Face The Music

After a two year hiatus due to Covid and all that implies, Wade Bowen is roaring back with his hometown Bowen Music Fest in Waco on April 9-10, 2022.  Bowen says, ““This year’s festival means more than ever because of having to miss the past two years!” The 2018 and 2019 editions found Bowen relocating the event to Baylor University’s McCLane Stadium facilities and expanding the booking reach by bringing in such large font, top of the poster headliners as Jamey Johnson, Cheap Trick, Tracy Byrd and REO Speedwagon to intermingle with the Texas/Red Dirt names of the day.   The

Through venue changes and shifts in the Texas/Red Dirt scene, Joni Beard always provided a top notch venue through which songwriters were able to bare their souls to receptive audiences. By following 3 main rules: sit down, shut up and listen; the Clubhouse was able to attract a very talented and diverse roster of guests. The Clubhouse atmosphere fostered and helped grow the careers of Ryan Bingham, Randy Rogers, Jason Boland, Jamie Lin Wilson, Mike Eli, Jason Eady, Wade Bowen, and Stoney LaRue among many others. The Clubhouse literally sprang from an apartment complex commons area.  Joni Beard aka Miss

Another winter and year has rolled into Texas.  Steamboat’s MusicFest is in the rearview mirror.  Which means that it is Mile 0 time.  Time to traverse US1 down to the Florida Keys.  It’s hard to believe that this magnificent festival is in year 5.  Back in 2018, we were part of a select few modern day vagabond musical pirates that found ourselves wandering up and down Duval St with Mile 0 armbands on like we were part of some super secret, ultra club.  The town didn’t know what we had in store for it and vice versa.   The music and

The news hit my shoulders like a double dose of elephants doing jumping jacks and my gut like a broken elevator ride. As I watched Robert Earl Keen´s video announcing his retirement from touring and performing, I sat slackjawed as a whirlwind of emotions overtook me. Sad. Bewildered. Forlorn. I was seeking connectivity and began texting musician buddies, some of whom hadn´t yet heard the news. My proclamation that ¨This Bob Keen news is hitting me hard.¨ scared a few of them as they feared and assumed the worst. After a quick correction on my end we began to reminisce