Tampa Calling

A delightful and talented band of troubadours, Cory Branan, Jon Snodgrass (of Drag the River/Armchair Martian) and Joey Cape (of Lagwagon), stopped in at New World Brewery on a balmy Thursday evening last June 25. The concept behind this tour was to get these three alt-country musicians together on a stage and see what happens in a casual format, kinda like the Revival Tour.

Jon Snodgrass and Cory Branan (pictured above) kicked off the festivities by alternating songs and occasionally performing duets – check out “Born Apart.” The audience enthusiastically joined in on their performance, singing along to their favorite tunes like Sondgrass’ “Song for Gibson” and Branan’s “Prettiest Waitress In Memphis.” (MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP.) Read the rest of this entry »

You know what they say, “when it rains, it pours,” and such is the case this week with three shows in four days. While I don’t expect anyone else to adhere to such a rigorous schedule, I do think you can find something you like in one (or more) of these shows. If you do make it out to any, find me and we’ll tell fish tales over a beer.

Wednesday, June 24 @ The Ritz Ybor: Grayson Capps

———–>THIS IS A FREE SHOW<——-—-

I am so excited about this show. Honestly, I just assumed Grayson Capps would never come to Florida. BUT! Here he is and he’s bringing his full band, The Stumppknockers, with him. If the sound of Southern soul mixed with back-country stomp with a little road-house blues sounds like something that might tickle your fancy, you need to get to The Ritz on Thursday night for this show.

When I last wrote about Grayson I said, “I find myself drawn to the drunks, whores and vagabonds that haunt Grayson’s songs. They’re like old friends you keep up with via letters in the mail, and with a new album comes new updates.” It’ll be nice to finally meet this motley crew of characters in person.

Grayson Capps – Going Back To The Country
Grayson Capps – Ike
Grayson Capps – Mermaid
Grayson Capps – Junior & The Old African Queen
(MORE SHOW INFO + MP3s AFTER THE JUMP)
Read the rest of this entry »

Some recent additions to our Upcoming Events concert calendar; for the comprehensive list, click here.

Saturday, May 23 Lush Progress Video Release Party w/Butch Ryan Band/Glasgow (New World Brewery, Ybor City)

Tuesday, May 26 The Juan Maclean (pictured) / The Field (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Saturday, May 30 Joecephus & The George Jonestown Massacre (The Garage, St. Petersburg)

Tuesday, June 09 New York Dolls (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)

Wednesday, June 10 Mishka w/Zaki Ibrahim (Orpheum, Ybor City)

Thursday, June 11 Mewithoutyou w/The Dear Hunter (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)

Friday, June 12 Steely Dan Rent Party ‘09 Tour (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

Saturday, June 13 Crossbreed (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) Read the rest of this entry »

Since Drag The River “broke up,” it stood to reason that guitarist/singer Jon Snodgrass and singer Chad Price would be releasing solo efforts. Chad is supposed to have one coming out by the end of 2009, and while I wouldn’t put the notion of another Drag The River album completely to bed, Mr. Snodgrass was the first to strike with Visitor’s Band.

Over the course of 2008, Jon managed to book studio time on both coasts and places in between to record Visitor’s Band. He also managed to pull in a few collaborators like Chad Rex, Joey Erg, Chris Pierce and ninebullets.net faves, Two Cow Garage. Read the rest of this entry »

Another week comes to pass and I am a mere two weeks away from heading out west for some snowboarding. I am gonna try to make this weekly Americana(ish) web round-up a regular thing. Is anyone out there reading them? Anyhow, outside of music I have a few things I’m thinking about…

First, what the hell was Radhika thinking on Top Chef this week? The leader of the losing restaurant always gets eliminated in Restaurant Wars. She should have thrown the quickfire.

Second, the Rays went to the World Series, a black man is our president and the Arizona Cardinals are in the Superbowl. I dunno about you, but I spent this week looking up girls from highschool. Hell has obviously frozen over and it’s time for them to make good on some promises.

And finally, is there anything on earth better than VH1 reality TV? I had long thought Rock of Love was god’s gift to us but then they go and one up themselves with Tool Academy. Thank you, VH1, for giving my Sunday’s without football meaning again.

Okay, enough TV talk … on with the music: Read the rest of this entry »

Hey everyone. Here’s some shit I wanted to get to or saw this week that I wanted to pass along:

• Ever heard of $5 Cover: Memphis? Yeah, me neither. Apparently, it’s a faux-reality show that’s gonna be airing on MTV. The cool thing is that it will feature ninebullets.net faves Lucero. Looks like that major label deal is already paying off. You go boys! Here is the trailer:
• Some good news has come down the pipe from Virgil over on Suburban Home Records. In the coming month, we’re gonna see a new release from Drag The River, Bad at Breaking Up, a collection of 7″-only tracks, B-sides, and tracks from their split LP with The Dents. If that wasn’t cool enough, Jon Snodgrass will also release his first solo effort, Visitor’s Band, which features guest spots by Two Cow Garage, Chad Rex, Joey Erg, Chris Pierce, Eric Powers, and others. Here are some tracks from those releases:

Drag The River – J.J.’s Driving
Jon Snodgrass – Song For Jake Nichols To Sing

• Finally, the folks over on Twangnation brought it to my attention that famed New York blues guitarist, Popa Chubby, is gonna give this whole country music thing a try with his wife in a project called Vicious Country. Out of the gate, they’re covering Hank III’s song, Straight To Hell. Not a bad way to start Popa! Here is the video: