Ronnie Fauss – Pistols In The Air

ronnie

There’s a sadness undergirding Dallas songslinger Ronnie Fauss’ first full-length album, but it’s not expressed in ways that are dour or maudlin. No, it’s more a sense of lived hardship sharpening perception, a sensitivity to the struggles and frustrations of everyday existence. An empathy for his fellow travelers, maybe. Mixing country and folk with the occasional big heartland rock riff, Fauss proves a remarkably astute chronicler of life’s seasons and cycles.
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The Millennium – Prelude / To Claudia On Thursday

millenium

Influenced by psychedelia and California rock, pop/rock producer Curt Boettcher (the Association) decided to assemble a studio supergroup who would explore progressive sounds in 1968. Millennium’s resultant album would find no commercial success and only half-baked artistic success, but nonetheless retains some period charm. Influenced in roughly equal measures by the Association, the Mamas and the Papas, the Smile-era Beach Boys, Nilsson, the Left Banke, and the Fifth Dimension, Boettcher and his friends came up with a hybrid that was at once too unabashedly commercial for underground FM radio and too weird for the AM dial. It would have fit in better on the AM airwaves, though; the almost too-cheerful sunshine harmonies and catchy melodies dominate the suite-like, diverse set of elaborately produced ’60s pop/rock tunes.
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James Hand – It’s Just My Heart

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A local legend in West Texas, James Hand spent the better part of four decades writing and playing pure honky tonk country before he earned any significant attention outside the Lone Star State, when Rounder Records released his first nationally distributed album, 2006’s The Truth Will Set You Free. James Hand was born in 1952 in Waco, TX, and developed a passion for country music early in life, joining a band that was playing local roadhouses at the age of 12.
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Wanda Jackson – Tore Down

wanda

Country music icon Wanda Jackson, dubbed “The Queen of Rockabilly,” worked with producer Justin Townes Earle to bring her back to her roots and hear a side of the singer that we haven’t heard in some time.
“From day one I really liked Justin’s idea to take me back to my roots and make a record of country, blues, and rockabilly songs,” Jackson tells Rolling Stone. “The band was extra tight and great to work with during the whole process. The record just sounds terrific and I’m hoping that my fans enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it.”
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Nick Curran & the Lowlifes – Sheena’s Back

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Nick Curran was born September 30, 1977 in Biddeford, Maine, and grew up in nearby Sanford. Curran began his professional career at age nineteen, leaving Maine to tour with Ronnie Dawson, “The Blonde Bomber.” Although Dawson was primarily a rockabilly musician, many blues and punk fans appreciated his performances. He taught Curran not to get pigeonholed. Curran toured next with Texas rockabilly doyenne Kim Lenz, moving to Dallas to join her backup band the Jaguars for two years, and performing on Lenz’s recording, The One And Only. Nick would stay with the Jaguars for two years. He is also featured on Lenz’s latest CD, It’s All True, and recently toured with her in the summer of 2009.
In 1999 the Texas Jamboree label issued Curran’s debut solo recording, Fixin’ Your Head. As he would do on all future CDs, Curran used vintage recording equipment to achieve the feel and sound of old 45s and 78s, and the LPs of the 1950s. To support the recording he formed the band, Nick Curran & the Nitelifes.
From 2004 to 2007 Curran played with The Fabulous Thunderbirds appearing on their 2005 recording, Painted On. Also during that time, Curran and bassist Ronnie James started the punk band Deguello, saying that it “sounded as if Little Richard sang with The Ramones.”
Curran performed four songs in a scene in the 2008 HBO Series, True Blood, based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, which explores the co-existence of humans and vampires.
After performing a solo show in November, 2008, Nick formed the rock ‘n’ roll roots band, The Lowlifes. Curran was also in the Austin-based punk/rock ‘n’ roll band The Flash Boys.
In 2010, Curran was diagnosed with oral cancer. As of June 2010, he had been deemed cancer free, but in April 2011, it was announced[who?] that the cancer had returned and that he was undergoing treatment.
Curran died on October 6, 2012, at the age of 35.

Cub Koda – Smokin’ In The Boys Room

Cub

Michael “Cub” Koda (October 1, 1948 – July 1, 2000) was an American rock and roll singer, guitarist, songwriter, disc jockey, music critic, and record compiler. Rolling Stone magazine felt that Koda was best known for writing the song “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room”, which reached #3 on the 1974 Billboard charts as performed by Brownsville Station, and was later covered by Mötley Crüe. He co-wrote and edited the All Music Guide to the Blues,[2] and Blues for Dummies, and put together the CD of blues classics accompanying the latter title, personally selecting versions of each song that appeared on it. He also contributed liner notes for the Trashmen, Jimmy Reed, J. B. Hutto, The Kingsmen, and the Miller Sisters, among others
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