor shows.

The track listing will be as follows:

Lucky To Be Alive Track Listing:
1. Lucky To Be Alive
2. Played The Game
3. The Man I Am Today
4. If I Ever Cross That Line
5. Trashy Women (20th Anniversary) featuring Willie Nelson, John Anderson and Colt Ford
6. Goodbye Song
7. Somebody Like You
8. Whisky And Women
9. Fast Cars And Guitars
10. Don’t Feel As Young As I Used To
11. Psycho Bitch From Hell (Live)
12. I’m Not Fallin’ For That

Danny Shirley is of course still the front man for the band and wrote seven songs on this new album. Along with him are Rusty Hendrix on lead guitars Mark Dufresne on drums and Wayne Secrest on bass. NOW to tell you about the steel guitar (you KNEW I would stress on this as important) it shall be Bobby Randall returning. Bobby took over in 2009 after Gates Nichols retired from the band in 2008 and died of a terrible cancer in 2009. I tell you what folks Nichols had Country Music in his heart and played until he was too sick to play anymore. In any event the band has continued to play over 100 shows a year and this album will followed up with a huge tour for the new album.

Confederate Railroad on Tour:
May 07 Love Valley, N.C. – Love Valley Arena
May 14 Laquey, Mo. – Roadhouse Bar & Grill
May 20 Indianapolis, Ind.- 8 Second Saloon
May 21 Maryville, Tenn. – The Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson
May 27 Logansport, Ind. – State Theatre
May 28 Drakesboro, Ky. – Gregory Lake ATV Park
May 29 New Straitsville, Ohio – The Moonshine Festival
Jun 03 Tuscaloosa. Ala. – Druid City Music Hall
Jun 04 Sanford, Fla. – The Barn – M.F.C. for J.O.S.H.
Jun 09 Wise, Va. – Virginia Kentucky District Fair
Jun 10 Nashville, Tenn. – CMA Music Fest – WSM Stage and Nashville Palace
Jun 11 Waynesville, Ohio – Keeping It Country Farm
Jun 12 Nashville, Tenn – CMA Music Fest – Digital Rodeo Stage
Jun 17 Frankfort, Ky. – Knights Club
Jun 18 Tell City, Ind. – Pour Haus
Jun 24 Central City, Iowa – The Linn County Fair
Jun 25 New Albany, Miss. – Hill Country Blackberry Festival
Jul 01 Prospect, Pa. – Big Butler Fair
Jul 03 Arley, Ala. – Concert On The Water
Jul 04 Decatur. Tenn. – Downtown Square/Downtown Summer Nights
Jul 09 Brainerd, Minn. – Green Lantern
Jul15 Arthur, Ill. – Moultrie Douglas County Fair
Jul16 Beckley, W.Va. – Friends of Coal Auto Fair
Aug 03 Tuolumne, Calif. – Willow Creek Lounge – Black Oak Casino
Aug 04 Corvallis, Ore. – Benton County Fair & Rodeo
Aug 05 Crescent City, Calif. – Del Norte County Fair
Aug 07 Brooks, Calif. – Cache Creek Casino Resort – Club 88
Aug 11 Point Pleasant, W.Va. – Mason County Fair
Aug 13 Des Moines, Iowa – Iowa State Fair – Mid American Stage
Aug 26 Guntersville, Ala. – Civitan Park – Bill Moore Field
Aug 27 Summerville, Ga. – Chattanooga County Ag Fair
Sep 17 Eldorado, Ill. – Eldorado Town & Country Days
Sep 24 Liberty, Ky. – Casey County Apple Festival – Courthouse Square
Oct 07 Springfield, Ga. – Springfield Fall Festival

Well folks I am here at Mr.Kenneth Marrs backyard cookout which got a little rained out today. Kenneth Marr Graphics is one of my most special go to guys for graphics work. I tell you what he turned his backyard into a venue that is not only family friendly and full of love he has opened his home to artists everywhere. He and I have always been really good friends and had a mutual admiration for each others talents, and his wife Miss Mary Jo Marr is absolutely the most kindest person I ever met.

There was smoked chub bologna and beef roast and hamburgers and more beer than I needed all within a truly family orientated backyard setting. Hula hoops and toys for the kids to play while we all met new friends and rejoined old ones for a truly blessed time in Kentucky. I want to THANK my friends from Virginia Mr. Kevin Vaughn and Mr. Eric Litz for driving so I could have a few beers last night while I wrote this article in the rain. Despite the rain and damp air we still had a wonderful time for Mr. Kenneth’s birthday party.

John King And The Mud River Revival had to play friday night early because of the weather for cast, and I had to work so I missed the show. I heard good things about their forthcoming album and I’ll be close at disposal to them for releasing it to you. I talk to them quite often on a regular basis so you can rest assured I’ll have them on a feature soon.

So last night we had two artists that took turns swapping songs in a songwriter round fashion and I have featured them both on here before. In fact Chris Moondawg Hall has also released a new album and instead of featuring it on my usual multiple album articles I’ll feature it here.

This album was produced by Moondawg and the Talent Brothers who also released a good album last year. This album has 11 tracks on it and right now it is available on digital copy off his website. Please note that they switched off doing songs but I separated the two so you didn’t get confused. Moondawg was second in the whole show but his first song was “Driving Me Lonesome” which is the first track off the new album that he had a co-writer on along with his next song “Misery In Jen”.

Another song off the album he played was “Stardoom” one that he wrote by himself and was probably my favorite off the new album. Like many others that I met at the same time I met Moondawg I am seeing him grow as an artist and become more developed of his own style and identity as a songwriter. At the time I first met him perhaps he didn’t have as many road stories as he does now, or chose not to express them until now. Whatever the reason he chose to share some really fine songs with us, but make no mistake the songs from his older album are just as good.

“Normal” was included in his set tonight with my favorite song “Breckenridge County however he changed it up a little bit for us. I requested it but honestly he was getting ready to play it anyways, I HAD to have that song for sure. Perhaps his most known song is called “Land Of Make Believe” which was aired on C.J. Cumberland’s radio show out of Louisville a while back.

He did indeed do some covers during his set however mostly he doesn’t do many covers because he likes to showcase his original music. I come out for original music mostly however “Old Habits” and “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” were included in his set, along with “Simple Man” and another Skynyrd song “All I Can Do Is Write About It”.

He played a song called “Dirt” off his first album, however like I said this new album is well worth adding to your collection by all means. So far the last two years have seen some really good albums come from the artists involved with the series, and I’m watching his friend Kyle Wilson as well. Road To Sanity which was co-wrote by Wayne Mills was one of the best songs on the album and if Moondawg is in your area you need to go see him, you’ll be glad you did.

Kendra Hope is a young lady I have featured on here a few times and once again she did a wonderful job singing and playing for us. She has an EP you can get from her website and the songs she wrote on this album are amazing for the fact she’s a young adult.

She opened the show with “Folsom Prison Blues” but my favorite song she does (and Mr. Kevin’s too) was Tumbleweed which she wrote at the age of ten! In my opinion she has a gun she just needs bullets now, once she writes a few more songs she will be absolutely unstoppable! NOT that the covers are bad folks, it’s just my opinion and I’m hoping this inspires her to write more songs or cut some from writers.

She is an amazing talent and played “Takin Pills” quite well along with “Wild Eyed Girl” and “Outlaw Women”. You can obviously tell she wasn’t influenced by others of her own age group within music, and that’s not in any way bad. One thing that truly impressed me was her EXCELLENT cover of “Clyde” off Waylon’s album “Music Man”. Ironically it also was covered in 1978 by Dr. Hook, and it was originally recorded by J.J. Cale who wrote it.

She played a REALLY GOOD version of “Sixteenth Avenue” by Lacy Dalton which I bet even Sunny Sweeny would have loved her cover of that song. Connie Smith’s song “Once A Day” which Bill Anderson wrote was part of her set along with “Fortune And Fame” I believe that one to be an original song. This young lady is amazing and has been invited to perform overseas as well, and I want to point out that Miss Kathy Jennings and Mr. Larry are doing a DAMN FINE JOB of managing her and promoting her, and I hope to be able to do many more articles on her. Once you think of a gal her age you might think she’s just a novelty act but you’ll quickly see you are MISTAKEN!