Westport Roots Festival Day 2: Lagunitas Outdoor Stage.

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Jun 032017
 

WOW what can I say about all this, this was quite an honor to be the emcee and fellow sponsor alongside Lagunitas beer and others, sorry guys I could only imbibe in a few beers this weekend, as this is serious business to me. I got to enjoy responsibly and watch all our wonderful patrons drink and be happy as SO MANY Honky Tonk bands tore this tent UP.

Four Roses Bourbon I had a small glass of it before my music started to calm my nerves with Sara, she was running back and forth to my partner whom had a vendor booth on Pennsylvania Avenue. I also need to thank PaPa Keno’s Pizza for catering the backstage area, with the biggest pizzas I have EVER witnessed. You had to roll it up to eat it, East Coast pizza was SO GOOD and I look forward to having it every year. Every city I do jobs in, I have my favorite eating places and hotels I return to, I have this music website whittled down to a complete and precise science to bring YOU the BEST coverage of local and independent music I can.

I did get to float around just a little bit and I did get to wander over to the saloon to see a few bands, but really I had to focus my attention to the outdoor stage. I am going to embed some videos from the Westport Saloon stage that my good friend Dustin Doug ran on behalf of Pirate Farm Radio. There was just SO MUCH going on at the same time from 11AM all the way into the wee hours of the night. Hell, after my stage was over with and my hosting was done I went over to Riot Room to see the Goddamn Gallows play until 1:00AM. So needless to say it was well over a 15 hour day for my crew and I.

My stage began with Mr. Matt Campbell as he brought the trio of Mr. Frank Pryor, Mr. Christian Hayden, and Mr. Jason Verstegen to the table today. They displayed some truly fine guitar work along with well written songs here today as they opened with “Ditch Digger’s Blues” along with his most notable song he does “I Found Jesus Down At Robert’s Western World”.

This was called “writers on The Rocks Brunch” and it featured Joey Henry’s Dirty Sunshine Club (Joey Henry is part of the Calamity Cubes), Mr. Adam Lee, Mr. Rex Hobart (of the Misery Boys) Mr. Anthony Ladesick, Mr. Tyler Gregory and Mr. W.T. Newton. This took place at the Saloon across the alley as I was preparing for my stage.

“The B&O Blues and Can’t Slow Down” were next as a medley along with a song called “Here And Gone”. One of the finer songs with more guitar solos was the song called “West Texas Blues”. Next was the song “Miles Apart” and Christmas in Nashville”, because of the unfortunate cancellation of Mr. Jesse Dayton we had to let Me. Matt play a little longer than planned. But I’ll tell you what we truly enjoyed his set tonight with songs like “Simple Twist Of Fate” and “Pillar Of Fire”.

“Twice As Big” was good but another favorite of mine was the song “Trading Teardrops”, I think that’s a well written song. “My Mind Still Sets On You” and “Back In The Country” were next along with his closing songs ‘My Mind Still Sets On You” and Erenst Tubb’s song “You Nearly Loose Your Mind”.  This man’s music was an absolute treasure and a perfect way to begin an entire day here of music.

All while this was transpiring there was music starting all over the entire district  and I shall be including some of the sets that happened over at the Westport Saloon as well. This next act introduced me to a dang fine steel guitarist, and the more I got to dwell on him the more I thought HEY why not do a LIVE edition of “Steel Guitarists Along The Road” so later on that will be a side article.

The Blue Boot Healers Mr. Marty Smeller, Mr. Dane Talley, KC Steeler,and Cheddar make up this Kansas City favorite of Honky Tonk bar bands. They have been around for a few years here and I was instantly a fan of theirs.

They started with “Breaking The Mold” and went into “The Bottle Got The Best Of Me”. Almost immediately we were treated to some really fine steel guitar licks and Honky Tonk thump. ‘Get In The Car” was next along with “My Baby Went To Holland” , and the song “Four Or Five Times” was one of the good ones they played.

“Three Of You” and “Shot Gun” were next on their list of busting your chops and hurting your heart up there this afternoon, we already had quite a party going on in there earlier than any of the other venues. “Hard Habit” was one of my favorite songs they played, “New Grass” was next along with “Video Queen”.

They closed their set “Southbound” and “San Antone”. All the while this was transpiring there were stages in five other locations going on at once, I’ll post videos from the other stages as I can find them for you. If you remember last year I had the Bastard Children Of Booker Noe on my stage.

If you remember from last year I had this gentleman on my stage Mr.Jack Grelle who released a DAMN FINE album called “Got Dressed Up To Be Let Down” in October of 2016. I have always enjoyed his music and his friendship, to be honest we don’t get to see each other often enough. Earlier this year some inconsiderate asshole printed a really mean article about him and some other bands, and went so far as to insult his appearance. This angered me that anyone would waste time using their journalistic talents to degrade ANYBODY. You will NOT SEE that on THIS website about ANYBODY, Mr. Jack doesn’t deserve that shit. He truly represents the humanitarian side of music and stands up for his personal beliefs, and he deserves to be commended  for his passion.

He opened with “Four Doors” now that one is off “Steering Me Away” which was his new album when he played my stage last year, followed by “Hearts For Mine” and “Birthday Cards” both off of the mentioned new album there.  One nice thing about these two years was I got to witness first hand his growth as an artist and songwriter, and I had the chance to personally analyze the directions he is taking.

“Got Dressed Up To Be Let Down” was the title song to his new album, and this was the first time I had the chance to hear it live. I work second shift and it’s difficult to attend every show I’d like to. ‘Changes Never Made” was a good one off ‘Steering Me Away”. He continued with “Winter Wind” and followed that with “Won’t Come Back”.

“Only In My Dreams” came before “These Walls” and then he played one of my favorites he does called ‘Chase You Across The Country”.  He closed his portion with “hooked On your Lovi’n” and lastly was “New Mexico”.

Miss Savanna Chestnut was playing over at the Westport Saloon along with my good buddy Mr. Sean K Preston. Not long ago he sent me his new single called “Barnburner” and I waited until now until to feature it.
I watched this set for sure, along with ALL of them I missed. Like I said folks there was just SO MUCH going on all at once. Is this article too much information to take in for y’all…I’m JUST getting started, go get another beer and some popcorn.

Miss Savanna Chestnut is a truly gifted songwriter for sure, and the song “She’s Missing Him” was a WELL WRITTEN song for sure I am a now a BIG FAN of hers! She played some mighty fine covers as well, and brought a damn fine set to the table over there.

Folks right there is little old me introducing this next band which is a little of both singers Mr. Brook Blanche and Mr. Clayton Smith both from respective bands, and Miss Karen Anne on upright bass. Mr. Brook has always been one of my personal favorite people in the Roots Music scene, and one of the originals as well. Joining them on the steel guitar tonight was Mr. Tyler  Giles Roberson, whom also played with my next band. This band is called Wallula

They opened with “Tale Of Two Children” and went on into “Empty Promises”, like I said they take turns doing the lead vocal duties and I’ll probably feature them more in depth sometime soon. “Bind My Heart” was next along with “Down South”.  They both displayed a delivery of fine songwriting, and a different approach that I was expecting from them together.  I do enjoy Mr. Brooke’s solo music as well as the Calamity Cubes, but songs like “Wolf” were a little more Honky Tonk than Rootsy sounding..and that’s not a bad thing either. This is certainly an incredible project they have going here.

“Your Side” was next followed by a song called “Problems” ,”Hey Kid” and another aptly called “LSD”. Every band was carefully chosen and placed quite well this weekend, my stage here was NO exception. “Lazy Susan” was next and they closed with “prettiest Girl”.

Honky Tonk Habit was a mess of people and a whole mess of Honky Tonk twang, I mean Mr. Gravy Boat plays two things at once AND has a dobro waiting on the floor. The man is an absolute string slayer!  I’ll for sure be including him in my Steel Guitarists Along The Road series SOON.

From the website: Westport Roots Festival this weekend! HonkyTonk Habit is on at 5:15pm Saturday and will feature Dusty Rust on the drums, Tyler Giles on guitar and an original tune, Betsey Mae on bass, and 4 of her original tunes! Chad “Gravy Boat” Graves is even doing a couple originals and a Mark Cassidy tune! In fact, aside from a couple duets Betsey and Chad will sing this set will be all original tunes! A first for the Habit! There will be no changeover time before we go into Dust Rust’s set with Adam Watson on drums and Chelsea Rae on bass!

So they opened with an energetic song called “Honky Tonk Habit” and went into a song called “Country Rain”. After that came the song “Lonesome Shadow” and one called “Goodbye To You”. This man plays a banjo on a stand an upright guitar AND a steel, if that’s not bad assed I do NOT KNOW what is!

“Hard Way” was next followed by “These Lips”, I did notice the cover “You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly”. I’m telling you this band was more twang and hardcore beer drinking rhythms than even I could fathom. “So They Say” was next followed by “Last Light” and “Dad’s Truck” and they closed with “Show You”.

So up there are a few videos to keep you informed of the bands that were over at the Westport Saloon while mine was going on, and as ALWAYS they stream ALL their live music EVERY NIGHT on their Youtube channel. Go hop on over and watch the finest Kansas City Roots music EVER!

Mr.Dusty Rust was another young man I had on my stage last year, and I’ll tell you what I was VERY happy to see him again. He and his wife Miss Chelsea Rae are two of the nicest people you’ll ever run into in Kansas City. Truly a pleasure to call them friends of the road.

So his set started with “Country Side Ride” and went into “I’m Getting Drunk Tonight” (which is what I’m doing as I write this) and another song called “Samantha”. “If You’re Gonna Leave Me” was next followed by “Barstool”.
He then went into Merle Haggard’s “Working Man’s Blues”.

He shows truly fine stage presence and stands confident behind the lead spot on songs like “I Don’t Wanna Go To Heaven” and “Happy Father’s Day”, and he closed his set with ‘Ride On”. I’ll tell you what you can go on over to the saloon every Thursday night to see him play his shows, I watch on Youtube all the time.

Outlaw Jim And The Whiskey Benders were another Kansas City Outlaw Country band that came out tonight to play us some damn fine Honky Tonk Country. These guys were truly a five piece extravaganza of twang and steel guitar, and I truly enjoyed their set. I feel the need to apologize to them publicly on the short introduction, but I was told to now keep it to a minimum for time reasons…the BEST is YET to come folks!

They opened with “Guitars And Outlaws” and played one called “Rock Bottom” as they brought us more of that hardcore Honky Tonk sound. Mr. Jim has a very unique vocal style in his own right, it was different and I enjoyed it. With songs like “Drinkin Weekend” and the cover of Glen Campbell’s “Gentle On My Mind”.

“Keep On Going” and “Sobered Up And Busted” were next as they had the entire tent two stepping into the early evening out here getting ready for the big acts of the evening. Waylon’s songs “I’ve Always Been Crazy” and ‘Ain’t Living Long Like This” closed out their show tonight.

Folks my favorite sight to see this festival was this one Texas own the Legend himself Moe Bandy his new album made my TOP 50 Of 2016 and he will be at the Nashville Palace this week for Moore and Moore’s CMA Festival party.

He brought down the house tonight with his timeless classic hits like “Someday Soon” and “Here I Am I’m Drunk Again”. He played some of his classic songs he recorded with Country Legend Joe Stampley like “Hey Moe Hey Joe” and also did “Good Ol’ Boys” with Dale Watson.

He played “Honky Tonk Amnesia” and went into “Hank Williams You Wrote My life” and “Soft Lights and Good Country Music”. He delved deeply into his vast catalogue of albums and songs here for us tonight and played for a VERY long time much to our delight.

“That’s What Makes The Jukebox Play” was next followed by “Lucky Me’ from his new album, as he displayed that time has not faltered his voice in any way. In fact I’d have to pretty much say he is one of the Legends we have remaining in prime condition as far as health. He is just as good if not better than he was years ago. Just a kind and generous individual and it was an honor to get to introduce him.

He played the Whitey Shaffer hit “Bandy The Rodeo Clown” which was his first number one hit and went into “Barstool Mountain”. Ten he played a few songs he passed on like “Amarillo By Morning” and “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind”. And the legendary “He Stopped Loving Her Today”….

His second set was “Rodeo Romeo” and “It’s A Cheating Situation” followed by “Tell O’l I Aint Here To Go On Home”. He played Dave Dudley’s “Six Days On The Road” and his great song ‘Hell Stays Open All Night Long”. I tell you folks he just kep belting out hit after hit with “Cowboys Ain’t Supposed To Cry” and “Just Started Hating Cheating Songs Today”.

He closed with “Too Old Too Die Young” and went into “Americana” before coming back out for “You Haven’t Heard the Last Of Me’ for an encore. I recently had an interview with Mr. Moe and you can read that HERE.

Dale Watson what can I say, I haven’t ran nito him since the Nashville Boogie last year and it is always a true pleasure to see him perform his famed Lonestar commercials and equally loved classic Country hits.

Mr. Dale is a seasoned veteran of the Roots Music scene, in fact he party ushered it all in. He began the Ameripolitan Awards of which Westport Roots Festival was nominated this year. He opened with “Whiskey Or Dying” and went into “Truckstop In LaGrange”. “Feeling Haggard” was next followed by “Jones’n For Jones”.

“Exit 109” was part of tonight’s set along with “My Baby Makes Me Gravy” and the ever popular song about Mr. Billy Joe shaver” “Where Do You Want It”. He brought the house down with songs like “Nashville Rash” and “Mr. DJ”. He always displays truly epic stage presence up there every time I have ever seen him perform and his band is always top notch.

“Country My Ass” was next followed by “Old Farts And Jackasses” as he stood up for our beloved Country Legends in every way he can, and you know he does “Lie When I Drink”…and he drinks a LOT. He paid tribute to Jerry Reed by playing “Amos Moses” and the last one I remembered him playing was “Sianara”. He did play a few more but I was getting ready to wrap up the show tonight and packing up to finally rest.

I could list ever credit here tonight that made this event possible but I couldn’t remember them all. I thank Miss Kristie one of my many partners in this deal we do, and Mr. Mike Bulle and Miss Sara for running errands for me. I could have NOT have done all this without them.

Mr. Travis Fields, Mr. Jody Hendrix, Miss Kaylee Reeder and her WHOLE STAFF Mr.Will, Mr. Matt Dennis. Mr. Rusty the sound crew, ALL the fine barstaff that served us all night. And we’ll see you next year Kansas City.

Westport Roots Festival Day 1: History At The Saloon.

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May 292017
 

My first day of this excursion began late Thursday night when my buddy Mr. Jared McPherson came out to spend the night and traveled with us out there to the Westport Roots Festival in Kansas City Missouri. I believe this year to have been a landmark year for this festival, both on attendance and music. From a music standpoint last year was an epic occurrence with many Legends and happenings, but 2017 knocked last year out of the ballpark. It literally beat anything it’s ever done in the past in every sense of the word.

ALL of the stages held their own relevance to the meaning of the festival,and the arrangement was so well coordinated that everything went pretty well from what I could ascertain. My stage went smooth as silk and there were no problems at all. EVERY ACT had a steel guitar and sounded grand in every sense of the word, BUT you will read about that later folks. Right now you will read about my journey there and how this weekend began.

I work closely with a LOT of people in this business and share good and bad knowledge, contacts information and so much more. I team up with many people to share trip costs and venue promotions, and Rebel K Child jewelry is one I work with many times. I’ll be working with her several times in 2017, Westport was one of them, I’m quite positive that she’ll continue to feature her products there.

We rented an SUV from Enterprise in Glasgow Kentucky, now to be honest if you remember I had a truly negative experience with them on my Chicago trip. But I learned it’s really WHERE you go within the brand, because we were treated like royalty there.Corporate was not involved so I’m sure we were probably treated better because of this fact, because once corporate is involved it turns into a fiasco.

We had a truly blessed trip out there in every sense of the word, it was early and grueling after working most of the night on other ventures, and day 1 was actually a 35 hour marathon of hardcore music and excitement for all four of us. I had a stellar crew of co-workers that drove long hours under extremely tiresome conditions, that stepped up to help me get this job done. Rebel K Child both helped me out so much and I couldn’t have done it without Miss Kristie and Mr. Mike.

I also had another assistant this weekend helping me in any way I needed it, and I’d like to thank Miss Sara Leann Schulte for all of her help all weekend. I usually can maintain control alone but with not having an option to stray far from my own stage, I simply couldn’t do everything I needed without a helping hand. Also I needed photos of myself on stage introducing all of the acts, additionally I had her shoot the video for the FIRST EVER LIVE episode of my “Steel Guitarists Along The Road” series with Mr. KC Steeler as my guest. I run an extremely demanding operation for festivals, when you hire me to cover it, you won’t get second rate National Enquirer subject matter like other “Country Music” blogs. I need someone who will stay awake and do what I need to help me as I concentrate on the set list and song content, and Miss Sara did just that for me.

This isn’t party time for me, and it certainly isn’t fun and games. We have an obligation to those that purchased tickets to see a top notch show, and I have an obligation to those that hire me to provide the BEST coverage I can provide them. With that being said when I need vehicle keys or photos and videos RIGHT THEN, it’s a fact, and she came through for me in a timely manner.

Miss Kaylee Reeder and her absolutely wonderful staff at the Westport Saloon that all pitch in and help this establishment shine. This area is well known for being a Roots Music venue and well known for great food, as well as so many wonderful sponsors that help it carry the torch for the music scene out there in Kansas City. I could just go on and on about the wonderful staff there, and every one of them are always glad to see us there.

So let’s talk about our hotel shall we? We stayed at Crossland Studios In Kansas City and we arrived there in the afternoon after driving all late night and early morning. The area was convenient and appealing but check in is 3:00 PROMPTLY and when I say PROMPTLY I mean do NOT TRY to get room at 2:58….you go at 3 EXACTLY. The rooms are REALLY nice though complete with regular sized fridge and oven, apparently they are designed to be extended stay rooms. For the price I felt pretty satisfied with my choice to book this hotel, I’m doing some more research in this area here for this festival and several more in Kansas City so in future articles I’ll have other options for hotels in this aspect of the venture.

We settled in and got some dinner while preparing to come down to the Westport district for the pre party Friday evening. Even with the pre-party we were treated to the best possible music that Mr. Jody could fiendishly plan, he probably sits up in that office and rubs his hands with malicious delight as he books these main acts. The VERY FIRST night we were treated to one of the most important occurrences to happen in Roots Music in years. If you recall a while ago I ran the story about the last show of the Broken Band as all the members went different ways. Well Friday night we were treated to history in it’s true form.

Greeting old friends and becoming reacquainted with old friends and meeting new people as well as Jo Jo the dog, who sat next to me at my table with his owner Mr. Jay Lev. Networking is what always makes me so excited to venture out here. All the different bars going on at once , It’s a whole district of music going on at once. The Westport district is indeed the epicenter of the Kansas City Roots Music Scene and in just a little bit I’m going to touch on a LIVE album that A.J. Gaither recorded there at the Westport Saloon. I sat and had a nice conversation with my good friend Mr. A.J. about WHY he chose the Westport and what he’s up to now, also I got some insight about his plans for the future. See folks many times when we are just having a friendly conversation It’s actually information being obtained to write about your music, so be sure to tell me everything you would like mentioned.

The very first band I watched were The Culprits as they brought their own blend of Honky Tonk music to the saloon tonight. They are from the Kansas area, and they represented the local scene here very well. I absolutely enjoyed their set tonight as did the rest of my company, the saloon was rapidly becoming packed with people I knew and people I had yet to meet. This weekend remedied that however, and trust me I left with a refreshed palate of newly acquainted website readers and personal friends.

The Culprits were already in full swing when I arrived there and they played “Little Ramona” by BR5-49, which I believe was one of their won originals. See,BR5-49 had an uncanny ability to take rare cover songs and play them convincingly original. Part of the reason was they were so obscure unless you were a music guru, it was believed to be an original song. They did their set really well with the help of our friend KC Steeler, who I’ll be surprising you with later on a little side project I had going…..SSShhhhh don’t tell Mr. Travis I did this he don’t know about this one yet! I brought my “Steel Guitarists Along The Road Series” with me to do some LIVE work, this time it won’t be just in print. I took some time out to get one on one with Mr. Colm and you will get to not only read about him but SEE him on MANY videos from this weekend.

“Sugar Daddy” was next mixed with some great solos and instrumentals all throughout the songs, I highly suggest checking out this band further along with all the other bands I feature on here. They played a long version of a song called “Let’s Get Liquored Up” that involved the participation from the audience. Now mind you this early that was easily obtained, at midnight well that might have been harder…because they got liquored up quite well. It’s Westport Roots Festival and it’s party time, and party we did well into the A.M. In fact I could say like their last song called “Tear It Up” we did indeed tear it up in every sense of the word. GREAT band here to kick things off tonight and I was preparing to work here folks, I got all this covered.

The Ghosts Of Grandad’s Past are another local Kansas City fixture that does some covers of Those Poor Bastards really well.  They began with “Death Came To My Door” and followed that with a song called “Want To Lay Here And Die” about having door people at their funeral to prevent some people from seeing their dead bodies. They played called 99-105 about getting pulled over while driving drunk and high, so apparently they enjoy the fast lifestyle and playing dive bars for the next tank of gas.

“Sun Goes Down, Dark As Night” was next before they closed with a cover of the ever popular classic song “Rye Whiskey”.  They play dark and haunting songs of the other side of life, like the song “Down By The River”.  This three piece band was a great beginning to the festival here tonight, they played songs about whiskey and drugs, all of those wonderful things that local bands sing about!

The Kansas City Bear Fighters absolutely rocked the rooftops tonight, I mean they literally brought down the house. They have a terrific marketing idea on their merch and have an even better marketing idea on their music, it’s different and fresh. It’s unlike anything you have ever witnessed before and you just cannot classify them with anyone really.

They opened with “Spring Break 3035” and went into a song called “Take My Legs Away”, they introduced that one to be about mermaids. Then they went into a song about “Female Parts” called “Smitten with Her Kitten”, and a pretty good one called “Large Marge”.

Many instrumentals adorned their set throughout the entire thing and it was filled with songs like “Ain’t life Strange” and the “Panda Bear Song”. Also there was a song about “The Devil” included as they showed off their different styles of playing and their influences of various directions. “Hello Oblivion” and “Safari” closed out their portion of the festivities tonight, as well as the song “Ancient Ones”. As I learn more about this band you can be sure to catch it here on this website.

Mr.Lorin Walker Madsen is by far some of the finest West Coast Honky Tonk I have ever witnessed. I LOVE that Honky Tonk out there like my buddy Jon Emery whom you’ll be hearing about again soon in my album features articles, all the way up to my friends the Ponderosa Aces.  Now this young man is one I have been communicating with for long periods of time and haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet, well that’s the pertinent thing about festivals..you have that chance.

He brought us songs like “Behind The Wheel” and “Lonely Highway” ,tried and true songs of lonesome heartbreak and despair. But also on the other side of life’s curtain lies a proud working man with ragged hands within songs like “My Collar Ain’t White”.

He played songs like “Robbed” and “Travelin Man” before his musicians anthem “Slave Of The Road”. Man I’ll tell you what I have been following these folks around to various parts of America, in the years past. I couldn’t do this job and ALL the extra stuff involved with it like loading/unloading and social media. It’s a tough tough life, and it’s NOT for everyone.

“Ain’t Getting Caught” was next and he closed his set with “Another Last Call”. Truly a damn fine display of original songs here tonight by a truly gifted Honky Tonk hell raiser here at the Westport.

A.J.Gaither is one of the OMB or One Man Bands here at Roots Music Festivals, I got to stop and talk with him about why he chose the Westport Saloon to make his LIVE album. Honestly as soon as I finally got to see him perform some of his great songs there like “Biscuits And Gravy” the answer was evident.

He played a few other songs like “Long Way To Go”, and always gets a good response at the Westport Saloon no matter when he plays. Often times musicians have their own “home bar” or venue they usually do very well at, this is Mr. A.J’s place indeed. “Don’t Want To Go To Heaven” was part of his set, as he praised us for showing up so early and getting this party started already.

Mr. A.J.is correct NONE OF THIS would be possible without Mr. Travis Fields and what he does with the saloon, and he can also tell you the story of why there are four roses in four roses bourbon and the “Bad Decisions” that sometimes comes along with drinking.

Jayke Orvis reunited his classic lineup of The Broken Band tonight, including original member Mr. Joe Perez, who took a leave from music for personal reasons. We miss him but you know what, it’s awesome to see them make those choices too. I didn’t start my website FULL TIME until my own child was 18, and I had fewer responsibilities in order to do this.

The place went WILD as they opened with “Clinch Mountain Back step” and went into “Bound To Ride”. I tell you WHAT none of the four members lost any of their timing or speed in these few years of not playing these songs, and it was kind of like they just picked up after a week!

Liz Sloan’s stage presence is probably one of the finest in all of local music,and her talent is absolutely impeccable. Their level of professionalism in a sometimes unprofessional realm is a breath of fresh air when it comes to the business side of things. I cannot think of four people I admire more than these four right here, I share a relevant past with Mr. Jayke and it’s quite possible we played in the same area and didn’t know it as children.

Mr. James is quite possibly one of the smartest people you will ever encounter, and will hold a conversation with you about anything from trees and birds to 80’s Heavy Metal. He TRULY enjoys seeing you and TRULY enjoys music fans, if you are there to appreciate the music this man will accept anybody. I met him at Porter Wagoner’s funeral for goodness sake, and it was like we knew each other for years.

“Pick Up The Steam” was another they played I believe that’s a Weary Boys tune, followed by “Streets Wont Be The Same”. “Gone Forever More” was next as they didn’t say much to us, they just kept barrelling out those songs we love like ‘Empty Bottles”.

He DID say if you aren’t a Hank Williams fan he cannot be friends with you, as they did a GREAT version of “Kaw Liga” like they always did do. “Crooked Smile” “Shady Grove” and others filled their set list like “Feelings Like This” and MY personal favorite “Thunderbolts And Lightning”.

They had the whole place roaring to the song “Dreadful Sinner” before doing the instrumental and “Murder Of Crows” which was their logo, followed by “Shot Down” and “Raise The Moon”. One of their most popular trademarks was taking metal and transforming it into the Bluegrass sound as they did with “Battery” off one of the greatest metal abums of ALL time..Master Of Puppets.

The Urban Pioneers Launch New Variety Show This Spring.

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Mar 052017
 

These next couple weeks are gonna get pretty wild out at High On The Hog studio. Along with our hog trapping and normal shenanigans, we’ve got Husky Burnette, Carrie Nation and the Speakeasy, and Whiskey Dick all coming through. This is gonna be fun!
OINK!!

What’s all this Hoo Ha going on? Well, this is the new variety show from the Urban Pioneers called High On the Hog which will be set up along the lines of Hee Haw with some terrific special guests like the above mentioned bands. I contacted Mr. Jared early today and he quoted this “ We are still working hard on it. Its gonna be a lot of corny comedy, tons of music, and some informative and cultural type bits here and there too. It’s sure to be a lot of fun”.

Mr. Jared Miss Liz and the Pioneers have been trapping wild hogs and selling them to fund their project and they want to share their fun with us all, I’ll be catching up with the Urban Pioneers many times this coming years on the Moonrunners music festival in Chicago, Westport Roots Festival in Kansas City and Muddy Roots in Cookeville Tennessee.