GALLEYWINTER

Last fall Micky and the Motorcars released their 7th studio album, Long Time Comin’. It’s been almost five years since the younger Brothers Braun, Micky and Gary, put out new material. After a busy fall, we were finally able to catch up with front man Micky Braun and have a good conversation. Here you go. 1. So your new record is aptly named Long Time Comin’. It’s been a while since “Hearts From Above.” Why the long drought? We named the record Long Time Comin’ because of the song I wrote with Bruce Robison, plus it had been four years

Austin Meade continues to impress the hell out of us. In a scene where artists fight for space in order to stand out, Meade is creating his own running lane. While embedded in the musical aura of the Hill Country, working alongside his compadres at the Canada’s School of Rock franchise in New Braunfels, Meade’s brand of rock ‘n’ roll is peerless in the scene. Gritty tones, catchy guitar riffs, and lyrics to melt a stoner’s mind, his songwriting emotes sensitivity but with an edge sharp enough to cut everything in its path. It retro, yet fresh at the same

In my recap of Mile 0 Fest 2020, I remarked that James Steinle’s style falls somewhere around if John Prine maintained a residency at the Broken Spoke and worked at the Mean Eyed Cat in his off time.  That’s the vibe you’ll find on his sophomore effort, What I Came Here For.  Building on where he left off with 2018’s South Texas Homecoming, Steinle mines familiar musical terrain with sophisticated and witty lyrical observations.  This is observant honky-tonk.  Thinking man’s country music.  Steel guitars support the stories of seedy characters, seedier settings and the triumphs and tragedies of modern life on the south side. “Black and White

Key West, Florida is the stuff of legend.  Pirates.  Rum.  Hemingway.  Jerry Jeff.  Buffett.  Duval. And for the past three winters it’s been the stuff of Texas/Red Dirt legends.  Jamie Lin Wilson’s transcendence.  Mike and the Moonpies emergence.  Wade Bowen’s genuineness.  Willy Braun’s presence. Cody Canada’s gratitude. And so on. It’s the tale of how two songs connected the entire week.  Willie T’s is one of the more famous local haunts on Duval Street.  For years, travelers and revelers have been hitting up this joint featuring approximately 16 hours of live music a day and the wall décor of George Washington greenbacks. People have been writing messages on the dollars and placing

Over the last twenty years, few acts in this scene have championed honky tonk country as fervently as Eleven Hundred Springs. The band’s sound has always been pure and honest, managing to breath life into familiar country themes through straightforward, good songwriting and staunchly sticking to their roots. Given that every country song has been written at this point, you would think it would all sound rote, but Matt Hillyer and the gang continue to inject enough fun and originality into the genre to keep the neon shining, the beer flowing, and the dance floor packed. In 2017, Hillyer and